Training Speed and Road Jumps!

Training's going great, if you'll excuse the Americanism! Last week we trained speed (Super G) for 4 days last week, and it's been a treat to train on a 2m ski, on a sectioned off course with no other skiers to worry about. I trained on a course with a jump for the first time (a road cuts across the pitch) with it's added technical and adrenaline angle and picked up a fair bit of speed, it was awesome!

I have made some real improvements in my GS skiing in the last week. I find gathering speed relatively easy but skiing a good line more of a challenge, and as coach says, 'Racing is a balance between speed Vs line', so I've followed instructions, slowed down and been concentrating on my line. Coach thinks I'm 'trainable' which I took as a complement, something must be going in!

At the end of the week, my last run of the day I decided to race the course but unfortunately let my focus on line slip. The course had got very chopped up, I skied one gate too direct, bounced out of a big rut and had a real slammer of a crash, flipping over and taking out the next gate with my head. Neither head, body nor confidence seem to have been dented and the lesson about sticking to that good line is being hammered in. Don't worry Mum, I'm fine, just aching a bit now and enjoying a much needed day off!

I'm loving skiing gates this season. The desire to ski trees and powder has been put aside and my race technique is coming on. I am working really hard and aim to be 'haulin' ass' down race courses and to prove my talent in the February races. I'm off to race in Kimberley, BC, then Park City, Utah, before the World Championships in Korea!

The strength and conditioning side is going well. Physical off-snow training was tapered during the pre-Christmas races and it feels fantastic be back in the 'Specific Conditioning Phase' which comprises of 3 weights sessions a week, daily core and injury prevention exercises and 2-3 swim sessions on top of skiing. I'm sleeping very well as a result!

Many thanks to my friend Charlie Murray for editing the attached video of pre-season training in Austria.