Syndicate
Created With Quick Blogcast
New Zealand fun!
This camp was longer than most training camps we do. I left Park City, Utah on the 2nd of August and got back on the 28th. The time in between those two dates gave me one of the most productive, hard, and fun camps I have ever had. Something I was hoping would be possible after having my knee scoped again on June 2nd this year. It was the first full summer camp I was able to finish in three summers. Getting some much needed volume in my slalom training was exactly what I needed in taking more steps towards becoming a more consistent skier.
I took a different mental approach to this camp than any other I’ve ever done. I looked at it as just as much of a conditioning camp as an on snow training camp. I have to give a lot of credit to the men’s alpine team trainer, Alex Moore, for coming up with a great strength program to go along with my on snow training. And one of my coaches, Josh Applegate, for making sure I got it all done. There were a lot of mornings where I was skiing with tired legs down there, but it made me tougher. Plus getting stronger not only gives me more confidence in my skiing, but also is a key piece in fully conquering this knee issue.
It was a blast to ski with the boys again. The fun part about training in the summer with these guys is we get to feed off of each other's skiing a little bit, which pushes us all to step it up. The group of guys we had down there was a big change for everyone from the last few years. But the dynamic ended up being great. We laughed a lot, skied hard and fast, and even went skydiving.
It's kinda funny what a year changes. I remember being down here last year. Having fun and skiing hard. But as much as I was enjoying skiing, there was a feeling deep in my gut that I hated. It was a feeling of being so in love with something that could easily be taken away from me. It was a feeling of thinking and hoping I was good enough, but not truly knowing if I was. It was a feeling that I didn’t understand and didn’t want to.
I now feel lucky to be able to experience those feelings. The fear of the unknown is within everyone. It doesn't go away with a big race win, or a signing of a new contract. It's there because it should be. I believe you if run away from it you CAN live a happy life saving yourself from some heartaches. When you embrace it, you can and will fall hard. But for me, the moments when you can touch your true potential only come when you allow yourself to take a chance, accept the fear, and reach for more.
Until next time....keep it smooth.
Will
P.S. we were scheduled to go down to Portio, Chile for a speed camp in Sep. But due to a low snow year, I will miss my scheduled Portio trip for another year. But all that means is we will be heading back down for round two in New Zealand, this time to Mt. Hut and some much needed speed training for me!!
Ski Camp
August is here and for me that means its time for another trip to beautiful New Zealand. There are so many reasons why this summer journey, which has become somewhat of a ski team tradition now, continues to be one of my favorite trips every year. One of those reasons is because I can’t get over how truly awesome it is that skiing takes me to places like this. Being in a place as beautiful as New Zealand makes a good day of training feel even more rewarding and a bad day of training feel, less shitty.
My first summer ski camp was much closer to home than New Zealand. Mt. Hood, the mecca of summer skiing in the United States was only a short drive from Walla Walla, Washington. But being so close to home didn't make it any easier for me to actually make it through the camp. By day two of camp I couldn't stop throwing up and had to drive back home with my dad. The next two summer ski camps I went to ended with the same result. I think the medical term for it is called being a puker.....or wuss. Roller costars make most people puke, but for me it was summer ski camp.
Eventually I was able to stomach my way through a ski camp and I loved it. Wake up and ski all morning, then play some game or sport in the afternoon. Camp was heaven for a ski racing crazed kid like me. Plus, to top it off, every camp had a new group of girls for me to chase after.
Over the past few years the destination for the summer camps have changed. Instead of quick car rides to the glacier in the neighboring state of Oregon, I’m taking long flights to different hemispheres, chasing winter. But I still found myself tossing and turning at 3 am this morning. Why? Because, that puking kid who couldn't wait to go skiing in the summer is still there. Lucky for me and my stomach, we get to skip day two on are way to New Zealand.
Until next time, keep it smooth.
Will
The Perfect Turn
I can’t think of the last time I allowed a day to go by without thinking of the perfect ski turn. I just love closing my eyes and daydreaming about the feeling of entering a turn powerful, balanced and confident. While a smile comes across my face as I let the power of the ski shoot me down the fall line. Is it out there? Will I ever find this perfect turn?
There have been countless moments throughout the last few years that I felt like I have been living in a childhood day dream. The world seems to always wake you up from those moments though, and soon that daydream turns into an amazing memory. I was able to make some amazing lifelong memories from all over the world last year. Throughout all the good and bad runs that I made last season, there are two runs that I think about and compare the most. Not because the outcome of the runs were so different, but because the mindset and feeling within the run felt so similar.
As I cross the finish of the downhill portion of the olympic super combined, something just felt right( maybe it was because I acutely finished the corse for the first time all week, training runs included). That good feeling stayed with me all the way threw the finish of the slalom run. And within that run of slalom I raced at the level that I always new I could ski at. It was the feeling of having the confidence within myself to let go of everything else and ski as fast as I could, that was the most rewarding. Its a feeling that I strive to achieve every race.
Over a month after that I found myself in another slalom starting gate. This time on the east side of north America in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire. It was the last NorAm race of the year and I was in 2nd after the first run. As the race unfolded and by the time I pushed out of the starting gate for my second run, all I had to do was come down in 28th to win the NorAm overall title. During the first 10 gates I skied like all I wanted was 28th, but then something clicked in my head, and I started to ski to win. I started to take risks, and fifteen gates from the finish, I was upside down hoping I didn’t just DNF(did not finish) the NorAm overall away. I did.
When people talk to me about the Olympic super combined slalom run the mood seems to always be light, fun and enjoyable. But when someone talks to me about the Waterville slalom run its always in a down tone with the same question being asked, “why didn't you back off and finish.?” To me, they do not feel all that different. I felt nervous in both and skied to win in both. In both runs I made one really bad turn, in the olympics, I recovered, In Waterville, I ended up on my head. The Olympic moment was one of the happiest in my skiing career and Waterville Valley was one of the worst. But one without the other would not have left as big of an impact.
There is a big difference between skiing fearless and reckless, and for some reason I like to make turns down both sides of the fine line that separates them. But I think the more training and experience I get, the more I will find myself skiing on the right side of the line. Achieving a balance between having tactical skiing and just letting it rip, is the big step I need to take in becoming a more consistent skier.
Over the last few months I have also learned that my perfect turn may not exist in most peoples eyes. But that I have all ready made millions of them in mine. Yes, MY perfect turn is out there. It just may not be anything like yours...and isn’t that what makes skiing, and life, so unique and amazing?
Find your perfect turn, and keep it Smooth
Will
Separating WANT from NEED
The past couple of months I have been getting countless texts and e-mail asking if I am going to the Olympics. My thoughts are that I will address my goals for the season on this blog, so all of us are on the same page.
I was in the library at Mead High School of my sophomore year, searching races results when I had stumbled across Vancouver B.C. winning the bid for the 2010 Olympics. I remember telling myself "I need to find a way to make it there." I had always dreamed of being on the U.S. Ski Team and racing the World Cup tour, but for some reason when I saw that the Olympics were going to be so close to home it gave me a clear image of what I was chasing.
After that, a lot of big decisions in my life always came with the question.... "Will this help or hurt me getting there?" Trust me, that question kept me out of a lot of trouble. It also took me to Chile to train for skiing, instead of staying with my football team the fall of my senior year, making me miss playing in 3 games. The question kept me on the snowfields at Hood instead of the lakes around home during the summer. It helped make my decision to keep racing for Schweitzer instead of going to school. All of those decisions were huge in getting me where I had dreamed of being.
I want to be in the 2010 Olympics. But in working so hard and making hard choices to get where I am today, I realize that sometimes you have to separate what you WANT and what you NEED… just like I had with my choices before.
My #1 focus is returning from this knee injury the right and healthy way. I believe I am as ready as I was last year to compete in the opening Nor Ams in Loveland and Aspen. But with that being said, I think most of December I will still be building my way back up.
Another major focus this season is on the Nor Am tour and contending for the NOR-AM overall title. In winning the NOR-AM Overall you are awarded World Cup start rights for every world cup race the next season. But having this, as my focus will keep me away from battling for World Cup starts in December. Scoring World Cup points is how you make it to the Olympics. I believe this is the best path for long-term success in my career.
My dad has always told me to enjoy the journey, and when given an opportunity take advantage of it. That’s my final focus for this season. Being out last year really made me not just miss skiing. I missed the grind. I missed the wax room. I missed my smelly roommates. I missed the long late-night car rides and the crazy bad jet lag. So keeping my eyes open and enjoying the ride is a must.
I’ll be in Europe following the early January Nor-Ams. And if I am given an opportunity, maybe I’ll find a way to make it to there...
Until next time, keep it smooth.
Will
the come back
First day back!
Yesterday was my first day back on snow since my season- ending knee surgery last January. On the way up to the mountain in New Zealand, I was tempted to start putting my boots on in the car…. just like the way my Dad used to make us do. I got into the lodge and rudely brushed off hello's from teammates and friends. All I wanted to do was get on the chairlift.
The sounds of the chairlift and the long wait for skiing, reminded me of opening days at Bluewood, where I would always talk my Dad and Barnie Parrish into going down the hardest runs right away. When you are six year old ,there is no need for warming up. Standing at the bottom of the mountain yesterday, the fog was Schweitzer Mountain thick, but as the chairlift broke through the clouds, I started to realize something.....I was home.
Prayers and Thoughts for Cody Marshall
Please visit Cody's Blog: codymarshallsblog.com/ for more information.
RSN Rooted
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=47849263
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=47733284
Looking Forward
In my opinion, my eyes are still my best asset to my skiing.( One of the few things I didn’t get from my Dad.) Looking ahead and being able to react to the situation is still what I do very well. But last season, somewhere along the way, I started to let mistakes or misfortunes get to me while on the hill. Where I was looking started to be blinded by where I had been. The mistake that I had made and recovered from earlier in a run would cause me to eventually not finish farther down the hill. In my mind I had to make the time up. I was still looking ahead but my decision were altered because my mind was holding onto the past. The worst part was I started to let previous races or experiences take over my skiing. Before I knew it, I had allowed myself to take away one of the things that I do best.
Tom Sell and I had a long talk about it this summer. Looking ahead became a major focus for me every run. Letting the mistake go and focusing on turn ahead. Letting the bad run go and looking to the next run ahead. Letting the bad day go, taking what I learned from it and looking at the day ahead of me. I finished a record about of runs for me at the New Zealand camp. My skiing was better then ever after that camp. And most of all, I was having way more fun at that camp.
Yesterday I was in the training center getting my knee worked on and working hard to get the muscles around my knee to start working again. I was kind of down a little bit. There were Nor Am slaloms going on, and as I sat there and all I wanted to do was race them. But fantasizing about racing wasn’t going to get my leg working again. So I opened my eyes and looked ahead.
Until next time….keep it smooth..
Will
The End of this Season...But the Start of the Next.
So that little check-up I went in for after the knee pain in Sunday River, well it turned into a big check -up. I can’t describe the feeling I had when the doc came in and told me I needed knee surgery. I was hoping he was just going to come in and tell me that I was just a wimp, but I guess not. Somewhere along the line, my knee went from being able to fight the pain and ski on., to rotten and needing surgery. The bone bruise and cartilage were severe enough that my knee doctor (Dr. Cooley) was going to have to do micro fracture surgery. And just like that my season was over…before it really started. I went in for the surgery on Tuesday the 20th of January. Let’s just say I didn’t sleep to well the night before.
Moments before the surgery I was as nervous as before the second run of the World Jr. G.S. I felt pretty confident that the surgery would end up a lot better then that run did. Anyone who has ever been around me when I get nervous, knows that I don’t stop joking and talking. Lets just say the nurses were looking forward to knocking me out.
The first thing I remember after the surgery was Dr. Cooley telling me the micro fracture surgery took, and that he found a torn meniscus in there too. After that I called a few people from my cell phone but don’t remember a word of the conversations. I do remember thinking this isn’t to bad….. Wow was I wrong.
Here is a list of the best things about knee surgery:
1) Making every girl in the world jealous, because I got to spend a week in Steven Nyman’s bed. (Steve was nice enough to let me stay at his place while I rehab and recover)
2) having the best nurse and being able to have some quality time with the most beautiful women in the world….my mom (pretty Anne)
3) watching every movie ever made….
That’s all I could come up with…but the pain killers almost made the list.
I’m doing well mentally with this whole situation. It’s actually a relief to know that I don’t have to keep skiing in so much pain. Also the results and splits that I had while racing this season, have given me a lot of confidence going into next season. At the beginning of the year, if you told me I would make the B team next year, I would have been very happy. And it looks like I have. I’ll be back on snow in late July, healthy and stronger then ever. I’m not looking forward to the 6 weeks on crutches. But right now I just pushed out of a new staring gate…and this is a run I know I’m going to win.
` until next time…keep it smooth.
Will
moments before surgery 
you can take my skies away....but you cant keep me off the hill for to long. Thats me crutching down the race hill in park city one week out of surgery...I hiked up to watch some people train. Ill I have to say is what a workout. My left lag cramped up a bit.