When the snow falls, you want to be ready. And fit! Nothing will kill the fun quicker than an early season injury, so we asked pro skier Greg Hill for his best advice. “It’s definitely time to start getting ready,” he says. Below, he outlines the exercises you need to be doing to be in good shape for the snow. STOP TALKING Obviously keeping up on our cardio is very important, biking, running, treadmill whatever we have time for. But it’s important to do at least three sessions of 20 minutes each week. This is to just keep our cardio at par, but to improve it we need to push ourselves a little harder. That means three longer runs or bike rides of an hour but then 10% of that should be in the pushing hard phase – pushing so hard you can't speak! Put another way: 90% of our exercise should be in the ‘able to talk’ phase and then 10% in the ‘unable to talk’ phase. GET DOWN! Run or walk downhill. Hiking down from alpine hikes, or running downhill is a great way to shock your muscles and get them ready for the endless downhill descents. This imitates the impact of hard turns and the repetition of the sport. HOLD THE WALL Too busy? Go for a ‘wall sit’ and start extending the times you can sit against a wall. Get your legs at 90º, with your back against the wall and hold it there. This replicates the constant quad stress and strength you will need to crush the big runs. It’s an isometric strength training. Nothing moves or flexes – it just holds. Try two minutes and build up. (NOTE: Greg has quads of steel. We tried this and failed so don’t feel bad starting at 1 minute and pushing from there.) JUMP! It’s the classic ski training exercise but that’s because it works on developing power. There are many different games to play but the main thing is exploding up as high as possible and then landing and absorbing the shock smoothly. Reps of 20 and three or four sets to start off. WEIGHTS All around strength is also a big factor – core strength being key to balance and good skiing. So if you can, an all around weight routine will help immensely. STAY UP LATE WATCHING YOUTUBE Lastly, get excited for the ski season! Watch ski videos, dream up adventures, fuel your desire as much as possible. It’s the mind that will drive your body so get it excited! Images by Bruno Long Photography

Gediminas Grinius has just finished up the 2015 Ultra Trail World Tour (UTWT) in second place. It’s a gruelling tour in which he took part in 11 ultras of which he won two and placed 4th in another. “I’m still human,” he says. We’re not so sure: his efforts are truly super-human. © Ultra-Trail World Tour Many congratulationsThank you very much! You must be feeling like a champ? Well, my expectations were a bit high this season, which were to compete well in all UTWT 100 milers. My body and mind betrayed me and I wasn’t able to finish the UTMB and Grand Raid Reunion. The lesson there? I learnt that I am still a human like everyone else. One more lesson is that I must dream responsibly, but ambition and adventurism make me move forward. “I also get to suffer in various ways, which is what I like!” © Trans Gran Canaria Was any race particularly special?All races are kind of beautiful in their own way. I know that probably sounds a bit of a politically correct answer but it is totally true. I really enjoy the diversity of the races. The Western States 100-mile Endurance Run [where he placed 4th] for example was extremely hot while during the Ultra Trail of Mt Fuji [which he won] it was raining all the time. I was very happy and excited to finish first during the Transgrancanaria, but absolutely disappointed with my Ultra Trail de Mont Blanc performance. The Grand Raid Reunion was very technical. So, all these things and the diversity makes the races attractive to me, because I have to train and improve different skills as a runner. I also get to suffer in various ways, which is what I like! Click here for Gediminas's trail running tips! Gediminas (third from left) at the Ultra-Trail World Tour award ceremony. © Ultra-Trail World Tour What was the hardest race?The most painful was the UTMB, as I ran about 100 km with these huge blisters on the soles of my feet and then had killer quads for another 30 km, but it wasn’t the hardest. The most challenging was Grand Raid Reunion (GRR) which is the last race of the series and I was pretty much drained after all the season. In addition to that the GRR is the most technical race, my weakest point in trail running. Also, the first place of Ultra Trail World Tour was at stake and that put some additional psychological pressure on me, which it seems I wasn’t ready to take! Same again for next year?Absolutely. I will be back for the 2016 world tour events. My goals will not differ from the last year, because I believe that I was on the right course, so my training cycle will remain the same. I will focus on proper recovery, building up strength to prepare for the upcoming season.

As the running season ends, Suunto ambassador Emelie Forsberg simply exchanges running shoes for skis. But between the running and ski mountaineering seasons, she finds a little breathing space for herself. November and December are two of skyrunning champion Emelie Forsberg’s favorite months. Her trail running season is over, the ski mountaineering season hasn’t begun so there’s no racing, only training. Click here to read about a typical week of training for Emelie Emelie is now training for the ski mountaineering season. © Emelie Forsberg“This year I needed a two week break from running so I attended a yoga camp,” she says. “This was very much needed for my mind. “I think it’s the mind that needs the most rest from racing, not really the body.” Emelie’s 2015 trail running season has been impressive. First place at the Transvulcania Ultra Marathon, first in the Mount Marathon in Alaska, first place in the ultra distance European Skyrunning Championship, first in the Ultra Pirineu – the list goes on. All of that racing demands intense mental focus and energy. “For sure, racing gives something back too, I love it, but you meet so many new people and you give everything you have on the races, and that takes energy,” Emelie says. Click for Emelie's tips on how to improve your trail running Emelie takes time to do a little yoga each day. © Emeile ForsbergThe yoga camp was exactly what she needed to unwind and to find her passion for training again. “It was a really calm week, with a lot of time to reflect on the new knowledge about yoga, about my running season, the last few years as a professional runner and my future,” she says. “I did go running each day, but without a watch and just short and very easy runs. “By the end of the week I got so motivated I began training hard again and that was really important because I lost my motivation a little bit in October.” Yoga is an everyday part of Emelie’s life. Most mornings she does a yoga session to tune into her body, find the tired or sore spots and focus on helping them recover. Emelie Forsberg's six best-loved trail running routes! © Emelie ForsbergShe says yoga and life in the mountains have something important in common. “I think real yogis are very humble, and real mountain people too,” she says. “I think both yoga and being in the mountains makes you aware of the fact you are very small part of this big, big world.”

Ultrarunners Patrick Sweeney and Alex Ramsey did something very special this week. Aside from taking the Torch of Humanity to the United Nations, they also wore shoes. Barefoot runners Patrick Sweeney and Alex Ramsey are not accustomed to wearing shoes. Their footwear of choice are ultra minimalist Luna Sandals, which they ran 1368 km from Chicago to New York in over the last weeks for the Champion's Walk for Peace, an initiative to raise $250,000 to build a peace education school in Kenya’s troubled North Rift Valley.Click here to read more about the Champion's Walk of Peace Patrick (left) and Alex stand next to Wilson Kipsang at the United Nations. But this week they decided to dress up for a change. The two friends put on collared shirts and normal shoes to pass on the Torch of Humanity at the United Nations. They passed it over to Kenyan runner Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich, the former world record holder for the fastest marathon time and the 2014 winner of the New York Marathon. “It was a pretty special moment,” Patrick says. “Wilson Kipsang is one the world's greatest runners. Not only that he is a great humanitarian and it was our honor to pass the torch over to him.”So far the initiative has raised just over $100,000 of the total funds required to build the school. People can still donate here.Get inspired with Patrick's running motivation tips!Patrick with multisport athlete Laura Kline. After handing over the torch, Patrick and Alex aren’t returning to office jobs and the usual urban lifestyles. They’re both real deal dirtbag runners so there’s only one thing on the cards for them and that’s more running in beautiful places. Patrick, a Suunto supported athlete, is heading to the Copper Canyons in Mexico to visit his friends among the Tarahumara, a Native American people renowned for their long distance running ability. Then, before the year is out, he’s running in a 50 km, a 50 mile, 100 mile and a 72 hour race. “To me a dirtbag runner is someone whose passion for running and the running community goes beyond the clock and the finisher buckle,” he says. “Being a dirtbag runner is about sharing good times with good people through the sport of running and, at least in my case, it usually involves sharing a few ales, too.”

Earlier this year he ran from California to Boston, now the “real Forrest Gump” Patrick Sweeney is back at it again, running from Chicago to New York. This time it’s for peace. Suunto supported athlete Patrick Sweeney and running friend Alex Ramsey completed the Chicago Marathon earlier this month and just kept on running. The two are running all the way from Chicago across four states and 1368 km to New York City where they will end their journey by running in the New York Marathon on November 1.Patrick (left) and Alex holding the 'torch of humanity' Since starting out, they’ve covered more than 1100 km and have a short distance to go. They’ve been doing about 72 km a day – and in minimalist running shoes. Aside from a few aches and pains, their bodies are holding up and they’re having a blast. They are both seasoned ultramarathoners. Running mind boggling distances isn’t a chore to them, it’s a way of life. “Everything is just coming together in a magical way,” Patrick says. “A lot of the course has been quite beautiful and remarkably amazing.” Click here to read Patrick’s running motivation tips Patrick with multisport athlete and fellow vegan Laura Kline. As they’ve run, they’ve taken turns carrying the ‘torch of humanity’. The torch is a symbol for the Champions Walk for Peace, an international effort to raise USD$250,000 to build a peace education school in Kenya’s North Rift Valley where ethic violence and inter-communal conflict has resulted in 600 deaths and 435,000 displaced people in 2014 alone, according to reports from the UN. Organized by genocide prevention NGO Aegis Trust, the torch began its journey in July from the North Rift Valley – the Cradle of Civilization – in the hands of Kenyan running stars who carried it northward. In the second leg, British runners carried the torch 3540 km across the UK to London. Now Patrick and Alex are on route to the New York Marathon where they will return it to the Kenyan runners who first began its journey. “It’s a cause we are grateful to champion,” Patrick says “Nobody should have to live their life in fear. “The school in Kenya will help educate people about their differences so they can work together and create peace.” Read about Patrick’s previous run across the USAMany supporters and runners have come out to join them on the road. Author of the famous book Born to Run Christopher McDougall invited them to sleep at his house for the night and joined them on the road. The tricky things have been finding vegan food and negotiating dangerous roads. “I’m poor and vegan so my food options are not that plentiful,” Patrick says. “In the mornings I usually eat a few energy bars and a peanut butter sandwich for lunch and for dinner it’s almost always an avocado sandwich with pickle chips and a cold beer whenever I can find one.”

Suunto ambassador Jill Heinerth recently explored dive locations around the Azores islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The destination’s wrecks, megalithic steps and lava caverns blew her mind, but swimming with devil rays was one of the greatest diving experiences of her life. The devil ray or mobula is species of eagle ray that can grow up to five meters long. They are sometimes called flying rays because of their propensity to breach the ocean surface. They are endangered because of water pollution and bycatch capture. Underwater explorer and photographer Jill Heinerth swam with about 30 devil rays in open ocean over a sea mount off Santa Maria Island in the Azores. Devil rays visit the area to feed. Jill recounts the experience below. “As I patiently waited, they seemed to line up in formation and repeatedly moved closer and closer with graceful ease,” she says. “Each followed along the same path arching towards me, sliding sideways for a look and then turning to come even closer. “Hovering over top of me, they would pause while I held my breath as long as I could. Finally I would exhale bubbles from the scuba regulator and the ray would slip away and allow the next one to move over top of me. “It seemed as though they were interested in getting tickled by my stream of bubbles. The dance went on for almost 90 minutes. “It was one of the most spectacular diving experiences of my life." Press play to watch this beautiful video of that day