This upcoming weekend marks the first two official races of the 2020-2021 season and the year 2021!
2021 is off to a big start as it’s the first weekend of official racing as “professionals” for the BSF Pro Team! It’s an exciting and nerve-racking time as we all transition from collegiate ski racers to professionals. Logan wrote a blog about the transition from college to professional ski training that you can read here!
As we finally hit the race season, things are quite different in so many ways (other than the strangeness of Covid-19!). As we are all fresh off the Eastern and Western collegiate ski circuits, there are a couple big transitions I’ve come across along the way. In my eyes, the biggest being that ski racing is now my “job.” To be frank, that still sounds quite weird. However, now that my play is also my full-time work, I’m still figuring out the right work-play balance as racing looks quite different these days
Another transition I’ve come along the road from a collegiate ski racer turned pro, is finding what’s fueling my fire (other than my personal desire to excel, of course). One of my favorite parts of collegiate racing was the addition of a team score. At the end of each race day, the scores of the women’s and men’s nordic and alpine teams were combined to crown an overall victor. The addition of team scoring was similar to the added spark of motivation that many racers experience on relay days. The combination of no longer racing for Dartmouth and an unclear path to the World Cup makes this transition a bit weirder. Unfortunately, I don’t have an epiphany to share about how to spark a fire to dig for those extra couple seconds deep in the pain cave. Which is why, as I write this, I remind myself why I ski race, and to refocus on my process goals.
My biggest process goal for the 2020-2021 ski season is making racing fun because 2020 has lacked fun! That might sound simple or honestly extremely difficult. My biggest tip for myself and those reading is to smile. It turns out that you can trick your brain to release endorphins by smiling—even while deep in the pain cave! Other than smiling a ton, my plan is to focus on a bunch of small goals. Here are a couple of my goals for the new year!
I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year! Check back in next week for a recap on the first official races!
