Season 11/12 recap (video)

Challenged Athletes Foundation

As I wrote in my previous blog I have been approved to recieve a grant from the challenged athletes foundation. This grant will help me pay for the necessary training camps. I’m very excited to be a part of the challenged athletes foundation family and to share in their mission, that participation in sports at any level increases self-esteem, encourages independence and enhances quality of life. For me personally sports play an important role in my life and it definitely improved my life, for instance it improved my walking a lot. To be able to walk the way I do you need to be fit and have a very strong core. And besides that I have met some incredible people through sports.

CAF grant distribution statistics for 2012:

More than 1,689,273 dollar distributed to 1,102 individual grant recipients in 27 countries.

The Challenged Athletes Foundation® (CAF) is a world leader in helping individuals with physical challenges get involved – and stay involved – in sports. CAF believes that  participation in sports at any level increases self-esteem, encourages independence and enhances quality of life. Since 1994 , more than 36 million dollar has been raised and more than 6,100 funding request from challenged athletes in all 50 states and dozens of countries have been satisfied. Additionally, CAF’s outreach efforts reach another 60,000 individuals each year. Whether it’s a grant for a handcycle, helping underwrite a carbon fiber running foot not covered by insurance, or arranging enthusiastic encouragement from a mentor who has triumphed over a similar challenge, CAF’s mission is clear: give those with the desire to live active, athletic lifestyles every opportunity to compete in the sports they love. To learn more log on to www.challengedathletes.org

I want to thank CAF and their sponsors for approving me this grant and giving me the chance to ski next season. 

Pizol, Swiss nationals

Last weekend I went to Pizol for the Swiss nationals and I ended my season there. That said I didn’t reach my goal for this season which leaves me disappointed and I do have some explanations, but I believe losers have an excuse and winners have a plan. So I made a plan for next season, or at least the structure is there. I decided to write this post just about the Pizol trip and let the season recap wait so it can sink in a bit more, so I’ll get back on that.

On the other hand there is also some very positive news, I did get the grant from the challenged athletes foundations which is great! I’ll also write a post about this because it deserves a post so I’ll get back on that as well.

Back to Pizol.

We arrived in Bad Ragaz (Pizol) on Thursday March 29. The hotel we stayed was under construction but otherwise fine, I mean they had towels ;). On Friday we wanted to ski but there was thick, thick fog, we went for one run and I couldn’t see anything, just feel. So because of safety we skied only one run. The afternoon I spent in the spa and prepping my ski’s. Next day, Saturday was the GS race, because of a missing start list the start was delayed for about 90 minutes. It was already pretty warm and sunny by then so the course was soft and a bit slush. I still had a descent first run and was sitting in third place just a little bit behind. The second run I wanted to charge and I knew where I lost most time in the first run. The course was much softer in the second run so it was a tough race, I didn’t make any big mistakes but it was a bit slow and I ended staying in third place.

 Are they trying the new GS radius old scool or did they miss ski regulations (and helmet) all together?

I didn’t got a podium because the next Suisse girl got “my” price. To my surprise I lowered my points by 10, this wasn’t nearly as good as the unofficial Sestriere result but still a nice surprise considering the penalty was 187,76! That night we had a party in the restaurant on the mountain, what a view, it was nice and I enjoyed myself.

Sunday we woke up with a clouded sky again, and on the gondola ride the visibility decreased. We had a slalom race so I still had some hope they would run it. Also because I had a good feeling about this race and still wanted a result in slalom. The Russian team was competing now and they have girls with pretty good points so that would lower the penalty a lot. So all in all I really hoped we had a race, all though deep down I felt that it wasn’t going to happen. When I was putting my boots on in the restaurant  I heard people from the organization talking and a minute later we got the message that the race was postponed. After about an hour and a half they cancelled the race because of the fog. When standing in the course they weren’t able to see the next gate, so yeah this was the good decision. After I changed clothes and shoes we went down in the gondola and in the valley we saw on a screen that the fog on the hill was now completely gone. Well that sucked big time. But it happens it is an outdoor sport and weather can change our plans.

So off we went, heading home.

And now it’s time to rest up and time for summer training, back on the bike. I wrote last time that I started at a cycling club I really like it over there, training twice a week. This week I also got the news that I was selected for the national talent plan for cycling, which is really cool. Next Saturday we have our first training day together. 

March

It is March and I all ready have tanning lines from my bike shorts, spring has definitely hit the Netherlands and the rest of Europe. So what have I been up to lately except for cycling, obviously. Well March was about being sick, had a fever for 12 days, and getting fit again, for the last races of the season in which I have to give it my best.

Last Sunday I went to the beach with a friend, it was a nice sunny spring day. We loved this sleeping dog, so cute, makes me miss my own dog though.

Two weeks ago I broke my daily orthosis so I wasn’t able to walk for two weeks, could limp with my crutches for small distances though.

That sucked, luckily I could still work out because I use my sporting orthosis for that. And I could ride my bike because I don’t use my leg at all, so I coped, by not going to school. To compensate for that last part I read my books in the sun every day, so this was a good excuse actually. And when classes where mandatory I went by car but parking at the hospital, even with the disabled parking permit, is widely expensive so I couldn’t do that for every lecture.

Today my orthosis got fixed again, for now, because it is pretty far gone and needs to be replaced. Also today I had test fittings for my new ‘leg’ we made some changes in the design compared to this one and I think it is going to be good, an improvement. Well I will know soon get it April 27. Thanks to Frank Jol and his team.

I have also been on my bike a lot more last month, soaking up the sunshine. To learn more about cycling and the technique and because I want to get better at it I joined a local club. I train 2 times a week with the club, those are good training sessions and I all ready made progress. And Saturday I made my first long bike ride of the season with a friend.

So that was March so far, leaving for Suisse tomorrow time for the last races of the season, wish me luck.

Sestriere Februari 27-29

I have been back from Sestriere for over a week now but I haven’t been blogging about it because I have been sick since I got back and the trip turned out to be some kind of a disappointment. I went to Sestriere for a short trip with my brother, so it was just the 2 of us no team. I had raced in Sestriere 6 weeks earlier as well and it felt like a good opportunity to go back there and learn from my earlier mistakes and I did.

On the 27^th I trained GS and I was skiing much much better than 6 weeks earlier, really charging the course now. Next day was GS race day and I felt confident and way more relax then I usually do in the start, first run was pretty good, I charged the course again, did make a big mistake on the middle steep part but recovered nice after that. The Italian girl that won these races last time was racing again so I could compare my times, I was out about a third less than last time, I improved even with that mistake. Second run I charged again and this was my first completely clean run in a race ever! I was so much faster still behind Melania but she is nr3 of the world so that’s ok for now, I took a big chunk off my time again.

In the end results I had cut my race points in half compared to last time I raced here and I was so happy because with this results I was half way qualifying for the Europa Cup and the national team. And I was the second fastest girl overall. But now the disappointment part….

When I first came back from the hill there was a result list with the race points and the penalty and I got the result I needed and wanted so I was happy. I went to the price giving ceremony and it was there that I found out that the penalty for the girls race was removed, making the results unofficial. Well that was a shock I drove 1150 km to get myself some points and now I found out that I wouldn’t get any points at all. The problem was this was a national championship and somehow they allowed people to race without an international license and off course those girls didn’t count in the international results and after they were removed the number of competitors on the girls side was less than 5 making this race unofficial…. Sucks but can’t do anything about it now, would have wanted to know this upfront because I wouldn’t have come all this way. The organization was sorry for me so they offered to let my come next year for free, which I really appreciate, thanks, off course they would have wanted a bigger race on the girls side to. The men off course didn’t had this problem.

Well the next day was slalom but unofficial as well. Melania invited me to go out with her that night and I went and had a lot of fun. The next morning I woke up hot with a sore throat and some weakness in my good leg, thought it was because I didn’t had enough sleep but as it turned out I was hit with a bad case of the flu. I went to slalom race far from feeling good but I wanted to race anyway, race to finish. in the first run one gate was skied out, but they had let me start before changing the gate, so well I needed a restart. I started again after the last standing male and because I wasn’t feeling well I wasn’t skiing full out I skied a bit conservative and made it in to the finish without any major mistakes but slow. Second run I was feeling better and I thought this course would suit me better so I tried to attack more in the second run, which let to me almost DNFing again well probably because my leg was feeling a bit weak and I couldn’t react as fast as I am used to, but I managed to stay in although I was standing almost still. After this I skied the bottom part pretty good and I finished.

Got another second place. But still no official result in slalom. After that my brother and I drove home and we arrived back at home at 2.30 am. Big thanks to my brother who drove almost the whole way because I was too sick to drive, only did 240 km out of the 1150.

So last weekend I was being sick sitting on the couch trying to come up with a plan on how to ski my point limit with only one Giant Slalom and one Slalom race left in this season.

I was watching the lady’s worldcup in Ofterschwang and I saw Erin Mielzynski win her First worldcup without even breaking in to the top 10 before. I have been reading Erin’s blog (and the blogs of some of the other Canadian girls Like AnnaGoodman, they are really good, check it out!) since the summer of 2010 so I have read about everything she did to achieve her dream about the disappointments on the way. And well this win inspired me because if I ski like I did in the second run of my GS race in Sestriere I can still make it in the last race in Switzerland and if I don’t well at least I have tried. I know I can do it, keep faith, I have been growing in my season getting better results in every race.

If you are having struggles keep going Erin Mielzynski march 4 2012

Chamonix; February 10th – 16th

I went to Chamonix for the open French national championships. We were there with a small team of 3 athletes, a trainer and a coach. The first two days we trained GS mostly, did one run of slalom free skiing. Since Abtenau I took a step in my GS, things are starting to click.

Kim Monsieu, me, Tim Kant (trainer), Thomas Mulder

The team missing Stephanie (coach for this trip)

After two days we had to move to the ‘hotel’ of the organization, which wasn’t a hotel but just a building with beds, dirty old blankets, food and NO towels….. just a club house, probably.

Good thing was that it was impossible to break anything. Other then the fact that we had no towels (I mean seriously how can I deal with that) this didn’t bother me too much, I slept ok and the food was ok (except for the fact that I could just eat from the salad bar for 2 days because I am allergic for an ingredient in these meals and there was nothing else).

this is my 'towel' wouldn't call it that didnt even work properly

On Monday we started with a night slalom and this wasn’t my race I DNFed and broke a new DNF record (for me) made it only to gate 5 in the first run. But to be honest I haven’t skied one single gate, my race was bad even before the start. I have been mad, I have cried about my DNF’s in slalom but I guess I am over that, I tried and there always is a next race….

Can’t do anything about it now except for trying to learn from my mistakes.

The positive of this was that it was extremely cold and I could stay inside and dressed for the second run, or is it bad to say, even think that?

 race slope

The other positive thing is, the pressure and the focus is completely on my slalom, which is my strongest event but isn’t working out so far this season. So I ski GS more freely and my GS is getting better it benefits from the fact that there is less stress about GS. Have to say the stress and pressure is mostly from myself, but hey I just want to get the best out of myself. But I try to learn and be more relax so I can ski like I do in training.

So we skied the first GS race on Tuesday, I got a 6^th place and lowered my points pretty drastic, which is good. There is still a lot I could do better but I’m improving and growing in my season.

On Wednesday we skied another GS, my first run wasn’t good so with nothing to lose I gave it all in my second run and laid down a pretty good run, I was happy about this run and I skied better points again.

On Thursday we drove home again after a good trip. I’m home for about 10 days before I leave for Sestriere, the open Italian nationals. Racing the same slope for the second time this seasons feels like a good idea, I have raced it before and watched the video’s, learned about my mistakes, well we will see.
Link for the entire photo album http://s1001.photobucket.com/albums/af140/AnnikaMeer/Chamonix%20February%202012/
Credits to Stephanie Monsieu who made most of these pictures, big thanks.

Vancouver!

As a kid I always had the crazy idea that one day I would go to the airport buy a ticket and fly to my destination, well that’s what has happened with this Vancouver trip.

On Saturday January 28 I had dinner with my dad and he told me about the business trip he was going to take to Vancouver and that he had only one day of work over there so he was planning to go skiing during the weekend. And I instantly said I want to go with you, he said ok if you arrange for a ticket yourself. So the next couple of days I was checking all the different ticket sites like a little maniac. When I was 13 years old I was watching a travel show about Vancouver and I said to my mom, one day I will live there, she was like yeah right…. Ten years later in the summer of 2009 I finally took my first trip to Canada and also visited Vancouver. We spent 4 days in Vancouver and I had a very good feeling about this city, sort of like I was home, I said to my mom I want to come back here and stay for a longer period to study or do an internship and she said yeah you should do that. So when this opportunity came a long I felt like I had to grab it, that it would be a good thing to do and just go, also to cross skiing in Canada from my bucket list. I packed my ski’s and clothes and went to the airport bought a ticket e-mailed the university of British Columbia to set up an appointment for the next day to talk about my possibility’s for summer school, but well it was the middle of the night in Canada.

We had a connection in London and this turned out to be my lucky day because I got an upgrade to business class for the flight from London to Vancouver, this was extremely comfortable.

We arrived in Vancouver at 6.30pm to an hotel room with the best view ever.

After a much interrupted by jetlag first night I woke up early, I had this day by myself and it felt good to spend a day alone in Vancouver. I went to the UBC campus to talk about summer school, this wasn’t very helpful but it was good to feel the atmosphere of the campus.

That afternoon I went to Cypress Mountain to ski, while I walked downtown Vancouver, with my ski’s on my way to the sea bus, I saw 2 little boys walking in their ski boots, completely dressed and ready to ski. I took the sea bus to Vancouver north and the shuttle to Cypress. At cypress mountain you have an amazing view over the city and the sea, words and pictures don’t do justice to what it’s like.

At cypress you can ski till 10 pm because they light up almost every run. The view you get at twilight is the one of the most special things I have ever seen, you can see the city light up, you can see Vancouver Island, the sea and even the white peaks in the USA.

One of the other things I noticed is that everybody is so friendly and nice, I talked to everyone I shared a chair lift with, a lot of people turned out to be originally Dutch.

The next day (Saturday February 4) my dad and I went to Whistler, we had to get up really early to catch the 6.30 am bus, which wasn’t a problem because of the jetlag. The bus driver was another Dutchie from origin and he was funny, he told us about the trip he was planning to take, kayaking from Vancouver to Hawaii, crazy right, well you have to love kayaking…

We skied in Whistler the full day until we both where too tired to even stand up, it was great and another amazing beautiful day.

On Sunday we stayed in the city because our flight home was that night. We took a long walk in Stanley parc and I took a lot of pictures (see this link for the entire album http://s1001.photobucket.com/albums/af140/AnnikaMeer/Vancouver%20februari%202012/ ).

That afternoon we went shopping, but my credit card wasn’t working, which probably was a good thing…

The flight home was an adventure to say. I sat next to a Canadian girl my age who is going to study in the Netherlands for a year. Well it turned out she had all the information I need for an internship in Vancouver, she told me where to live, which visa to get, where to go out, she had friends who do research in the Children hospital and they can inform me about the research opportunity’s over there, this is great since I’m planning to do my research internship in Vancouver. And I told her about the Netherlands. This was just the thing I need to get me started, well some things are mend to be, maybe that’s why I had the feeling I had to take this trip….. Well anyway she is such a nice girl and we had a good time.

The flight from Vancouver to London was delayed and we touched down in London 30 minutes before our flight to Amsterdam left, we tried but missed the connection. The line at custom services where we had to change our boarding pass was long, really long and slow we wouldn’t have made the next flight in that line. Another Dutch passenger came with the idea to go through the UK boarder and switch the boarding passes at departures, we didn’t know anything about the lines there but we had to do something. So the four of us; me, my dad, the Dutch guy and the Canadian girl walked to the boarder, there was no line at EU passports but a long line at the international passports my dad convinced the guy to take the Canadian girl at the EU passports. Then we came in the departure hall and there were a lot of people there, long lines again. We asked someone what was going on, well it turned out that London got 3 centimeters of snow the other day (which was all gone by now) but Heathrow had cancelled almost all flights the day before and all those people where still there…

At this rage we weren’t going to make the flight and my leg was swollen really bad (because of the long flight), I was limping worse than ever and my leg hurted a lot. I normally don’t do this but I went to the airport personal told I was disabled and in pain and we got to cut one line, still waited for another 30 minutes but that was doable. We got in the next flight to Amsterdam (3 hours after the original flight) which was delayed….again. At 10 pm Monday night I was home, I left the hotel room in Vancouver at 5.30 pm Sunday night. After 19 hours in planes and at airports I was glad to be home, off course I set off every alarm at the security checks so I had body scans (which was funny actually, they saw my leg brace and the metal plate in my leg) but didn’t have to take off my pants like a couple of weeks ago in Austria. My luggage hadn’t made the connection in London and got delivered the next day.

Well I spend 3 days at home still have a bad case of jetlag, fall asleep all the time in the morning but wake up in the afternoon and at night. Today I got fitted for my new orthosis and I had to pack my bags again because I leave for Chamonix, France tomorrow, time for another couple of races.