William takes the 126m depth tag on his world record attempt dive. © Johnathan Sunnex COVID-19 kept Suunto ambassador William Trubridge isolated on Long Island in the Bahamas since March 2020 allowing him to focus exclusively on training with few distractions. After several months he started to see the benefits and his performances in many areas were the best of his career so far. Although he is disappointed he didn't achieve a new world record, William is undeterred in his drive to continuing pushing and exploring the ultimate human limits for freediving. Willam, what was the goal for this event? My goal was to try and break the world record in Free Immersion, FIM (in which the athlete pulls on the rope to descend and ascend), currently at 125 m world record set in 2018 by Alexey Molchanov. I held the 124 m world record in FIM previously since 2011, but I thought it was about time I got it back! Why now? I came to the Bahamas in March and somewhat fortuitously have been trapped here safe in the remoteness of the island ever since, and happily, my family was able to join me in the summer from Japan. COVID has been tough for everyone but it has meant that I have been able to focus on my training maybe more than I would have normally, having not had any courses or competitions scheduled. This has facilitated the best kind of training with no competitions looming, I've been able to maintain focus on the goal. I really felt like I was in the right place to attempt the record. It's been four years since your last attempt, why the long pause? Firstly, I think it is becoming more and more difficult to break world records. As with any sport, it’s not something that can continue indefinitely. There is always going to be a plateauing effect as we approach the human limits, wherever they are, and this is happening now in freediving as it has in other sports. In recent years there hasn't been much of an increase in FIM depths, and any of the disciplines of freediving as there were prior. Also, in the last four years, I have been involved in a lot of other projects, and starting a family has been the biggest. That has involved not just a shift in day-to-day life and rhythms, but your whole perspective, and it is one of the most difficult things we go through but I have learned to take it in my stride. Now I am settled into family life, my training has been going well and my performances are the best they have ever been. I am ready to get back into it. William ascending on the line. © Johnathan Sunnex How are you feeling training wise? I have done many of the deepest dives I have ever done in this discipline in recent months and also in other parameters of base training to do with breath-hold times, static apnea, and exhale static apnea (breath-hold with empty lungs) reaching the longest times I've ever done in these difficult exercises. In terms of breath-hold and depth adaptation, I am in the best condition of my life. A world record attempt is a whole other monster so although all the signs are good, you have to deal with the mental game and the weather conditions, for which relaxing in the water with a thin wetsuit can sometimes be problematic. What's changed in your training since your last world record? Quite a lot has changed in my training since the last record. I am always in a constant state of development and evolution as I research and experiment with myself. I have focused on my weaker links, which are mainly breath-hold, but if any of the factors slip then you won't be able to dive deep. Is technology or science helping with the evolution of the sport? There is always a benefit from an increased understanding of the physiology and science of the sport. Especially in my 17-year career, there have been huge changes. When I first started training I was feeling around in the dark a bit but now I have a more definitive, but not a complete idea. I'm sure that in the next ten years athletes will be far better equipped with an understanding of what's happening in their bodies and how to maximize that in their training. What happens in your body when freediving and what you require mentally and physically is unlike any other sport. From the dive reflex, the compression, the heart slowing, to the high acidic and lactic loads we are still discovering more efficient ways to train to maximize performance in those parameters. Has your outlook or mindset changed in any way? Yes, it has changed. Becoming a father has been the biggest shift. It changes your attitude toward risk, and your risk tolerance decreases. In freediving though, it has not changed so much, but in other areas like driving, and driving scooters in Indonesia in particular, it has definitely changed! A lot of my training has been about identifying risks and accommodating them with enhanced safety mechanisms. The turning point 126m down, with 126m more to reach the surface! Johnathan Sunnex © You turned 40 this year (congrats!); how does getting older affect you in this sport? And is there more risk? It is hard to say what the effects of age on the sport are. We've seen athletes perform well into their 50s and 60s. Natalia Molcahov, before her untimely disappearance, was smashing women's world records in her 50s. It's definitely a sport where we benefit from the maturity of age and the slowing of the metabolism, but the risk lies in susceptibilities we are not aware of that increase with age, that I have been working on identifying. We need to be aware of this and prevent risks before they occur if possible. How has the pandemic helped or hindered your preparation? The pandemic has had a huge effect, mostly negative but some positive. I've been able to focus on training but mostly it has just been me and one other person here. However, now the record attempt team has increased and it is nice to connect and have more of a support group for training. The biggest impact has been the uncertainty. As an athlete, with sports like freediving, you are aware of the fact that it is an expendable job, not as important socially as a Doctor and a teacher. More of a luxury in society as the arts, the sports, they are the first to go in a major fallout or crash. Now having a family has been the main impact on me but luckily I have been able to train consistently through this period with the hope to capitalize on that. What drives you to continue with this? Surely, you've found the human limits for apnea now? No, we have not found the human limits, we never will. it is just a matter of stretching out the grey area of possibility and finding an approximation. We know we can go at least one or two more meters, maybe ten, twenty, who knows! It becomes more and more improbable and our job as athletes is to stretch into that zone and redefine human limits as much as we can. How was the world record attempt dive? Ah, 2020. Did anyone other than Jeff Bezos escape its infamy? I was hoping to end the year on a good note, by attempting a world record in Free Immersion. In training, I logged a dive to 126 m that was not just a personal best and one meter deeper than the current world record, but also one of the strongest and most enjoyable dives in this discipline of my career. Based on the strength of this dive, I announced a world record attempt for December 2020. Then disaster hit. The worst incident of my life. A deep underwater blackout in training was caused not by low oxygen but most likely by toxic levels of carbon dioxide. It was something that has to date been a hidden risk, lurking latent in the deepest depths of competitive freediving. I was under the water for almost 7 minutes and revived by the impeccable action of my safety team as well as a lot of luck. William surrounded by safety divers, who in training revived him after disaster hit while deep underwater. © Johnathan Sunnex What made you try again? Afterward, I wasn’t even thinking about a world record. I took two weeks off and enjoyed being a father to my 20-month-old daughter. But when I tentatively returned to breath-hold and the water I found miraculously that my form had remained, or even improved. Mentally there didn’t seem to be any scars either. After consulting with my team and doctor I decided to press on with the attempts. I built back through the depths again to the point where I was diving close to the record depth. Then 2020 threw me some more challenges: bad weather, a problem with my ear and jaw, a commercial shoot with dates that had to change and overlap with the record attempts… I was still diving strong, but not with the consistency I need in the build-up for an attempt. When the window came for attempting the record I spent the first few days finding my feet again with dives to 118 m and 121 m. Then I decided to attempt the record on the 11th December 2020. After such impressive results in training, what happened on your world record first attempt? The day arrived, and so had a cold front, with low grey skies and temperatures plummeting. The wetsuit I’d been training in wasn’t enough, and after testing the waters I called the dive off, knowing that shivering would cause me to waste precious oxygen before the dive even began. The next day was perfect. The sun makes all the difference when we’re lying stretched out on the surface of the water preparing in the final minutes before a dive. It was the right day for a record attempt, and I felt good, perhaps too good. My time was slower, more relaxed on the way up, and this slight adjustment might have affected my efficiency negatively. After retrieving the tag from 126 m and returning to the surface, I took two breaths then fell back momentarily in a brief surface blackout. It ended as quickly as it had begun, but the damage was done and the dive was disqualified. How did this affect your mindset for the next attempt? I needed to take a day off after the blackout, which meant I was left with one last day, the 14th. The cold had returned just a little, and this combined with some minor mistakes in the descent snowballed into an increasingly negative mental and physical state, until soon after the turn I felt like the dive was almost certain to end badly. I tugged sharply three times on the rope to signal my surface crew, who released the counter ballast, pulling the rope up and giving me a free ride back to the surface. Being pulled quickly upwards, as the weight of the water column slipped off my shoulders it was replaced by the weight of disappointment, and the knowledge that there would be no silver lining to end this year with. What drives you to achieve deeper depths in this sport? Regardless of the result, I have to credit my amazing support team who were faultless in running these attempts. Alex Llinas, Kevin James, and Richard McKenzie were my safety divers, Jani Valdivia was medic, Jonathan Sunnex and Michelle Lynn were taking video, Riccardo Paris was managing the platform equipment, and Chris McCay and Olga Sidorova were the AIDA judges for the attempt. My 24/7 support team has been my incredible family, who have kept me fed, nourished, and motivated in every way. Thank you to my partner Sachiko, our beautiful daughter Mila, my mother-in-law Lily, who has put up with so many months here in the Bahamas, and to my parents and brother who have cheered me from New Zealand. Of course, I couldn’t have even had the privilege of attempting this without the support of my sponsors, Suunto and Orca, who have been loyal to me through both the highs and lows. What's next, William? The hunger for training and plumbing new depths of the oceans and human aquatic potential has not weakened at all, and the day after the attempts finished I found myself drawn back to the Blue Hole for an easy training session. Of those enticing depths, I will never tire. All images were taken by Johnathan Sunnex ©

South African ultra runner Ryan Sandes was right on the money when asked about races being cancelled in 2020: “Sure, it’s a little disappointing,” he said. “But at the end of the day it’s just a race. I’ve still got my health, I’ve still got my family. When you look at it more holistically like that it gives you peace of mind and you become a better athlete, a better human, you’re more relaxed. For running ultras you need this, you need to be calm and in a good headspace.” Whatever your sport, having a positive, calm headspace is optimal. It hasn’t always been easy maintaining that this year. But the reverse is also true; training, pursuing the sports we love, helped to keep us on an even keel. Each reinforces the other. The data we’ve collected and crunched from 2020 user activity shows staying active, finding ways to train, and even taking the opportunity to rest more, have been key in helping us ride out this crazy year. We’ve found ways to keep ourselves pumped. Let us walk you through the data.   Spain on top The first wave of COVID-19 hit Spain hard. The lockdowns were strict, sudden and shocking. But that didn’t stop Spaniards from continuing to train and find ways to challenge themselves. Our data shows Suunto’s users in Spain clocked the highest total minutes per user, averaging 5,965 minutes on average. Spanish Suunto athlete Joaquin Perez also looked out for community initiatives to help his community cope. Back in April he told us: “A good source of inspiration and motivation for the community are the multiple solidarity initiatives that exist, for example in Spain last Saturday there was an initiative to raise funds for COVID-19 research where more than 7,300 athletes ran in their homes and raised almost €83,000,” he says. Click to read more about how Suunto athletes adapted to life in lockdown.   Go France! Respect to Suunto users in France for having the highest total ascent numbers! They also had the highest total meters for all workouts combined in both running and cycling. And, just like in 2019, the French had the highest "adventure running ratio": our French community ran 15 times more on the trails than on the treadmill!   We stayed upbeat Even with tough times the average mood our users selected after each workout was "very good". This is slightly higher than the year before in spring 2019. By the time autumn arrived in the northern hemisphere it was about the same as 2019. Check out our article about making your best workout playlist ever, and give your mood a boost on your next workout!   The most active countries were … Take your hats off to Finland, South Africa, Sweden, Russian and Poland for having the most active Suunto users. It’s interesting South Africa is the only country in the southern hemisphere to make the list. It also went into lockdown early.   These places caught more Zs Finland, New Zealand, Netherlands, Estonia, Belgium came out on tops for getting the most sleep. Respect to Finland for having the most active users and also the users that got the most sleep. The Finns were also the only ones sleeping more than seven hours a night on average. Impressive! Learn how sleep can make you a better athlete!   You sport freaks mix it up In 2020, the average number of different activity types per user was 4,2. This means an average Suunto user enjoys more than four different sports, with running the most popular. On average, our users tracked 66.5 total workouts of any given type during 2020. Click for 12 ways to change up your training over winter   Walking booms When things get tough, conventional wisdom says to take a nice, long walk. Somehow Suunto users must have got the memo because there was a massive 70% increase in that activity among our users. What does this tell us? It could be that because so many of us were doing home office we found more time to take walks. Maybe with family at home, too, we took more walks together. Whatever the reasons, it can only be a good thing. Read our articles on walking: How to walk your way to good health How to improve your walking technique How to walk mindfully and its benefits   Other increases Hiking amongst our users also had a big increase, by 37%. Mountain biking increased by nearly 20%. Unsurprisingly, there was a big increase in indoor cycling.   Swimming drops off With pools closed, swimming dropped off with our users. Even with vaccinations available, this trend will probably continue into 2021. Our solution? We recommend you triathletes and swimmers pivot to open and cold water swimming. Read our articles on how to do them safely. 10 reasons to enjoy open water swimming with Suunto What you need to know about cold water swimming   Diving booms! Put your fins together for the divers! Landlocked lockdowns didn’t stop our community of explorers from venturing underwater with an average of 15.5 m depth for divers and 6 m for freedivers. In a year of backyard adventures when divers explored what treasures their local sites have to offer, August was the busiest month on record.   Lead image: © Philipp Reiter     Read more articles 10 must-read Suunto articles from 2020 7 tips for running in the rain 14 tips for backcountry skiing this winter

Suunto athlete Lucy Bartholomew has published a book of her favourite recipes. Called Sustain your Ability, available in print and as an ebook, the plant based cookbook is loaded with delicious meals and treats designed to keep active people fuelled and thriving. “These are all recipes I’ve used to pursue my athletic pursuits from the age of 15 when I started, says Lucy, now 24. “I made the book for people who are trying to sustain an active lifestyle. I was going to call it ‘sustain’ which means to nourish, to thrive, to continue to live, and ‘sustainability’ is the ability to do that for yourself. So it’s for people who want to live a consistently sustainable life. This isn’t a book with some sort of dietary fad – like ‘follow this diet for one month and you'll reach peak fitness’ – it’s for those who are passionately dedicated to being active in the outdoors.” Now available for download, the book was three years in the making. A self described foodie, Lucy initially posted her favourite recipes on her blog and shared them via social media. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the Melbourne based runner suddenly found herself in lockdown, and prohibited from travelling more than five kilometers from her home. “I was thinking I’ve got to have a goal during this time otherwise I will lose motivation,” Lucy says. “COVID gave me time at home with a kitchen, it gave me time because I wasn’t training as much which also gave me a lot of energy. It was a nice distraction. It kept my dad and I very full.” While all the recipes are plant based or vegan, Lucy says they are easily adaptable for people who eat dairy products or meat. “The recipes have been inspired by my travels,” she says. “After Western States in 2018 I went to Mexico where I learned about the culture and the way they make things. Then I went to Nepal and that’s where the dal recipes came from. The meals these places produce are made with ingredients that aren’t super rare or expensive, they normally consist of rice and beans. “They are all meals I enjoy before, during and after runs,” Lucy continues. “It really shows how after nine years in the sport and the fact I still love it is because I’m able to be sustainable in the way I approach it, just like the way I eat.” Read more articles 9 bits of positivity from a crazy year 10 must-read Suunto articles from 2020 7 tips for running in the rain

It’s been one heck of a year, to put it politely. The COVID-19 pandemic shook the world and pulled the carpet out from under our feet. All our plans, goals, normal daily routines were thrown to the wind before we could get our pants on. It’s taken us a while to get our balance back. This is especially so for athletes who, like musicians and performers, no longer had events to train for and travel to. The race calendar was suddenly empty. Yet, somehow training had to go on. We’ve all had to pivot and find ways to stay inspired. Suunto’s ambassadors all found ways to stay stoked this year, and continued to inspire others along the way. We caught up with some of them and asked what they’ve learned, and got nine timeless, and positive lessons all of us could do with. Be like water South African ultra runner Ryan Sandes had big plans for 2020, and they all went out the window. “It’s been really important to be fluid with life in general and with your training,” he says. “When I say fluid, I mean to be adaptive and move with the situation. It’s important to just make the best out of the current situation and find creative ways to mix up your training.” Ryan mixed it up by running a 100 miler in and around his home in Cape Town during lockdown in April. The total course length was 110 m, and he did it about 1463 times. The total elevation gain totalled 6000 m. His neighbours thought he was crazy, and stayed up during the night to support him. Hit play on the video above to watch his mammoth home run! Lucy Bartholomew published a plant-based cook book this year. Focus on what you can control This tip has been a big learning for Australian ultra runner Lucy Bartholomew this year. In July, a strict lockdown was imposed in Melbourne. Residents were only allowed out of their homes to exercise and to purchase essentials for no more than an hour a day, and could go no further than five kilometers from their homes. “It taught me to focus on the things I can control, like my effort and attitude and not overly stress and worry about what I can’t control,” she says. Instead of stressing, she focused on cooking delicious food and creating and publishing a cookbook, called Sustain your Ability. “I think the act of cooking and nourishing our body has been highlighted over this period as we have had more time at home so it’s really cool to connect with people around that.” Emelie Forsberg listens to her body, and knows when to push, and when to rest. © Kilian Jornet Accept where you are at It’s not surprising many of us lost motivation this year, especially early on. “I went through a struggle with motivation and then got it back and it was such joy!” mountain athlete Emelie Forsberg says. “Also becoming pregnant with our second child, I couldn't train because I was just too tired. So that has also been a mental challenge – trying to climb out of the hole of tiredness was interesting.” The takeaway is it’s important not to judge yourself if your motivation is low. It’s natural for it to wax and wane, especially in a year like this. Rather than give yourself a hard time, observe it, and accept that’s where you are at now. You might just need to give yourself time to rest, recover, adapt and find new goals. It will come back. Small goals make a difference When everything we normally look forward to has been cancelled, it’s natural to feel rudderless for a while. That’s why it’s so important to find new goals to get a sense of direction and achievement. “I set small goals every day, even as simple as ‘do a load of washing’ and saw that as a success and as an achievement,” Lucy says. “Sometimes we don’t give ourselves credit for just waking up and getting out of bed every day – that takes guts!” The highlight of 2020 for Courtney was attempting an FKT on the 805 km Colorado Trail. Run for the love of it For US ultra runner Courtney Dauwalter, who thrives on racing, her daily goal was simply to get on the trails near her home everyday. “I learned that I love training and running no matter if I have a race or not,” she says. “I loved getting out the door every day to explore our local trails even though I had no idea what I was preparing for.” Greg Hill got his own garden going, and supported his neighbours to do the same. © Greg Hill Care for your community With lockdowns happening across the world, and our usual social circles are disrupted, many of us have rediscovered the importance of local, even micro local, communities. For skimo legend Greg Hill, supporting his local community gave him and his neighbours a new sense of purpose. “I recognized the importance of community and how we really need to work together to weather this storm,” Greg says. “As an athlete with a voice, I used my voice to empower other ideas. I pivoted and started figuring out how to inspire people in other ways. We started a committee aimed at making Revelstoke more food secure. I brought in 100 trucks worth of soil to fill people’s gardens so we grow more food locally. It gave myself and others purpose while we were contained on our properties.” Investing in strength pays dividends long term. © Graeme Murray / Red Bull Content Pool Build strength Ryan Sandes and Lucy Bartholomew both spent much more time on strength and mobility training this year, and they say they feel better for it. Lucy also focused on recovering from an injury she ignored in 2019. “Usually training takes me two to three hours and it was almost refreshing to accept that this is what it is and to instead limit it to an hour of power (remember Melbourne residents were permitted out of their home for only an hour a day),” Lucy says. “I think it made me more efficient and then I spent more time in my home gym doing more strength work and yoga, which has been so much fun and really rewarding.” Family, good health, tasty food, fresh air – Emelie is grateful for the little things. © Kilian Jornet Be grateful for what you have Stuck indoors, and bombarded with bad news about the pandemic, it’s easy to overlook the positive. But for Emelie Forsberg this year has brought home to her how important it is to focus on all the wonderful things we have. “I think this pandemic has made us appreciate the small things in life that we sometimes take for granted, and that we value even more now, like being with family and staying healthy,” she says. Savour every hug Remember back in 2019 when people were hugging and high fiving all over the place? Ah, such fond memories. All of our Suunto ambassadors are longing to reconnect to their sport communities when the worst of the pandemic is behind us. “I will never take another hug from granted!” Lucy says. Lead image: © Philipp Reiter Read more articles 14 tips for backcountry skiing this winter 10 must-read Suunto articles from 2020 8 tools for tracking the weather with Suunto

Training isn't easy on anybody. The purpose of our ecosystem is to enrich your experience and relieve a part of that "training load.” We have partnered up with leading product & service providers in the sports and wellbeing industry and a few other companies to make sure you get the best pre, during and post-workout expertise. In the following tutorial, we will take you through the following topics: How does our partner ecosystem work? Who are our partners & what are the apps/platforms for? What is the Value Pack & how do I gain access to the apps? How does the Suunto partner ecosystem work? Understanding how our partnerships work is the first step to a better training experience together with your Suunto device. The ecosystem comprises various tools, products and apps: Suunto compatible 3rd party partner apps and services. SuuntoPlus features in your Suunto 5 & 9 and downloadable apps via Wear OS by Google on your Suunto 7. Compatible partner devices (i.e., sensors) and commercial offers from our partners via the Suunto Value Pack. Assuming you have not used our services before, and you have just received your watch (Suunto 3, 5, 7 and 9) or you are just now reading about the partners, here is what you need to know to get started: 1. Your watch will connect to the Suunto app, which is the connector between what your watch records, or what you need your watch to show, and the platforms that might provide that information (be it a training plan, a route, temperature information, etc.). This means that you can use your Suunto app or our partners’ online platforms/apps to analyze the information your watch recorded or to get the needed information for your training to your watch. Create an account with the Suunto app, pair your watch and start exploring. We’ve gathered here all the information to get you started with the Suunto app. All of our partners and their apps are available in the Suunto app, under the Partner services tab of your Profile. 2. For our Suunto 5 or 9, we are continually improving the watch’s software by adding SuuntoPlus features to it. They are specific 3rd party information your watch will be able to record if you select any of the options in the watch’s dropdown menu before pressing the Start button. The data is displayed in the Suunto app and the respective partner apps after syncing your workout. Here is how you get started. There are also various apps that you can use with your Suunto 7. For example, you can keep track of the local weather forecast with the help of Myradar directly on your watch. 3. You can use your watch with different sensors such as cycling power sensors, smart trainers, running sensors and heart rate belts. Use critical information to better plan your workouts or understand what your body is going through when training. Who are our partners & what are the apps/platforms for? In the past years, we have created fruitful connections with essential training and wellbeing service providers. You can check here a list with the current partners and a direct link to the Getting to know and started pages explaining how to get the app into use and what it will help you with. In case you have already created an account for the Suunto app, you can go to the Partner services tab of your Profile and filter all the apps that show up into categories. Just tap on the type you’re interested in. The Suunto compatible apps and services have a wide variety of tools. Get to work with your coach using TrainingPeaks or Today's Plan, prepare your routes using Wikiloc or Openrunner, view your hikes or rides with Relive or Adventurelog and virtually race your buddies with Ironman Virtual Club or UTMB. You might notice that some of the services have a distinctive sign next to their logo. These apps are included in the Value Pack you automatically receive when you purchase a Suunto watch. We will talk more about it in the next chapter. What is the Value Pack & how do I gain access to the apps? The Suunto Value Pack is a collection of benefits offered by our partners. It comes with all the new Suunto watches and the deals vary from premium trials to free training plans and discounts. We all want a free trial period for our subscriptions, a time in which we will be convinced (or not) by the value of the offered services. What the Value Pack does is: It gives you the chance to try the best services out there (free of charge). It provides you with discounts, free trials and special deals created by our partners for Suunto owners. It helps you get started in the world of sports with everything you need, from coaches and training plans to routing services, nutrition tips and more. After you’ve created your Suunto app account and paired your watch, an email will be on its way explaining to you how to redeem the Value Pack. The Valuepack is offered only for new products, so you will not receive the Valuepack email with the offers if you have a second-hand product. You can choose any of the available partner services and start a free trial. The deals vary depending on the services offered and you can choose to redeem any of them. You will be provided with “redeem” links and codes and have two months from the date of purchase of your device to activate the Pack. Otherwise, the offer will expire according to our Terms & conditions. After the trial period has expired, you can decide which apps you wish to continue using and check their offers for premium memberships. Regardless if you choose to continue with a premium membership or not, you are still able to use the basic features provided by the partner together with your watch via the Suunto app. Note: for any issues or questions that might arise, you can find help via our own and partners’ support pages. The Valuepack will change over time, so keep checking the valuepack page for the latest offers. Lead image by Philipp Reiter

Suunto ambassador and record breaking ski mountaineer Greg Hill has achieved some incredible things; skiing two million vertical feet (609, 600 m) in a single year, climbing and skiing over 190 mountains, his inspiring Electric Adventures challenge in which he has so far climbed 100 summits without using any fossil fuel. On top of this, add to the list being an awesome dad, and a voice for climate change action. Yet, behind every elite athlete, is at least one trainer who helps to keep the fire burning and things progressing in the right direction. This is true for Greg who has had the same highly sophisticated trainer for the last 21 years. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Greg had the time to sit down and reflect on this relationship. Thanks to my trainer By Greg Hill As Covid hit, we all sat back and reflected on our lives. What I reflected on most was my relationships and their importance. Of course, there were family and loved ones which are the most important. Yet, there were also others whose importance in my life became obvious. Relationships with co-workers, neighbours and, now that I think about it, a long-lasting relationship with my personal trainer. I should introduce myself. I am Greg Hill, a super passionate backcountry skier. This passion has driven me to find first descents, push endurance records and explore places like no one else. My passion lies in pushing into the unknown; be it the physical or the mental landscape. I first met my trainer in a parking lot in Whistler in 1999. It was a moment fated by the stars. I knew I needed a trainer, but I never understood how important the relationship was going to be. This began right at the start of my obsession with vertical travel in the mountains. I knew little, but dreamed big. How could I push and evolve my skills without a proper trainer? Most likely I wouldn’t have accomplished any of my goals without this connection. I had no idea how much this relationship was needed, but we hit it off right away. The moment I was told how fast I was moving upwards, I wanted to excel and push that number higher. With my days being diligently tracked I pushed higher and further for hours. Multiple summits, long, long days, bigger days than I had ever done before. Always the incessant qualifying of my efforts, always the numbers telling me how hard I was working. It was addictive being accountable. Our relationship developed into one of trust and commitment. I was pushed and driven to higher numbers and heights, always keeping track of my times, urging my vertical speeds faster and faster, always wanting me to go higher and further; 30 vertical feet a minute, come on you can do better, 50 feet a minute, that’s it … hold on… push and push… you've got this! One of my first goals was to max out how much I could do in a day’s effort. We diligently worked on getting my one hour vertical as fast and high as possible. My trainer coached me to a point where I could glide and slide my way uphill very fast for an hour at a time. He watched me hit personal best after personal best. Always keeping track and letting me know how well I had done. Or poorly depending on the day. Eventually with this coaching we saw the numbers get higher and higher, 10k, 20k, 30k, 40k in a day. Finally, my biggest vertical day ever, 50 000 feet (15, 240 m) in 23.5 hours. My coach kept those numbers and I was proud. Yet we knew we had more to do … lots more. For many years we worked at doing 3000 m days as fast as possible, pushing and working my fluidity until it felt normal to go out for four to five hours and log 3000 + meters of uphill travel. As a team, we worked up to one million feet in a winter, then eighty days over 3000 m in a season. Finally, we decided it was time for my biggest year ever. With my coach at my side at all times, I felt like we could challenge the world. As scared as I was of the audacity of the task, I knew that together we could make it happen. My drive and the constant progress reports would keep me motivated. The year was going to be all about getting out every day and moving up and down mountains. For 365 days I went to bed with my trainer beside me. Immediately on waking I was told how much vertical I had climbed up to that point. It took exactly 270 days out of 365 to push my numbers over the two million feet (609 km) mark but it was the endless support and drive of my trainer that kept me getting up in the morning. Greg celebrates back in 2014 after completing his March Madness, skiing 100.000 meters of vertical in a month. His trainer played a key role also in this challenge! In the last 10 years the information has changed and there is so much more that I get from my trainer: GPS lines that show the adventures with distances, apps that have all my efforts on them. I am even told how much time to relax between training sessions, though I find this one hard to follow!! These days my trainer captures all my efforts to stay off my “dad bod” and keep pushing my personal limits. High intensity training is key to pushing back against the effects of age. Now I am pushed hard for two minutes, then slow my heart rate down, then back up for two minutes, pushing hard into the 90 % of effort range. My heart rate is watched, recorded and displayed. I know if I am pushing hard enough to lose these love handles. By now it may be obvious the trainer I met in the parking lot in Whistler was my first altimeter watch. It has been an incredible time, using it for endless hours of quantified fun. I can honestly say that without the constant updates, and the evolution of these watches, I most likely would not have been as obsessed and pushed to excel in my life. All images: © Bruno Long Read more articles 14 tips for backcountry skiing this winter 10 must-read Suunto articles from 2020 7 tips for running in the rain