Season Recap

After being home for a week and half or so, I can say its nice to take a deep breath after a demanding season. You may have been able to tell how busy the season has been through my consistency in blogging. There are many discussion points to be tackled such as the championship season result, spring series, goals, and the summer plan.

The championship season was yet again, another test of my mental and physical strength. What I discovered was I lacked in both of these areas at this time. States was brutal for me as an athlete. I DNFed in both the GS and SL but I managed to pull a result in the SG. 6th was good enough to get the envelope and move on to Eastern Champs, but this was just the beginning. Eastern's was to say the least, a learning experience. I watched teammates surpass me by seconds, failed strength wise, quickly my frustration level rose. These three factors I could control but I wasn't doing a very good job at it. I finished 42nd in the SG (Day 2 was cancelled), 35th in the GS, and double DNFed in the Slalom. Oh, and I gained a little insight on what and the hell that thing hard work is called. I am thankful to have had the time to learn. 

I chased some points in a few spring series races to top the season off. As I was aware of the work I needed to throw during the summer and throughout to make any changes in my skiing, I had no intention of becoming a champion in these few. The outcome with this attitude? Better than expected. Result wise, I won one, placed second in another, had a solid second run at the UNH fundraiser, and broke the top 10 the next day at a slalom. I was especially thrilled to get a visit in with my parents after a long stretch. It was a fun 2 weeks to score a couple numbers for the books. 

Towards the end, I was able to sit down with a couple coaches various times to discuss "the plan". This being just about everything from what I am supposed to be doing in the next week, summer camps, dryland, next seasons goals, etc. I was also able to plan out an incredibly intense strength and conditioning plan between my coaches and my trainer. I was super psyched to execute this in less than a week's time. The outcome: next season started as soon as that conversation did and I was going to work so much harder than I had been. I have more drive and motivation than ever. 

My Summer Program is kind of unique and exciting to me because it is nothing like I have done before. This is in the sense that I have not combined conditioning with on snow time and this summer I will be able to do that. When I get home from Northwood for the summer, I will have a time to create a base for my strength before heading off to France. I leave for a training camp with the team towards the end of June and I am there on snow for a couple weeks. I will use this time to really work on fundamentals so I can change something when gate training comes along. The summer season is such a valuable resource for this. I hope to test some skis out there as well. When I come back from the Alps its back to work. The heavy block of strength conditioning before heading off to another chapter at Northwood. I feel more motivated and driven than ever. This season is going to be another step.