*Julia checking in from Germany!
The month of April is coming to an end which means that the “off-season” is winding down and on May 1st, the start of the skiing “new year” begins! For me, the off-season is an important time to check out of the “athlete” mindset, and just enjoy being a regular person. That means if I want to go out and do an activity, great and if I want to stay inside and enjoy a rainy day doing nothing, that’s great too! I think both physical and mental rest and recharge is super important, so that the other 11 months of the year we are training and racing, we have the mental capacity to push hard.
Ironically, I have been traveling since the season ended for the off-season. Traveling for skiing is one thing, but traveling for leisure can be a little different. I have found I recharge physically and mentally by spending time with family and friends and filling it with non-xc ski adventures. After a quick 48h stop at home to unpack and repack, I hopped on a flight to San Diego where my sister lives to spend 2 weeks with my family. I enjoyed surfing and playing beach volleyball most days, and even got in a long weekend of backcountry and alpine skiing in Mammoth over Easter!
Recharging in the way that I recharge best, quality time with family and friends, and time spent outside!
After that, I made my way back over the ocean to Israel to visit a friend and now I am in Germany visiting my family whom I rarely get to see. One reason why I decided to make a trip back to Europe in the off-season is that I recently stepped into the position of FIS Cross Country Athlete Representative, which means I have FIS meetings to attend in Croatia next week. I am really excited to become more involved with the sport, helping represent the athletes’ voice while learning all of the behind-the-scenes workings of FIS. On my way to Croatia, I am checking out Rome for the first time, fully engaging in tourist mode for once. The meetings in Croatia are the first week of May and before I know it, I’ll be jumping on a plane directly to Bend Camp to kick of the new training year. I am really excited to reunite with our whole Stratton team in Bend and make it back to the Stratton area end of May and see the community members in person! I am wishing everyone a great spring and stay tuned for some really exciting news coming shortly about our team!
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Pretty “active” for the off-season! 🙂