Erika has been traveling and competing over the last month and managed to bang herself up pretty good. Here's her update on her experience at the Cholula Triple Air and Dew Tour in Snowbasin.


After a rough couple of days traveling back from Southern California from the Cholula Triple Air, where I bruised both heels and my tailbone severely, I was more than disappointed to know that I wouldn't be totally healthy for the last stop of the Dew Tour.
I made it back to Park City with a day to rest and ice before the Dew Tour practice started the following day, I was having trouble walking, and couldn't think about how much landing from a big jump would hurt so I went by Surefoot to get some insight and custom footbeds from their friendly staff. I am flat footed anyways, so I needed to get this done, and I was finally in enough pain that I just went for it.
After gathering those, and some compression shorts I religiously iced all evening in hopes I would feel a lot better the following morning, unfortunately, I did not.

I decided while driving up to Snowbasin around 7am on another gray day that I really need to listen to my body and take it easy, although taking it easy in my mind is not exactly what the doctor would order. Training went pretty well despite the flat light, and my lack of riding the prior days, but as I went to hit the jumps the first time, I cased off the up box- cannon feature. Ouch. That was about all I could handle and at that point I realized I needed to just get through this and take a few days off for the sake of my body.

I haven't been injured much throughout my career, but injuring something as debilitating as your heels and tailbone is enough to send chills down your spine every time you take a step. I have a high pain thresh hold, but this was something that was simply not worth pushing through, ultimately making it worse, and would probably prevent me from competing for the rest of the season.

Regardless of my condition is a privilege to be a part of the Dew Tour and especially the finals. I knew I couldn't hit the jumps, nor withstand too much pounding on my heels but I didn't want to completely drop out, so I got up early went to the top of the course and had to look at this competition in an entirely different fashion. When you go into something knowing you are not physically in a state to be doing so, your mind does funny things. Your mental state of mind makes up a bigger portion of your snowboarding than many may think, and it is extremely hard to overcome mental "blocks" you put up in your head. Learning to over come and push through these mental blocks is something one must do everyday while training, and especially with competing.
In the end after taking my two runs through the rail sections, I ended up in 12th place, not my best showing, but I am still proud to say I pushed through the pain and dropped in, after all thats what we are supposed to do as athletes right? Push the limits?
Thanks a ton to all of my sponsors and family who support me in everything I do!