After a four month respite from skiing, I am back on snow and having a blast.  I arrived yesterday afternoon to lovely New Zealand where I am spending the next 4 weeks of my life training, racing and getting ready for the next World Cup season and Olympic Games.

Having come off the longest break of my career to date, I was a little concerned that I might have forgotten how to ski but good news folks; I survived today with flying colours and no crashes!  Apparently ski racing is just like riding a bike! Our camp is starting off in a place called Roundhill, which, according to a lovely couple in the inspection line at the airport is literally a “round hill”.  It is actually quite amazing because there are all these magnificent mountains surrounding Lake Takapo (the village where we are staying!) yet, the ski hill was built on the “round hill”.  I must admit that it was a nice transition, if that can even be the word, from no skiing to “we have a lot to do in the next 4 weeks, skiing and full length slalom courses!”

I have always really enjoyed coming to train in New Zealand over the years. There are many reasons for this but the first coming to mind being, English, similar cultures, low elevations, towns, shopping and good snow!  The first time I ever came to New Zealand was ten years ago when I came down with the ski team to a place called Porter Heights.  I realize now that those where definitely the days of character building, patience training and roughing it.  We had nine to a room, one house for the full 3 weeks, no civilization in sight and the hot tub consisted of a tub, full of hot water, precariously perched over an open fire!  This time round we are staying in beautiful condo’s right on the lake, cooking our own meals and in an area where there is a café and internet!

As I mentioned earlier, I was off of snow for 4 months this year, which is the longest time I have been off snow in the last 13 years probably.  It was a break that I dearly needed and one which I tried to capitalize on and one that I think was absolutely necessary to get me ready for what lies ahead.  I only had a few mild panic attacks on the hill today when trying out new drills and courses which seems much more complicated before my break!!! What I have really realized is that I am finally fresh and ready to learn again.

Once you have been on the National Team for as long as I have and once you reach a certain level on the World Cup, training isn’t so much about how many runs you can do a day, it is about fine tuning and making the most out of each run you take. I am not going to go out there and change my technique drastically, but I am trying to eliminate some of my bad habits and to solidify a great base from which to work from.  I am looking for the hundredths of a second that separate the winners from the non podium achievers.

This camp here in New Zealand is where we set the base and tone for the season to come.  I will be spending 5 days here in Roundhill, and then I am heading up to Queenstown for 2 weeks and finishing off the camp in Mt. Hutt.  There will be a couple races that my team might attend while we are down here but I am really trying to focus on the technical aspects that I need to alter, refine and imprint.

I was so excited to be back on my skis today and although I did suffer from a little leg burn and “slalom back”, it was well worth it! I hope that everyone is enjoying summer and not thinking of snow flakes!

A summer of Fun!

Now what is it that ski racers do in the summer months when there is no snow to be seen and the skis are waxed and put away to collect dust for the summer? Contrary to what most people think, summer is not all about beer, beach and barbeques, but about barbells, bikes and bruises.

This summer I wanted to find my inner “athlete” again and so I found myself back in Fernie, purchasing a new mountain bike and pushing my fear limits on the trails throughout the valley.  I also enjoyed working out in the local gym and scaring the dickens out of everyone while enduring my 2 min clean-squat interval. This was a great interlude for what was to come in Whistler where the team converged together for a 10 day dryland camp.

Sometimes I find it a little hard to get up the motivation for the team dryland camps because I do enjoy my time away from the team and the comfort of my own home but I have been pleasantly surprised in Whistler.  The program was adapted from spending 3.5hours in the gym in the mornings and again a 1.5hr session in the afternoon to intervals, jumps and agility outdoors and epic bike rides in the afternoons. After the first day I was slightly concerned that we were training for the strongman championship after a serious log rolling contest but it turns out that it is also productive training for a ski racer.  The mountain biking has been a blast especially having our ski coaches out with us (Rob Boyd is still as crazy as ever!).

I have come to the conclusion, that although many of us will deny it initially, we are all adrenaline seekers.  Whether it is on the mountain bike flying downhill, or jumping off bridges, we all get such a kick out of it and it becomes quite apparent why we do what we do.  Yesterday after possibly the hardest bike ride of the summer we did team bungee jumping.  Yup, that is right, my whole team jumped with flying colours off the bridge at Whistler Bungee with laughter, screams and pizzazz. I must admit though that by the time I went (last out of the bunch, had to switch cables…..) my stomach was in my throat and I was doubting my bravado.

The thing that is crazy about my sport is the fact that I almost need to train to train, meaning that I need to get as fit as possible off the snow in order to maximize my on snow training. Due to the fact that we need to travel far and wide in the search of snow, when we get there it is extremely important to use the time efficiently and productively and thus the gruelling hours in the gym.

Whistler is a really important time for our team. It is the last major dryland training block before we hit the slopes of New Zealand at the beginning of August.   I have had almost 4 months off of snow already and it has been an excellent refuelling period and now I am ready to hit the slopes again.

What I have come to realize at this Whistler camp is that we have an amazing group of athletic women who are fun, adventurous and all on the same journey to success.  We have a blast together and complement each other in ways that make spending months on end together possible. I am so excited for this next year and what it will bring. It is going to be an experience of a lifetime and one I will never forget!