Settling into summer training
From late April to early June I spent some needed time in Thailand where I reconnected with family and childhood friends after not having been back since late 2019. In the past my trips to Thailand would be with my parents but this time I brought along my closest friends that I grew up with in Alaska to show them around the land that is still very much my home. It was very surreal experience having my friends experience a little bit of everything that I experienced each time I was back there. Whether it was all the amazing food we ate, beautiful scenery, cultural shocks, having them meet my family and friends- the trip was everything (and more) than what I’ve always imagined taking my American friends to Thailand would be.
During the trip I met with the General Secretary of the Ski and Snowboard Association of Thailand (SSAT), Mr Sueb Tarasiri. We discussed about my future of representing Thailand in more races this upcoming season and the commitments that the federation expects of me. Despite my 2023-2024 season being cut short by a hand injury, the SSAT would still be willing to help me with travel expenses associated with some of the major races that they are wanting me to do this winter! I was told that this would be the most important season for me to help Thailand improve its overall FIS standing in order for the team to be able to send two male athletes to the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.
Once back in Alaska I took about a week to slowly of easing back into running and roller skiing to prepare myself up for what would be the most training I have ever done in to date in my life that I plan to be doing with a local ski club Alaska Winter Stars (AWS). As much as I prepared during that first week home, the first month of training with AWS was honestly quite rough. The sudden increase in both volume and intensity workouts was something that I had to learn how to ease into without overtraining or injuring myself. The month of June really taught me how to listen to my body in a way that would allow me to decide which workouts to substitute out, doing at home physical therapy, and eat enough calories so that I won’t wake up in the middle of the night with a howling stomach.
The coach at AWS Jan Buron, who is a well known and respected coach for producing so many elite skiers in the US, helped me to make a training plan that I would follow throughout the summer and into the fall. This plan would closely follow what he has his “older junior” skiers (18 year old+ skiers) do as they prepare for their season racing for their respective university teams. It would follow a 4 week cycle of two intensity weeks followed by a higher volume week then finishing with a lighter recovery week.
You have no idea how thankful I was for my first recovery week, after doing between 16-24 hours a week of training 3 weeks in a row for the first time in my life. Something interesting I learned was that the first 2 or 3 days of the recovery week I would feel great, almost to the point that I was craving to do a hard training session, but on day 4 or 5 it would feel like my body was hit by a truck and I can barely even get myself out of bed in the morning. I guess I was training hard enough to be feeling that type of way.
Once July rolled around and after many hours of roller skiing, running with poles, and doing “strength” circuits that to me felt more like mix between HIIT and CrossFit, I found myself being able to do all the workout prescribed by Jan without feeling AS tired from previous workouts as I did back in June. I finally understand how to listen to my body in a way that allowed me to recover properly and be able to show up to training feeling ready to take on whatever crazy session we have that day.
I would say that I was finally settling into a summer full of training.