The Little Things
Pushing over the top of one hill, stretching after a workout, playing a game of basketball with friends, dialing in your skis, keeping your head up… these are all the little things that can make a huge difference in summation. Whether you do one of these things or not, it probably will not change the outcome of your races. However, focusing everyday on the little things can make a HUGE difference over time. Over the past few blogs I have mentioned that I have found the value in the little joys everyday. In the end, if I am happy then I will most likely ski well.
This past week of training wasn’t the best week until the races came around on the weekend. Tuesday’s workout was changed to skate because of the crazy weather and snow conditions. Coach Boobar had us do some fun races and games, but I was pretty bummed to have problems breathing. Wednesday struck with freezing, pouring rain. It took me over 30 minutes to even get my car up our driveway which was an ice skating rink. We all hurried out and banged out some quick intervals and immediately showered when we were done. In the afternoon I helped out with the BKL practice again and that raised my mood because they are so much fun to work with. Thursday we prepped our skis for the weekend of racing in Stowe, my favorite place to race! The race then got moved to Craftsbury because of lack of snow. The guys and I played pick up basketball for over an hour as our recovery workout and it felt really good to play basketball after a long break. Although I did not feel good in my workouts this past week, helping out the BKL kids and playing basketball were my highs.
Saturday I had a 5km skate race on a 2.5km race course. It was ripping fast and a pretty flat course. On my second lap, my former teammate Leah started on our first lap and we skied together for a full lap, which I enjoyed. I finished the race not completely satisfied with my performance, but the results positively surprised me. Yesterday called for a 10km classic race. Because the race course isn’t too hilly and the kick wax called for klister, some people, especially the boys chose to double pole the race. For the girls, only a few did. I chose to ski on classic skis for a number of reasons and I am glad I did. Our techs and coaches did an amazing job getting us awesome kick and glide! Props to them for their hard work. I started off the race pretty hard, trying to chase down the girl who started in front of me. Once I had caught her, I was a bit nervous I went out a little too hard. Thankfully I was feeling really good and my mom was giving me really good splits every lap so I just kept charging on. Since there were no long climbs, there were also no long downhill’s to recover. I felt like I was working really hard the whole course to smoothly work through all of the transitions and people. My teammate Erika described her race as “being on a hunt”, which would also perfectly describe my race (by the way, she absolutely crushed). I was very focused throughout the race, just trying to push harder and harder. You can tell in the pictures below by my facial expression. I ended up tying for 2nd place with Elizabeth Guiney, who I also happened to tie with on Saturday…pretty crazy, right? This was my first ever Super Tour podium and it took me completely by surprise! I was very excited to share the podium with my teammate Erika, and to celebrate with both my parents and all my SMS and former CSU teammates. I am now feeling more motivated than ever this season, just in time to do my final preparations for World Junior Championships in 2 weeks. Check out some of these awesome photos Chase, Olivia, my Dad, and I took this weekend on my camera!
Until next week!-JKern