Yo, what's up everyone!
Colin writing here, and while I'm itching to get on snow out in Canmore in just a couple weeks, there's still some life left in summer or fall or whatever season you wanna call it! For me, these off-snow months have been full of just saying Yes! So often it is easy to fall into a bit of a training trap, and saying that you can't do this, you can't do that, you can't, you can't, you can't, and all of a sudden you've lost a piece of who you are. I want skiing to add to my life, not be just my life. Don't get me wrong, I genuinely love good structured interval workouts, following a periodized plan, and hitting that 3.0 mmol on the lactate reader! However, I've found fast is happy, and happy is saying Yes!!
My teammate Adam and I in Badlands National Park.
Living through the Yes lens
When I look at all the opportunities I've had, the only ones I regret are the ones I have said no to, and I think it is important to live life and skiing or whatever your passion is through this Yes lens. I notice there are so many more opportunities when I am open and optimistic. I came into this training year with the mindset that I was going to treat skiing as a super boost instead of a weight if that makes sense. It's what drives me to achieve everything I want!
A solo road trip through the Deep South
One of those important things to me is exploring! So I took a two week solo road trip to the Deep South. I spent a week in Texas, I was actually born there, so was good to connect with my people after being away from home for 20 years! I'd say Dallas is awful, Austin rules, but hill country Texas with the hole in the wall joints everywhere was my favorite! I then ticked off Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and West Virginia. I had so much anticipation for Louisiana, and the gators are sick, but man they had too many wild hogs, running deep in the bayous was a bit terrifying. The best part about this trip was I used my training to take me to new places. Getting out to run or bike or whatever it was I was doing twice a day, I got to see so many new places, work up an appetite for so much new food, and experience new cultures we have here in America! What's crazy is that when I got home, I realized how unique the skiing culture, especially here in the Midwest is!, and it gave me so much more appreciation and drive to train hard and chase my skiing goals!
Exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains in West Virginia.
Building a Flying Muskie for Red Bull Flugtag
So exploring is awesome, and it's awesome that we as Snø Racing have gotten to go on some training camps this year, Park City was rad, but you wanna know what else is rad, Redbull Flugtag!! I couldn't believe it, but I got asked to help build a Flying Muskie as part of the Redbull Flugtag event in Minneapolis this past September by the one and only Tom "T-Bird" Camp! It was awesome, we spent two months working on it almost every single day between training. When asked if I could help, I could have said no, I can't, I need to prioritize recovery, I need to prioritize this, I need to prioritize that, and honestly, those priorities were pretty valid. There were a couple days I would get home and be so physically drained, man I'd fall asleep faster than Joey Chestnut eating hotdogs, but the relationship I got to build with T-Bird, the drive to bring this Flying Muskie idea to fruition, it all gave me so much purpose and fulfillment that I realized I was happier and more excited to be at practice everyday!
The Flying Muskie!! (T-Bird is on the left)
Where art and sport meet
This individual drive, purpose, and fulfillment is also something that I bring with me as a leathercrafter and artist. For years, I loved skiing, but felt a bit of an artistic urge that I just didn't know what to fill it with. I guess the art of figuring out how to set a kick pocket didn't fill that urge haha! It may sound a bit odd to compare skiing fast to leathercraft, but I find so many calming similarities whether it is spending hours out in the woods training by yourself or spending hours creating a piece for someone that will last the rest of their lives. Having a healthy drive outside of skiing helps me to enjoy skiing and vice versa. It really is crazy how art and sport complement each other, and I know I would be worse off at either without the other.
A leather guitar strap I made for a friend! You can check out more of my leather work on Instagram @freed.leather, or shop at Freed Leather on Etsy.
My whole point in saying this is to be grateful for the experiences you've got, and realize that saying no is the biggest regret I've ever had. There is so much overlap in all aspects of life, whether it's skiing, exploring, building, whatever, they all feed off one another!! Alright, peace out, time to say Yes to some real snow skiing soon!
- Colin