Living in the UP

Writing down my goals has always been a big part of how I tackle the challenges I've faced throughout the year. If I'm having a bad day (or a bad week!) I can take a step back and evaluate my progress, see where I came from, and where I want to go. These big goals always would remotivate me, and reinspire me. 

Late Summer in Marquette was gorgeous 

This year, I decided in the spring not to make any goals for this year. I decided that since I didn't have any idea how fast I would recover from my shoulder surgery, and there would be so many changes in my life, that it would be hard to calculate a goal. 

Beautiful OD run mid-fall

So what has been motivating me these past few months? The beautiful town of Marquette, Michigan, and the highly competitive Northern Michigan Universtiy ski team. 

NMU Girl's Nordic Ski Team

I knew this summer, that I was going to get my butt kicked when I moved up here in late August. Although it's a small team, the girls are incredibly inspiring. It's easy to want to work hard every single day because everyone pushes each other and wants to see their teammates improve just as much as they want to improve. Combined with the combination of knowledgeable, hardass coaches, and all of the resources that NMU has to offer, this has definitely been one of my best falls of training ever.
Early Morning Run in the 2nd week of November!

Because I was always on Highland Park high school's Cross Country team in the fall, all of the ski training that I did was on top of the running I was doing. This year, I have been focusing completely on ski training- and within ski training, I've been focusing on strength and technique. Becuase I started from a low point after the spring and summer, I've seen huge advances in my strength, and encouraging improvements in my technique, which also helps with the motivation. 

Testing my fitness earlier this fall in a local 5k trail race

During my time here, I've also gotten a little bit of a grasp of what I might be able to accomplish this year. Although I'm still getting my butt kicked, I've always believed that the best way to get better is to train with people who are better than you. I'm learning so much from my new teammates and coaches, and I'm so excited to see where I am in a little less than a month when the season starts! 

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