For ELITEAM Ski Racers, the holiday break provides one of your longest and best training periods of the entire winter. It is important for you to take advantage of this training and get the most out of it. When January arrives, school returns and races begin, resulting in less training opportunities. Below are a few tips to get the most out of these December training sessions.

 

Training Camps/Sessions: Have specific goals for these camps. Talk with your coach about what you want to accomplish during the camps. Sample goals might be; work on getting all of your weight on your downhill ski, or perfecting that pole plant, or learning the perfect line in GS. By identifying specific goals and committing to them over the Holidays, you'll hit January on a positive note.

 

Mental Training for Race Day: Your first races of the season are just around the corner, so during the Holiday training take time to practice your Race Day Routine. Talk to your coach about what day you may be doing timed runs or what day your entire group can simulate a race day. Things to practice:

Equipment List: Get your equipment ready and packed the night before. Make a list of Race Day equipment and paste it everywhere so you make things a lot easier on yourself when packing. This also ensures you don't forget anything important, like ski boots!

Time-Line: Plan your morning according to when your practice race will be. Plan out your stretching, warm-up runs, inspection and start routine.

Fuel: Plan your breakfast and snacks. Be sure to give your body and brain the fuel it needs for high energy and intense focus. Be sure to include whole grain carbs, quality protein and healthy fats.

Inspection: Take it seriously. Memorize gates or sections looking for three things;
Line, Terrain and Snow conditions. Use the time on the lift to visualize the course over and over.

Start Routine: Plan the 10 minutes before you race. Equipment check, strip down, visualization, breathing, cue words, then ATTACK!

Finish Review: Take 2 minutes in the finish area by yourself to go over what went well in your run and what you can improve on. Learn from every run.

 

Free-skiing: Take advantage of training days by getting out early and staying out until the lifts close. This can be ripping groomers, practicing some drills, or exploring the mountain's woods, bumps, steeps and black diamonds. Free-skiing is soooooo important!!!! Free-skiing improves agility, balance, coordination, strength, endurance... plus it's HUGE FUN!

 

Watch Skiers Better than You: Training with your Ski Club all together is a great way to watch what the older, more advanced skiers are doing. Follow them. Watch them from the lift. Watch them from the side of the course as they train. Ask if you can ski with them for a run or two. I used to ski behind Olympic Champion Phil Mahre when I first made the US Ski Team. I learned so much trying to keep up with him and attempting to emulate his turns.

Most often, your body and mind become stressed when you feel anxious, nervous, worried, fearful or even excited about something. When this happens, things start changing inside your body. Your heart rate increases and your brain sends out "stress signals" to prep your body so it's on high alert and ready for action!

 

However, not all stress is bad. A little bit of stress is actually good! It helps us perform at our peak by prepping our body for action and making our minds alert. It can give us a burst of extra energy and focus when we're competing in sports or taking a test in school.

 

But, if we feel too much stress and anxiety all at once, or we feel stressed for a long period of time (like your entire competition season), then that can work against us and we stop performing at our best.

 

So what stresses you out and how do you handle that stress? Here's some advice from some of the best athletes in the world!

 

Mikaela Shiffrin- Alpine Skiing: I get stressed out when I have to juggle a lot of things at one time- for instance, I used to get really stressed out when I had a bunch of homework assignments to turn in and I didn't know where to begin. What I've learned is that it doesn't really matter where you begin, just as long as you begin. It's so easy to put things off because you don't know how to start, but just open the assignment and start typing, or get in the car and drive to the gym, once you're there it's easier to keep going and get the workout done.

 

Jessie Diggins- Nordic Skiing: It can be hard during the racing season if you focus too much on the outcome goals, like getting a medal, making the Olympic team or winning a race. So putting my energy and focus only into the things that I can control helps me not stress on race day! Things I can control are: getting a good breakfast before the race, making a race plan with my coaches about how I'm going to pace myself on the course, thinking about my technique and where I can pick up seconds on the trail, getting a good warmup in and getting to the start on time. I can't control other athletes and if they're faster than me, or if a crash happens in the race, so I don't waste energy worrying about those things! 

 

Amelia Boone- Adventure Racer: Fear of injury and a perceived pressure to perform are two things that cause a lot of stress. I spent a year on the sidelines with a major injury, and, while it ultimately taught me a lot and made me a better person, I've had to re-establish trust with my body. As for pressure before races and the pressure to perform, it's a natural part of being an athlete. But I always surround myself with friends and family - the people who love me regardless of the outcome of the race and remind me that results don't define me. Staying away from social media in the days leading up to races helps as well.