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Posted on Thursday February 10th at 1:04 a.m.
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I am finally back on the blog bandwagon after a long break. I have not been training at all for the last five months while I have been recooperating from an overuse injury in my lower legs.
I decided to take a long period off to avoid having another surgery which could cause more problems further down the track. I had quite a few tests done to establish what was going on. We discovered that I have a problem with the arteries in my lower legs called popliteal artery entrapment syndrome. This is when the head of the calf muscles pushes on the artery reducing its size and resulting in a deficiency of oxygen to the muscles. There is a surgery to correct this but there are quite a few risks and a long recovery time so I took the long period off to let the muscle waste and reduce the pressure on the artery.
I have just started my rehab in the past week with the aim of changing the shape of my calf muscles through the type of training that I do to try and avoid the surgery. Taking this long break from racing and missing the northern winter has made me realise just how much I love ski racing and it jsut kills me to sit at home watching the results instead of being there.
As I have been forced to take a break from ski racing, I am starting a Bachelor of Science at Canterbury University this year. I am really a nerd at heart and really can't wait for the semester to begin. It has also been quite strange to have a full summer at home and have a summer holiday. I had Christmas at home with my whole family, it has been a while since I have done that and we had a fabulous day.
I went away with my family after Christmas to Wanaka and had the most enjoyable couple of weeks socialising, fishing and best of all, getting a very modest tan!! It was also great to catch up with all my mates who were back in Christchurch for the holidays. I also did have a couple of crappy holiday jobs. The first one was actually pretty sweet, I worked at a concert at the Mudhouse winery so I got paid to see a concert but I now know that I would not like to search bags for a living!! My second really crappy job was cleaning bricks to be reused in building. This was incredible. I never knew that your hands could get so bruised and blistered from holding a hammer and chisel all day. That is certainly one job off my occupation list.
The only other bad thing about summer is the heat. I am made of sugar - I melt!! Christchurch sweltered for a day last week with temperatures in the high 30's and it was terrible!! I had to construct a pond out of broken bricks, wood and a trusty tarpaulin and lay in it for a good chunk of the day.
All in all, not skiing sucks but summer also has its upsides. I can't wait to be on snow again but as they say patience is a virtue!!
