My season thus far! :)

Ski seasons are always eventful, and with this season being half over already it has been an interesting year.  As you saw in my last post I put alot of hard work into my training and improving my technique, so to say I was excited and ready for my first few races of the year would be an understatement.  My first race of the season was 2 slalom's in Val Ste Come, Quebec.  The first day went well finishing 13 and scoring a 55.49 I was pretty stoked with the result considering it was a fairly flat run and to be honest my pitch skiing is better than my flat skiing (in my opinion) so finishing top 15 on a flat run and getting, which was at the time, my best score in SL was a great feeling.  The second day of in  Val Ste Come I was ready I was pumped but unfortunately went out first run, and that was it for Val Ste Come, haha.

After that we were off to Mt. Tremblant and Mt. Blanc, 2 GS and 2 SL.  The races where a little interesting because the schedule was being changed constantly, instead of racing right away (the day after we arrived) we waited 3 days so that the girls could race and than we race after them.  It wasn't tooo bad because we got to free ski at Mt.Blanc and Mt.Tremblant which was pretty awsome!! After 3 days of free skiing we got to start racing again first off with GS at tremblant, and they went awsome I finished 16 and 26 and brining my points down from 73 to 50!

 
After Mt. Tremblant we headed over the Mt. Blanc for some SL racing which went decently well minus the first day where I went out second run.  The second day went better I finished 18 and scored a 59.99 again I was pretty stoked.

So that started off the season on good note and a great boost of confidence for the rest of my season.  In my mind I was on track for a perfect season. It was now 3 days before christmas and time for some R&R, we had even more time to relax and rest as out races in Alpine, ON on the 27th where canceled due to lack of snow.  So we stayed home we rested and we trained working on our technique and trying to win every training run!

Are little break did eventually have to come to an end.  And the races started back up down in Ontario for the Miele Ontario championships.  First races where SL at Alpine and it was my first time starting in the seed I was stoked it was a great feeling, now I know alot of the top guys where over in Europe and stuff but still, take advantage of that good feeling haha! So the first day I skied well and Finished 4 and scored a 49 which went on to be my second best score to date in SL.  

After that great result it started to seem like my season was taking a turn and starting to go the other direction as I began a 5 race DNF streak. It definitely wasn't how I wanted my season to be going but sh*t happens.  Unfortunately I was letting these DNF's start to take advantage of me and break away at my mental game.  In Georgian Peaks it definitely not going as planned two DNF's in two days, and the second day was pretty eventful it was during my first run where I made a dumb mistake 4 gates from the end and ended up going out and breaking my hand (to be discovered a few days later) as I said going out was starting to break down my mental state and I got pretty pissed off when I went out, I was also in quite excruciating pain in my hand because I had just broken it.  So now that i've gone out and broken my hand I was pissed and yelled very loud and should go without saying I got in a little bit of trouble. 

For the next 2 hours of my night on the drive home me and my coach had a talk about the events that happened that day.  Little did I know my coaches where playing a trick on me.  They had me convinced that I was going to miss the next 4 starts because I had gotten sanctioned.  It was an intense 2 hours to say the least.  

I must say tho that those 2 hours in the van really made me realize that I cant let going out mess me up mentally and I have to continue to stay positive.

Unfortunately even tho my mental game had been fixed my DNF streak continued :(

We headed up to Mont Ste Anne, Quebec, for an awsome GS race,  first run went very well (I cant remember what I placed first run tho haha) but than second run was a familiar story and I went out 3 gates from the finish this time, but I kept my cool.

Now it was time for Super G, the first race I made a stupid mistake and flew right by a gate on the flats.  So second race I knew what I had to change and brought an end to my dnf streak!!! I finished 20th, I was happy but I know I can do better.  

Again it was time to travel to another mountain and it was time for SL again this time in St. Sauveur, QC.  First day I went out second run on one of the stupidest sets I have ever seen on that hill, but the second day was completely opposite I finished 11th and scored a 47 which is my best SL score to date!

We were back home for 3 days and than headed off to Dartmouth for 1 GS and 1 SL it was soo awsome to see the quality of skiing I was up against.  So with my fixed mental state and renewed confidence I was ready.  To make a long story short I went out both days. But it was a great experience to watch all the amazing skiing!! 

So to end off this blog, I just want to point out that I still feel that I am on track for a perfect season because after my turn of events earlier in the season I came to realize that finishing well and doing that every time is not the only way to have a perfect season.  For me it is being able to come down at the end of every run and know that I was not holding back and that if I were to have another shot on that course I would ski it the exact same, and that is just what I do.  As for when I go out I dont get mad anymore I take the time to think about what happened and how I can make sure it dosent happen again.

Just a quick glance of my results this season!

My first blog ever!!! Hope you enjoy!!

This being my first blog I'm not quite sure where to start ill first start off by talking a bit about myself,  I am 17 almost 18 years old, I'm a competitive ski racer and I love playing all sports in my down time!  I'm not quite sure what else to say about my self so if you want to know anything more about me ask it in the comments below :) .  The point of my blog is to be a week/biweekly blog post to keep everyone updated on what i'm up to and any funny story's along the way.

So my season is now getting close to half over and its been a crazy/awsome season.  My season began all the way back in the summer at the end of June beginning of July in mt.Hood government camp, Oregon USA, this was my first camp of the season and was the first part of my journey to the top!  It was a great 2 week camp at the very beginning of the summer, I worked very hard on my GS skiing and my foundation, meaning working on good habits and making the right moves every single turn.  It was a hard working and very fun ski camp and I recommend that if you want to go to the next step you have to work hard and do a lot of slow technical skiing.

For the people who haven't been to Mt.Hood before it is a great place always sunny, very warm, and theres snow and the daily life is just awsome walking around the town after skiing shorts and t-shirts and working on your tan!!

While in Mt.Hood we took one day off to go white water rafting, as always one of the best days of the year!! unfortunately I don't have any photos of the day off but, the second best part of the time when were not skiing is our hike we go on to the water fall, it is a 30-45min hike threw the woods to an awsome beautiful 100ft water fall, we can climb right down under the water fall or just climb in behind it and get some super cool photos!!

After our amazing two weeks in Mt.Hood we had to come home :( for the rest of the summer I spent alot of my time in the gym training with Canuck Athletics I trained for 5 days a week and 3 hours today, it was a lot of work and insane determination to keep going every morning no matter what.  I knew tho that if I kept going it will bring me one step closer to making it to the top and that if I take a day off there is some one else out there who isn't. 

After a long, hot and painful but fun summer it was time to go skiing again, not to mt.Hood this time but to Valle Nevado, Chile.  It was not my first time to chile but it was definitely my best camp in Chile to date.  We were there for 3 weeks and every day was nothing less than awsome training and a step in the right direction.  It was where I felt my GS skiing really improved for the first time, I carried over the stuff I learnt in mt.Hood and kept working on improving it. The ski hill was nothing less than amazing every single day the snow was perfect, minus the decline in amount of snow over the days because of how hot it was, but besides that we couldnt have asked for anything less 

One of my most favourite parts about going to Valle Nevado is the beautiful sun sets that occur every single night, they are absolutely stunning.

 

Training in Chile in the pre season was such a key part of my improved GS skiing this year and stronger faster skiing. 

Once again we had to come home but this time for school and more training in the gym.  School definitely isn't the funnest part about being home thats for sure.  At home I tried to catch up at school and kept working hard in the gym, as well as worked on my technique in pole vaulting, yes I do pole vaulting... I am not very good at it but hey, its just for fun.  At first I started pole vaulting last year in may because our track coach at school was allowing some of us to learn how to pole vault and compete for the school,  my best friend Greg and I were the first pole vaulters for the school I was competing for the Senior age group and Greg for the junior.  We learnt how to pole vault and had tons of fun with it neither of us our the next world champion but it was a way to have fun and hang out.  We both qualified for East Regionals in Ottawa unfortunately that was the end of my pole vaulting journey for last year as I did not qualify for OFSAA.  On the other hand Greg went on to compete at OFSAA in Sudbury and did awsome for only pole vaulting for 3 months :D . 

Now back to skiing haha!! I've talked about Chile and Mt.hood now for our last preseason camp to Panorama.  This was our last chance to perfect our technique and skills we have been working on all year before our first races it was a 2 week camp in Panorama, BC. Again I worked super hard on my GS skiing and even did some intense SL training at the end of the Panorama camp I felt so ready for my first races it was awsome! 

So im going to end my first blog here at the end of our Panorama ski camp.  I hope everyone enjoyed reading my blog and I will post another blog soon on how my season is going and some of the troubles I have gone threw this season and some of my favourite/best moments of this year!