Summer Training

It literally seemed like I was barely back home before I was packing bags again to leave for France. I joined some of the team in Les Houches for a few days of fitness training with Steve from Sterling Health and Fitness. We hiked into Switzerland to Barrage d'Emosson, went white water rafting and mountain biking. It was a valuable few days where I learnt a lot about where I was going wrong with my current training programme and adaptations I make to make it better.

 

Me and Amber taking delivering a core workout

Due to the poor conditions in Tignes there was a change of plan and we ended up skiing in Les Deux Alpes for 2 weeks. I've never seen the glacier looking in such bad condition, yet we were incredibly lucky and the conditions for skiing were awesome. We only lost one day due to poor weather. Despite such a long time off skis and not doing my usual summer gym training. I was feeling good on my skis and was putting together good turns especially in GS. This was my first camp with different coaches, although the 'Canadian invasion' isn't kicking off until October it was refreshing to have some change and I really enjoyed it. It was good to have kids from BSA on the camp too as we finished the fortnight with a mixed team event. The FIS team took the 'fancy dress' a lot more seriously than the younger guys and we went with a Pants and Pigtails theme! We had plenty of strange looks that day and lots of people asking for selfies!

The FIS team the moved over to Zermatt to finish off the camp. I've never been before but now it's definitely one of my favourite glaciers. Snow was awesome and training was really good. Disappointing that we lost 2 of our 5 days to weather. But the 3 days we had were really high quality and it was really cool to train alongside Swiss, Canadian, Austrian and Croatian national teams - we were in good company! 

It's been a really intense few weeks but I've got a lot out of it. I don't feel like my time spent off travelling has caused me any major set backs I think it may have been beneficial to take a little time off. I'll now be working as a coach for the British Ski Academy dry slope camp at Norfolk for the last week of August! and I've now got time to prepare for university. I'm really happy to have been awarded a sports scholarship at university of Manchester. I'm now trying to figure out potential flexible training arrangements for the beginning of the season. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Round the World in 50 days

Since finishing the end of the winter season its been a busy time for me. The majority of it has been spent travelling! As most of you I am sure are aware, as part of my Jack Wills Young Brits Award 2014 I was given a round the world flight ticket courtesy of STA Travel!

On the top of Burj Khalifa

First destination was Dubai where I experienced heat on a completely new level. It was a crazy place to visit, with the heat and the over the top extravagance. Not usually my cup of tea, I quite enjoy visiting cities but I got no feeling that I was experiencing a culture hugely different to the western one I already know! Burj Khalifa at night was definitely a highlight! I also visited ski Dubai while I was there - bizarre the heat can be 50 degrees outside yet there are penguins and a ski slope inside a shopping mall. I didn't have a go - it was quite nice to take a break from the skiing!

Flower Dome Singapore

Singapore: Gardens By The Bay

My next stop was Singapore, such a cool city with amazing energy. Such a contrast to Dubai where nature, sustainability and the environmental considerations are almost non existent.. I was there during the opening ceremony of the South East Asia games, so there was a lot of excitement and the fireworks were awesome. Gardens by the Bay were definitely one of the favourite places I visited!

Surfing in Bali

After Singapore I visited Bali. I think this was my favourite destination of all. The culture was so different to what I am used to, and there is so much to see and do! I wish I could have stayed for so much longer. I managed to go surfing in Kuta, climbed a volcano on my 20th birthday to see sunrise over Kintamani,

Monkeys in Bali

trekked across rice terraces and swam with turtles on the Gili Islands. Despite travelling alone, I met so many back packers in Indonesia doing exactly the same thing as me and I made so many friends from countries all over the world!

Fraser Island

I went to Australia after Bali, the weather was a bit of a contrast and on the whole I was pretty underwhelmed when I landed in Sydney for 3 days. Once I started to travel north, up the east coast I saw why people love Australia so much. Even though it wasn't summer the atmosphere and chilled vibes in Byron Bay were so cool especially with all of the surfing! I spent 3 days touring Fraser Island, camping and off roading in 4x4s. One of the most beautiful places I have ever seen! Everything is picture perfect, I saw humpback whales, sharks, dingoes, giant lizards and dolphins all in the space of 2 days! I only had 11  days in Australia which is no where near enough! Its a place I'd love to go back to!



The last country I visited was the US. I landed in Los Angeles, probably the worst place I visited on my travels. I'm not a huge fan of celebrity chasing, hollywood glitz and thousands of tourists! So when I joined my Trek America tour and made my way towards the Grand Canyon - campi

ng on the banks of the Colorado River on the way I felt much happier! The Grand Canyon was incredible, photos never do it justice! The sheer size of it just blows your mind! Next stop was Vegas, now considering I'm not a huge fan of fake, over the top tourist magnets I really enjoyed Vegas. It doesn't take itself seriously and despite not being 21 there are so many things to do and its so much fun! After another big city visiting Yosemite National Park was a well needed break, hiking 8 miles alongside waterfalls was amazing and it was such a good feeling to get back into mountains! After I finished the tour in San Francisco I spent a few extra days exploring the city - one of my favourite cities in the US, a cool atmosphere and so unique! I managed to squeeze in seeing a baseball game too - SF Giants vs NY Mets. New York was my last stop before flying home! One of the places I had been looking forward to seeing most on my trip! It didn't disappoint and despite being exhausted and broke I had an amazing time and it was a great place to end my trip!

Due to the fact I was taking almost two months of skiing and training some people questioned whether I was actually taking my skiing seriously. Less than a week after returning from my travels I am now preparing for summer glacier training with BSA in Les Deux Alpes and Zermatt and my motivation is as high as it's ever been! I can't wait to get back on skis! It will be a bit of a change this season. The coaching set up at BSA has been completely changed and although I was sad to see my old coach Ali Morton go after I have been coached by him for so many years I'm looking forward to working with someone new,

I have also made the decision to take up my place at University of Manchester in September. Although i've changed my course to Business and Management with French. After two years out from studying I realised I had a change of heart.  My goal is to continue to compete during the winter as much as I can while balancing my studies.

Its been a busy couple of months with so much going on I'll try to update a little more often! I have to send out a massive thanks to Jack Wills and STA Travel for the amazing opportunity they gave me and I wish the best of luck to all Young Brits Applicants for 2015!

Post Surgery!

I finally had surgery to repair my injured thumb on the 1st of August! Surgery went well, it was slightly different to originally planned. They managed to create a ligament to support my thumb but they were unable to reset the break and they confirmed I have early onset arthritis that will require surgery again in the future.

Unfortunately I won't be able to be back on skis for almost 3 months, I really need to give it time to heal as there is a chance that I could rupture the ligament again! This does mean I will miss 3 weeks of glacier training in Hintertux in Austria in October and the end of the summer indoor season. I'm pretty disappointed as I had scored good points in the indoor series at the beginning of the summer but I'm really looking forward to focusing on the winter season!

Recovery so far hasn't been easy, it has been painful and I've struggled with a combination of sleep deprivation and illness! I get my cast off on Wednesday to be replaced by a more comfortable removable splint. This will hopefully help me get back into training, I was really happy with the progress I had made in the early parts of the summer in terms of fitness and strength so I'm paranoid all of my good work will be undone! I think for the next few weeks my training will mainly be cycling (on a stationary bike), sprints and interval training, lower body weights and core. Thanks to Bounce Energy Balls I've got the healthiest way to keep my energy levels up when I'm training! I will keep you updated with how it goes!

Next week I'm going to Les Houches to see my old team mate Jazzy Butcher who has been there for the summer. I can't wait to be back in the mountains, go hiking and just chilling in Chamonix! It will be nice to see it all in the summer!

I also need to say a huge thank you as I'm really happy to announce that Reusch Gloves UK have kitted me out with gloves and mittens for the new winter season! The best brand to ensure warmth and protection for my newly healed thumb! Also a big thank you to X-Bionic and X-Socks UK who will also be supporting me this winter by providing compression base layers and ski socks, its essential to be comfortable to get the best out of your training and X-Bionic are perfect! Check them out! 

I've played around with the layout on my blog, I'm no expert in web design but I'd love to hear any feedback and tips to make it look and work better! I've also got some cool things to announce over the next few weeks so I will keep you updated!

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