Brittany Phelan Canadian Alpine Ski Cross Athlete: Summer Time

Summatime

It may be only end of June, but summer is coming to an end for myself and my team. As much as I love summer, (it is one of my favourite four seasons), I am pretty excited to get back on snow. Training has been great this year at the New Canadian Sport Institute at WInsport in Calgary.

It was great to work with our new trainer Jeremiah Barnert, and some new training concepts. Its easy to believe in a program when you see not only your own gains, but those of your teammates. Everyone is looking great and moving well. We have such an awesome team and its super motivating to be surrounded by such an inspiring group of athletes. Everyone has some hard days and no matter who's having a hard time or who's doing well, we help each other, and push each other. Although Alpine is an individual sport, I know I wouldn't be able to do this on my own, (or want to). SO thanks girls, you all the bomb digadee.

Stoked on having my own locker. havnt had one since high school.

Running shuttles, quadzilla came out that day.

Summertime for me also means lots of time on my bike. I love riding more then almost anything, and I'm pretty lucky that our schedule and training allows me to incorporate it. I got to ride lots of sweet new trails, and dial in the oldies. Skiing and biking is the same deal. The speed, turning, committing to the outside ski/pedal, constantly trying to push your limits and get out of your comfort zone as much as possible. Nothing makes me happier then being out on my bike, and living in Canmore this is all too easy.

Unfortunately, I took a pretty big crash a few days ago and cut my knee pretty bad. It was pretty scary when I saw the state of my knee and I knew I needed to get to the hospital ASAP. I was about a KM out from the end of my ride to where my jeep was parked, so I awkwardly rode down the still gnarly and technical trail as fast as my leg would allow and booked it to the hospital. I jumped out of my car and ran in with out locking or even doing up my windows ha. ALl the blood was freaking me out. When I checked in and was assessed quickly by the nurse, I was escorted to my own room and told to take a shower! I was too muddy/bloody to be properly assessed haha. You know you are dirty when…

Showering at the hospital...

A few hours later, and 9 new stitches, I was good to go. Mikaela Tommy showed up at the hospital with a bag of snacks. Literally saved my life. She also made me dinner and convinced me of all the good things and pros of this unfortunate situation. Big thank you to Young Blood for that support. Real friends show up when you are at your worst.

Knee is healing up quick, can't really bend it past 90 as the stitches start to pull, but I can hike around a bit which is awesome. Pretty great places around here that are not accessible by bike! Who would of known?!