Racing, Forerunning, and Jumping!

Since my last blog, my skiing can be summed up in three words: racing, jumping and forerunning. Two weekends ago, I had my GS qualifier at Park City. Then I spent the week doing super G flight training and then I had a weekend of forerunning.

Going into the GS race, I did not have any GS qualification points for JOs and as it is a seeded race, I needed to finish both days. The sun was shining and, below a few inches of soft snow from a previous snowfall, there was a firm layer perfect for racing. On Saturday, with the finish line my only goal, I had a very conservative yet clean first run. On second run however, I hit an ice patch on the pitch and slid out. I tried to make a turn up hill and still make the gate, but instead got caught in the soft snow that had been slipped off the main track and ended up falling down even farther. Determined to finish, I made the mistake of hiking the steepest part of the hill. I later found out that by the time I had finally horseshoed the gate, the next racer was only two gates behind me. The turn was blind so neither of us had any way of knowing. Luckily, I skied the bottom section very well so by the time we finished, I was quite a few gates in front. I had lost the chance to place in the top seed, and if I did not finish Sunday, I would be starting in the 90s. With not an ounce of aggression, on Sunday I put together two solid runs that left me in third.

We spent the week after the GS race super G free skiing and jumping. The jumps in McCall are small and although a race is never won at a jump, it can certainly be lost there. Feeling comfortable in the air is necessary to being mentally prepared for race day. If you are skiing the entire course worrying about the jumps, chances are you are not skiing very well. I have never been an incredible jumper but I have never been too fearful of flight either. However, this year, something clicked in my fight training. In just a few jumps, I went from soaring through the air like a starfish to a confident jumper with incredible technique and timing. I have been taking a sports psychology class with my ski team. I have been trying various mental approaches to skiing and seeing how they turn out. One that has proven to work well is saying a mantra out loud while I ski or I am in the start gate. These can vary from ‘hips forward’ to ‘quick transitions’. Saying these words helps block out all other thoughts. If I just concentrate on one thing, muscle memory and my natural ability to ski take care of the rest. The game changer in my jumping skills was saying ‘stay tight’. If all I think about is staying compact in the air, everything else comes naturally. Having the confidence to get big air is definitely a skill that will come in handy.

I finished the week by forerunning for the South Series held at Park City. It felt so good to take a break from training and just have fun. There is no better way to spend a Saturday than to run a tight, 30-second slalom with 25mm gates and no nerves or other race day stress.

 .)) Molly Leavens