Solid Ski Racing Part 2

I was woken once again by an upbeat song that my mind just couldn't process at such early hours. Pushing myself out from under the warm, soft blanket, I quickly got ready and walked over to grab something for breakfast with my roommate. We got back to our room and threw last minute stuff into our boot bags, checked for our passes and bibs, and loaded our skis in the Enterprise.

The weather wasn't great, but it wasn't raining either. It looked like it would be flat light up on the hill, with a strong wind. And since it was super G, this mean aerodynamics were going to be key. Our van rolled out of the parking lot. Next stop, the race.

Two hours later...

I visualized the course on last time, making sure to nail each of the jumps and blind knolls. Skip called my name and I carried my skis to the pit, was clicked in, and pushed over to the start house. I was ready. Tina spouted a quick course report and rambled some encouraging phrases to pump me up. I buckled my boots, popped my mouthguard in, and slid up to the wand.

"Racer ready, 10 seconds. . ." Poles over the wand. " . . Five. Four. Three..." I hurdled out of the gate, hearing the last numbers fade away.

Before I could process it, the finish line was behind me and I was speeding to the lift, heading up to get my stuff. I reached the start again and put on my coat, strapped my skis, and cheered on a couple of my teammates. After my friends had gone we headed down to the lodge to get undressed and load the truck for the ride back to the hotel.

Prior to inspection

We got back around 12:30 since we didn't have to wait for the boys, who would probably be finishing up their runs. We got lunch at the diner once again and later prepped our SL skis. I was really nervous for SL, because it's the even that I do the best in. I was also hoping that the weather wouldn't be that bad- everyone was saying that it would be windy, snowy/rainy, and really cold.

We had a meeting at 7:45, before the boys, and went over our schedule for the next day. We also got our bibs- I would be running 26th! This added even more nerves to my anxiety.

The next morning everything went basically the same way- we loaded our skis and bags then drove up to the mountain. The whole drive up it was pouring rain, and at the mountain it dumped snow, which was somewhat better than the rain. There were also really strong winds, and I was immediately wishing we didn't have to race.

In addition to the sucky weather, the course started on this really long pitch, which led to even longer flats. This meant it was going to be a leg burner, and the last part of the flats we would have to really work for.

I made a couple warm up runs, including some on the training course. Then I headed to the start to begin my movement prep and such. When forerunners ended their runs I took of my pants (don't worry- just my ski pants. lol). After visualizing more and running through some more stretches I stripped my coat and brought my sis down to the pit.

Since we had such a big team, I was running in the middle of four consecutive girls. This added a lot of unneeded anxiety, since everyone has a different race routine, including when they liked to be clicked in. Some did best under pressure, so they waited until the last possible minute. Others liked to have a long time to prepare themselves and get in the zone. I'm about average- I can't have too much time to overthink, but I also don't want to worry about missing my start or buckling my boots the wrong way.

It all worked out eventually, though, and pretty soon I was yelling out of the start gate. Down the pitch, past the coaches knoll, and pumping through the flats. It felt like the worst run of my life, and was probably pretty close.

We headed into the lodge to eat lunch, then came back out for second inspection. This course was a lot straighter and required substantial less effort throughout the run. This was good for me because I am a naturally straight skier, and I'm good at letting my skis run. I watched the boys for a while then warmed up at the start. Sommer was blasting music and everyone was getting into it, which helped get my mind off of my run. I found myself buckling my boots, 3 racers to go. Goggles were down, mouthguard was in. Time to bring it.

In contrast to my first run, this was one of the best runs of my life. Maybe not there yet, but it felt pretty good. Since they didn't have live timing up for SL, and I wasn't hopeful enough to count what place I was in at the scoreboard, I had no idea what I ended up in. I would find out later that night at the banquet.

To be continued....

(read part 1 by clicking here)