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!

Back to Business

I did finally reach Champéry after the journey from hell! Once I arrived in Geneva I was faced with the situation everyone dreads when flying; your luggage not appearing on the baggage carousel and with both airports and easyjet not having a clue what could have happened... With only a ski bag and a race bag to carry it did mean taking the train was made a little easier than before. Thinking it couldn't really get much worse, someone was mugged opposite me on the train going through Lausanne and the police were called and started an investigation delaying the train therefore missing my connection onwards.

I was hopeful that when I got to race in Morgins I would finally get a GS start under my belt but the GS race was changed into another slalom as it was decided the piste wasn't really suitable. Luckily friends helped me out and let me borrow clothing and a race suit so I could actually race! The first slalom I was happy with the way I was skiing but unfortunately crashed out on the first run - injuring my thumb again in the process... Thankfully my lost luggage finally turned up 4 days later so for the second slalom I was in my own gear! Again happy with my skiing in general but still looking to get a quick first run in, rather than having to make up the lost time on the second! I didn't score my lowest points but I got my second best result and claimed the Welsh Slalom title! 

Huge thanks to my sponsors for this season! 2PureActive (POC), Rossignol, Bounce, X-Bionic, Jack Wills, Reusch UK

The rest of the week I foreran for the U16s Welsh Championships and helped out with the Dragons U12 racers. Conditions were perfect and it was a good way to end the week. I decided to go home for 5 days, I felt like it was time to take a break and I had to see my surgeon for my final review on my thumb. Injuring it in the slalom didn't do it any good, but no permanent damage was done. As I'm still struggling with the strength of my right hand, hearing that it won't get any stronger without further, quite drastic surgery (not ideal for someone my age) was hard to hear. As long as I look after it in the near future I should be ok for another 10 years or so! A huge thanks to Reusch UK for providing me with new gloves that have even more protection for my thumb, it's gives me a bit more peace of mind!

Now back to Austria for a training block before the English Championships in Bormio - hopefully with some time on GS and Super G skis! I had the usual crazy journey by plane then train to Hinterstoder, Motion Team's new base. With a delayed flight, delayed baggage, traffic jams, every single lift/escalator in Salzburg station being out of order (resulting in me falling down the stairs with 2 pairs of skis, and 40kg of luggage) and making my train with only 2 minutes to spare. I'm hoping it's the last time I'll have to experience public transport with ski kit across Europe!