Continued Therapy and Fundraising

For the past 2 weeks, I have been going to physical therapy 3x/week and working hard, trying to get stronger. A bone bruise is a tough injury to handle. At this point in my recovery, I feel like I should lift as hard as I possibly can, because my body feels like it is physically capable. But, if I do this, I run the risk of re-injuring the bone. So, slow and steady it is. Hopefully I will be back on snow within a week or two!

In the mean time, I have just kicked off fundraising for my 2015 training/competition season. Unfortunately, ski racing is an expensive sport, and I rely heavily on fundraising to support my Olympic dream. If you are in a position to donate, please follow my link below to contribute. If you are not able to help out financially, please share my link through email or social media to get the word around!

2015 Fundraising

Some Nagging Injuries

Hey guys, now that finals are over and winter is in full swing, this blog is about to get ramped back up! Expect a post at least once a week from now until April.

A little update on my injuries: I got back into GS gates at the beginning of December and the knee felt great. I then upped my training volume and started some full length GS just a few days after that. One day after training I felt a little pain in my knee, so I decided to take a couple days off. When I returned to skiing after a break, my knee still hurt quite a bit, so I took another day off. When that didn’t help my pain, I decided to go to Park City to get it checked out. After an MRI and a couple visits with Dr. Cooley at Park City hospital, I found out that I have a decently bad bone bruise. Treatment for this injury is pretty simple- rest, spinning on the stationary bike, and icing the knee quite a bit. Unfortunately it’s a slow healing process (3-4 weeks), but I should be ready to go to Europe on Jan. 1!

I am planning on taking my training a bit slow right now to prevent any further injuries.  For now, it’s a lot of training and a lot of gym time, trying to get strong! I don’t plan on racing until I am fully up to speed. I will keep you posted.

ITS THAT TIME!

You know its time to start slicing some turns when you scroll through your instagram feed and see 9/10 of the most recent posts are of people shredding in Colorado. Last week I had physical testing in Park City, UT. Before I can go skiing, sports science wants to make sure the injured leg is within 92% strength of the non-injured leg. Problem is, I injured both legs… so I guess I am pretty damn even! Nonetheless, I am the strongest I have ever been, and I was cleared to go skiing. I spent 4 days in Copper Mountain, Colorado free skiing with coach Ian Lochhead, just going through the movements. I am now finishing up my fall term at Dartmouth and will be heading back out to Colorado on the 22^nd to start my winter!

Here is a little throwback to the first NorAm of the season last year, where I went from 23^rd after the first run to 11^th overall and a 4^th place on the second run, competing against multiple top 30 World Cup racers. 

Here is me doing the infamous 30-30-30 last week. The test consists of 30 jumps as high as you possibly can, followed by 30 seconds of rest, and then 30 more jumps as high as you can. The line that attaches to the harness around my waist runs into the ceiling to measure how high each jump is. First 30 jumps are easy… second 30 is stump city. Also, Simon Dumont comes into screen halfway through the video to scope out my hops. Pretty chill.  

August Therapy

Last time I posted in here I was just 4 weeks out of hip surgery. After 6 weeks of intense physical therapy and fitness training, I am on my way back to the east coast 10 weeks out of hip surgery and over 5 months out of knee surgery. After a great training block here at the Center of Excellence in Park City, UT, my strength and fitness is getting very close to where I was before my surgeries. I am thrilled with my progress, and excited for where I am heading. I have a little over 2 months of training before I get back on snow, and I am confident now that I will be the strongest I have ever been before winter comes. I will be starting school this fall at Dartmouth College, and will continue my rehab there. I will be able to fit in a semester of school, and be done by mid November to start training and racing with the US Ski Team- Europa Cup Tech Team.

Over the past 6 months, I have gone through a whole lot of ups and downs. As I was sitting in the gym the other day watching my teammates get heated in a game of basketball, I realized that with these injuries, I have been secluded from any type of competitive environment. It’s a weird thought, because ever since I can remember, I have been involved competitively in one way or another. Whether it’s checking your time against someone else’s time at the bottom of the course, trying to beat someone up the mountain in the last 10 minutes of a bike ride, or stacking 10 more pounds on the barbell just so you can say you did more weight than the guy next to you, I haven’t been able to participate in any of it. It’s funny, because growing up, everyone (parents, coaches, teachers) tells you to do the best YOU can do, and not to worry about anyone else. As any athlete at any level can attest to, this is nearly impossible. These injuries sure have pushed my mental strength to its capacity. Everyday, I go to physical therapy, do my modified workouts separate from my team, and sit on the stationary bike for hours because I am not allowed to mountain bike yet. There is nothing in my training right now that I am able to compare to anyone else. I am flat out, just trying to get MYSELF stronger, so I can have the best winter I can possibly have. Though it’s easy to just wish I were down in New Zealand or Chile skiing with my teammates, I have to find ways to get motivated to hit the gym everyday by myself. I can tell you that I have been more focused and more in tune with my body in the past 6 months than I ever have been. The people I will be competing against this coming winter have pretty much finished their dry land training blocks, and are already training on snow somewhere in the world. I am ok with that. Physical therapy is what I need to be doing to get back on track to becoming the best skier I can be. No doubt, when I get back on snow I will be a bit behind the pace, but I can assure you, and myself, that I will be making progress with each turn I make come November. As my friends and I always say “you do you!”

Here are a couple pictures of me taking the US Ski Team 'bike test'. Just 2 months out of hip surgery, I tied my best test ever. Now it's time to get my strength and explosiveness back up!

Rehab

Hello everyone! It’s been a while since I have posted in here, and a lot has happened. Since my crash in the World Junior Downhill in Slovakia, I have had two surgeries. The first one was to get the ACL in my left knee fixed, from Dr. Boynton in Rutland Vermont. After this surgery, I was only on crutches for about 5 days, which seemed incredibly short to me, but the Doc assured me that my knee would be stable enough to walk. So, I started physical therapy on my knee just 10 days after my surgery, and could actually perform body weight squats at 4 weeks out. I then headed out to Utah to ramp up my physical training at the USSA Center of Excellence. I had a nice 6 week block from May into June strengthening my left leg, dong exercises such as: Leg press, single leg squats, overhead squats, front squats, and single leg biking.

In mid June, I flew back east to search for a hip surgeon to fix my hip impingement and labrum tear. The first doctor I saw was Dr. Van Flandern at the New England Baptist surgery center, in Massachusetts. He was a super nice guy, and got right to the point with me. He basically said ‘you’ve got an impingement, and a labrum tear. You won’t be able to ski with it like this. Come in next week and let’s fix it.’ I didn’t want to waste any more time, and I couldn’t have been happier with how quick Dr. Van Flandern was able to get me in for surgery. So, I just bit the bullet, didn’t meet with any other doctors, and went with him as my surgeon. It was a great choice. I am just 3 weeks out of my surgery, and I can barely feel anything in my hip. They told me it could be painful for as long as a month, but I stopped having any kind of nerve pain in just 7 days. I am now sitting on a plane, heading back out to Utah to getting my physical training started once again.

For the amount of crap I have had to deal with this off-season, I am thrilled with how smooth my surgeries have gone, and I fully intend to be back on snow in November, working harder, and skiing faster than ever!

World Junior Championships

Hello everyone! I apologize for not updating the blog in a while. I guess a lot has happened in the past 3 weeks. At the end of February, I flew over to Jasna, Slovakia for the Junior World Championships. We had a couple days of freeskiing and training before the races began. We started off with the Super-G and the Super-Combined. Although the track was a bit mellow, the trail turned quite a bit and there were a few jumps to keep it exciting. After a great top split, I made a minor mistake which caused me to scrub most of the speed I had carried from the top steeps. The hiccup toward the end caused me to finish outside the top 10, to place 22^nd. I had a great start to the Super-Combined but unfortunately I skied out, gunning for a top 10. It was an incredibly tight race, as I was only 0.40 seconds out of the top 10. Next was 2 Downhill training run days followed by 1 race day. After the first training run, our team was off to a great start as Sam Dupratt finished 2^nd, I finished 9^th, and Tanner Farrow finished 12^th. The second training run was cancelled do to weather; which didn’t bother us too much because of our training run success. Unfortunately it turned into a not so great day.

As a whole, we had great bib draws and we were excited for a sweet day of downhill. I ran 22^nd . Once again, I had a fast first split, carrying my speed from the pitch to the flats, where I found some trouble. Halfway down the course, I took off a little jump, which I landed fine. I then began to pressure my ski to make a left foot turn across the hill. Unfortunately, I started the turn a little early and was heading straight at the gate. I then had to let off the ski a bit and then pressure hard again under the gate, where I hit a bump.  That is when I felt my knee go from under me and started tomahawking down the hill. I had excruciating pain in my left knee and was pretty positive I messed something up down there. I was taken down in a sled and taken to the hospital in a sketchy ambulance. I later found out I tore my ACL. It’s unfortunate to end a season on an injury 2 years in a row, but I was pushing as hard as I could. Though it would be nice to be healthy, I know I would have been just as bummed out if I made it to the bottom safely and saw a 20^th place rank next to my name. This kind of thing happens when you push your limits, but that’s what makes ski racing so damn fun.

This past week, I have been doing some physical therapy, getting my knee ready for surgery. I will be going under the knife this coming Wednesday and I will let you all know how it goes!

Mount St. Anne Speed Series

Last week was the Mount St. Anne Nor-Am speed series in Quebec. Out of the 6 days we were there, we had 5 days of sunshine with no clouds. Quebec gets a really bad rep in the ski racing world because they never seem to have good weather, and are never able to get races off. This year was great! The downhill a little bit tricky. The trail was very narrow, therefore difficult to set big sweeping downhill turns. It ended up being more like a super-g, but nonetheless we got going pretty fast. I never really had a good run out of the two race days, with a best finish of 20th. It was a bit disappointing to not get as many Nor-Am points as last year in DH, but I do have a few downhills left this season to turn it around. I was excited for the two super-g's that followed the downhills, as super-g has been my best event this season. The first day I got bib 5, and was ready to send it. I skied extremely well on the top 2/3 of of the course, but I lost a few tenths down on the bottom flats with a mistake on a roll. I ended up 14th, which wasn't great, but not terrible. The next day I got bib 2, but unfortunately, the Quebec weather rolled in and the race got cancelled. It was unfortunate the race got cancelled, but with it being cancelled, I had the super-g spot for World Juniors locked up. 

This year World Junior Championships will be in Jasna, Slovakia. Iv'e never been to Slovakia, so I hope it brings some new adventures! I will be racing in all 5 events (SL, GS, SG, DH, and Super-Combined), and hopefully the team event too (which is 2 guys and 2 girls). My goal is to get a podium in any event, but if I walk away with a top 10 I won't be disappointed at all! 

Stowe Norams

After Europe, I got to go home and hangout for a few days in Massachusetts. A much needed break! Then it was right back to training up in Stratton, VT with my old team. It was great prep for the Stowe Norams, and I was ready to rip. The first day at Stowe I started bib 25. Start position didn't really matter here, as the snow was solid ice. I was having a good run, but unfortunately I caught an arm inside a panel and exploded. I was unable to finish. The second day I had the same bib and was ready to charge. I had a mistake in the first run to put me in 21st after first run. I was disappointed with the run because I thought I had ruined another great opportunity to score well in GS. My plan for second run was to just send it. I did just that and moved up to 12th place overall and ended 3rd on the run. It was the best finish I have ever had in a Noram GS run. Now I am up in Mount St. Anne, Quebec for some speed. I will fill you in when the series is over!

Wengen European Cup DH

Here is the race run from Wengen, Switzerland. A couple small mistakes caused me to finish outside the top thirty, but i'm happy I made it down in one piece! 

This is the training run from Wengen. There are a few more angles here. Speeds were a little slower on the training run day, but I hit the rolly section much smoother here. 

I started bib 64 and finished 45th. It was a great first experience at European Cup downhill, and I am already stoked to do it again next year!

Zell Am See European Cup GS

Here is a video of my first and second runs from Zell Am See, Austria. Snow was minimal there and it was pretty similar to spring skiing in Vermont. On top of the difficult snow conditions, if was one of the more challenging GS hills I have done this season. I went from Bib 65 to 45 and got my first ever second run in a European Cup! Enjoy.

Some more Europe

So, for the past 2 weeks I have been on a bit of a race grind. A lot of travel, little free time, and very little internet! In the Wengen Europa Cup Downhill, I placed 45^th, Which I was happy with! I had a decent run with a few mistakes, but more important, I started to nail the line better each run down the track. That was the goal.

After Wengen, we went to Folgaria, Italy for 2 GSs. In the first GS race I placed 10^th with a start number of 19. I was also pleased with this result, as moving up in any European FIS race is not an easy thing to do. I was the top Junior and almost scored FIS point result, but not quite. With my junior win, I won a bottle of wine, some cheese, a giant cookie, and a slab of meat (haha classic Italy). For the second day I had bib 17 and was planning on sending it a little harder. Unfortunately, the straight line eventually caught up to me and I had to ski out of the course. It was a cool little resort, with a somewhat gnarly race hill. After Folgaria, we moved down the road to Madonna di Campiglio, Italy.

I knew it was going to be quite the trip when we got to town and the snow banks were towering over the car. When we got up on the hill the first day for the race, there was about 18 inches of fresh snow ontop of a 4 foot base. I started bib 15, and had a good run, coming down in the lead by over 4 tenths of a second. But, since there was a lot of snow, they decided to send slip crews every 20 people. After these slips, the course would get a little faster, because they were getting rid of all the soft crappy snow. Therefore, a bunch of late bibs were able to throw it into the top 10. One of my teammates, Ronnie Berlack was able to take advantage and skied into 1 first place… from BIB 61!!! Impressive. I ended the first run in 5^th place. Second run did not go well, and I got bumped out of the top 10. But it wasn’t the worst of days, as we got to ski one of the coolest mountains I have ever been to with a foot and a half of new snow; and a few of my teammates snagged career best results to make things even a little better! The next day we woke up to another foot of fresh snow. The race got cancelled after inspection, and that meant powder skiing! We were able to get some really deep pow turns in before we hit the road again to Zell am See, Austria for a Europa Cup GS.

The snow conditions were a bit different in Austria, with a snow base of about 10 inches. The snow conditions made for an interesting, bumpy race. I started 65 and ended up 45^th after first run. I had a solid run, but mistakes were inevitable with how rough it was. I finished just .5 out of flip. It was close but I was happy to even get a second run, as they cut the second run to just 60 people for second run. Second run did not go as well, and I finished the race in 47^th. I look forward to my next Europa Cup GS, to make a running for the flip.

Today I raced a Super G in Radstadt, Austria. I was expecting it to be an easyish race with a few fast guys, but I guess that never happens in Austria. A few World Cup guys showed up and I started 16. I had a solid run, once again with a few minor mistakes, but nothing too bad. I finished 8^th, got second for Juniors, and even scored a little FIS point result. My Super G points will now go down to 19.

I now have 4 more days in Europe, then its home to Massachusetts and little Vermont thrown in there. Next up is the infamous Kirchburg GS in Austria. Right now, there isn’t good enough internet to post pictures or videos. When I get back to the US I will post a bunch of my race runs and pictures. 

Some Pictures From the Lauberhorn Downhill

Out of the start

 View from the first turn

Looking down on the Hundschopt

 Looking Up at the Hundschopt

 Looking up from S-Turn

 Top of S-Turn

Left footer of S-Turn 

 Right footer of S-Turn

 Little coffee shack with the Eiger in the background 

Right before the Start

I will take some more pictures tomorrow and post some video when the races are over. So much Fun!

Races Begin in Europe!

After 4 great days of training in Soelden, Austria, we arrived in Wengen, Switzerland yesterday; and  today, I had my first training run down the downhill track! I had a lot of mistakes, which left me way behind the pace, but nonetheless a great time! After Wengen European Cups, I will go back to Austria for a little more training, then its off to Trentino, Italy! In Trentino I will be doing 2 GS's at Madonna di Campiglio, and 1 GS at Fulgaria. I will then be going to Zell Am See, Austria for a European Cup GS. Then I will be making the trek to Val D'Isere, France for 2 SGs and maybe 1 DH (all European Cups)! I am excited for the busy schedule toward the end of the trip and I will keep you all posted. Looks like I will be clocking a few kilometers over the next couple weeks!

Euro Trip 2014 Begins

My last blog was almost 2 weeks ago. Since then I raced in the Vail Nor-Ams and spent some time training at the home hill, Wachusett.

Unfortunately, the Vail Nor-Ams did not go nearly as well as they did last season. On the first day of GS, I was fortunate enough to start in the first 15 and started 9. I had a good first run going, finishing 4^th and 5^th on the first two intervals. But some peely snow down bottom caused me some trouble and finished 55th. My goal for second run was to just have a solid run and ski into the top 30 to score some Nor-Am Cup points. Once again, I had trouble down bottom, which took me out of the course. For the second day, I was bumped out of the top seed, and started 26. It wasn’t a big deal, as the snow surface is usually pretty good in Vail. Once again, I started off well with 3^rd and 5^th on the first two intervals. Unfortunately, I hit a cross rut from the previous day and my skis slapped together. I had a pretty good fall and couldn’t finish the run. It was a crappy, and somewhat unlucky 2 days of ski racing, but as I have said before, that’s just how it is sometimes. At least I know I am skiing well, and the speed is there for the next race.

Over my Christmas break, I was able to get some quality rest, but I also got the chance to ski and train at Wachusett. I skied 2 days of slalom, mostly with the U18s and U16s. After training, I was able to hit the park with my little cousin Liam. I mean, what is a trip to Wachusett without some park laps!? It was a lot of fun skiing at the old hill, and hope to get back there a couple more times this season.

I am now in Solden, Austria training some GS and SG. Next on the race schedule is the Wengen, Switzerland European Cup Downhill!

Here is Bode's winning run from 2007, and the track I will be running next week!