Marianne's Blog

Last year was a tough mental year for me. I always thought when it came to my head I was fine, didnt need help, was always positive. I learned quickly I was wrong. I've always had success. Not the highest success I want but I came out of each season feeling okay. Last year changed my outlook on pretty much everything. Especially sports psychology. In my opinion sport is 70% mental and 30% physical. I do have things to fix on the technical side of snowboarding and that would never be ignored but I feel strongly that if I figured out my head I would have the success I want.

For the past month I have been going to see a sports Phsycologist in Calgary. Ive only had 3 sessions with him but he has already helped me more than I imagined going in there. Breathing is a huge key to success. It sounds so simple yet we all forget to do it. I tried alot of visualization and small excercises on my own time.

I already found success with his teaching when I had testing in the gym. He told me I need to start telling myself "I can do this". Positive talk..who knew? During physical testing I have to do the ooooo so hated box jump. The test that makes me feel like I have charcoil in my throat for two days after. This test gives me aniexty. I started talking positive and told myself I can do this. I started breaking down in the last 20 seconds. Wasn't able to jump as fast. Wanted to fall and lie on the ground. But I kept pushing myself. At one point I stopped to take a breather and there was only 5 seconds left. I could of stopped but I went back to the simple self talk and I pushed out two more jumps to get to a number I could be happy about.

I plan on seeing my sports phsycologist as many times as I can. I feel good going into this season.

The mountain was closed today due to high winds. I had a relaxing day, went into town, had a workout at the gym and watched some tv. Apparently tomorrow the mountain will be closed as well. Today they had winds at 125 km per hour and they expect the same thing tomorrow. It isn’t safe to open the chairlift with winds that extreme.

I am exhausted. I went to bed at 8 pm last night and when I woke up I was still very tired. I had to really mentally challenge myself today. I kept telling myself I can ride, I can do this. The last run of the day I think everyone was tired. 6 days on snow in a row at 110% is difficult to say the least but these times are when you really prove to yourself what you can and cannot do. I really pushed myself in my last run to finish the course and finish it being happy with how I rode. My second last run was not good and I needed to finish off on a good note. I told myself to relax and just focus on the techniques and what I needed to do in the course. I felt very happy with my last run and was content with going inside to fall back asleep

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.

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.