Marianne's Blog

This race was perfect for me. There was a lot of variety inthe course, and great, hard snow. I wasn’t feeling good mentally for a while andbefore the race I had a talk with Mark that made me feel confident in myselfagain. At the top of the course I really felt I was going to do well. I wasconfident and I felt like this was my day to do something.

The first 15 gates were great, I felt strong and I wastaking a good line. I noticed before my run a lot of the girls were cutting offtheir line and sliding at the gates. I knew right away I wanted to take a widerline and it really worked well. That was until I crashed near the bottom. I wasso disappointed. More so then any other race this year, maybe because I hadmore expectations.

I think Mark noticed I was upset, it wasn’t easily hideable. He talked to me about my day. I was extremely discouraged and he justencouraged me to be confident “The girls who are winning races are theconfident.” I know he’s right but it’s hard to be confident when you don’t havea result this year to feel confident by. I know what my problem is, it’s justbeing able to perform it under pressure is the hard part. I need to focus allthe way down the course. I know I need to keep my head up and I know I need tosqueeze my core, I know I need to pressure the board. Everything I think aboutevery day, but come race day, come my run, I go blank. I need to realize how tothink while I race instead of just going for it and hopefully getting to thebottom of that run.

I was talking to a girl on the Russian team later thatnight. She just started doing really well at the world cups. Recently won arace and at this world cup a few days ago placed 6^th. She said shewould imagine herself before each run completing the course and seeing herselfin the finish line happy with her result. She said I should definitely do thisand she has complete faith in this method. I’ve decided to try it tomorrow atmy next race.

I am in Czech Republic now for two slalom racesand then head to Switzerland for another europa cup and a world cup

The hill in Bischofswiesen Germany is smaller than most hillsin Europe. There was one slope open and it was super challenging snow. Hard andbumpy. I really had to focus on keeping a quite upper body. As soon as I let goof that I would twist my upper body on my heal side turn and start slidinginstead of carving, but I felt pretty good overall with how I handled theconditions. When I got back to the hotel I planned on having a 2 hr nap and 4hrs later I woke up. I doubt ill be getting much more sleep tonight.

I’ve been having a lot of sleeping issues this past month.I’ve been getting 4-6 hrs every night and by the time it was time to go homefor the holidays my body was worn down. I had great sleep when I went home forthe holidays. Possibly because my body shut down but I think I was more relaxedand didn’t have any stresses at home. I looked into some sleeping pills and gota recommendation from another athlete.

The first pills were Melatonin which relaxes your musclesand helps you fall asleep. I took one on the plane and didn’t feel anything soI took a couple Tylenol night time hoping I would fall asleep. After an hourand still wide awake I started feeling really nauseous. I ended up being sick onthe plane and felt like I had the stomach flu for the next 24 hrs.

Leavinghome was really hard. I didn’t feel as refreshed as I was hoping. There was somuch to do in 7 days and I didn’t really feel like I saw everyone I wanted tosee and do everything I wanted to do. Since it was the Christmas holidays itwas even harder since it was so busy. I also have a boyfriend who I don’t getto see too often during the competitive season and it wasn’t easy leavingagain. I hadn’t seen my family in 9 months and the time I was home flew by. ButI’m excited since my family is coming out to Quebec in a month to see mecompete in the world cup. They don’t get to see me compete to often since I’mhardly ever racing back East.

When I went home to Burlington Ontario for Christmasholidays last week I was invited to participate in the Olympic Torchfestivities. I didn’t carry the torch, but Peter Finn, who works for the cityof Burlington asked me to come and answer any questions anyone may have and ifsomeone wanted an autograph I could do a bit of signing. I wasn’t expecting tobe signing autographs for two hours straight. It was very surreal. I don’t lookat myself as someone important or someone special but it was cool to have thatexperience. Some of the questions were based around 2010 and whether or not Iwould be participating. The chances are slim but until they make the team I’mfighting for a spot, continuing to compete in the world cups and earn myself aspot at the Vancouver Olympics. My main focus is and has mainly been the 2014 Olympicsin Russia, however the hope is still there to compete in my own Country.

Some of my friends came down who I haven’t seen in a longtime and a lot of my family friends came with me. It was awesome seeingeveryone and the break went by too fast. I definitely want to go home moreoften if I can budget. I’ve realized I need balance in my life, if I solelyfocus on snowboarding and nothing else I’ll lose the fun in something I love.

This year has been very busy and I'm only a couple months in the competitive season. My coach has a plan to do as many races as possible to get alot of racing experience, which is a big advantage. I'm home for Christmas in Burlington Ontario for a week before I head off to Europe again to do some more Europa cups and world cups.

Before Christmas I went to Europe with my team and then Colorado to compete in 8 competitions.

My best result was a second place in Steamboat springs Colorado. Europe was frustrating for me. I felt I was riding well, and I could put one run together that was competitive with all the other female riders but when it came down to producing a second run and being consistent, I would crash or make a big mistake and lose valuable time. This was really hard. I couldn't understand why I couldn't put it together. I was starting to give up on myself and it was so early into the season.

I would sit down with Mark and he would tell me, "Marianne your a very talented rider and you need to get some of that confidence back in yourself" He would say I needed to beleive in myself that I could put together 2 solid runs to make it into finals. Im not sure if I was putting alot of pressure on myself to perform this year. I talked to my dad and he told me I needed to relax and try to enjoy it aswell. It can become more of a job sometimes and you can forget what it's like to just have fun. That day at Steamboat was the most fun I've had this year. Not because I made it into finals but because I forgot how much I enjoyed racing against someone. Whether I won or not.

At Copper Mountain Colorado this past week I had two competitions. It was an incredibly difficult field for both men and women. With many world cup riders competing from Switzerland, Japan, America and Canada it made for an awesome race.

All week I felt great in training. I was learning how to pressure my back leg more so I could roll into both toe and heal turns and not slide the back of my board causing myself to lose important time.

Come race day there were a few problems with the timing. It was only working in one course. After a 2 hour delay they decided to change the parralel race to a 2 run GS event. My first run felt okay at the top and great at the bottom. I ended up 8th overall after the first run. In a two run GS event, after the first run the race crew tears down the course and sets up a different course. We inspect again and then race. It was alot more challenging with a huuuge hole around one of the gates. I saw this hole in inspection but wasn't anticipating how much it would affect me. My body folded in half but luckily I recovered. I finished in tenth position. I wasn't happy but I wasn't disapointed either. I definitly could have pulled a better result but I wasn't complaining.

Second day I didn't feel as nervous as the first. I actually felt a little too calm. Still stoked to race but not as nautious. Still I felt like I was going to have a good day. The course looked awesome and I didn't think I would make a mistake. Apparently being nautious is better for me then calm. I crashed into the opposite course and was far behind the leading time. I knew I didn't hold much hope of making finals even if I did have a great second run, I was too far back. Second run I didn't have much to lose. I ended up tieing for 7th that run. Overall that day I finished 25th.

I flew home that night, not feeling accomplished from the weekend but not completly dissapointed either. I know I'm improving everyday and at a faster rate then in the past so I have big goals for myself this season.

I'm back in Calgary until the 23rd when I head over to Europe to compete in a few europe events and a couple world cups. Then home for Christmas :)

I arrived in Colorado 3 days ago to start off my competition season. On the 12th and 13th I compete at copper mtn.

For the past 2 mornings we've been heading up the mtn at 6 am for a 3 hour training session. I've had two really good days of training. I've been agressive and riding a fast line. Im hoping to continue riding well into the next days of training and the race.

I have been invited to participate in the first two world cups this year. First one is being held in Italy on December 6th and the second is being held at Telluride in the U.S on December 17th. Depending on how I do at those 2 events I'll be given a spot at the rest of the world cups for the year. This is awesome news because I have a fighting chance to get to Vancouver 2010.

For the rest of the month I'm in the gym training and on November 3rd Ill be heading to Colorado for my first Noram of the season.

Calgary has gotten alot of snow over the past week and rumour has it the mountains are opening this weekend so I might get some riding in before we head to Colorado.

  I had a couple weeks off in Calgary before coming to Farnham in BC. Usually we stay in tents on the glacier but this year they've put all the athletes in the village in Panorama. I get a helicopter ride into the glacier everyday. It's a pretty incredible experience flying in everyday to snowboard.

There isn't much left to the glacier. It's all disappearing. There are crevasses everywhere and we only have one slope left to ride on. Global warning is kicking into high gear.

I'm heading back to Calgary for 4 days on friday then back up here for 2. It's only a three hour drive so it's super convienent.

Right now I'm trying to put everything together before the competitive season starts up. I've improved on my body position and continue to make it better. That is one thing that I will always focus on.