By Annika Hicks

Graduating from high school is inevitably a huge milestone in one's life. For me, my June 2009 graduation marked a transition from a part-time athlete-part-time student to a fully committed, full-time athlete. Not only was I graduating high school, I was graduating from the Canmore Nordic Ski Club and joining a high level ski team; the Alberta World Cup Academy. My choice to join the Academy didn't come easily. I was scared of the seniors on my new team; I hardly knew my new coaches and I was breaking the training routine I'd had for almost three years. Intimidated? That was an understatement. Even though I still race for Canmore, leaving the club was like leaving a family behind and I was going to miss just about everything about it. I'd grown so close to my teammates and my coaches. In the back of my mind, however, I knew the Academy would be most beneficial for my skiing.

The next few months were a blur. By July I'd warmed to my new teammates and realized that the "scary" seniors weren't so scary after all and every day I became more and more comfortable with my new coaches. Our camps were at least twice as long as what I was used to, we had to cook our own meals and we had no parent chaperones to keep everyone organised. By the end of August I was more tired than I'd ever been before, often napping two times a day! All in all, though, the summer was great. I felt as though I'd made huge fitness gains, ski technique was improving and my time in the gym was really paying off (my coach Mike even told me my triceps were bulging. SCORE!)

September was a fairly easy month; a time to psych myself up for the intensity-filled months to come. For a skier, October and November are often the hardest training months of the year, and the most important. So when I felt the inkling of a cold coming on in mid-October, I was not a happy camper. Obviously, getting sick was not ideal, but I couldn't do anything but recover as fast as possible. After a couple days, I was healthy again and ready to get on with all the intensity I had planned. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Only a couple days after I'd recovered from my cold, I fell sick again, this time with the flu. Again, I knew all I could do was recover as quickly as possible and stay positive. I regained health, but I was a little panicky; I'd missed out on almost a whole month of training, and felt out of shape. Not the feeling I was hoping for a month before race season!

November passed and I was feeling stronger and stronger each training session. On the Wednesday before my first race, the Alberta Cups, I was having an amazing intensity session, feeling the best I'd felt in months. Then, halfway through an interval, I stuck my pole between my legs and fell. I hit the ground, got back up right away, but realized I couldn't feel my right thumb and I wasn't able to hold my pole. I ended my intensity and by the time I got home, my thumb was twice its normal size. I made a trip down to the hospital and a doctor assessed my x-rays; nothing was broken, but I needed to get my thumb reassessed in a week or so, when the swelling had gone down, to make sure I hadn't torn any ligaments. If the ligaments were torn, I'd need surgery. By this point, I was getting frustrated; I'd been sick twice in less than a month and now my thumb. The doctor advised me against skiing, but I did anyways and was on track to race at Sovereign Lakes in December. A day before the team was set to leave, I got sick. Again. My frustration was now at its maximum level. It seemed as though everything that could go wrong...did. The season I was dreaming of was crumbling at my fingertips. At this point though, I felt as though things could only get look up. I had my thumb assessed by a surgeon, and although I had partially torn ligaments, I didn't need surgery. My thumb would be sore for six months, but I could ski pain free (I had a splint custom fitted to my ski pole). I've been healthy as ever since and now have nine races under my belt. In fact, World Junior Championship Trials in Quebec were some of the best races (and results) I've ever had. Although I didn't qualify for the Championships, I was selected for a European tour and I'm headed off to Switzerland and Italy next Sunday.

Through this experience, I realized that skiing, and life for that matter, is a series of ups and downs. Life can get frustrating, but can turn around at any moment and I could have it so much worse. Ski racing truly is a roller coaster ride. Alright, that's enough of my rambling, so I will leave with a quote I read on George Grey's blog that I think every racer should live by: "Tough times don't last long, but tough people do."