Unstructured Play Time

After ski season ended, Ben told me to take a break. I ignored him. After marathon season ended, Max told me I definitely needed a week off.  I ignored him too. On Thursday, after yanking all four of my wisdom teeth out, the oral surgeon said I should wait five to seven days before exercising. After having been awake for about a minute and still in a heavy daze from the sedatives I said, “Okay”. It’s been really incredible how much it’s taken to get me to sit on my butt for a solid four days straight. And yes, I know Janer wrote a blog post on this exact subject last summer because I have gone through almost two years of the Bates Nordic Blog in my boredom.

Although sitting around watching movies and eating endless amounts of Tapioca pudding while ripped on hydrocodone can sound like a bit of a vacation, it hasn’t been. I will admit, however, that it has been good for me. Spring is a beautiful time of year for Nordic skiers- training structure falls away and we are free to do whatever the heck we want. For me right now, I am realizing that it isn’t training that I feel that I am missing out on, but playing outside!

Some of the team is still at school experiencing short term- 1 class and endless hours of play time. Others have returned home where we all have different plans lined up for the month of May. The great part about the spring is that it is free for us to do what we want with. The past month or so our team has been participating in running, hiking, climbing, backcountry/alpine skiing, tennis, hula hooping, high stake soccer matches, and basketball (my favorite sport outside of skiing).  Spring allows us to do other things while reminding us that activity is a lifestyle that doesn’t have to be confined to skiing. I know that we will come into June feeling revived and ready to start re-focusing on skiing.

If I ever manage to stop looking like a chipmunk, I’ll be heading to Yosemite in a week for some hiking and climbing adventures with my ever-active parents. Happy Spring, Short Term, and May!

- the slightly swollen Snorel (alliteration intended)