on and on we go!

A little photo and video update from the past couple weeks :)

Starting off a bit asynchronously with videos of my World Cup runs in Kvitfjell Norway last weekend.

This was from my Super G run. Unfortunately I lost 1.5 second in the second split which was arguably the easiest part of the course. Looking back I was probably just over skiing the course, which is quite disappointing, because the rest of the run on the hard technical sections was very solid skiing. I finished 36th. A couple tenths from top 30. even though this was super disappointing, I’m trying to take away some positives from the skiing and the fact that I’m very close, even on not my best runs, and with runs I lose 1.5 seconds on the flats :0

This next video was from my first dh run. Probably one of my best downhill runs of the season until I crashed off the last jump right before the finish. Jumping has always been a weakness of mine, and I’ve made a ton of progress but unfortunately missed the timing this day and had way more speed than my training runs. I was still very happy with the skiing and to finally see some improvement in downhill, which has been a massive struggle this year. I broke my skis during the crash so had to go on different race skis the next dh day which felt completely different and I struggled to feel any flow. Kind of crazy how much of a difference skis make :(

Okay now jumping back in time to when I last wrote a couple weeks ago in Bardonecchia Italy. This is a very happy photo from some training days with the Europa Cup team (Allison Mollin, her coach Marjan and technician Gaso, who took me under their wing for a few weeks when I didn’t qualify for World Champs.)

I did get the flu the day after this photo and that was quite miserable. But nothing like feeling totally and completely dead to make you appreciate all the small things once you finally feel better.

When I was very sick I remember thinking, “okay, once I am healthy, I am going to do this and this and this” and it made me realize that I often fall into this trap of “after I accomplish this, I’ll do this”; instead of just living and appreciating the current moment. Of course, this isn’t that fun to do when you’re sick, but I tried to carry this realization with me once I started to feel better again. Jury is still out on how I’m doing …. :/

Bardonecchia was not my favorite place, but their coffee prices were definitely unbeatable!

a little pre travel gym workout in Munich before flying to Norway - we usually use our make shift gym set up that we travel around with, but any chance we can go to a real gym is very nice! Although I will say, my teammates enjoy gyms and lifting farrrr more than me. I would always prefer to go for a run or bike outside. But skiing is a power and strength sport, not a cardio sport, so gym time is mandatory.

made it to sunny Kvitfjell!

ah that’s more like it!

I finally organized a team poker night (pretty good participation actually) which was quite fun. We used Catan pieces as chips :) and taught Cougs to play Texas holdem

Into the clouds we go for one last training session before the World Cup

William Mom and Connor came to watch and support in Norway which was so so nice!

going over the POV (our coach uses a gopro to video the course after its set the day before the race so we can study the video and talk through the course) during team meeting

On super - g days, we only get to inspect (slip down the course) once, and then we run it. So it’s much more about adapting. Where as in Downhill we always have at least one downhill training run (usually two) and the course is almost always the same as previous years. So you can study video from previous years and also see how it feels during the training run. Downhill is much more about knowing the perfect line and not making any mistakes on the way down. In Downhill its about maintaining speed (more of a perfectionist approach while still pushing as hard as possible for speed - aerodynamics, smooth, clean pressure), where as in super g there are more places to make speed and mistakes can be okay (more of a send it, be aggressive with the turns and approach, and push the line in different places because in super g there is often more than one fast way to ski the course.)

going up the lift for my super g run. Mostly excited :)

having my family at the race and family friends there to watch is always special. I love that they can travel to the places I get to go to and really enjoy the experience. I’ve also been struggling lately, so any extra help to feel supported goes a long way :)

action shot from the downhill day.

ended the weekend with a jump in the Fjord in Oslo with Connor. Quite! chilly but felt amazing after.

William and Mom walked me all the way to the gate and then we said farewell - all headed to different cities :(

one night stay in Munich means mandatory Schnitzel dinner! Probably my 15th schnitzel in the last 2 months

treating ourselves to gas station ice cream bars on Fat Tuesday :)

Next stop was Kitzbuhel for Europa Cup Super G races. It was 60 degrees every single day in the valley which felt amazing!!!! spring sun is something special

This was the first time they’ve ever had Europa Cup Women races at Kitzbuhel. We skied a super g on the mens downhill track, so it was definitely an interesting set/race with super super tight gates on the pitch then a very long very flat flat section and some gliding turns on the bottoms. not my favorite course, and unfortunately I was pretty slow :/ but it was a good opportunity to learn more about my weaknesses and makes me very motivated to fix them.

warming up before the race at the legendary kitz starting house

After the race yesterday, we drove 8 hours to La Thuile Italy where we have the very last World Cup this weekend. We raced part of this hill in Europa Cups last year and I love this track because its steep and technical. I am definitely feeling pretty exhausted mentally, physically and emotionally at this point in the season. Looking back I probably should have taken more than a 3 day break in the middle of the season, but I’m going to do my very best to summon all the strength I have to put down my best skiing here this weekend. My goal is just to be proud of the turns and focus the entire course!