Greetings from beautiful Loveland, Colorado, where the air is thin, snow is amazing (kudos to John Hale and his crew!), the nights are cold, and the days are warm and sunny (in other words, ideal conditions for early season skiing). I\u2019m out here this week and again next week working with racers as they put in their first days on snow after an intense period of physical conditioning.<\/p>\n
These initial days back on snow after a lengthy time off are key for several reasons. You may feel excitement about the approach of the race season. You begin to experience a sense of urgency to ramp up your skiing. And these first days can set the tone for the rest of this critical prep period leading up to your first races.<\/p>\n
I want to devote this article to a discussion of the importance of your first days back on skis after what was likely a fairly long break. I also want to talk about how you can use this period to lay the foundation of mental preparation that will leave you 100% ready to ski your best when you get into the starting gate of your first race.<\/p>\n
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Let\u2019s identify a few goals for these first days back on snow. First, you want to get comfortable again with your skiing which includes your body, technique, and equipment. This comfort is essential for your building confidence leading up to your first races. You\u2019ll want to start off slowly, focusing on fundamentals, and not try to take any build leaps in your technique or speed. Don\u2019t overthink your skiing at this point, but rather just let your body do what it knows how to do and reestablish a good feeling in your skiing.<\/p>\n
Second, use these initial days on snow to identify the key areas you want to work on in the weeks and months leading up to your first races. In other words, what do you need to work on physically, technically, tactically, mentally, or in terms of your equipment? When you have real clarity on these areas in needs of improvement, you\u2019ll be more focused and more efficient in your efforts.<\/p>\n
Third, once you\u2019ve gotten your first few days under your belt and you are feeling pretty good on your skis, it\u2019s now time to start experimenting with your skiing to see what works and what doesn\u2019t. You\u2019ll obviously be trying different things out technically, tactically, and with your equipment, but I\u2019m going to focus on how you can experiment mentally to figure out how your head works best.<\/p>\n
Mindset<\/strong><\/p>\n The mindset you have before races sets the stage for how you will ski. In my work with USST athletes and top juniors, I\u2019ve identified two different mindsets (there may be others) that you can adopt to prepare yourself to ski your best.<\/p>\n The first is a calm<\/em> mindset in which your over-all approach to races is one of quietness and composure. This mindset works best if you ski best in a low-key, low-stress way. To achieve a calm mindset, you must constantly remind yourself to be mellow before races.<\/p>\n The second is an aggressive <\/em>mindset in which your goal is to be attacking and forceful in races. This mindset works best if you have a tendency to be more passive and reactive than assertive and proactive on course.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s an exercise for you. For two free-ski runs, adopt a calm mindset and see how you feel and ski. For another two free-ski runs, adopt an aggressive mindset and see what happens. Throughout this exercise, look at which is most comfortable and which translates into your best skiing. You can repeat this exercise in gate training as well.<\/p>\n Intensity Style<\/strong><\/p>\n We are fundamentally physical beings and all the mental preparation won\u2019t help if you\u2019re not physiologically capable of getting down the hill as fast as you can. And ski racing is an explosive sport that requires a certain amount of energy.<\/p>\n