Rise and Grind!

The definition of ski in, ski out! With all the snow that has
accumulated our trek to the bottom of Pano is much easier.

The last little while the U16s have been in a GS block. We hammered out 3 more days of great GS training (Wednesday through Friday last week - which has the athletes on snow 7 days in a row with a significant level of intensity). We are extremely pleased with the changes that are being made GS'ing. Yesterday was a planned day off. We trekked into Invermere for a team breakfast at Huckleberries. Huckleberries fried up about 50 flapjacks for the team. Pancakes seemed to be the breakfast order of choice on Saturday.  A HUGE weekend in ski racing for Ottawa this weekend (This has made trivia a lot easier for us). Quebec team member Patrick Lynott and Raphael Quenneville racing in Norquay, AB. Our big brothers and sisters, the U18 gang racing in Sunday River, MA. And, the story of the week - Dustin Cook competing in Beaver Creek World Cup SG speeding to another top 15 finish in Super G and a 21st in GS (with a top 10 2nd run!). 

Pancakes are on... I believe Lake got out-pancaked by Hunter. Funny how everything with these boys is a competition.

I guess you don't have to be a boy to have competitiveness (we already knew this). Michael takes his colouring contests to another level - he had to be put in place. I think It's clear which Superman is mine. His effort and creativity should still be commended. 

Today we skied slalom and our plan is to transition into SG & SL combined sessions until the coveted "NCO shootout" on Thursday before we depart. Our dinner trivia went to solo responses; for the last little while the gang has moved to answering questions based on their individual knowledge. The last 3 athletes to answer a question correctly have been stuck in the kitchen. To round out the battle of the sexes we will return to the team format for the last week here. 

We are not without our battle wounds while here. I am battling a serious cold virus. I spared everyone by keeping Lake's frost bitten toe off the blog. Sophie is learning that tuning cuts are a right of passage. A few back injuries have been treated and a couple of freak sore ankles sprains as well. It's not easy but these athletes are grinding. 

We talked to the athletes today about making sure that they check all the boxes for success. That they do everything in their power to ensure that they are prepared for the day. And that any little bit extra that they might have then their opponent is the difference. It might be sleep, it might be warm up, it might be diet and it may be on their individual will alone that boosts them ahead. Everyone is motivated differently and the grind has begun (checkout the nike Ad for a little bit of 'rise and grind' motivation).

Look forward to a blog post from the boys tomorrow! Goodnight followers.