Hello, hello! I thought it would be good to check back in and give an update on how things are going, given it's been a while since my last update.
After I got sick, I went back home to CO to recover. I spent a number of days at home and got to feeling back to “normal” pretty quickly. I then returned to AK and put in a short training block to get my legs back under me, then headed up to Fairbanks at the beginning of February for my first races since US Nationals. Originally, I had hoped to race 4 races while up in Fairbanks but was only able to compete in the first 2. I decided to sit out of the 3rd one in order to put all my eggs in the 4th race basket, and low and behold, it was canceled due to the cold temperatures. Needless to say, the results were far from what I was wanting, but sometimes that's just the nature of returning to high end race fitness after being sick. That said, I was happy that my body had the juice to go, as opposed to when I was sick and felt completely empty when I tried to race. Despite the frigid temps and race cancellation, it was a good way to spend my last week of “Christmas break” before starting my spring semester of classes at APU.
Directly after returning to Anchorage, I put in another little training block to continue making progress toward my pre-illness form. Long story short, I had some good training sessions, won a fun local race with some good competition from the UAA boys, all of which was encouraging. Two days later, I hopped on a plane to CO for a RMISA regionals in Steamboat to give it another go. With a 13th place, I would reckon that while I may not be entirely back to pre-sickness form, I am headed in the right direction and getting closer to a full return. With bad stomach feelings during the race, and having a migraine straight after the race, I would say that something was just off on that given day, although I’m not sure exactly what was off. On the bright side, I got to see my parents and good friends again, who got to watch me race one more time, and I was happy with how I skied technically and had great skis.
Now, I’m back in Anchorage with the Tour of Anchorage 50km race coming up this weekend on 3/6/22. However, the rest of my season after that is still up in the air. I will let you all know what the plan is when things are decided, but one thing is for sure, there is bound to be a lot of skiing. Anyways, I hope everyone was able to witness some history in the making at the Olympics. I know I have, and it has left me even more hungry to get after it for this next Olympic cycle.
Until next time,
Garrett Butts
Comments