Last day in Austria: Race Results

Today was the last day of this circuit of World Cup’s in Austria.  Today’s event the Classic!  The classic is a very testing, grueling, painful race.

The race organizers gave us an hour and half to inspect the course and I opted to use every second of inspection.  Inspection is a time memorize or visualize the course so that when it is your time you know every roll, blind turn, crevice, bump and everything else in the way.  We all were surprised to see how long the skate section was….it was a whopping 1 minute plus just of skating.  To put that in comparison, yesterday’s race was 1 minute total!   This course was surely going to be a true test of your fitness.

Long story short…my fitness did not pass the test.  Haaa.  But that is ok.  I have rehabbed the knee to just be able to get to this point of actually competing.  Next up… is my fitness as I found out today.  During the skate section of today’s race my legs completely just gave out…seized up and said “I’m done.”  And they were as I fell mid skate.  Yep, just flat fell over.  Was able to get up and finish to a 37th out of 47.  Not good.   But that is OK.  I will continue to get my legs back into ski shape over the next few weeks back in the states and prep for the US Nationals.  Then after the US Nationals are the World Championships.  Which is the biggest even of the year no doubt.

Until then…..Train.  Back to the states on Monday.  Looking forward to a cheeseburger.

 

 

Race Results: Austria

Well first off…the World Cup race organizers switched the race event today to a Sprint Classic.  It was going to be a Classic but due to better weather conditions on the weekend they switched the Classic to Saturday and the Sprint Classic to today.

All and all a good day.  I did not ski my absolute best unfortunately but rather just good.  There were 46 competitors and I skied to a 27th place.  I was extremely sloppy when it came to penalties.  I was tagged with 9 seconds worth of penalties and that is just not going to get you a good result.  But I managed to stay on my feet and make it to the finish with no injuries.   I spent a lot of time watching the other competitors today…..and man these guys are good.  Really Good!!  It is such a good experience being able to watch the best guys in the World.

At the end of the day, I skied a World Cup.  Got some great experience and learned a few things.  Our time in Austria is coming to a close.  Tomorrow is the Classic.  We just had a team meeting and the course is expected to be 3 mins long.  That is REALLY long.  Today’s course was only a minute long…ahhhhaa.  Tomorrow should be a fun one.   True test on your fitness.  Tomorrow I will be wearing bib 19 which is better then 27th or 28th (what I had the other races)  Typically the earlier you go the better course conditions you will have.   Excited for tomorrow!!!  3 minute long course……wow.

 

Training Day in Austria

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.

A couple rest days…

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.

Race Day 2. Crashed!

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!!

Race Day 1– Wold Cup Slovenia

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.

 

 

Off to Europe for the first race of the season!!

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