Today was a training day in Austria.  The conditions were fair and a little inconstant which is fine for me.  I don’t mind when the conditions are a little bit tougher.  It was really nice to get back into the swing of things and get some good training in.  After all there have been 4 days of rest with no racing and training.

Tomorrow we are back at it racing.  This will be the first time we all will be racing the Classic.  The Slovenia Wold Cup events were only Sprint Classics (which means that the skate section of the course is shorter).  We scouted out where tomorrows skate will be and…….let’s just say it’s gonna be a pretty good test of your fitness.   Typically the Classic is my better event..but we will see.  I start approx 19th compared to 28th in the Sprint.    There is only 1 run tomorrow seeing that it is the Classic.  The field might be a touch larger with the Brits in town.  Pretty excited for tomorrow.

Time to get focused.

The third and final race in Slovenia was cancelled due to a walloping it received from mother nature.   We all were crossing our fingers hoping the snow would hold off but the World Cup race organizers made the right call in cancelling it.  Oh well!  As much as I wanted to get that race in it was definitely better off for my knee.

So with no racing we dashed out of Slovenia and headed to Austria to catch the Woman’s World Cup Slalom.  It was a night race with approx 20,000 people there.  By the looks of it we (my two other teammates) were the only Americans there cheering on our Mikaela Shiffrin.  If you do not know who Mikaela Shiffrin she is our next Lindsey Vonn if you will… the only other thing is that she is only 17 years of age.  She is a freak of nature.   Anyways the girl absolutely crushed it and won the World Cup last night.  Such a cool experience being able to see that live and then be one of the only Americans there cheering her on.

Today was our first full day in Austria.  We are in Rauris which is considered a little ski village in the middle of Austria.  It is so rad!!  I decided to go for a run today and ended up being joined by the Germans.  They are hilarious.  Been actually spending a quite a bit of time with these guys.  It is a lot of fun being able to get to know some of the other teams for sure.

Tomorrow is a training day.  It will nice to be able to get back out there and start focusing for Friday and Saturday.  Excited.

Today was the second day of racing.  We were graced with snow falling all day which really made for tough conditions.  Yes that may seem contradicting and indeed it is.   Snow falling is not a good thing on race day.

All that being said…it was not my day.  I skied pretty well on the top of the section…came to the jump and boosted of it to clear the line then 4 gates later I found myself sliding on my hip.  Not exactly sure what happened but just all of sudden was on my side sliding.  I quickly debated in my head if I should lay there for a sec and be dramatic or get up and finish.  At this point in your head you know your day is over and there is no way you are going to have a good result once you fall.  Arrrgh I got up and finished.   Then I have the opportunity to have a go at a second run.

The Second run was aight.  Once again not my best but it was still encouraging to lay down a solid run.  I was surprised to go off the jump and midair realize I was not going to make the jump line.  Oh well.  Still had a solid fast second run.  Just have to clean it up for Tuesday which is the next race here for us.  After Tuesday’s race we will then move to Austria.

Oh, on a positive note my knee held up again even with a crash.  Good work Axis Sports Medicine!!

Well day One of racing is over.  Although it is just one day…it has been a long time of preparing for this day.  Lots and lots of physical therapy…countless days in the gym and plenty of training over the past 7 months to get to actually just be able to race.   Although it has been a few hours since the race ended there has been some good reflection time and I am pleased to say it feels great just to be able to compete at this high level.   Just a few months ago I could not even run.  Today all the hard work paid off as I had the opportunity to ski against the best telemark skiers in the World.  The knee did great.

42 races started the race.  I skied to a fair 26th (maybe 25th. the results are not out yet).  There was a lot of nerves today and I did not ski my best.  But also do know that I feel confident in the fact that I skied hard and my knee did great.  As much as tried to put the knee in the back of my head today pre-race I am sure there was some uncertainty.   But like I said, day 1 is over and I am pleased.  26th.  Not bad but definitely not my best.

The season begins! It has been 8 months since my second ACL surgery and after a ton of rehab and countless hours in the gym….it is time to compete.

I am extremely excited to be feeling healthy and strong. It has been a lonnnnnnng road back though. Many hours in physical therapy at Axis Sports medicine in Breck. The PTs know how to get it done there. This time around we (the doc, my PT, and myslef) really focused on the glutes. As if my butt was not already big enough. Apparently there are bunch of studies out there saying that the butt is an essential muscle for the support of rehabbed knee. Hmmmm. Well after all said and done let’s just say I needed to pick up a few new pairs of pants. #sickofsquats After a couple visits to the Doc at Steadmans…the butt looks strong enough and we are good to go.

With the first World Cup races of the season are in Europe….The past few weeks has been straight skiing. Hitting gates and spending as much as time on my new race boards. It is nice to be able to get some proper training in this year before the race season starts. Unlike last year where I was cleared to ski the same week that my first US race was. Prolly a little too soon. But here we are this year and I am pumped and confident for the season. Hopefully all this hard work over the past 8 months keeps me healthy and strong through the whole season.

Slovenia and Austria! Yep, hop on a plane Weds morning with my teammate Cory Snyder and fly into Munich. Then drive to Slovenia where I have a rest/train day on the 10th and then it is time to throw down and race on 11th. Pumped. Like I said it has been a long journey back to this point. But come less then 5 days from now…
stay tuned