VAL D’ISERE, FRANCE — She can hardly hide her disappointment in this season. At least not in the recent Super Combined event at the World Championships in Val d’Isere, France when she pulled up and simply coasted off course. Anyone who has followed Julia’s career knows that this sort of stunt is not her MO. There must be something wrong.

Perhaps a computer analogy will help explain.

Ever experience the frustration of an exceedingly slow, bogged-down computer that takes 10 minutes just to boot up and another 10 minutes to launch the email client? The computer might even be fairly new and should have plenty of life in it, but you have already lost all confidence in it.

You must know what I am talking about – we have all experienced it.

But how did it this happen?

In the case of the slow computer, it is usually not due to a sudden traumatic experience, like spilling your coffee over the keyboard. Rather, its resources have been slowly but surely eaten up: an overflowing browser cache, a jam-packed system tray, a ton of installed programs, corrupted registry files, etc… all slowly but surely sneak up on you, building up slowly day by day with every click, until suddenly you just want to throw the damn thing out the window. Short of spending $2000 for a new laptop, eventually you come to realize that the only thing you can do is to simply accept that there is a software problem and find a solution.

Unlike a sudden and violent injury (for instance a broken leg or torn ligament), Julia’s case is attributable to a combination of things that snuck up on her: an ailing hip that stems from her spring 2006 operation in Vail by Doctor Philippon was not diligently rehabbed over time, say her doctors. The consequence was a deficit in on-snow training days this past summer. Julia will also tell you that her many travels around the world in 2008 contributed to a shortened strength and conditioning program as well as other nagging injuries like back spasms.

There is consensus that Julia is a hardwired, natural ski talent. She accepts that there is a software problem and is finding the proper solution.

But what to do?

With your computer, you backup your files, format your C-drive and reinstall the operating system. After that you learn how to better maintain your system by getting the tools you need (I recommend CCleaner, Defraggler and AVG Free, all of which are free). Voilà: computer 2.0, a new world of possibility and productivity.

Analogously, Julia will focus on rehabbing her hip until it is 100% pain free and firing. She plans to scale-back on the amount of races for the rest of the season, and conceive the best possible integrated strength and conditioning plan for the off-season. Consequently, she will maintain her body through continuous sessions with her doctor and better integrate her ski and gym programs.

Enter Julia 2.0.

In the meantime, go ahead and bid on authentic Julia Mancuso memorabelia at the 2009 Charity Auction benefiting Right to Play and LIV.

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