Learning how to learn
As an accidental athlete who discovered sport in my thirties, I’ve had to fast track the learning process to maximise the progress I can make in the time I have available. Here I share my strategies and techniques to help you do the same.
After my husband and I married each other in our late twenties, my husband was diagnosed as being severely sight impaired and therefore disabled. We’ve since started ski racing together (me as his ski guide), and together we have ski raced for Great Britain. You can read more about our ski racing here.
When James and I started ski racing together, our lives transformed. Instead of going to the pub on a Friday night, we tried to ease off the alcohol and go to the gym Saturday morning instead. We’ve tried to eat as an athlete ‘should’; we’ve changed our gym programme; we’ve used specific equipment and tried different approaches to training. We are very aware that we are older than many other athletes on the para alpine ski racing circuit, but also know that age doesn’t define us as much as it could in the able bodied ski racing circuit. For example, one visually impaired ski racer competed at the 2018 Paralympic Games in his fifties!
