January 10th, 2008
Yeah, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted here on FasterSkier. I would like to blame it on the fact that I recently broke my computer and due to backorder issues it has yet been fixed, but I can really only blame it on my own laziness. Things have taken a turn for the better since hitting the wall in Soldier Hollow and the legs, while not at 100 percent yet, have recovered enough so that the skiing out at US Nationals was enjoyable.
The weeks leading into Nationals were filled with 15 minute jogs and hour classic skis thrown in every few days. In all, I took seven days completely off, and never once skate skied. The reasons for the 15 minute jogs were two fold. First off, (now here is the part where I try to make myself sound intelligent so hang tight) the easy jogging allowed the blood to start circulating, flushing out the lactic acid and providing a simple loosening of the muscles. Secondly, the light pounding tricks the body into thinking that it is being worn down and thus the body begins to increase the synthesis of HGH or human growth hormone, which aids in recovery. Now the reason for the absence of freestyle skiing is a bit different. My freestyle sabbatical was due to the fact that skating is a highly static motion, where the legs are in contraction for long periods of time with little recovery. And since my legs were tired, well, it all sounded convincing enough for me.
Once out in Houghton –and a few days of waiting around for my bags to arrive –I was finally ready to rumble. The skate race was the first intensity session since SoHo and after a few backfires and much revving, the engine finally started up and made it around the course. Things seemed to only get better throughout the week and the body started to respond well to the efforts. I even entered my first skate sprint race since Spring Series ’06 –and where for the first time in a sprint, I didn’t completely embarrass myself.
After spending a week in the…uhh, beautiful?… mid-west, I was greeted by over twenty inches of fresh snow, blue skies and sun, sun and more sun with my return to Idaho. There really is no place better to train than here in Sun Valley. And this week has only been a testament to Sun Valley’s lure. The skiing has been perfect, the snow fantastic, and I have been able to start up the training again which has been a huge mental lift. Even more importantly, testing at Daytona has started and Kasey has rolled out his new Bud Dodge Charger (yes even though they raced the Avenger for the 2007 CoT, Dodge is returning to the Charger for the ’08 season), and today I even finished a six-star Suduko, man things are going well. I hope to keep riding this wave of awesomeness (yeah I said it) into more racing and more sweet skiing here in paradise. Until then, cheers and keep your chin up –one day you too might be lucky enough to enjoy this paradise they call Sun Valley.
