HEALTHY AT HOME
W MEDALING WITH MY FOOD Tracy is an Olympic medalist and has a Chef’s Diploma from the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts.
ith the chilly days upon us, my natural instinct is to snuggle up with a nice book in front of the fireplace, with a steamy cup of chai beside me and to stay tucked in as far away from the elements as possible. However, instead of hibernating with the bears over the winter there is something to be said for embracing the elements and playing in our Canadian winter wonderland! Your body and your spirit will love you for it; yes it’s a tiny bit of work to get bundled up and hit the trail but I’ll admit that I have never regretted my time spent playing in the snow. I have very fond memories of winter training with my team. Being a summer Olympian didn’t preclude us from training in the winter. In fact, we had a saying that, “medals were won in the summer but earned in the winter”. That’s really when the tough work (volume) was done and it was
Chili FOR KILLER
definitely the hardest time to stay mentally tough as there was no race in sight. To keep spirits up we would always plan a fun training camp somewhere (typically in the Canadian Rockies) where there was no shortage of snow and an abundance of trails where we could exercise our heart, lungs, and keep the momentum of training high! My favourite camp of all times was a back-country ski trip into Elk Lake Lodge, nestled in Kananaskis Country, in the heart of the Rockies. It was a ten kilometre ski into the hut which became our base for the duration of the camp. From there the possibilities of trails and loops were endless, the beauty of the mountains were spectacular, and best of all training didn’t feel like a slug fest. Menu planning for these trips was of course part of the fun. After a big day outdoors you didn’t want to spend hours on meal prep, so we’d divvy up the meals and have everything mise en place (chopped, sliced, and diced)
CHILLY DAYS BY TRACY STUART
The North Shore
ah! Winter 2018 - 44
