Marianne's Blog

I had a great day in the course today, I was able to power through the whole day in the gates and had greats runs from my first to last. Again I worked on keeping my head up and my edge angle. We went for recovery in the gym after riding

We went up to the mountain today at our usual time of 6 am. Driving up there was a bit sketchy as we drive up a mountain with windy roads and if u went over the edge id be surprised if you survived. So I wasn’t feeling so confident when we drove up in a cloud. The clouds were lowered so much that by the time we actually got to the chalet we hung out for a couple hours waiting for the chairlift to open. It was a lost cause. They had to close for the day because the clouds were not clearing. So we came home and did a team workout again in the gym.

Today I woke up to some serious neck problems haha but that’s the way it goes. I had to roll out of bed. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to break your neck since I could barely get out of bed with just some pain. I think I’ll avoid that injury. Today was my best day on snow. We rode our slalom boards. My coach believes I am a very aggressive rider which is a very good thing in alpine riding or any type of snowboarding. He gave me a high five and told me he was proud of me today which really helps your confidence as a rider when your coach really feels you had a great day. I can feel like I had a great day but when someone else notices it makes me feel really good. Everyday after riding we will go to the gym and do recovery. Ride on the bike for 45 minutes, do some core and stretch but today we did a team workout filled with agility exercises. We did some box jumping, one legged time squats, some ladder exercises and learning how to balance on a swiss ball. Standing on a swiss ball is very challenging for me and I’m not there yet but I have a goal to be able to stand on it

I rode Slalom today. I strive to push more with both my legs to create more edge and power in my riding.  One of my technical goals is to create a better position  This position includes riding with a quiet tall upper body and arms, and using my lower body to create power and movement in the turns.  Of course I also worked on looking ahead so I could stay on my feet Unfortunately I took one fall today (I don’t do anything half heartedly!) and got some whip lash so I am expecting pain in my neck tomorrow morning. After riding we drove back to Methven to continue training at Mount Hutt.

The past 2 days we had off. Sunday we took off because we need some time off to refresh ourselves and Monday we decided to drive 5 hours to Wanaka because the weather in Methven, where we are staying is going to be bad for the next couple days and the mountain will be closed. We rode our giant slalom (gs) today and met up with the U.S snowboard team who are staying and training in Wanaka. It’s always good to train with other teams. It challenges me to ride better. Watching other girls inspires me to do more with my riding.I went out with my team tonight for dinner and we had Indian food. It was the first time I have had Indian food as I am trying to expand my thoughts when it comes to things I am not used to. I really liked it. Definitely filling and delicious.

We were going to take the weekends off and ride Monday-Friday but the weather is really challenging here so anything can happen. Yesterday the mountain was closed due to high winds so we decided to ride today (Saturday) we did slalom today and I felt very strong. Slalom to me is a lot of fun. You need quick feet and you need to survive. In snowboard racing it is important to look two gates ahead. I have a habit of looking at the gate ahead instead, not allowing me enough time to see the good line. So today I worked on looking ahead and I was able to stay on my feet the entire day. Through this camp I have really learned to be consistent. A lot of time I have a great first run at a race but then fall second run, however I have really improved on my consistency and I find myself being able to stay up every run and be competitive

Today was our third day on snow, first day in gates. We usually train courses that are just under a minute, but today we set a 50 gate GS that was just under two minutes. After each run I had to lie down at the bottom of the course and catch my breath it was extremely challenging for everyone. In a race we have to compete in 10 runs to win, and my coach Mark was trying to teach us mileage and fight through the fire burning pain in the legs. I finished every run without giving up so I was very happy with myself.

Today was our first day on snow at a mountain called Mount Hutt. It is a very pretty mountain, and good winter snow which is always great to train in. Usually summer training we will get summer snow which is very slushy or extremely hard and definitely a challenge. I had a good day back on snow. Right away I got good movements in my riding. Today wasn’t too much training just trying to get the feeling back.

Yesterday we took the day off since we were waiting for our equipment to arrive. We went on a hike up the Raikiaa gorge and then over to Castle hill to walk among some very unique geological formations.(google it!)... my perfectly white shoes got a bit dirty to say the least

Today we arrived in New Zealand after a long flight of27 hours with all the lay overs. I didn’t suffer jet lag as we flew through thenight New Zealand time. The flight was interesting as we had to find a new flight. Our flightfrom Los Angelos to Auckland got cancelled as they had problems with the engine. When we got there half ofthe team’s bags didn’t arrive. We drove an hour to our place where we arestaying. New Zealand is gorgeous. There is an insane amount of sheep here, for every one human in New Zealand there is 3 sheep.  Beautiful mountains and very nice people.