AST Athlete Journal: Thomas Cais
It’s crazy to think that it’s already December! Between all the training at home after our preseason camps in Europe and the opening races of the season, time has been absolutely flying by and I couldn’t be more excited to get the rest of the season underway!
Hi everyone, my name is Thomas Cais and this is my first year on the Alberta Ski Team. I originally grew up in the small town of Field, 20 minutes west of Lake Louise, where I first learned to slide on skis on the snow-covered roads before joining the Lake Louise Ski Club. Having skied since I was one, it’s safe to say skiing has always been a part of my life. This season has been amazing so far with so many new experiences. Being able to go into the first races of the season with over 40 days on snow helped me build a lot of confidence. It also allowed me to make larger technical improvements that are harder to achieve mid-season. This hard work in the preseason paid off for me, as well as the entire team, as we had plenty of strong results in Norquay to back up all the laps and effort we put in throughout our camps in Europe, as well as back home.
I am currently writing this from Panorama, where those of us who didn’t go to Colorado for the Nor-Am’s have been training for the past few days before we go into the Christmas series. Although the weather has been a battle, with over 30 cm of snow and lots of rain, we have been getting some good laps of both GS and SL on Old Timer ahead of the race this week. I found the training this week to be especially useful in learning to adapt my skiing to the snow and course conditions, which I often struggled with in races like Nor-Am’s, where I find myself starting with a much later bib. Although we race in Panorama very often, this was my first time training on the race run, so It was amazing to be able to get some more time on the slope and to finally be able to train on a slope I’ve raced on so many times.
Beyond performance, one aspect of our sport that has come into light much more recently has been athlete safety while on the hill. It is something that I had never really given much thought to before this season but has become a much more integral part of skiing for me. Thanks to Diston, we find ourselves much better protected from lacerations, which can happen at any time and be very consequential, which Caleb demonstrated after his crash in the Beaver Creek SG resulted in a cut through his speed suit but was stopped by his cutproof’s. Another big topic of discussion I have seen more of this season is snow conditions. With having so many days of snow every season, some days are bound to be worse than others, and it is important to recognize safety aspects on those days where the snow is less than ideal. The coaches have been doing a phenomenal job assessing conditions and being able to make decisions as to when training becomes too risky or unsafe, as well as asking us athletes what we are comfortable with and asking for our inputs in these decisions as well. Being able to feel comfortable enough to recognize when the risk exceeds the reward is essential and it is something that I believe our team has been managing very well. This training block in Pano has been an excellent example of this. With tough visibility and soft snow, the coaches made sure that training remained a safe and productive environment and that we could voice any concerns we had.
As we get into the race week here in Pano, the team will be reunited again for four days of racing (2 GS and 2 SL) before having a bit of a break for some time at home with the family for Christmas. After that, we will get a few days of training before flying out to Montreal early January to start off the new year strong with some Nor-Am’s in St Sauveur and Mt Tremblant for the whole team. None of this would be possible without the support from Alberta Alpine, and of course all the sponsors, so thank you to GMC Buick Dealers of Alberta, Karbon, Genstar, InspiredGo, Mountain Fire Foods, Silvertip Resort, and GearUp Mountain Sports for all the help and for allowing us to make this season happen. I’m excited to finish off this year strong and carry the momentum into the new year and the rest of the season.
Thomas Cais
