White snow to white sand!

Typically underestimated, recovery is equal if not more important than the training itself...right? The body continually impresses me with its capabilities, but one thing is for sure: without rest on a daily, weekly and annual basis a high performance athlete will burn out. April is the skier’s annual rest period to fully recover and prepare for another 11 months of focused training. Each athlete has individual hobby’s, jobs, and vacations they fill there “down time” with and I was fortunate enough this year to spend mine in true vacation style. I spent a week in the Caribbean (for the first time!) soaking the sun and clearing my mind of anything that might hold me back heading into full commitment in May. I also used this time to revisit my races and training from the past year and consider what I can learn from the past experiences. So here is how I spent my relaxing time...

Private Holland America Island in Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

Typical tourist in San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Myself and the gorgeous Cindy Clark~ formal night selfy

The year was certainly packed with travel. racing, training and most importantly enjoying the experiences and having fun. I realize with each year that one of the simplest yet important factors to performing at your best is enjoying it all (aka having FUN) It sometimes gets lost in the High performance world of results, training hours, and shooting percentages but I truly believe it is a fundamental component to success. With Olympics coming soon, My goal this year is to simplify my thoughts and basically relax! It sounds silly I know, but I have trained for 14 years and I know that the skiing speed and the shooting will follow if I’m in the right frame of mind!