Tazlina Mannix: Looking Forward To Stepping It Up

Tell us what its like to work with Jim Galanes?
Jim Galanes has been extremely instrumental in my success as an athlete. He
knows an incredible amount about skiing and has taught me a lot about what it
takes to be a successful athlete. In addition to this, he has provided me with
many opportunities that have helped me develop as skier. I am extremely
appreciative of what he has done for me as an athlete. Jim doesn't follow what
other people are doing. He thinks outside the box and dares to try things that
other people aren't doing.

In regards to training, you trying anything new?
I'm training pretty similarly to past years. Of course, I've increased my
yearly hours, but I'm also paying more attention to my speed in all workouts.
I'm constantly working on technique, but also thinking about teaching my body
how to train at a faster speed, while staying in the right zone, so that I can
ultimately race faster.

In what area will you see the most improvement?
I feel that I can improve in every area of my training. I'm really working on
integrating my core muscles in both double poling and skating, so that I am a
more efficient skier. Also, since I'm a psychology major at APU, I'm really
focusing more on sports psychology concepts, such as visualization and
relaxation.

What are your thoughts on now having the opportunity to team up with the USST?
I am really fired up about working with the USST. I think that the newly
restructured program has so much to offer. The May camp went really well, but
what struck me the most about it was how positive the atmosphere was. Every
athlete and coach is not only super dedicated, but really excited, and I could
feel us coming together as a team. I'm looking forward to seeing our
improvement come July.

Random facts about Taz….Dog's name: Dexter….Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Ben and
Jerry's Chunky Monkey….Right now I'm super fired up about packrafting, these
super light Alaskan-made rafts that you can use to raft some really remote (and
otherwise inaccessible) rivers.

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