This ski season has been one for the record books, not in a good way. I went into the season skiing through pain and with less then ideal training volume. Every race was a struggle, and I slowly eventually got kicked out of the top 30 on the World Cup start list.
The Europe trip was great, I love training and I love being in Europe. My parents, brother Mike, and his girlfriend Bianca came over for a few weeks and got to watch a couple races. Its great having my bro around because he's so honest about what my racing looked like to him, often he's spot on with what isn't working. He always skied similar to me, we both are probably the worlds fastest hikers in slalom, and have some pretty good recovery tricks.
My boyfriend Matt also came to Europe for a week to watch Zagreb World Cup. Although my result was disappointing, it was so nice to have him there and get to experience our world. Thanks for making a tough race into a great day. Boy you make me happy!
January was in general going well, I was feeling good and I was skiing fast, something I had not been doing prior to the new year. Unfortunately I couldnt put it together in Flachau, Austria, the last world cup before World Championships, hence not being named to the Team set to compete in Vail/ Beaver Creek. This was disappointing and hard to deal with, but I saw it coming with my lack of results, and it did not come as a huge surprise.
After returning from Europe, I was set on making this disappointment into a positive. I started straight back into training in Calgary and Nakiska with the Devo Team. The training has been unreal, and so fun. Slalom was going great, and my Giant Slalom was slowly getting better every day. I also got to train some Super-G which was awesome, took me awhile to get comfortable with being patient in the turns but everyday was getting better.
Huge thanks to PL Dumoulin and Peter Rybarik for the great coaching and training. These past 2 weeks have been so fun and amazing on snow training. Also big thanks to my first ever ski technician with the Natinoal Team, Aaron Speeden aka Speedy, for prepping my slalom skis to perfection for the ICE box known as Calgary Olympic Park. Everyone was saying how icy it was but I didn't really know what they were talking about :p
Unfortunately, last thursday, my season came to a halt. I was training on the race hill at COP, when second run in the course, I kicked out of the start, heard a pop, and felt a searing pain in my left calf. I stopped immediately and knew that the upcoming NorAms and probably the rest of the season were not going to happen. It felt like a bad dream, I stood there for a couple seconds trying to process what had just happened. I made my way down slowly and eventually got my boots off and went straight to the Canadian Sports institute medical centre. Thank you to Peter for driving me around, and Jocelyn Mccarthy for taking care of my skis and getting my stuff for me.
After a day of seeing our Physio and Doctor, and getting an Ultrasound on my leg, it was confirmed that it was a indeed torn in 2 places, one being quite bad, worse then originally assessed. Time frame of when I can ski is still unknown, its sounding like the end of the season for me, but hopefully things progress faster then estimated.
Going from the ultimate high of my life last year at the Olympics, to the worst season of my life, ending with an injury is a tough one to swallow. Sport is hard, and even when everything is going well, sometimes things just don't work out. All things in perspective, its not a big deal. I am thankful for everyone in my life who has supported me in my career and my life as a person. I wish I could have made this year exciting and inspiring with my skiing.
Racing is what I do, and skiing is who I am. My love and passion for skiing has never wavered, and this is just a rutt in the course.
Britt
Big congrats to my team down in Vail/Beaver Creek. Dustin Cook silver in the Super-G and then another career best in the GS, 12th. Phil, Trevor, Erin, and Candace SLAYED the team event claiming another silver. Mikaela Tommy (Killer/Kaylers) got her first top 30 result of many more to come. Trevor sent it to personal bests in both SL and GS. Erin and Mitch both gave'r in the slalom and ended up 6th and 10th. Homegirl Val Grenier first World Champs with a top 20! SICK
No comments:
Post a Comment