Today’s blog is a photo update from the last three weeks here in Chile.
We had our first races of the season on Sept 30th (two downhills) and 31st (two super-g’s). Both were great learning experiences. I had some okay training runs in the downhill and then was very slow in the downhill races (even though I felt great), which forced me to reflect on what is going on with my downhill skiing, and how can I get to a place where I know what fast skiing should feel like, and then work my way towards that (more to come on downhill lessons).
The Super-G’s went much better and I walked away with two wins! I have a pretty good idea of what it takes to be fast in super-g and although my runs were no where near perfect, I pushed the line and skied aggressively which is why I was able to be fast despite some big mistakes.
Both of the races were a great chance to practice race mode in the middle of our prep camp which is always interesting. It’s a low expectation, low stakes opportunity to test your speed, and Stef and I both walked away with lots of things to work on!
After the races, we had four more days of training in El Colorado before we headed down to Santiago to pick up a rental car and drive two hours to the coast to Concon for a mini two day break at sea level to recover as much as possible before our last 10 day push of the camp. Our last day in El Colorado was Stef’s birthday so I made her some special crepes and we had an awesome super g day.
Followed by a nice sushi dinner out at the coast. This was our first meal out the whole camp and it tasted awesome! They even made Stef a little birthday cake.
The next day in Concon we all had a very nice and relaxed morning before exploring, working out, and getting computer work done. I also did some research on fun things to do in Concon and found a Whatsapp number for a highly recommended horseback riding service. I messaged the guy in Spanish via google translate and set up a three hour horse back ride. He gave us some rough guidelines on how to find him, (no pin drop or google location) and we eventually made our way up to his farm up that was full of animals: dogs, cats, chickens, horses all running around. Our guide’s name was Sebastian and he quickly strapped up five horses and we were on our way after a very brief hot-to-ride-and-control-your-horse lesson. Luckily Thomas speaks Spanish, so he translated everything for us. We started off quite slow which was nice because most of us hadn’t been on a horse in a very long time, but as soon as we hit the beach, the horses started galloping. It was a pretty surreal journey across beaches, sand dunes, and forests. It’s very rare to be able to experience something like that in the middle of a ski camp, so we were all very excited and it only cost $30 each!
The next day we drove back to the mountains and moved into our (even smaller) apartment in La Parva where we will be for the remainder of the camp. We’ve had some unreal downhill training here the past couple of days, working on both glide turns and full length speed courses. We’ve been training mostly with the Austrian World Cup and Europa Cup teams who are extremely fast and great pace. I’ve learned so much from being able to see their line and watch their video compared to mine to see where I could be making up speed. I’m excited to write about my downhill progress in the next blog.
Three more days here before we return home, and although we are all pretty run down at this point (my HRV is normally around 85-95 and it has been consistently in the 60’s for three weeks now :0), we’re excited to make the most out of these last days. This is by far the most speed training I’ve gotten, (Last year, I trained four days full length DH in total!) so I’m trying to take advantage of that.
Hey Tricia
Hey Stef
Thank you so much for the updates....These are great reveals from you two from the top of the world.
Super congrats on your GS Victories, Tricia!!!!
Happy (belated) Birthday, Stef!!!
Love the theme of "getting more speed" from wherever and whenever you can.
I had no idea that different boots can improve affect different speed races..... (What the heck is a "ramp angle"!)
From 10,000 feet to sea level, and then riding horses, and then back.....that has got to expand your oxygen carrying capacities!!!
Miss you both...
Kick some Ass
Speed, speed, speed!!!!!
We are behind you ALL THE WAY>>>>>>
UD