end of season thoughts

abridged version :)

Whenever I haven’t caught up with a friend in a while, the inertia to pick up the phone grows bigger and bigger. The longer I wait, the more there is to talk about—and the more overwhelming it feels to start. What a silly thing to procrastinate and overthink.

I feel the same way when I haven’t written here for a while. So…

Let’s catch up.

This was definitely a hard season. Looking back, there are so many things I would have (and will) do differently. But there are also things I’m proud of—mainly that I kept showing up and kept giving it my all. (perhaps a little too much, as one of the problems this year was that I was mentally, physically, emotionally exhausted at the end of the season. But taking a break is hard for me and it feels good in my heart to know I gave it literally everything. We’re still working on the smarter not harder approach :)))

At the same time, I’m disappointed in myself. I let my mind get in the way and spent most of the second half of the season in a pretty rough headspace.

And yet—even in one of my toughest seasons mentally—I still has some solid results:

I finished the season ranked 40th in the world in super g, I won US Nationals super g, and I ended the season with some solid gs races to keep the gs dream alive :)

If you’ve been reading my blogs for a while, you know that one of the main reasons I continue to ski race is that it has challenged me more than anything else in my life and through those challenges I’ve been able to learn about myself and grow. That’s what keeps me going—no matter the results.

Of course, this is hard to realize when you’re in the middle of a bad season: (I certainly wasn’t thinking Yay this is so hard I’m going to grow so much!)

But looking back, I did learn some incredibly valuable life lessons.

Above all else, I’m so incredibly grateful to still be able to ski race. I love racing. I love the training. I love trying to get better. I love the mental challenges, the adapting, the figuring‑it‑out. I love caring so much about something and pouring my heart and soul into it—even though so many variables aren’t in my control, even though it may not ‘work out,’ even though it makes me quite frustrated and sad. Maybe not even despite these things but, in part, because of them. I love feeling all the emotions so strongly.

And most of all, I love sharing the experience with others.

Maybe this season wasn’t my best because I lost my way a bit and forgot that sharing the journey is the whole point.

I will do better.

Anyways, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who follows my journey, to everyone who sends encouragement, or cheers from afar. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I’m already excited and motivated to start training for next season. Let’s go.

— Tricia

La Thuile - the race weekend that could have been and wasn’t. Or just the last World Cup of the season and the one I’m the most disappointed in myself, but (to cut myself some slack) I was really quite exhausted at this point. It would have been impressive to pull through with some good results, but I didnt.

I then went up to Kvitfjiel by myself to race the last EC super g of the season. This also went pretty poorly, but I’m less disappointed because the cards were certainly not stacked in my favor.

I do really love it up here though, and despite the disappointments, was quite appreciative of returning to one of my favorite places.

and then finally it was time to go home.

spent some time catching up with this guy :) We were both a bit pooped

and got to make a quick visit to Holimont …

to forerun Kandahar champs! Peep my mom as the starter :)

always a blast to meet all the NYC young rippers. I was especially impressed that they all race 3 runs, two days in a row, in pretty miserable weather (and equally impressed by all the amazing coaches and volunteers who work so hard to make ski racing the best possible experience for as many kids as possible.)

then 48 hours later I flew to Sun Valley where World Cup Finals were to train and cheer on my teammates - I was so fun to see so many ski friends from over the years at the first domestic WC finals in many many years (maybe ever?!)

then it was time for US Nationals in Vail Colorado - this photo is from the parade and autograph signing

Uncle Peter made the drive up to watch my super g (despite it getting delayed multiple times) and was my good luck charm! (The only other race he came to watch in winter park I also won - the only two wins of my season!)

Super G Nationals Podium Keely on the left in second and Elizabeth Bocock on the right in third

after my final races in winter park (two fis gs races) I flew back to Buffalo and got to spend some quality time with my parents and aunts and uncles and cousins! Pictured here Dad, Mom, Aunt Anne and Uncle Karl

A week later I flew to San Francisco. A Dartmouth skiing teammate and close friend of mine, Ellie Curtis passed away skiing in Tahoe, and we had a very special celebration of life for her in SF. So incredibly tragic and sad and heartbreaking. Ellie was genuine, adventurous, goofy, passionate and an all around incredible person. We miss her a lot.

While in SF, I was able to catch up with so many friends and of course had to do a stairs workout on the Lyon Street Steps - a tradition every time I come to the city.

we had a great family zoom call - it’s been a while since we’ve all been together and it was honestly a great way to catch up 10/10 recommend!

then it was off to Mammoth California for our spring training camp

unfortunately I took a pretty big spill see video below:

tricia_mangan

A post shared by @tricia_mangan

but I received the BEST easter basket in the mail from my mom!

Mammoth is always one of my absolute favorite camps of the year. I was bummed to miss a lot of days because I strained my adductor in my crash. But thankful, it’s not anything worse

then it was time to head back to Park City for our testing. This is baseline testing for us to compare to at the end of our off-season dryland training.

Two full days of testing leaves you pretty wiped out! Let me know if you’d like to see/hear what we do for all the tests!

And more dinners with friends :) One plus side of not living anywhere is that pretty much every time I travel to somewhere in the US, I have a friend to catch up with over dinner :)