I plan to use this page to tell you all bout my training programme and squad camps that are coming up.

 

It's been a great few days at the English Alpine Champs  in Bormio, my Salomon skis worked amazingly well and it all worked for me on the day!  I am off to Slovenia straight from the GS races, it'll take 6 hours by road where I will train with the Children's Team over the next 2 days and race on Saturday and Sunday.  Hopefully, after these races in Slovenia, I can fill in the gaps on my training page.

 

 

My next races are on the 26th/27th January at the Welsh Championships in Champery, Switzerland.  Then the World Cup comes to Les Houches on 3/4/5 February, can't wait to watch that and be among the amazing  atmosphere! 

 

It's school time now at BSA, this means we ski train Monday - Friday mornings with school in the afternoons 1.30-5 and have fitness after school.  Saturdays is a day off and Sunday is all day school.   We also have to prep our skis everyday that we ski and have video and training feedback.  It's a full programme, but I wouldn't want it any other way. 

 

Day 2 Slalom race, thumb protection in place, but still managed to bash it on the way down on the 1st run.  Not a great 2nd run, difficulty pole planting,  getting late for the gates and a problem on the last set of gates put me into 2nd place.  All things considered, I am glad I raced and I achieved some good results.

 

Day 1 was the GS race, It was a good decision to race.  The weather was  lovely but the snow was quite soft and this meant 'ruts'!  Run 1, I was so happy to have completed the course and was 1st place, unfortunately early on in run 2 I got bumped out of rut.  Although  I was really disapointed, I felt my confidence come back from the 1st run.

 

3 days at home for Christmas and then back to BSA for training and the next set of races, The Anglo Scottish Cup.  We had some great weather and some not so great weather and more snow which is always good but the timing can usually be a pain!  3 days before the race I fell on my thumb, this time it was the top half of my thumb and it was thought it may be broken.  It seemed ok though, and although it was fat and blue/purple, I was able to carry on training.  The day before the races, I fell on my thumb again, I was now really worried about falling on it again.  I talked with my coach and parents and I was thinking about missing the races to give my thumb time to heal.  But I didn't feel happy with this decision either!  By this time the plaster cast had come off and so we went to the Pharmacie, they suggested a thumb protector which straps around the wrist and has a metal plate up along the thumb.  Not the most comfortable thing in the world, but if it protected my thumb.........

 

 

The day before the BARSC Championships I fell and tore my thumb ligament and had to be taken to a hospital in Italy.  They put a plastercast halfway up my thumb and around the wrist to stop my thumb wiggling around uncontrolably, by setting it with the help of my pole meant I was still able  to hold my pole while skiing.  I borrowed a ski glove from a coach and was ready to ski!  Naturally, the injury interfered with my pole plant and I was worried how much it would hurt if I knocked it on a gate.  After all that though, a good result in the slalom (2nd) and the GS (3rd).  Thanks to Sean Langmuir and BSA for their help at the hospital.

 

My season started today 10th December giving me some training time before the first races in Champoluc.  Training with BSA in Les Houches, we had kept our fingers crossed for snow as it was getting closer to the races and not alot of snow in sight!  When the snow fell, it kept falling and we had amazing powder days - not great for gate training but fun and a great fitness workout!

 

 27th November - 4th December Speed camp with the British Children's Ski Team, Hintertux, Austria.  This week was extremely valuable, I went away feeling that slalom was my favourite discipline and not great feelings about Super G, but came back from this camp so much more confident with my GS and a confidence in Super G I didn't think I would ever have. 

 

My other interest is kayaking, this started as just another option for core training, 2 hours each week with The Chichester Youth Canoe Club.  But, I have just got back from the most exhausting weekend ever in Devon with the club and had the most amazing experience with white water rafting.  2 days of great upper body workouts and alot of fun.  Life is great! 

 

October Half term 2011, Les Deux Alpes with the British Ski Academy,  what can I say?  Another really valuable week  training on real snow.   We didn't let the 2 days of bad weather interfere and cracked on with some full on fitness.  My ankle was absolutely brilliant in my ski boot, but high impact fitness was still a problem sometimes, and  avoided for the time being.  This didn't matter as there were plenty of excercises I could do and an excercise bike on hand when I wasn't able to participate.  My new 175 Salomon GS skis were all prepped and ready to go, I really connected with them and can't wait for the speed camp in Hintertux with the British Childrens Ski Team to put them on again!  Always room for improvement, but I felt very happy with my performance during this week and look forward to taking what I have learnt to the next camp and beyond. 

 

Frant Place, British Children's Ski Team Fitness camp.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to complete the camp as I picked up an injury to my lateral ligament.  My foot and ankle were not a pretty sight and a distinct purple colour!   This was not going to interfere with my fitness training, so I followed the instructions from the physio with regards to my foot/ankle and concentrated on my core/abs and swam.  This was a very frustrating time but I kept focusing on being fit for the camp with BSA at half term. 

 

Landgraaf, Holland 22nd - 26th August,  Europes largest indoor ski resort!  5 days of hard training both on the snow and off with the BSA.  My first experience of Snowworld and a definate to do again.  A trip to the local hospital to get  stitches put into my thumb wasn't part of the plan, but that'll teach me to sharpen my skis without wearing protective gloves!  That didn't stop me though, the next day I was back on the slope, the only difference was I had to wear my coach Ali's ski glove (Thanks Ali).

 

I have just arrived home from the 2011 British Children's Ski Team, 12 day Summer training camp in Saas Fee, Switzerland.   It was a great experience for me and I feel it was extremely valuable and that I have improved in all aspects of my skiing.  We were very fortunate to have skied every day with a rest day in the middle.   At the start of the camp, the weather was very warm with little wind, the snow conditions were not ideal but it was valuable to train in these conditions.  We focused alot on our fitness, with long afternoon fitness sessions after our mornings of ski training.  After our rest day, the conditions improved greatly which meant we took on 4 valuable days of gates in perfect conditions with hard snow and decent temperatures.  This proved challenging at first to adjust to the different conditions but personally,  I prefer hard snow conditions and was ready for the challenge!

 During the camp I was lucky enough to meet alot of people and had the pleasure of going up the lift with Dominique Gisin and Anja Paerson.  We were training alongside many World cup teams and it was incredible to see these skiers at work. 

 

It was  the Salomon Southern Race Series at Southampton and the Southampton Club National,  I really enjoyed racing on the Saturday with SRSA, but because of a four day training camp the following week with Ambition Racing at Hemel, I  had a rest day on the Sunday in preperation for it.  The camp was packed full with skiing and fitness and by the end of the week, I felt I had been given some valuable input and able to put this to good practice.

 

The Team Evolution week was great, 3 days of fitness, drills, gates and racing on the last day.  Ed Drake was there to offer advice and gave us a talk on the Winter Olympics.   It was a very intense programme, but also so much fun.  A weekend of racing followed the camp, Saturday I was 3rd Female overall and recieved a voucher and a helmet bag from the Sponsors of the Hemel Club National - Snow and Rock.  On the Sunday, I was again 3rd Female overall after having a huge problem on the 2nd run!   

 

The Inter-Regional Races at Gloucester were so much fun, I skied with a great team from ERSA and we won!  Luckily I raced at Brentwood in the LSERSA Summer Series which prepared me for the races on the Sunday. 

 

 On Sunday 26th June I had a really great day at the Hemel ERSA race, I came 1st overall girl and won the bursary for the Team Evolution camp on 12th 13th and 14th July.  Looking forward to that, thank you Team Evolution!

 

I always really enjoy the Salomon Summer Race Series and on the 18th June it was the 3rd one held at Christchurch.  I do find it very different skiing on the dry slope compared to snow, but it's still skiing and I love it!  Another good thing about the day was trying out my new Salomon Boots and I moved up to longer salomon skis.   My boots were  alot stiffer but were amazing and they connected with my skis really well - Another happy day.

 

This weekend was very hectic!!! On Saturday 12th I went to Brunel University with the British Children's Ski Team for a fitness and test day.  This was an opportunity to ensure I am on track with my fitness - look forward to getting my results back so I know what I need to concentrate more on.  After the fitness day in Uxbridge, I was invited to attend an awards ceremony for the Chichester District Youth Sport Achievement Awards 2011.  I collected  a silver award for qualifying to run for my school in a county cross country competition, Gold award for my achievements in skiing and my best award was for Outstanding Sports Performance of the Year Award.  I was so happy!  Sunday morning was another early start and it was off to  Milton Keynes for the Grand Prix Series, this was my first indoor race of the summer.  The first run was ok, unfortunately I lost my outside ski at one point and although it was minor, it meant after the first run I was 2nd in my age group, 5th overall.  I was looking forward to the next run, but I couldn't improve amd  ended up 3rd in age and 7th overall, disapointing, but a good day and another medal.

 

On Saturday 4th June I was at Southampton dry slope for the 2nd race in the SRSA Salomon Summer Race Series, I came 1st in my age group and had alot of fun.  There is always some exciting racing and it's great to catch up with my friends.

 

During the May/June half term, I spent 4 days at a  training camp at Hemel Snow Centre with Ambition, It's always good to get some extra time on snow and  I had a great time with technical drills, fitness, timed runs and synchronized skiing!!!

 

I have had a month off with some light fitness work and now I am back training with Hemel Ski Racing Club every Monday night and concentrating on my fitness throughout the Summer. 

 

After Topolino, it was back to BSA for training and school in preperation for the last races of the season.  I had a couple of days off as I was really tired and then I was back training on the pistes in Les Houches.

The Scottish Championships started well although the weather was warm and the snow was soft and fluffy, not ideal, but I just had to adapt my skiing to the conditions of the snow. It was a good win in the 2 Slalom races 1st in age and 2nd overall.  The next day in the GS was not so great, 5th in CH1, very disapointing but that's what happens when you decide to do the splits at the banana gate while travelling down the course!! It was that outside ski again!  The British Children's Championships started with the Super G and an amazing crash, just waiting for the pictures from Neil at Racerready! The next Super G was cancelled the following day, so we had some slalom training and kept our fingers crossed the snow wouldn't melt too much more.  Slalom at the British Children's Championships, along with Topolino were  the races I had been working towards all season, but I finished the British with a podium 2nd place, I wasn't skiing at my best and was very disapointed.  In the GS the next day I had another podium finish this time 3rd.  After I waded through the slush to the podium, the prizes were given out by The Earl of Wessex, Prince Edward and he had a chat with us on the podium.   It's been a full race packed season and I have achieved so much, but there is so much more I want to achieve.  Thank you to all my sponsors and everyone that has supported me this season.  

50 Trofeo Topolino event was the most amazing experience, The British Children's Ski Team carried a large Union Jack, there were balloons and fireworks for the opening ceremony.  The weather was not so great and the 1st day was cut short because of the rain, the 2nd day was better and we got in some good GS runs.  the first CH1 race was GS, I had a problem with my inside ski and it knocked into my outside ski making me go off line and I finished in 26th position.  The Slalom race was awesome, I had a really good top section and as i went onto the steep I got back seat and when I entered the hairpin I shot out off line from the 1st gate and had to cut back in to make the 2nd gate, I had alot of speed to make up but finished in 5th postition!!  My 2nd run wasnt so great  and I finished the slalom race in 9th position.  The British Children's Ski Team had some great results in Topolino.

 

 

Travelling to Italy today (Tuesday 15th March) to take part in Trofeo Topolino!

 

Over half-way through the season and still having such a great time, I have completed my first race of the season with The British Childrens Ski Team.  I didn't have my best races in Slovenia and was very disapointed, but all I can do is learn from the experience.  After the closing ceremony in Slovenia,  I travelled to Bormio (Thank you Team Evolution for the lift).  It was a late night and I was racing the next day but although I didn't ski as well as I had hoped, I had a good result in my age category.  After the GS race on the Wednesday of half-term I travelled home in order to prepare for a week back at school, collecting more school work to take back with me and catch up with my friends and family.  It was a really nice week and then it was back on the plane to Les Houches for some training before going to the Trofeo Topolino races in Italy with the British Children's Ski Team.  Yesterday (Monday 14th March), I took part in the Slalom race at the Inter Schools Ski Challenge which was a win overall, which I was totally happy with.  

 

One of the highlights of my year so far was being in Les Houches for the Khandahar World Downhill Ski Championships which is one of the main sporting events in the Chamonix Valley and takes place every 2 years.  The atmosphere was amazing and I did alot of autograph hunting!

 

I am still in Les Houches with the BSA, still having a great time! My day changes now as it is term- time, so I have a full morning of skiing and then back for lunch and time to prepare for school.  I have school 3 hours in the afternoon and all day Sunday.   My teachers from my school in UK have set me work and the BSA teachers are able to liase with my school teachers should they need to.  After school, I pepare my skis for the following day by waxing and sharpening them.  This week I had the best day ever (well, one of them) we went to La Vormaine in Le Tour-still in the Chamonix valley, but it was where I learnt to ski.   It was a racing day amongst the BSA Athletes.  It was so much fun. 

 

My winter season has started, training started on Saturday 11th December in Les Houches, France with the BSA. My first training week was for 11 days living in at the BSA.  We spent the first week  bombing around Les Houches freeskiing with Ali - BSA coach, and went off to Courmayeur, Italy for a day which was great fun.  I found this extremely valuable and it gave me a great opportunity to find out what I could do on my GS and Slalom Skis.   I returned home to spend Christmas with my family, and then we travelled back to Les Houches on Boxing Day.  The days leading up to the race involved intense training, I put all my effort into it and just concentrated on the feedback from my coaches Lynn and Ali, along with the words - Embrace your Speed! All my preparation and coaches advice paid off and prepared me greatly for my first races of the season.  I was so pleased with my results (they are on the results page). 

 

 

In October Half-Term I went to Les Deux Alpes with The British Ski Academy, the weather was great with plenty of snow and sun and you can see some videos from the camp at the BSA Training October 2010 page.  It was a week packed full of slalom and GS training.  I had a great time and I can't wait for the races in the fast approaching Winter season.  

 

 

 

 I had a fantastic time with the team in Saas Fee, even though the weather was against us which meant our skiing time was limited.  This meant fitness training was increased.  I was introduced to volleyball -  which was great fun but I won't be swapping from skiing to volleyball!  We did alot of running and hiking and I was really pleased I had done alot of fitness before I went.  The skiing was amazing, it was the first time I had used my Salomon GS skis and I loved them.  I am really looking forward to my next training camp and Winter Season. 

 

What a weekend!!!  Saturday was the Ed Drake Invitational 2010 at Hemel, which was brilliant fun, loads of team racing and the evening ended with a 1 run GS course.  I had a great team, but unfortunately we got knocked out in the first heats of the knockouts after winning 4 out of 5 races to get there.  So, I was well and truly warmed up for the GS race - I was the 2nd fastest female and really pleased with my time.  I had an early start Sunday morning for the Hemel Grand Prix.  The snow caused me a problem in the first run, which meant I had to push as it slowed me down, but I was really pleased with my second run and with my times added together gave me a great overall female position of 4th.  A great weekend of racing.

 

I recently went to Profeet in Fulham to have my new Salomon X3-Jr ski boots  fitted.  It was really interesting and I didn't realise how important it was to make sure my ski boots were set up especially for me.   They improved my stance and felt great.  Thank you Profeet.