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Why I keep throwing my body down a mountain

October 25, 2009 09:07 PM | Posted by   Kelly VanderBeek  

I hope the swings in temperature of the fall season aren't causing too much havoc in your lives, because I can certainly relate to the challenges this time of year presents.

I just returned from a two-week training camp in Soelden and Pitztal, Austria, where we ran into many such challenges. We were able to ski on only three of our first seven days, and that was in ruts that were shockingly large. Still, we were able to get something out of the training, which was more than one might imagine.

We had better luck getting on the hill every day in our second week, though two of the days were limited by the weather. Still, some of the training we had was as picturesque as it gets. On those days we took full advantage and we skied until our legs couldn't do it anymore.

With the World Cup opener in Soelden having taken place this weekend, this is an interesting time of year. You can feel the race tensions starting to rise. Everyone is scoping out their competition and trying to guess what the season will look like.

Heavy medals

This can be hard, knowing the bulk of our training is over and the racing season is just around the corner. Questions arise like, Did I do enough? Am I ready? And the big one: Will I be good enough in February for the Olympics?

These are all impossible questions to answer, and if given too much energy they only detract from the present day of training. There is no way to know what this season holds for us — all we can do is train smart, train hard, and prepare as well as we know how. I have to trust myself now more than ever and keep in touch with my passion, the reason I race.

A turning point occurred for me during this camp when the Olympic medals were unveiled back home. I was at a loss for words. They are simply spectacular.

I believe Canada will shine in February and those medals will honour the athletes' journeys to attain them. All the metals in those medals came from Teck mines and Canadian soil. They are Canadian through and through, and I hope to see most of them remain in this country to be cherished for generations.

I'm getting goosebumps. This is why I race. This is why I love my job. This is why I keep throwing my body down a mountain.

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