Racing and Recovering

It’s hard to believe that the racing season has already started, but after three back-to-back days of racing, it definitely feels like it has!  Of course, it’s still mid-November and we still have another month until we’ll race back home, so these are definitely races and results to be taken pretty lightly.  But with a deep, highly competitive international field of racers fired up for the season to begin, there’s definitely a contagious energy around these races.  When I was racing today, Clare cheered me on by screaming “every second counts!” and it couldn’t have been more true–in these races, every second could easily be 5 places.  Thats crazy!  And it’s also definitely very motivating.

I won’t go into results in detail or anything, but I think the team had some pretty solid results and we’re where we need to be at this time of the year.   And we’re also real easy to spot in our new suits, too!!

We’ve been taking our recovery at least as seriously as our racing in the last few days.  I’d say the recovery might even be at the level of extreme– and it’s certainly helping to keep us entertained!  Here are some pictures of “the two R’s.”

Clare tucking down the final hill in the skate race

Tim coming through on a lap

Pat getting cheered on and video taped

Dylan striding in behind someone

Leg elevation--part of our recovery repertoire.

Icebath! This was the coldest water I've ever been in, and I definitely squealed non-stop for the first minute or so. In this picture you can also see my new fur coat (fake, of course) that I picked up from the thrift store here in Muonio for 5 euro. It's quite warm! I had to do a little photoshopping to get all three of us in one picture--we didn't have anyone to take a picture of all of us!

This one of Ida also captures the ice that was on the shore of the river. When I got out, my toes were blocks of ice and my legs felt sooo weird. Are ice baths actually good for you?