Worm’s World

Ok so I am in Europe now, and it turns out the internet access is very spotty. So this is the first time I have been able to get on in a long time. I have now been here for about 2 weeks. The trip has been interesting so far. There has been a lot of weather we have had to deal with. We have had 2 downhills, 2 Super G’s, and 2 Super Combines. They have all had there high points and there low points. The most recent was a SG at Sarntal, Italy. I ran 19, and came down into 3rd place. I was really happy with this result. After time went on and more racers came to finish, the clouds began to clear and the sun came out to play. Once the sun came out the racers started to creep closer and closer to my time. Then my teammate Chris Beckmann was about to go, and i knew if there was one guy who could take advantage of the changed weather, it was him. He came into view of the finish at a good time and ended up winning by a little bit. It was very good for him, but a little frustrating for me. Other than that a little bright piece of news that i found out a few days ago. Before this trip over to Europe I was in Sugarloaf, Maine, for the cap off to the Nor Am DH series for the year. It was actually all canceled because of bad weather. As a result of that and no time to make any of those races up later this season, I have won the Nor Am DH title giving me a world cup spot for next year. That was some exciting news, and am now looking forward to the rest of the year and next year. We are off the Chamonix, France later next week. So hopefully the French internet will prove to be more fruitful and I will keep you posted as to how that series goes for me.

Thanks for reading

Worm

So sorry for the delay between posts. There was absolutely no internet for the last 3 weeks on the road.

So the season has started and it is off to a great start. After an unfortunate cancellation of the qualifying training run where there was a chance for me to race Beaver Creek, I then went and for ran those races. This was a great chance to get the best training available and gain some much needed confidence before starting my race(a DH race), there were some unwelcome pre-first race jitters. I tried to get rid of them as best as possible but despite my best efforts I was forced out of the gate still being a bit flustered. I had a pretty good run but there were just a few mistakes that cost me a good amount of time, putting me into 5th place. After my first race was over I then started thinking about the task of preparing for the next day (another DH). Day 2 I was much less nervous and felt really good for the day ahead. It turns out I felt good enough to come out ahead of the rest of the field. Winning by the slightest of gaps of .01 of a second. This was my first Nor Am win ever so it was a great day.

With my added confidence coming from the win, we then traveled to Panorama for 2 SG races and a super Combined. For some reason i had some jitters going into the first day of Super G as well. I again tried to calm my nerves and put a good run down. The lighting that day was not the greatest and i just again made a few mistakes in some bad places finishing 15th.  Clearly not happy about that run, i forgot about it quickly and came out the next day with some determination to go as fast as possible with nothing to lose. With my 15th place finish i moved out of the top seed and was starting 25. With the front group gone i knew if i came down ahead it would most likely hold up. I skied down into the finish and heard the time announcer yelling a great time. I knew it was fast but didn’t expect to come down .5 ahead of everybody else. That was it 2 wins in one week. I was happy. Very happy. I have a ton of confidence going into a nice and well needed holiday break.

I will be training over this break up in VT with the Green Mountain Valley School, before going to Sunday River and Sugarloaf Maine to defend my DH nor am title and try to capture the SG title which i am sitting in 2nd in. I hope everyone has great holidays and a happy new year. Sorry this was so long but there was some catching up to do.

Talk to you in 2008

Worm

So I sit here on the campus of GMVS in Waitsfield, VT. I have a bit of time off now that I am home from Chile and our golf tournament is over. Thanks by the way to those of you who came out to Park City to enjoy the day or those of you donated to our cause. So i sit here waiting to do a very hard workout with some of the kids who attend GMVS. I don’t expect they will like me very much after this. Basically that is what the next couple of weeks will entail, working out and some more prep work for the season. The season for me will hopefully kick off with my first World Cup race in Lake Louise, BC. There will be a few people up there fighting for even fewer spots in the actual race. So to improve my chances of racing I am doing everything in my power to be as prepared as possible. Putting in some time with the Lonettos at Edgewise in Stowe, VT working on my skis and making them even faster.

So for now I am off to make some kids mad.

Wish me luck in Lake Louise

Worm

Sorry for the long break between posts, It got a bit hectic towards the end of the summer. As for now I am down in Chile. We have been at a volcano called Thermas de Chillan for a little over a week. The beginning of the camp was very good, with hard snow and plenty of sunshine to share. After our first day off we weren’t so fortunate. The wind kicked up, the snow fell, and the fog rolled in. It has been hard to get the speed training that we were hoping for due to these conditions. To top it off today the lifts didn’t even start up because the wind was a little too fierce. We only have 2 more days here before a short break at the beach of two days and nights. This will be great, it will give us the time to relax and recharge before our final push of the camp in Portillo. Portillo is extremely important because it gives us some “real” speed training. The hill in Portillo provides us with some real race simulation jumps, and terrain. It gets us good and ready for the season that is rapidly approaching.

On a side note, Our mens team golf tournament fundraiser is coming up quick. Oct. 10th at the Jeremy Ranch in Park City, Utah. For those of you who don’t know. This is a chance to come out and meet the entire mens alpine team. This golf Tourney directly helps me as I am not fully funded this year and that is the goal, to raise the funds for me and the other guys that won’t be able to pay the full 20k they are asking of us. If you are interested in attending or just donating there are more details at Mensalpine.com. Thanks everyone, and for now I am off to the gym for some dayoff games and dryland.

Talk to you soon.
Worm

So we just recently finished our hockey camp. It was four days of grueling double sessions of hockey with a session of recovery in between followed by meetings and more meetings. As you might assume we are not exactly NHL material, so this camp was put together as a team bonding/ workout camp. I know I at least bonded with my team “the black jerseys”, Although we lost the night game to cap off the training block. Also during the four days, the entire mens alpine team was in town for physical testing, hockey, and some community service. For community service we went to Salt Lake City and attended and spent some time with the Boys and Girls club. We sat and chatted with the kids answered questions, after which we had an autograph signing. However much fun that all was I think the high light of the trip was our game of dodgeball with all the kids, They won. With all the excitement of the hockey camp over I have treated myself to a much needed week off. I will be back in the gym next week ready to fire it back up and continue my work. Until next time, I hope the sun keeps shining.

Worm

Some of you might know and some might not, but this summer I was informed of my funding status with the US Ski Team. I am no longer a fully funded athlete. This news of course stung a good bit especially after my best season to date and moving up to the B team. Today has been a very thankful day. This posting goes out as a special thank you to both Linda from Pennsylvania and Laney from New Jersey. Your donations and contributions have gotten me that much closer to reaching the amount I have to pay set forth by the ski team and is greatly appreciated. It will not be forgotten. Again thank you and I hope all is well and your summers are being nice to you both.

Worm

So I know i haven’t posted much. The fact of the matter is, there isn’t much going on. I am now in Park City for a long block of dryland training. My day consists of hours in the gym and then some more on the bike. It doesn’t sound all that exciting, but it has been very worthwhile as i work very closely with our sports science department. This has given me the chance to more effectively monitor and personalize my dryland schedule. With this said, I hope everyones summer has been going and continues to go well. To a big fan of mine, Hi Becky hope all is well.

Yesterday was a really cool day. The part of the team that is in MT. Hood and I got the opportunity the take a trip to the Nike vision center in Portland Oregon. For the four and a half hours we were there we were put through a series of 12 tests to see how our eyes react to depth perception, flat light, how fast our eyes can focus from long to short distances and back, along with other tests. A number of the tests were pretty competitive and we were all having a good bit of fun with it. With all of these tests done, we will now be sent a program with what we need work on and how to fix it. Hopefully this new approach to training will help us elevate our performance. Thank you Nike and all the staff that was included, we are very grateful.

Worm

This post has been a long time coming. The end of the season was one full of suspense. The clock counting down towards the time left to complete my goal of making the B team was rapidly approaching an end. With the last day of my season including 2 Super G races, I needed to convert on one of them. It didn’t happen on the first one, so it came down the the last minute and thirty seconds of the season to decide my fate with the team. I pulled it out and won by over a second, securing my spot on next years B team. Now with the season over there has been little time to sit back and relax before heading to Park City for physical testing then Mammoth for our first summer ski camp. Mammoth was a great camp aside from the lack of snow, we got a lot of good skiing in. After Mammoth was over there was a short block of dryland training for me in Park City. I am now writing from my room in Mt. Hood, Oregon on our second camp. Cancelled from fog and ice today, it was a bit of a mellow day including some spinning on our bike, and a little golf tourney between the athletes and our coaches, we won. With three more days of skiing ahead of us I hope the weather holds out and we can finish strong. That has pretty much been my spring and early summer. The Site is fulling operational now so keep checking in for more updates. Enjoy the summer and talk to you all soon.

Worm

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