"Personal Days"

Yep, we went paragliding in France. UN-REAL.

First off, my apologies for slacking on the blog front, I got caught up in travel and racing and decided to throw my energy into enjoying it! (I also might have left my computer charger in Slovenia but that's another story.)

The Gold Team/coaches in Chamonix

As our season has come to a quickly approaching close, I've gotten the chance to look back on the year that has absolutely flown by. And although I've been racing for Sun Valley for about 5 months now, the lessons are seemingly endless. I stepped into this year thinking that skiing professionally wouldn't be too different than skiing in college. And in some aspects, it's not. You train your butt off and you travel around to race, just like at school. But the similarities end right around there.

The differences in professional skiing lie purely in the fact that skiing is now your job, not just an extracurricular. You have to want to work hard each and every single day, but when you have bad results, it's even more important to shrug them off and stay motivated, because this is it; you don't have school or a job or other extracurriculars to fall back on. You can't just expect to step out on the race course and pull off results like you did in college every weekend, because everyone you're competing against has been working for this and wanting this for years, sometimes even harder than you have.  And instead of heading back to school on Sunday nights to focus on catching up on homework, you're on the road for weeks at a time, around the same people, staying in unfamiliar places, following a routine that at sometimes seems nothing but monotonous.

Eisenerz, Austria

It's a whole different ballgame, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth it. We get to see some pretty spectacular places, and meet a whole host of wonderful, adventurous, charismatic people. We get to watch the hard work we put in on the roads and trails pay off in the races, and look forward to the chance to work even harder and get even better. This lifestyle shapes not just who we are as athletes, but also who we are as human beings: friends, family members, teammates, future employees, and more. The lessons we learn with each year of being a skier are invaluable and eternal.

The most recent lesson I've learned: the importance of recovery days.

"Seriously Paige? I've maybe been told that about a hundred thousand times." - aka what everybody reading this is probably thinking right now. And it's true, as endurance athletes, we are relentlessly reminded about the importance of valuing easy workouts, off days, and recovery between intervals. But it's so surprisingly easy to get caught up in the atmosphere of traveling and racing, especially on the road or across the sea, that soon enough you find yourself disregarding the lessons stamped in at home.

So what do we need to remember? Even skiers need to take personal days.

1. Travel days are not spa days.
The fact that you are sitting on your butt in a van or on an airplane for 8 hours does not mean you can chalk the day up as a rest day. Travel days put an incredible amount of wear on your body and mind, which is pretty contradictory to the endurance athlete "nothing-under-an-hour-is-a-workout" mindset. But surprise, lugging over 150 pounds of bags and gear through customs at an airport is surprisingly not easy (especially if that airport is in Zurich). So make sure to write "travel day" next to that big fat "0" in your training log, because it's worth the reminder.

Taking a rest day to explore and eat croissants

2. Sometimes you have to put your foot down.
Skiers visit some pretty cool places, and possibly our favorite thing to do is get out and explore new trails. But you know your body more than anyone, and if you feel tired and have upcoming races, it doesn't matter how exciting the venue is, you might have to resist the temptation and take the rest day instead. You'll feel it in the long run, trust me. So prop your feet up, grab a book and some chocolate, and treat yourself.

3. Mental rest is just as crucial as physical rest.
Racing season is exhausting because we spend so much of our time psyching ourselves up for the races, and then calming ourselves down afterward. When you've been focusing on one thing for so long, you reach a point where you don't even realize you need a break. And this is why getting out and doing cool stuff is totally justified. (Like paragliding in France, SAY WHAT?!) To quote Pat (the coach of SMS T2), "Man.. that sh** is good for the soul."

4. The off season is there for a reason!
Once the racing is done, it's time to acknowledge the good, forget the bad, and start recharging the batteries for next season. The off season is designed to let our bodies and minds take a break from focusing so hard on results and enjoy the places we're fortunate to call home! Stay away from the roller skis and go exploring. You'll have plenty of time for training in a little while.

While the season didn't end quite as I had wanted, I feel pretty fortunate to have had the opportunities that I did this year, and I'm even more psyched to start working hard for next season.
I'll be in Sun Valley full time (with the exception of some training camps and visits home to Minnesota) so if you're here and want to go hiking, give me a call!

Loved having my family come visit for the week of Spring Series :) (All photo credits to Keenan Schember)

Exhaustion =  upcoming rest days.

It was quite a snowy relay day, but I'm super proud of Ben, Mary, and Miles!

A little bit of dancing for Fast and Female in Sun Valley!

Major shoutout goes to all the volunteers, organizers, and supporters that helped out at Spring Series. You guys ROCK.

Channeling Your Inner Elasti-Girl: Flexibility on the Road

I've learned innumerable things while racing this season, but one of the most valuable and continually reinforced lessons has been the importance of flexibility. And no, I do not mean the ability to do stunts commonly associated with 13 year old Chinese gymnasts or the superhero Elasti-Girl (but I'm in no doubt that that type of flexibility would probably also help my skiing). No, I  mean the type of flexibility that allows you to “go-with-the-flow”, no matter how frustrating the situation or how tired or uncomfortable you are. Traveling while ski racing is something that can quickly shove you out of your comfort zone, and the ability to bend with the turns makes the adventure a lot easier on your body and mind.

Most of you might know, Nordic skiers are pretty habitual. We like oatmeal and peanut butter for breakfast, a place to nap in comfort, lots of space to roll our muscles out and stretch, a way to dry our wet training gear, and relatively fast wifi for connecting with the outside world or getting work done. And when we’re in the states, it's pretty easy to pick up our usual patterns while on the road. Hop on a jet over to another continent, however, and the story changes.   

So how does flexibility help in Europe or Central Asia? Let me make a list.

Sometimes you have to shovel off your car first.

1. Driving days. Gone are the 4-8 hour van rides on the straight, fast, freeways of the states (looking at you, North Dakota). If you are brave enough to drive a van, I hope you know how to drive stick shift like a daredevil, because I'm pretty sure the designer of many European roads also created the video game MarioKart. Driving here is like ski racing, you own your space and you SEND it, or you'll be swallowed up and dropped faster than you can yell “Use your blinker!” And don't even get me started on Siri’s pronunciation of roads in Czech and towns in Germany. Patience, an immunity to carsickness, and an innovative talent for utIlizing roundabouts will get you a looooong way.

Overwhelming the KAZ airport

2. Flying days. FYI, your massage stick WILL show up on customs security as a long metal blunt object (aka a weapon), so unless you want to play charades with Dutch security, I suggest checking it. And if you're ever flying out of the Kazakhstan airport, understand that the employees aren't quite used to being bombarded with luggage for a 23 person ski team, and add an extra couple of hours pre-flight to adjust. While you're at it, the ability to set up camp and hang out in an airport for 8-10 hours is also a necessity, but hopefully at that point you'll just be appreciative of having all your bags and access to wicked fast (and free) wifi. Which brings me to my next topic…

3. Wifi wars. Skiers have a lot of down time. We also have a lot of other responsibilities to attend to while we are on the other side of the world (e.g. class, work, blogs, emails to the real world, paying our bills, and staying up-to-date with Scandal). And it doesn't help that the other side of the world is 6-12 hours behind us. So, prime screen times for a typical day? Immediately after lunch and right before bed. Aka the time when so many phones, iPods, tablets, computers, e-readers and lord-knows-what are waging war with the wifi that it will inevitably crash, or at least slow down to a painful I’m-not-sure-if-she's-going-to-actually-finish-the-race crawl. So you learn to space out downloading, post up in the lobby or hallway, get your work done early, or simply close the computer and pick up a book.

4. Hotel rooms. Americans are ridiculously used to giant hotel rooms with double (if not queen) beds, wardrobes, TVs, oversized bathrooms, and space for duffel bags as large as I am, providing ample hangers for wet gear, floor area to stretch, and more tv channels (in English!!!) than you can remember. European hotel rooms? Not so much, because Euros are pretty minimalistic. Which is totally fine, as long as you're totally fine rolling out in the hallway and trying not to sweat too much during workouts because you only have so many places to hang shirts and gloves. Also I wouldn’t expect more than one pillow. 

Getting cozy with Annie

5. Laundry. And speaking of sweating, try not to do that at all because you honestly never know when your next chance to do laundry will be, and it might cost you approx. 30 American dollars. If you're good with the occasional sink wash, props, but you better hope your roommate is okay with your now clean(ish?) underwear hanging all over the room. (I suggest asking first.) So pack comfortable clothes that you love but also won't mind burning because after 6-7 weeks of the same shirts and jeans, you'll pretty much be ready for a change in pace.

6. Food. Diets of any type are not easy while ski racing in Europe or Central Asia unless you're big into potatoes, pasta, pork, chicken, chocolate, and gummy bears. Standard ski meals are served family style and can be pretty different from American food, but it's an amazing chance to try foods in each country that you've never even heard of before. And shoutout to Europeans for their incredible talents with soups, twice a day, every day. Also the desserts… If I could spend the rest of my life eating desserts in Switzerland, I'd be a pretty happy girl.

It snowed SO MUCH in Campra!

7. Language barriers. I can honestly say it's pretty disorienting to be in a place where you can't even attempt to read the signs on the roads or buildings, because the alphabet isn't even close to yours and looks like lots of squiggles and squares. And while it can be pretty difficult to communicate with someone who speaks German, Italian, and French but not a lick of English, one of my favorite parts of traveling here is learning simple words and phrases in each new language. People light up when you make an effort to attempt their language, no matter how butchered it is. (Just ask the Kazakh businessmen listening in and giggling to us shouting attempted Kazakh “thank you’s” in the elevator.) And don't forget, a smile is universal, and miming is usually pretty entertaining.  

6 Americans in one semi-final! Defying the laws of
sprint racing- GO USA

8. Race conditions. This trip is the first one I have been on where some races have been delayed because the course isn't ready, and other races have been delayed because of the chance of avalanches over the race trails. Being able to roll with the punches takes a lot of stress out of race day, whether the punches be pollution, rain, cold, 4 feet of fresh powder, rocks, ice, or  general disorganization. Your first instinct may be frustration, but in reality it's usually not something you can control (kind of like having 6 Americans in one sprint semifinal). The best way to handle it is usually to laugh it off and stay relaxed, because everyone is in the same boat on race day, and sometimes, s*** happens.

After a mini-tour of races in spectacular Switzerland, we are in Rogla, Slovenia, where we met up with Mary, Miles, and Colin (YAY GOLD TEAM) and the other U.S. OPA skiers. My races so far haven't all been what I've wanted, but I've learned what needs to be worked on, and the season isn't over yet. Congratulations to everyone who raced in the American Birkie this weekend, and let's keep sending good vibes to the U.S. Team at World Champs in Falun! We just watched J-Diggs and Caitlin Gregg (both from Minnesota) ski to a silver and bronze medal in the 10k!!! AHHHH! It's pretty exciting to see America get so stoked on skiing.

I mean I see the resemblance.... 

Struggling with the wax bench 

The trails at Campra, Switzerland

Cheering on the boys at Campra with Rosie and Joanne

Annie-squared and I