June 21st marked the start of summer! Spring came and went, wether it felt like it or not. With some good races towards the end of the 22/23 season, I had an extra boost of confidence to start working toward my goals for this 23/24 season.
Those goals and hopes, however, felt so much further away when I could barely hit the targets at the biathlon range.
Our local ski trails lasted until the first week into May and the crust skiing was not far behind! Then came the hard part… my transition to roller skiing was far from graceful. The roller skis suddenly became these short and chunky pieces of metal that definitely did not feel like skis. How did I ever learn ski technique with them? How would I ever learn to balance on one roller ski later this summer?
I realized that there is a special humility that I will have every spring when transitioning to roller skis, and again every winter once the snow arrives. Learning to ski for the first time was hard! Trying to relearn something that should come so easy is a different level of difficult. Not only is the spring skiing a tough thing to master, but so is strength training and shooting.
Fortunately, the relearning period was short. Muscle memory kicked in and now I am working to fine tune my form and technique, both at the range and out on the trails.
I’m glad that this sport gives these two periods of difficulties that I will be forced to overcome again and again. Every time, this transition seems to teach me something different and forces me to take a look from a different perspective. Learning to deal with the humility and how to use it to grow stronger is a great gift. Most athletes have this same opportunity after coming back from off season. I count myself lucky enough to experience this not only once, but twice every year!
Now summer is here! It’s time to get out there and enjoy our sunny (and not so sunny) days every way we can! Good luck to all those of you training! I’ll see on the trails.
