Megan McJames

The month of January has been a whirlwind of ski racing.  I started the 2010 year off in Quebec, CAN at some North American Cups.  Although the giant slaloms were cancelled due to unsafe snow conditions it was still successful trip and I went home with two slalom victories.   At home I got a much-needed POWDER day at Alta to rejuvenate my soul before flying back over to Europe.

Since I spend so much time racing over in Europe and I feel like I am constantly writing about it, I thought I would give you an idea of what the typical day in the life of an American ski racer consists of:

6:00AM alarm

6:15AM warm-up my body (spin on the bike for 10 minutes and do some stretching and core activation)

6:45AM eat a European breakfast (usually consisting of fruit, yogurt, cereal, bread and thick coffee)

7:30AM leave for the mountain

8:00AM take some warm-up runs on my skis and do some drills to get my body going through the correct motions

8:45AM inspect first run course set

9:30AM pre-run snack, mmmm….gummy bears

10AM first runs starts…….I usually end up going around 11AM after going to the start and warming-up a little more with plyos and explosive work

12:30PM second run inspection

1:30PM second run starts

2:30PM head back to the hotel for lunch, usually pasta!

3:00PM either jump in the car and drive to a new mountain or jump on the bike for a recovery spin, followed by some more core and stretching

4:00PM search for internet to get in touch with the rest of the world and most importantly home!!

6:00PM team meeting

7:00PM dinner

9:30-10PM early bedtime

After a few days of successful of ski racing like the one described above I was named to the Olympic team 2010 and will be heading to Vancouver this February.  Thank you to everyone for all of the support I have received so far, keep sending good vibes to Team USA next month!!!

This is my last blog of 2009 as we move into the Olympic year.  I spent my last month of the year traveling around Europe, ski racing.  This doesn’t sound like anything different than my usual winter routine but I have vowed to enjoy my time traveling and to try and embrace the differences each new country brings instead of being home sick.

We started the month in Are, Sweden and that made appreciating new places easy.  Although the world cup did not go as well as I had planned, I really liked how Sweden seemed to be a hybrid of the best things about the U.S. and the best things of main land Europe all rolled into one country.  When you are on the road for long periods of time it is the little pleasures, like finding Ben and Jerry’s ice cream in a Swedish grocery store, that can brighten your day.

Then, after a stint on the Europa Cup grind, all of the girls got some much-needed time off for Christmas.  Christmas away from home is a tough reality for the U.S. Women’s technical team but, if I do say so myself, we made the best of it.  On the 24^th we went to the Christmas market in Salzberg, the birthplace of Mozart!  Between the stands of Christmas cookies, gluwien, specialty foods and ornaments, we found our cheer!  After exploring the city and the market thoroughly we headed back to our new apartments in Kaprun, where the owner showed us how a traditional Austrian Christmas is really done!  We started with a Champagne toast around a beautifully decorated Christmas tree.  Then we moved on to a delicious five-course meal that began with a curry pumpkin soup and ended with a gingerbread soufflé!!  After all of the food we needed some fresh air and the Austrians were way ahead of us.  Carrying torches we walked to the town castle to sing Christmas carols under the stars.  Apparently, the carol Silent Night also comes from the city of Salzberg!

The next morning was Christmas morning and we all tried to make it as much like home as possible.  Around our little Christmas tree we ate a big French toast breakfast and opened presents from secret santas.  There was plenty of food, chocolate, laughs and friendship to recover anyone for the last race of the month in Lienz.  In Leinz, I had my best result of the season so far.  I am proud to say that I moved up from starting 50^th to finishing 20^th with the third fastest second run.

I am now headed back to the U.S. to celebrate New Years with my family and race some Norams.  It will be good to get back on my home turf and try to score some FIS points so I can have a better starting position in the upcoming races the year!

Until Next time, Happy New Years!!!

My new Kaenon sunglasses!!!

Went to get kids psyched on ski racing in Aspen's elementary school!

Looking up at the finish area in Aspen!

We spent the month of November skiing on home turf in Colorado.  The month since our first race in Solden has come and gone quickly and the race season has begun in full force with winter weather, cold temperatures and a couple very injected slopes.

My family came to Aspen to watch me race and we had a big turkey dinner on Thursday night, YUM!  I was very happy to spend time with my favorite fans over the holidays and left our little Thanksgiving dinner feeling recharged.  My family revived me at just the right time as the next week of racing turned out to be exhausting!!

My first race of the week was the giant slalom world cup race in Aspen.  It was a tough hill and once again I felt like I was skiing well, but unfortunately this time I did not finish the second run.  Next time, in Are, I am going to try and put two fast runs together and through the finish.

The next four days after the world cup, we raced Norams (North American Cups).  Although I was tired I felt satisfied with my GS results, being the top American both days, finishing third and fourth.  My SL is also coming along and although it still needs some work, it gets better every run!

We are now over in Europe, resting up and getting ready for some more racing this upcoming week.  Wish me luck and happy ski season, it has begun!

This year the season opening World Cup in Solden, Austria did not go as well as last year for me because I did not finish the first run.  Although it is hard to tell how you stack up against the competition if you don’t make it to the finish line, I feel confident with my skiing and good about how I skied before my mistake on race day.  We had an excellence prep period this summer, ending in Saas Fee, Switzerland.  Being in Saas Fee we had the best training around Europe as some of the other glaciers closer to Austria struggled with pre-season snowstorms.  I spent ten days training GS on some steep and icy runs to get ready for the challenging race hill in Solden.  During those ten days I managed to take some pretty big crashes and broke two pairs of skis as well as tearing the UCL tendon in my thumb, a.k.a. skiers thumb. 

Moving forward, I have one month until my next race in Aspen on Thanksgiving weekend.  During that time I am going to meet with my doctors and make a plan of action for healing my injured thumb.  I am also going to be doing some dryland, as well as on snow training in various resorts that have started to open up in Summit country, Colorado.  I will be doing some equipment testing and getting some repetition of good technique and consistency in all events but mostly, this month will give me a chance to get my head wrapped around this upcoming season and getting all the quirks hammered out before we start racing full time!    

Me and a broken ski in Saas Fee, SUI

It is going to be Independence Day in Chile this coming weekend and many Chileans have come to the mountains to celebrate the holiday.  The weather is bright as the sun reflects off the unending snow covered mountains as we join the Chileans at Valle Nevado ski resort for two weeks of training.  Skiing has been so fun, as well as productive, that my legs do not have the stamina to keep up with my mind.  Even after a summer of intense dryland training the high altitude up here in the Andes takes its toll.  Between catching a nasty flu from teammates coined the “chilalien” and getting a bright red goggle tan I am getting the full down South experience. 

This is my eighth ear to Chile and I am turning 22 years old while we are here.  Each year the Chile camp is a chance to get your technique perfected before it gets tested on the icy glaciers in Europe in October.  As well as demanding perfection, Chile gives the perfect opportunity to test equipment on full-length courses.   This year I am testing boots.  I am still on Lange but we have been trying to find out which flex and cant give me the most control over my skis.  So far, we have found that I like the least aggressive boot possible because it allows me to release the end of the turn smoothly and easily.     

It is great to be back at ski camp  and in New Zealand of all great places.  It feels like it has been so long since we were on snow since our May Camp was cancelled and it is definitely taking me some time to get my feet back under me but we have been doing a lot of drills and hopefully when we do get back up to speed I will have made the important changes that are going to be the keys to success this upcoming season!  As far as boots, I have a lot of testing to do.  The past couple years I don’t feel like I have gotten my boot set up exactly right so this prep period we are starting with five pairs of Langes and are going to slowly weed out which ones are the best flex and canting for me!  The weather has began to clear up and get cold so the staff was able to inject the hill so the surface is setting up for  good testing.  More updates to come as we get ready for next year…

After a season on the slopes I decided it was time to hit the beach, so, I went on hiatus to heal in Hawaii.  The full schedule of hiking, surfing, paddle boarding, rock running and absorbing some good old ocean water and sun my body and mind feel like they are in a good place to come back to Park City and hit the gym.  The people in Maui had a great laid back attitude and although I am ready to work hard and get strong for the upcoming season, I have realized that the most important part of this whole adventure is to enjoy the journey.  Obviously, every girl at this level is competitive and wants to succeed result wise, otherwise they would not have gotten this far, but I have realized that the outcome is not guaranteed while squeezing the most fun out of every moment is one hundred percent in your control.  So, here is to a great summer of working hard and playing hard because everyone gets more accomplished with a smile.   Remember to smile when the going gets tough and when the pressure is on because “diamonds were made between a rock and a hard place.” 

The beginning was in Solden, AUT and the end was in Alyeska, Alaska.  We did a lot of traveling this year and our ski races brought us to many exciting places but the story of our national championships in Alaska cap off and represent a season full of ups, downs and lessons.   This season I experienced everything from a personal best on the world cup circuit with fourteenth place in Solden, AUT, to my fist major injury with a broken wrist, to my coach teaching me to go with the flow. 

On March 23, 2009 athletes all over America boarded planes to fly north, but not many got very far.  Between volcanic eruptions, flights were being delayed and turned around.  There was a sigh of relief for those of us who finally landed in Anchorage because, for those of you who do not know, you cannot run machinery through volcanic ash, let alone fly through it. 

The athletes and coaches who made it boarded a scenic bus ride along the ice caped ocean that took us to our hotel at the base of Alyeska Resort.  The hotel loomed in front of the mountain and snowflakes swirled all around.  Little did we know that the snowflakes would not stop falling the whole time we trying to race.  I have to give everyone who volunteered to help out these races on major thanks.  With 108 inches of snowfall in the week that we were there, there were mornings that I doubted a race could happen.  The snowfall gave us some epic powder days but also obstacles like fifteen-foot avalanches across our downhill track.     

Everyone took things in stride and although bodies were sore from moving snow, everyone was driven by their love of ski racing.  When an avalanche covered the downhill, they just put the super g start on top of it.  This year has been full of ups and downs and I feel like I learned a lot about myself as an athlete.   I felt happy and lucky to end the season on a high note with a second place in Giant Slalom and a fourth place in Slalom at nationals and I will try and take what I learned from this year through the prep period and into next year.  From the race workers to the athletes who threw themselves down the hill, thanks for loving ski racing, you make my dreams possible! 

This February was a classic month on the world cup tour.   We traveled all over Europe to countries from France to Italy and Italy back to Austria.  I saw things through the windows of cars and planes that I never could have experienced just sitting at home in the United States.  We spent so many hours in the ski team vans that there was always a demand for new CD’s with new music to keep us occupied as we drove across the castle dotted landscape.  Europe culture is old and history is everywhere.

We drove up a very narrow road that cuts a zig-zag up the French mountain to Val D’Isere for World Championships 2009.  Although, I didn’t have the results I was hoping for, with a DNF in the Giant Slalom, I had a great time experiencing my first championship event.  The weather on race day made tough conditions for racing but also turned the little French town in the mountains into a winter wonderland.  While we were there I took advantage of European cultures like eating roclette and sampling beautiful pastries. 

I am going home to now to take a week off and recharge my batteries before our last technical world cup race before finals, in Oftercshwang, Germany.  I am hoping for some good luck and good skiing so that as the season comes to an end I can feel satisfied with my results and look forward to a warm spring!

Look at my beautiful photography from Val D'Isere, ha!

The month of January has been full of ski racing and traveling for me and as with all professional athletes there has been a mix of good and bad races.  My teammate, Hailey Duke (www.haileyduke.com) and I started out the month in Kirchberg, Austria celebrating the new year by shooting off bigger fireworks than I have ever legally been able to touch in the U.S. and eating home made fondue.  Since then we followed the World Cup circuit to places like Maribor, Slovenia and Cortina, Italy.  In the city of Maribor we shopped and in Cortina we ate pasta and gelato for fuel.  We also managed to fit in a lot of skiing and are finishing up the month with the announcement of the United States’ World Championship team 2009.  I am excited to be attending my first world championship races in Val D’Isere, France and am hoping to have all the support of home behind me while I compete through the first half of February!  Go team USA!