Natalie Beattie

The Courchevel FIS team :

Skiing in great conditions.

Many thanks to Cerro Castor.

The town of Ushuaia:

Back in the sun, after an amazing trip in Ushuaia.

I have just arrived back home from my first ski trip, after a very long journey it is nice to finallly be back in Courchevel.

I had a great time is Argentina and training was fab. As it was my first time back on the slopes since the end on the season, and that I had had knee hole key surgery on my right knee again, I found it hard at the start. I had many difficulties handling my new skis, and by the time that I was at the start on my first FIS race of the season, I only had a few days of training in my legs. So as you can imagine, the races did not go too well. I was very disappointed in myself, although I was not expecting to do much better. After the races, I put my head back into training mode and focussed mainly on improving my technique. As days went by, I was feeling a lot more confident and my times showed that I was getting better.

We did a lot more GS than SL, as the conditions where better for GS and the slopes fitted that discipline better as well.
Having completed the stage, I feel that I have progressed in GS, although I feel that in SL I have not improved as much over the last month.  Although I feel my technical skiing has improved.  I still have still got a lot of work to attain a higher level. This means work extra hard work this Autumn !

I am now off the Arbroath in Scotland to visit the family and catch up with some old friends, before going back to school on the 5^th of September. During my two weeks of skiing, I have a sports programme which I will have to do daily and when I go back to school I will then start the sports section sports programme, and try and build up on strength.

My next time on skis will be in Austria, on the 1st of October. After that I will be training in Tignes and Norway.

Had a great time down South, the cycling stage was very hard physically, but had a great time with the Courchevel FIS team.

I left home on Tuesday at 10 in the morning, after 4.30 hours in the van; we finally arrived to the final destination: Vias sur plage.

Day 1:

We set of at 08.00 am in the morning for 2.30 hours of cycling. It was a very hot day (35 degrees) and the cycling was hard, there were not too many hills but the heat was very tiring. When we got back, we went to the beach and then had lunch at home. In the afternoon, we went to the gym for 1.30 hours where I worked on my arms and upper body.

Day 2:

Another 08.00 am star ! Cycled for 2 hours. it was a lot cooler than the previous day, and the cycling was a lot easier. After lunch, off to the gym again for a few hours where I worked more on my legs. This was done without too much presser due to my knee. When we were coming back from the gym, the coach decided to surprise us, by taking us to an Arco Brach.

Day 3:

This morning we did 2.30 hours cycling followed with 2 hours in the gym before lunch ! Luckult we spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach (went on a banana boat, sunbathing  …)

Day 4:

It was a very hot morning by the time we set of for our 2 hours cycling at 34 degrees !!  The riding was hard and very tiring. Still it’s good trainning for the ski season ! After lunch we had a power nap and got ready to go abseiling. This was great fun, although setting off down the side of the cliff was a little frightening for me.

Day 5:

As it was the last day, the coach decided to only do 1h cycling. We went a little quicker than the previous days but as it was half the time, it was ok. As soon as we got back home, we set of to the Gym for our last big session. We trained for 2 hours were I worked on both upper and lower body.  Got back, had lunch, washed the house and set of back to Courchevel.

All in all a great trainning week.

Summary of my second FIS season.

I started my 2^nd FIS season in Val Thorens on the 20 of November 2010. Unfortunately, having been out of competitive skiing for the last 8 months(following a knee injury) I struggled a little to complete courses!  Gradually, I began to gain form and in January, I achieved my first positive result of the season, gaining 63 points in slalom. Although not a brilliant result, it gave me added motivation and confidence.

I was then selected to represent Britain at the EYOWF along with Emily Evans, in Liberec. I spent 7 days there and competed in 3 events. One GS, one SL and one parallel with we did as a team. On the GS, which was the first race I was 23^rd. I was very pleased with this. I felt I was skiing well in the Slalom but unfortunately fell. However, that’s ski racing! The parallel slalom was a mixed event (boys and girls) and the GB team won our first round beating the Bulgarians. However, we found the German team too fast for us in the second round.  It really was a fantastic experience. Not only did I get to meet many other ski racers, but also a variety of athletes from all winter sports. Going to the youth Olympics was an amazing adventure and one that I will never forget.

Throughout March I raced regularly and achieved some good results. The highlight of my end of season was in Meribel at the British championships. I was crowned British junior 1 champion in GS and was 2nd British girl in the National Slalom Championships.