L a t e s t  n e w s ..... Vonn stuns slalom specialists to win in Levi with Pieitiae Holmer second and Maria Riesch in third.... Grange wins mens race from Miller and Kostelic .... Chemmy Alcott suffers clean break of ankle in training in North America, expected to be out till New Year .... Lindsey Vonn injures left knee in training Super G in Copper Mountain, no lay off details announced

'The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams' (Eleanor Roosevelt).

Wednesday, 7^th September

Well the snow’s held out for another week and we’ve managed to get a really good last week’s training in. So far we’ve done three days of GS gate training as well as an hour or two of Super G free-skiing this morning which actually went quite well considering it was my first time on my Super G skis. We’ve also been doing loads of training off the hill in the gym. Our fitness programme has now moved in to macro 2 meaning that from now until Christmas, the main focus is strength (as well as the usual amount of aerobic, balance, and co-ordination sessions etc), so we’ve been doing a lot of work with weights.  

The plan is to do another hour or two of Super G training tomorrow morning (we can’t do anymore because the snow’s too soft by 10.30) and then spend the rest of the morning and some of the afternoon working purely on starts. Friday is an uncertain day at the moment as rain is expected within the next couple of days, so tomorrow could be my last day of training before Hintertux and Saas Fee in October.

 There’ll probably be only one more entry because I’m heading home next week (it really doesn’t feel like I’ve been here for a month now) so we’re off to Melbourne at the weekend again to spend our last few days of our stay here in Australia; it’s an absolutely brilliant city and I’m definitely looking forward to spend some time there.

Tuesday, 30^th August

I’m in to my second week now, and the weather is going from bad to worse now that we are nearing the end of the season. When I first got here I had a couple of days of training (cut short due to bad weather) before I entered my first FIS races which were two slaloms. In my first race I came out first run after getting caught out in the terrible ruts which had formed because of very soft snow conditions. I then had a couple of days of training once again before my second slalom race at the end of the week. In my second race I made it down both runs and managed to get a good result (scoring a 127) which I was very pleased with.

Because of worsening conditions though, we haven’t been able to train very much; there is much less snow now and it is currently raining, which is expected to stay for a few more days.

I’m off to New Zealand at the end of the week for 4 more races, two GS and two more slaloms, there’ll be another update fairly soon.

25 July: As the weeks draw nearer, training, (in regards to fitness) intensifies as I prepare for my four week trip to the southern hemisphere for both racing and training with the Alpine Coaching Academy. My main aim at this time is to build up my fitness as much as possible to get the most out of the four weeks as possible, so I am currently following parts of fitness programmes set by both Tim Fawke, Head Coach of the England Team, and Mike Gould and Simon Brown of Alpine Coaching Academy which both cover all aspects of fitness, from Basic Endurance, to Core Strength. Also, next week, as part of my preparation I am also off to France for a fitness week lead by an England Alpine Team Assistant Coach, Dave Durgan.

As it will have been around four months since last being on snow, I will be using some of my training to get used to being back on snow, but, as I am entering my first year of FIS racing, my aim for the coming season will be to lower my points as much as possible to get away from those very late starting positions that make the races so much harder. To do this though, I will need to get as much training as possible in FIS courses, which will mean getting used to both the length and diversity of the courses compared to those found in children’s racing, as well as getting used to my new skis which are much longer than the ones I used in children’s racing (especially my super-g skis!). I think the other crucial part of racing at FIS will be gaining experience from every race, which will be essential both this season and next.

The first three weeks of my trip will be spent in Victoria, Australia where I will be mostly training, and preparing for the coming races such as the Nationals. For my final week in the Southern Hemisphere, I will travel to New Zealand purely for the racing, which will include more national races. Let’s just see what the summer brings...