After the weekend, we had another long two days of travel down to Slovenia. We have already had two jump sessions and I am making some progress. During training today, I made one good jump but got off balance in the flight and... you guessed it. I crashed. The second time in under a week! There's a first time for everything. I was pretty upset, and sore, as Jasper and our wax tech helped me from the out-run. I was very lucky I did not get injured, knock on wood. As I talked to my coach on the radio, he said that it was a much better take-off and didn't know why I crashed. I was very frustrated with myself for my technical error and contemplated whether or not I should jump. My hip flexor was very sore but everything else was feeling ok. In the end I knew that I would regret not going up and taking another jump. I was happy that I did. My hip flexor is still very sore but was able to do a limited training session in the gym in the afternoon. I think I will be able to jump tomorrow with no restrictions. I will keep you updated on training for the rest of the week and hopefully the next time I post on here, there won't be anymore crashes to talk about! The past is the past and it is time to move forward and keep improving. I have some big goals for myself this year and there is a lot of work to be done!
2016 has been a slow start. On January 3rd, I flew over to Europe for the first Continental Cup of the second period in Hoydalsmo, NOR. We had a long couple days of travel once we left Park City. First a long flight over to Europe, then a long drive up to Denmark, spent the night in a hotel, woke up early and drove to the tip of Denmark, hopped on a boat to Norway, and then finished the travel with a little more driving. It was close to 60 hours of traveling but we were glad to be in Hoydalsmo and once again where there was lots of snow! Scandinavia has been having a great winter so far, similar to Utah and Colorado, so we took advantage. We were able to get in several cross country skis before the weekend which definitely helped our bodies adjust. The weather for the weekend was good, and the competitions ran smoothly. Unfortunately, on Saturday's competition jump I crashed and strained my lower back and hit my head pretty hard. Luckily I didn't have a concussion or serious injuries but I was very sore and decided not to race in the afternoon and try and save my energy for the following day. On Sunday, I warmed up well and decided to jump. It was probably not the best decision since I wasn't feeling 100%. I landed this time but I definitely felt my back acting up. Talking to the coaches we thought it was best just to sit out for the rest of the day and wait until the following week so that I could get healthy again. This was not the way I wanted to start out competitions in Europe. Fortunately, I would have some time to figure things out and recuperate in Slovenia.
After the weekend, we had another long two days of travel down to Slovenia. We have already had two jump sessions and I am making some progress. During training today, I made one good jump but got off balance in the flight and... you guessed it. I crashed. The second time in under a week! There's a first time for everything. I was pretty upset, and sore, as Jasper and our wax tech helped me from the out-run. I was very lucky I did not get injured, knock on wood. As I talked to my coach on the radio, he said that it was a much better take-off and didn't know why I crashed. I was very frustrated with myself for my technical error and contemplated whether or not I should jump. My hip flexor was very sore but everything else was feeling ok. In the end I knew that I would regret not going up and taking another jump. I was happy that I did. My hip flexor is still very sore but was able to do a limited training session in the gym in the afternoon. I think I will be able to jump tomorrow with no restrictions. I will keep you updated on training for the rest of the week and hopefully the next time I post on here, there won't be anymore crashes to talk about! The past is the past and it is time to move forward and keep improving. I have some big goals for myself this year and there is a lot of work to be done! I hope everyone is having a great beginning to 2016! 2015 is now over and I am looking forward to seeing what 2016 holds for me and the team. I returned to Park City after a few days home in Aspen for my birthday and Christmas. It was a much needed mental break from ski jumping and it seemed to pay off. My first session back on the hill was very good and I kept improving throughout the week. I was really happy, since I didn't have a great weekend in Ramsau for the World Cup. After Christmas, our original plan was to fly over on December 28th for the World Cup in Klingenthal, GER but unfortunately Central Europe didn't have any snow and F.I.S. not only canceled the Klingenthal World Cup but the World Cup the following weekend in Schonach, GER. Luckily Scandinavia has had a good winter, so four of us flew over on January 3rd and our first competition of the New Year will be in Hoydalsmo, NOR on the Continental Cup circuit. We are happy to be back in Europe and my goal is to keep my level of jumping high throughout the rest of the winter. I will keep updating my blog in the upcoming weeks about my travels and results! Happy New Year everybody!
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Michael WardHi! My name is Michael Ward. I am a 23 year old from Aspen, CO now living in Park City, UT to continue my career as a Nordic Combined athlete. I am on the 2015-16 US Nordic Combined Team and am honored to live and train with the best in the world. Archives
February 2016
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