Don't Be So Hard On Yourself

Yes I know it is Monday! I haven't hit my head! Brogan showed us this yesterday and it is pretty apt for everyone here! Apologies this is a day late than the promised Sunday (or did I say weekend) blog! You see the week did not go to plan and was if I am honest very disappointing.

After hitting my ankle on Tuesday and having to take a few days off to let the swelling and pain subside I was back to training Friday. I was pretty excited to be back training with the group and generally happy that I'd not missed too many slides. You see the key to my development is time on ice. Every slide matters as you can only really practise by doing at full throttle. Tricky when you're injured or dare I say injury prone.

So rewind to Friday. Run1. Smashed the other ankle out of 13 (the same corner). F***! Trying to maintain a positive outlook however I can acknowledge that other aspects and focus areas were improved. For example my form was better and I got my steers on in key areas. But I am sliding with flailing ankles which with my bony, sticky out ankles is a recipe for disaster and rather painful too. Once again I became a one slide Sally :( hardly helping to build my time on ice.

Unfortunately my left ankle is the one I sprained badly in Winterberg last February so is easily traumatised. As a result the discomfort in my foot and ankle got worse over Friday and the weekend, rather than better. It also looked like I was smuggling a golf ball beneath my skin :(

As a result I have missed training today (Monday). My third missed session in six sessions. So I thought I'd leave the blog writing for today to keep myself occupied. I've had good news today though; Gareth our soft tissue therapist gave a really positive assessment and as long as my ankle keeps progressing I'll be back on ice on Wednesday.

So whilst everyone else has been sliding and gymming doing the usual I have been putting recovery top of my priorities today. I've upgraded my ice water immersion to salty warm water immersion which is a treat! Although my hands are constantly salty now! The salt is supposed to help with the inflammation and hydration and was kindly donated by the kitchen here where we are staying :) As well as sitting with my foot in a bin of warm, salty water I had some soft tissue treatment which was uncomfortable but necessary and spent some time on my sled visualising and practising keeping my feet together! There has been some chat of tying my ankles together so that I can't flail them about when I slide!

It has been tempting this past week to be really frustrated and hard on myself because like I said the week has been super disappointing. This week has basically been what I had dreaded happening. Not getting the hang of it (sliding) at all and as a result hurting myself which then means I have to lose training days so that injuries can recover. Despite crashing, hurting myself and feeling like I haven't 'got it' all I want to do is get on my sled and slide, day in, day out. I am super jealous of my teammates who have completed all 15 slides of last week compared to my 5. When you repeat a skill with that level of regularity it becomes your norm. For me, sliding still evokes nerves and worry at times. This will naturally disappear as I get back on the sled. So I channelled my inner Jess Glynne and made my mantra 'don't be so hard on yourself'. Yes, it was my fault I got hurt but I am doing my best to learn from it and do what I can now to try prevent it happening again on Wednesday and going forwards.

Looking forward being back here Wednesday!

The last time I was on ice was February, and it was a totally different style of track. Lillehammer is aggressive and high pressure track, it is quite a contender. Having not even made many descents from the top during my first (and only) camp here every slide from the top is a challenge and a step towards becoming more comfortable and competent at this track. So bearing all this in mind, having done only five slides I cannot really beat myself up too much; it is counterproductive.

So, it has not been a dream start for me. However, for some of the group it has been a really positive start to the season which is encouraging for me! Unfortunately, we will be losing another of our team tomorrow :( Ellie had a bad crash and although she is okay in the grand scheme of things she is heading home to get some R+R and medical support to get her back on her feet. So we are down from a 9 to 7. Fingers crossed for a better week this week; I can't wait to slide Wednesday :)

p.s Happy one year 'Facebook' anniversary to my BFF and twine Madelaine Smith!!