Teammates- in and out

I have some fantastic teammates, within my club, my sporting teams, even my cousins. I work with my club during the summer, and especially this summer I met some awesome people. At one of my cross country races last week, it was a tough course being soaking wet, and fairly crowded. And then again, when is Cross Country easy?
Blaine Invite- Season CC PR 15:48 (4k)
For me the hardest part of the race is just before 1/2 way. I can have great middles which carry on to the end, and before the 1.5k, your adrenaline is still kicking. But sometimes the excuses can kick in, and then its your job as an athlete to push them away and think 'happy thoughts'. Think of all the good workouts you've had, your big goals, who you want to beat, who you don't want to beat you. Being my competitive self, when I saw my EU ski teammate, Lili (who runs for Irondale High School) ahead of me, my first thought was, "I CAN NOT let Lili beat me, without a good fight". Now Lili and I are known for being extremely competitive with each other, and pretty crazy. Which is good in an endurance sport........ So even though I was pitting into the ground at that 1.5k, I fought my way up to Lili's shoulder, and hung on (not literally). We pushed each other through until the finish. She had a PR, and I had a season PR, plus we both thought it was great to be running together!

"In union there is strength"

That same day, same race my little cousin had (another) blowout race placing 4th, and getting 15:00. She has had an amazing season, and I'm so excited to see how she will preform at the section and state levels. 
Me being the proud older cousin
And then of course, my awesome team. The girls raced amazingly fast, most getting PRs or season PRs!!! With the course sopping wet, this is an awesome feat! Yesterday (Tuesday) we had an in team 'race' to pick the conference team for next week, and the girls were so close,  we are doing another TT Thursday to narrow it down. With sections only the week after that, the CC season is slowly spinning down to a close, and the ski season is in the horizon!!!!!! :D 
A blurry photo of a soaking girls team


Kicking off the pre-season with a captains practice today, I've been putting in some nice long skis mixed in with a rollerski race in Baker on Saturday, twinning the Ringer Roll from August. With strong head winds and a light crowd, I was pleased to only get a minute slower than August, but I can not wait to see how much I've come in my training. 
Video Technique on a long ski































Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2nd Race- 5k Individual Start

Image
I  believe you can always find something good in a disappointing race.  Today was a very challenging race, and several factors played into this. As much as I do not like to admit this to myself, the Auburn Ski Club is just below 8 thousand feet, and compared to the Twin Cities's 700 feet, it's been a bit of a challenge getting into top notch form. Not impossible, but a challenge. The weather has also played a part. Monday's long hot day really drained me and I believe that played a part in the toughness of today. Also today's weather made a difficult race day. After raining most of the night, and after suffering the hot sun all week, the trail was pretty worn down, and after the U16 boys went through it was pretty slushy. The Midwest wax techs were up to the venue before 5:00 trying to work with the dirty slushy snow we have, and the Midwest athletes owe them so much for the hard work they have put in all week making sure we have the fastest skis out on the cours
Read more

Sprint Course Preview

Image
This morning after a beautiful morning run, we previewed the sprint course! I tested skis, tried out the downhill turns and made sure I drank a lot of water! Sun Rising Over Donner Lake The course is very short. We skied a bit later than yesterday, and it was a little warmer, but the track upheld well, despite the amount of people on it. The course was still very icy, but the race directors had put a bit of fresh snow on top of the glazed tracks. This easily was pushed away and off to the side, but added a bit of traction on some of the hills. The stadium is the same as the distance races and you go down the first big hill, but instead of turning left, you turn right. Then you do a 'S' turn which today, in training almost all the skiers snowplowed and because the U16 girls go very last tomorrow, I'm curious what kind of condition it will be in. Me and my roommate Olivia walking along the beach! After the sketchy downhill, there is a sharp left turn that turns away
Read more

Mental Health

Image
I have talked before on my blog about physical injuries. But something that is a little harder for me to talk about is how those physical injuries affected my mental state. I first started writing this piece in the Fall of 2017, but it's only been recently that I've opened up to my friends and family about what I have really gone through after my shoulder injury and surgery. I had always considered myself a positive person, and so when things starting to change for me in my head, I hid it, because I wanted to been seen as strong and tough. I was so lucky to find such a supportive team to ski competitively for I've been working on prioritizing health as a whole: both mental and physical. But despite all the hard work I put into myself, I still feel the effects of my struggles with mental health almost every single day. Four years ago, I never would've seen myself going through struggled with mental health, but I had a life-changing event, and I am a completely d
Read more