Racing to Win

One of the biggest things that I have learned as a competitive skier is that you can't let past results affect your current races. This has been especially relevant for me for the past couple weeks, and I'm excited to share my experiences. It all started out with my Section 3 meet; the qualifying meet before the state meet. My plan was fairly simple and straight forward. I was heavily favored to win, but my plan was to race it like I would at the State Meet, put it on the line and race hard. It was the last meet before the big races, and I was using it as a tune up for the State Meet.

Girls Team won sections first time in 6 years

I started out hard in the classic Individual start, and I definitely paid dearly for that on the second lap. I suffered, but held up and tried to finish as hard as I could. I wasn't pleased with my results, I only had a 30 second lead, and I had been expecting much more. I rested up to pull through with a win in the state race, something I had assumed to be guaranteed. 

Minnesota State Ski Meet
The snow started to fall heavily about 30 minutes before the second race, and as I went out, there was already a couple inches out on the course. I didn't feel fresh, but I had expected that because I had training through. But I wasn't expecting to feel as bad, but I felt dead. I kept looking back, and in my opinion, it's a sign of weakness. It means you aren't looking ahead, racing to win. I had started racing to not lose. Sadly, it didn't work.

I got passed at the end of the first lap. I heard her coming for a little bit, but I was confident in my ability to draft off of her and out sprint her. Sadly it didn't go as planned. I was passed on the downhill and she out glided me, gaining a large lead on me. I fought to catch back up, but I couldn't get into my usual rhythm. It was not a fun day for me, and my confidence was shaken.

I had a little more than a week to prepare for state, and one of my biggest goals in that week was to mentally prepare for the races. I visualized heavily; I knew every corner on the course, and I was prepare to race my hardest.

I had found a quote that was my mantra for the week: You have what takes, but it will take everything you got. I was ready to put it all on the line, and I'm pleased to say that I dud exactly that. I finished the first race, the hardest I ever had, and I was very pleased with my results, even without knowing what they were at first. I was a little disappointed to be 25 seconds behind the number one girl, but I was pleased to be in second place, I was able to keep my place in the 2nd race and I made up 10 seconds on Margie, finishing 15 seconds behind her.

I didn't win, but I was very satisfied.I had skied as hard as I could, and that is one of the best performances I had ever had.

After skiing in some side racing, I'm gearing up for Junior Nationals, staged in Cable, Wisconsin in 2 weeks and I'm hoping to be able to push myself as hard as I did at state!

Was happy to win the Classic Korte 2 weekends after state

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