Inspired for the new season ahead

Again another eventful month has gone by and I'm almost ready for the new winter season. I'm off to Sweden at the weekend for my first taste of snow since April albeit it's at an indoor facility within a tunnel. The tunnel is based in a place called Torsby and it's one of only a handful in Europe and especially built for cross country skiing - looking forward to it and I'll post up some pics on Instagram to let you see how I'm getting on.

In the meantime, I'm still coming down from a high of being with over 50 Scottish Olympic and Paralympic athletes during the homecoming celebrations in Edinburgh. It was great to meet and be inspired by so many of them and they certainly inspired me to continue on my journey on my Olympic pathway.

In the two weeks prior, I was given the opportunity to stand up on stage in front of audiences of 100+ which is something I'd never done before. I had to write and deliver a speech to an audience about the importance of sport and how it had made a difference to me in my life. It was a great opportunity to tell them about cross country skiing and how well we are developing in the UK but it was very nerve racking experience and whilst I managed it, I had to get my dad to help me out with the speech. But overall, it was a great boost to my confidence in public speaking and something else I can cross off my list in terms of ability to handle.

Training has been ongoing and relentless, it's a very hard sport to keep going as you basically train solidly from May - November before the short ski season kicks in. Now in October, the training regime is getting pretty tiresome and I'm itching to get onto some snow and start racing so I'm really looking forward to Torsby and putting the summer training to good use.

My first races are in December, again in Sweden, where I'll be trying to qualify for selection for Team GB in the European Youth Olympics the following February. It's going to be tough but I'm fired up to ensure I make it there. I'll keep you updated.