The Fall Prep Interval is Key to Race-season Success

Photograph US Ski Group

It’s onerous to consider Section I of the ski racing prep interval is sort of over this summer season.  Hopefully, you devoted the summer season to constructing the inspiration to your success subsequent winter. You most likely centered your efforts on three areas.  First, you engaged in an intensive bodily conditioning program. The fact of recent ski racing is that it has turn into an influence sport. Consequently, your summer season conditioning program was probably aimed toward rising your purposeful energy.

Second, you most likely frolicked on snow if the chance arose. Summer time on-snow coaching often begins with a fundamentals camp the place you break down your snowboarding into its most elementary technical and tactical parts. One other actuality of ski racing is that persistently quick snowboarding isn’t potential with out strong approach and techniques. If you happen to had a second on-snow camp this summer season, it was most likely devoted to transferring these fundamentals to gates.

I additionally hope you used Section I of the prep interval to coach your thoughts and lay the psychological basis to your success this winter. As you’ve most likely heard me say many occasions, psychological coaching must be handled identical to conditioning and on-snow coaching; it must be complete, structured and constant.

This September, you’ll enter Section II of the prep interval for the upcoming race season, equally important to your summer season efforts to attain your ski racing targets. With snowboarding as little as six weeks away in Colorado and Europe (and lots of applications arriving in South America each day) and the race season for everybody however the World Cuppers fewer than ten weeks away, you’ll shift your efforts and focus in your conditioning, from energy to agility and your on-snow coaching, to the ABCs, to translating good snowboarding into quick snowboarding.

So, what do that you must construct on this fall to make sure you are able to “ship”  persistently this winter?

Click on on pictures to enlarge

Bodily Coaching

Your bodily coaching must be centered on high quality over amount (although you definitely want to keep up an inexpensive diploma of quantity). This entails getting probably the most out of your conditioning efforts to be in the most effective form.  This shift additionally reduces the possibilities of burnout or harm at a time when that you must be wholesome and rested.

You’ll be able to enhance the standard of your bodily coaching and concurrently additional enhance your psychological energy by understanding that psychological coaching starts in the gym. This entails enthusiastic about what allows you to ski your greatest in on-snow coaching and making use of those self same expertise and habits to your conditioning. In different phrases, the identical psychological muscle tissue and instruments that you just use to be mentally ready on race day may also make it easier to get probably the most out of your conditioning efforts:

• Confidence: Make constructive statements about your capability to attain your coaching aim for that set (e.g., “I’m going to do ten reps.”).
• Dedication: Dedicate your self to giving your greatest effort to each rep and ending the set robust.
• Depth: Match your bodily depth to your train. If you happen to’re doing energy squats, you wish to actively enhance your depth earlier than you step beneath the bar. In case you are doing yoga, you wish to actively chill out your physique.
• Focus: Deal with no matter will make it easier to absolutely execute the train. The main target might be technical (e.g., hips ahead) or psychological (e.g., explode).
• Respiratory: Match your respiration to your train. In case you are doing energy coaching, your respiration must be extra intense. In case you are doing flexibility coaching, it must be calmer and slower.

Psychological Coaching

Section II of the prep interval can also be important to strengthening your thoughts as you method the winter. Probably the most highly effective psychological instrument you should use to assemble your “ski racing constructing” is psychological imagery. By now, you’re most likely sick of me all the time bringing this up. Nonetheless, I’ll repeat it: If you happen to’re not utilizing psychological imagery as a constant a part of your psychological coaching program and total coaching routine, you gained’t be the most effective ski racer you may be this coming winter.

The autumn is a perfect time to decide to psychological imagery as a result of you will get a ton of miles on snow and in gates (in your thoughts) earlier than you get again on snow and into gate coaching. You’ll be able to extra deeply ingrain technically sound and quick snowboarding with psychological imagery, so when the snow flies, it will likely be as if you happen to’ve been snowboarding all fall and you’ll proceed your snowboarding improvement out of your first day on snow.

That can assist you develop an off-snow psychological imagery program, you’ll be able to obtain my Prime Ski Racing Race Imagery Program.

Right here’s what it is best to do with psychological imagery:

1. Select one or two technical (e.g., wider stance), tactical (e.g., going deep on the prime of the flip), psychological (e.g., enjoyable at first), or efficiency (e.g., quick snowboarding) targets you wish to concentrate on in your imagery.
2. Create a ladder of coaching and race situations, from coaching programs on your private home hill to low-level races to your most vital races of the approaching race season.
3. Put aside a selected time each day, thrice every week, to do your psychological imagery periods.
4. In every imagery session, get comfy, shut your eyes, take 5 deep breaths, after which information your self by two coaching or race runs incorporating your imagery targets (see #1 above) into your imagined snowboarding (I’ve downloadable mp3 audio recordings for training, 2-run events, and 1-run events that may information you thru these situations).
5. Keep dedicated and constant together with your imagery all through the autumn.

On-snow Coaching

If you happen to’re lucky sufficient to ski this fall, your on-snow coaching may even slim in focus. Because the winter approaches, it is best to shift your emphasis in your snowboarding within the following methods:

• Important technical and tactical modifications to minor changes and fine-tuning.
• Specializing in particulars to concentrating in your total snowboarding.
• Experimenting together with your gear to dial in your set-up.
• Making an attempt out other ways of being bodily and mentally ready earlier than coaching runs to ascertain a constant coaching routine that you may translate right into a race routine.
• Stable technical and tactical snowboarding to persistently quick snowboarding.

Get Prepared for the Winter Grind within the Fall  

The lengthy winter of coaching and racing is extremely taxing bodily and mentally. One other vital aim for the autumn is to organize your self to remain wholesome and rested out of your first turns of the season till your final. The habits you identify within the fall will probably carry you thru the winter with energy and stamina.

These habits you identify in Section II of the prep interval ought to embrace:

• Enough and constant sleep (not less than eight hours an evening);
• Wholesome consuming (meals both fuels or contaminates your physique);
• Good examine habits (stress at school will harm your snowboarding);
• Make your ski racing a precedence over different pursuits (don’t let poor selections harm your snowboarding);
• Balanced use of display time (a distraction which disrupts sleep);
• Relaxation and restoration (enable your thoughts and physique to rejuvenate after intense coaching blocks);
• Being glad (a contented racer is a quick racer).

What you do that fall will considerably affect the way you ski this winter. Utilizing what I’ve described above and recommendation out of your coaches and oldsters, spend the autumn getting ready your self to be the most effective ski racer you may be this winter. So, once you enter the beginning gate of your first and final race of the season, you’ll be bodily and mentally able to enter the “time to rock and roll!” Section III of your race season.