Walking The Fine Line
Since high school, I have been bouncing back and forth between doing a full term at Dartmouth while training, and solely focusing on skiing. These two lifestyles fall on opposite side of the spectrum—when I am in school I am wishing I had more free time and while when I am just skiing, I have too much free time to fill.My frustrating season last year didn’t discourage me, it actually did the exact opposite—it made me want to be “all in” this year and set really big goals. Ironically, I came to conclusion that being “all in” for me meant not just focusing on skiing, but rather, it meant the opposite—that I would go to school and train with the Dartmouth team while taking a full course load in the spring, summer, and fall (a full year of school).
Growing up, I always had a fast and busy lifestyle, running from school straight to practice, and then onto another practice or game, not getting home until 10pm when I would eat dinner and start my homework. In the fall I would be playing on 2 different basketball teams, 2 soccer teams and running on a cross-country team. In the winter I would be on 3 basketball teams, an indoor soccer team, an indoor track team, and a swim team.
Although the student-athlete lifestyle is hectic (and I probably complain about being busy way too much), being busy is how I am wired. When I was younger, I could not sit still; my grandpa used to secretly time me to see how long I could sit still because my family thought it was hilarious (I think it was something like 2 minutes). This year I wanted to channel a little bit of 9 year old me and get a little sendy with training while keeping myself busy and distracted with school.
I am REALLY excited to be healthy for once, training pretty much unrestricted! These past two training blocks have been the most fun I have had in training, not only because I am healthy enough to train, but also because I am pushing the limits on what my body can handle, instead of taking my usual conservative approach when I am dealing with injuries/ illnesses. The cherry on top is that I am surrounded by incredible teammates on both the SMS T2 team and Dartmouth team who want to work together to push each other, support one another, and battle it out through the tough days together.
Training full time while being at school full time requires a lot of balance, something that is always a work in progress for me. I want to give 100% in everything I do, torn by when I cut a little slack in one direction and give slack in another direction. This summer I have found myself trying to walk the fine line between the “4 S’s”: skiing, school, social, and sleep. I am pushing the line on how much training I can handle, the minimum sleep I need, the amount of work I need to put into my schoolwork, and the time I want to have with my friends to feel happy and balanced. Although balancing everything is difficult and is far from perfect, I have had SO much fun training hard with my teammates, going on adventures with my friends, and learning a lot in my classes!
-JKern