Summer Fun and Summer Snow

I posted my last blog at US national championships. I had hopes of going into the national event fully healed from my ankle injury, but unfortunately I could only race at 75%. My season then ended short. I headed back to Park City to get it checked out and get some physical therapy done on it. I got it healthy enough to get back on snow for the US Ski Team tryout camp in May at Mammoth Mt. California. I performed well enough there to get a promoted to the ‘C Team’.

As a member of the C Team, I am now required to live in Park City for the summer. Although we have been working out from 9AM to 3PM 6 days a week, my teammates and I have found some time for some fun. So far we have set some time aside for some rope swinging, wakeboarding, waterskiing, skateboarding, volleyball, mountain biking, and our big summer project so far… building a boat! Here are some pictures of our building process. 

 

After we finally got the boat together on land, we tossed it up onto my friend's truck the next day to get it on the water. It actually stayed floating way better than any of us thought it would. We got some carpet for the floor, a mini basketball hoop, 2 grills, and 22 people all on the boat before it started to sink. We got it out to a lake in Oakley, Utah that had a rope swing, and where we camped out for the night. 

It has been quite the summer so far between fitness and fun, but I am looking forward to getting back on snow this week at Mt Hood. Coming soon to my blog will be a video of some summer activities so far. For the end of the summer and all of next ski season, I will be traveling with a GoPro, provided by Wachusett Mountain. Hopefully I will be able to capture more skiing and other fun with the GoPro, and share my crazy lifestyle with you guys!

Nor-Am Finals and US Nationals

Nor-Am Finals Started 2 weeks ago in Nakiska, Alberta. The series kicked off with a Super-G in which I faired pretty well in. With a more-stacked Nor-Am field than normal, I was happy with my 13th place finish. The next day was Super-Combined, which at the time I was excited for. I started bib number 42, and had a mistake mid-way down the course and ended up 33rd after the Super-G portion. In the slalom, I straddled near the bottom of the course and completely twisted my ankle up the hill (on the ankle that has recently been operated on). Right when it happened I knew it wasn't going to feel great when I took it out of my boot. After I had a doctor look at it, and a long session of physical therapy, it was clear that it was not 100%. I made the decision of fighting through the pain the next 2 days strictly for Nor-Am Cup points (to stay in the top 15 seed for GS next year). I did just about as well as I could do in the GS's with a bum ankle, and it might pay off for the beginning of next year. With how much the ankle hurt, I decided to not race in the slaloms and save it for nationals.

GS at US Nationals (with the Pro-Am to the right)

Next up was US Nationals in Squaw Valley, California. The first race was GS, and I was confident that the ankle was ready to go with the 4 days of rest prior. Warming up on race day, I could feel the ankle not responding as precisely as normal, but good enough to race. In the start gate, I was trying to focus on my skiing and get my mind off the ankle, but, halfway down the course it gave up on me once again. Without being 100%, there was no chance of me even having a shot at a national title, and with that, my US Nationals was over. I was somewhat disappointed with how my Nor-Am Season and US Nationals ended, but injuries happen and you have to deal with them as best as possible. Squaw Valley put on an incredible show, and I am excited for nationals to return there next year! I have been doing physical therapy for the past week getting my ankle back up to speed to race in Mammoth Spring series.

Super nice day on Lake Tahoe!

World Junior Championships

This past week I competed in the Junior World Championships. When I was named to the WJC team 2 weeks ago, I was thrilled and excited to race in such a big event. I knew there were going to be some outstanding skiers that I was going up against, and I knew I was going to have to throw down solid runs to compete with them. What I did not know was how much fun it it was going to be. In the back of my mind, for some reason, I thought the Europeans were way different from the Americans. When I was over in Europe earlier this year, I saw how serious they take skiing racing over there. I never really made an attempt to meet them though. This past week, I made it a goal to talk and mingle with the skiers from other countries…they are incredibly cool, and have just as much fun as we do traveling the world and doing what we love most—ski racing.

Although I did not have any super crazy results in Quebec, Canada, I managed to get 15th in the Super-G at Le Massif. It was an amazing week racing with thebest ski racers in the world under the age of 21, and a great experience to have in preparation for next year’s WJCs in Slovakia!

I just had a good week of training in Vermont, and now I am in Calgary/ Nakiska for Nor-Am Finals followed by a trip to California to race in US Nationals at Squaw Valley.

Breakthrough!

So, a lot has happened in the past 2 weeks. In Kirchberg Austria, I started my first ever European Cup! It was my first race on the new radius GS ski (35 Meters instead of 27 meters). I started 86, and moved up quite a bit at the first split but mistake after mistake at the bottom eventually caught up to me and I had to ski out. It was a great experience and I look forward to more Europa Cup starts next year.

Next up was Vail, CO back on the Nor-Am circuit. The first day we got there, we were welcomed by 2 feet of fresh snow. The first day was GS and I had a start number of 52. My goal was to have a good enough first run to get me into the flip 30 to for a good start number for 2^nd run, and then to send it as hard as I could. After first run I ended up 8^th. I was in utter shock when I saw my first run rank on the scoreboard. My goal for second run all of a sudden was to not blow it! When I was getting ready for second run I was thinking to myself, “just ski clean and solid.” I did just that. With no big mistakes second run, I came down in first place, which ended up holding all the way until the last 2 guys went—one being my teammate Kieffer, who won. I ended the day in third place, which was a huge improvement on my previous best GS Nor-Am finish of 22^nd.

The Next day I was able to start in the first seed and had another good first run, finishing 9^th. My goal for second run was to just do the same thing as the day before. I was having a great run until a couple mistakes at the bottom. I dropped to 21^st on the day, which became my second best GS finish ever.  I ended the Vail series with 2 Slalom DNFs.

Next was speed week at Apex, British Columbia. It was my first time to Apex, and I didn’t really know what to expect. With a combination of wind and snow, the race schedules were pushed around a bunch, but we were able to get all the races off by the end of the week. I ended the week with a 7^th in DH, an 8^th in SG (both being career best results) and a 14^th in DH.

Next up is World Junior Championships in Quebec, where I will be competing in all 4 events!

Euro Trip!

So, my last post said I was going to keep up with my blog posts as much as I could, and that didn't really happen because I haven't posted any super outstanding results yet this season. Although I have only scored one FIS result this season (29 in Super-G) I am skiing better than I ever have. I am skiing well up to speed in training and now it is time to put it into the races. 

I got to Europe Jan. 6th, and had some incredible training in Solden, Austria. I am now in Sestriere, Italy, where the 2006 Olympic games were held. I pictured Sestriere would be a much larger town than it actually is (like Park City or Lake Placid). Though it's not a huge town, the mountain itself is huge, and the pizza is amazing. 

I am now leaving Italy to go back over the boarder where I will start my first ever Europa Cup in Kirchberg, Austria!

Off Season

Hey guys, I just finished up my first camp of the year. That means winter is around the corner and I am starting up my blog again!

My 2012 season did not go completely as planed, but I ended it on a strong note cutting my speed points in half. Right after the season ended I went to Mammoth Mountain in California to test out the new GS skis (35 Meter Radius). At first they were difficult to turn but I don’t think they are going to make a huge difference in the future of ski racing, like some said would happen.

Earlier Last season one of the US Team doctors noticed my left ankle was extremely unstable and weak, which was causing my ankle to constantly roll over. It also explained why I couldn’t flex my left boot all the way. So, immediately after Mammoth (literally the day after) I got ankle ligament reconstruction surgery.  It was a struggle spending a lot of my summer on the couch, but I knew it would pay off in the end.

I started my Physical Therapy in Park City, Utah at the US Ski Team’s Center of Excellence. Whenever someone on the US team gets a surgery or gets injured in any sort of way, they have access to this facility. Some of the nations best physical therapists and doctors are there 6 days a week and are completely devoted to helping the athlete get back on snow at 100% health.

After spending all of May and June on crutches, and then committing 6 days of the week to physical therapy in July, I was finally cleared to start working out.  At home I began working out at Crossfit Wachusett in Fitchburg, MA, and continued Physical therapy 3 days a week in Waltham, MA.  One of my coaches from Stratton Mountain School now owns Crossfit Wachusett, and I go workout with him about 4-5 days a week (when I am home).

Finally, on September 12^th, I left for La Parva Ski Resort, Chile. Though the snow was minimal, La Parva was willing to stay open for just the US C and D teams, the British National Team, part of the Canadian National team, and the US Western Region Development Team. When we go down to South America, we like to spend most of our time training speed, but because I was not able to ski over the summer, I trained almost all GS and Slalom (which actually turned out to be really good for me).

Now I am back home and I will continue with my workouts at Crossfit Wa-Wa, and keep up with my physical therapy, as my ankle is technically not supposed to be 100% until 6 Months Post-Op. Next on the schedule is Physical Testing in Park City at the end of Oct. and then Right into ski season in Colorado on November 1^st.

Season Ends

After a long Nor-Am season starting from the back of the pack, I finally got to start in the top seed for my spring series races. In the past month I skied at Winter Park, CO for US Nationals, Breckenridge, CO, Mission Ridge, WA, and Bachelor, OR for my final speed series of the year.

Nationals did not go as planned, but it was sunny and 50 degrees the whole time... can't complain about that. In the Super-G, I had a little mistake at the top of the course, and then went a little too straight down bottom and missed a gate. In the GS I hit a rut that flipped me sideways and fell past the next gate. And then in the slalom I had major struggles the entire way down the first run but set myself up really well to have a good second run and then blew it again.

After Nationals it was time for spring series, which are always the most fun races of the year. In Mission Ridge I posted 2 overall podiums and 4, Junior podiums. In Bachelor I ended up scoring FIS results in every race. I scored my 2 best super-g's and 2 best downhill's (by far). Though I didn't improve my points as much as I wanted to this season, I feel that I improved my skiing technically more than I ever have in a year.

This year was the most fun I have ever had in a ski season, and I would like to thank everyone who helped make it possible. I have been asked back to join the US Ski team for another summer of training, and I find out if I will be named to the team again at the end of May! Now I have to start my dryland training to get ready for next season... as it starts in 2 weeks, May 9th!!!