I almost decided to step away from skating ten months before I won my second national title. I think if it had been up to me and only me, I would have.
I was in the best possible position to grab an Olympic berth with Canada having three ladies qualified for the Games for the first time in a very long time. The national championships would determine who was named to those spots. My results at the national championships up to that point had included two bronze, one silver and one gold so it was well within my reach. The reason I skated the last four years was to go to the Olympics, and this was my best shot. I had tried for the 2014 Winter Games, but I was still new to the scene, and I didn’t truly believe I could go to the Olympics. I ended up 5th at the National championships that year and was named as an alternate. This time around was different.
I had experience competing at big competitions with the best in the world and I was in my prime. It was a week before Nationals, and I sprained my ankle. I wasn’t as panicked as you might think though as the exact same injury had happened the year before even with less time before I had to compete. I knew that even in that horrible situation the previous year I had earned a bronze medal. I took a day off and slowly worked up in that last week before Nationals. I had to tape my ankle for support, adjust my off-ice warm ups, skate shorter sessions and ice constantly. I had two great chiropractors working with me and they threw everything they could at my ankle to help speed the healing and make it manageable. Withdrawing was never an option. I was going to try no matter what. In all honesty my ankle felt better in my skate than out of it. When I got to the competition, I had practices and they were going okay. Some things hurt my ankle, but I was able to do all my elements. My short program was a disaster and I found myself in 8th. Thankfully the scores were close, and I was still in the running. In my free program I just made too many errors. I found myself in 4th place just 5 points from an Olympic berth and was named 1st alternate.
I cried. A lot.
The reality of it all was too much. I never wanted to skate again. I felt there was no point. The reason I skated all those years and made all those sacrifices were for nothing. It was likely my last shot and I wanted nothing to do with skating. The next day I was selected to compete at the Four Continents Championships and although I wanted to retire then and there, I trained for a week for what I thought would be my last competition. Even though my ankle was still not at it’s best, I skated well at the competition and it was all very bittersweet. My thoughts were that if this was my last competition, I would be satisfied to end on that. After a few months of barely skating following the competition I had to make a decision about the next season. I only wanted to skate if it felt like a fresh start, so I moved full time to a new city, started skating at new rink with new coaches, and started university. Ten months later I won my second National title. I think I will always feel a little bit of a stab to my heart when I hear the word Olympics. However, I’m thankful for the year that I skated following such heartbreak as it taught me so much. It provided me with a new perspective on skating and it gave me the Nationals comeback I wanted.
Alaine Chartrand
@alainechartrand
Any individuals in sports and fitness who would like to share their voice, please submit to hank@hankfittraining.com