Hola from Chile! Again!
Today was day 4 of our second prep camp in Chile, this time in Corallco, Chile https://maps.app.goo.gl/SQ4YnaNuCfteGGYT6 a short 860 km south of Portillo Chile where we ended our last Chile camp three weeks ago.
Thankfully, our first camp in Chile ended a lot better than it started for me and I finally had some really positive days at the legendary Portillo ski resort.
It’s always surprising, yet reassuring, how much a change in environment is able to shift my mindset and mood, and it turns out this still applies at ski camp! When we arrived in Portillo, I decided to switch back to my old race boots from last season, which made a massive difference, and I immediately felt like I was in control of what was going on in my skiing again. Portillo is also much steeper and more technical than La Parva and honestly it felt great to be training in conditions that were more suited to my strengths. Perhaps this was a learning lesson that when you’re really struggling, and beating your head against the wall, you deserve to go and do something you’re naturally better at to give yourself a break?
In any case, we had an awesome week in Portillo, with the exception of the most painful food poisoning I have ever experienced on the second last day. But ironically enough, the 10 hours of pain in bed led to an even more positive ending to camp. On the last day I was truly so grateful to feel healthy and able to be outside in a beautiful place. I remember thinking to myself on that last day “how can I engrain this feeling into my brain, so I always feel this way!?” But, I am a big believer that the lowest of lows are what truly make the highs feel so special, so perhaps there is no way to always feel positive.
This reminded me of a conversation I used to have with one of my college friends who also studied engineering. We would ask each other, if your emotions were a sine wave, what frequency and amplitude would be ideal for you? I always chose high frequency, high amplitude, so perhaps I crave the big highs and lows more than normal? In any case, I picked a good sport for it, because its pretty much mandatory to fluctuate a lot day to day with ski racing, and at some point you have to acquiesce to the rollercoaster of emotions that comes with the sport!
Here are some photos (and video above) to recap our week in Portillo:
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