Jit's Journal: Battered and smiling in the Andes

Jit’s Journal: Battered and smiling in the AndesBodies are bruised, backs are hurting, faces are burned, technicians are weary, and the coaches have bags under their eyes. All signs of a good camp coming to a close. When you wake up in the morning and all you can think of is what excuse you wish you could make up to let your body heal for a day. That is when you know have definitely been pushing yourself.

Sitting around the house one afternoon I glance around to see if my teammates are showing the effects of double sessions, by this I mean training twice in one day, and it is clearly visible as ice bags are covering various body parts. After multiple early morning SG sessions in which the course was 100 seconds long, 8 seconds longer than the longest World Cup SG last year, our bodies were starting to break down.

Drew Roberts’s elbow looked more like a baseball than a body part. Tim Kelley’s and my arms looked like they were naturally tanned because of heavy bruising, and even my technician Mike Hay found himself with a disabled thumb after finding out the wrong way just how sharp he makes our edges. Though we’re battered slightly, the group as a whole still skiing extremely well.

Injury has taken its toll however. Roger Brown took an acrobatic crash in SL which had people wondering if it was natural for a human body to flex in such a way, while Todd Thibodeau injured his back over many GS sessions. Both flew back home to the States to recover before we go to Europe in October. Andrew Weibrecht and Mitt Coats left us as well. Both are attending school at Dartmouth before the ski season begins.

The snow is turning from powder to ice, and it is not uncommon for someone to fall square on their ass down the many steps it takes to get to our house. I say this because I did it this morning. Also we are no longer the only national team training here, as the Italian World Cup speed team has discovered the quality training at La Parva.

Well, we are almost out of here and I’m looking forward to going home and resting up before heading off to Europe in October. Take care, train hard and have fun.

-Jit

Tim Jitloff was the 2005 Sprint / Ski Racing Junior of the Year. He will keep his online journal here all season. To read more athlete journals, or to hear industry insiders in their own words, click here.