Tag: training
The Road to Race Day
I moved to Colorado in 2010. I was invincible, as all boys in their 20s are. When a friend asked if I would do the Grand Traverse with him, I said sure without having any real sense of what I’d signed up for. K2 Coombacks and a 4-buckle boot worked great skiing couloirs in Rocky Mountain National Park, so I figured they’d surely be fine… I left Crested Butte a ski mountaineer, 40 miles later I skied into Aspen a rando racer. Man did it hurt, but I was hooked. Skis got smaller, boots got lighter, eventually I found myself in spandex.
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Building a Plan Around Three Types of Goals
I come from a world of competition. Over time I became disillusioned. Competition was a world I wrote off, and a word I began to despise. But I’ve come back, not to competing, but to acknowledging the lessons that can be learned from a life of competition. Among them are how we set about our journeys and adventures, how we can shape our efforts and gain much from attempting them. I came back to the lessons of competition because rather than learn to conquer something or win any prizes they are valuable in helping to increase our growth and enjoyment through sport. Many of these lessons come through the process of trying to accomplish goals. Goals can include things like skiing something new and harder than you’ve done before, or winning an event, or learning new skills so you can safely ski with your buddies.
Many people’s distaste for goals comes from the notion that you must become single mindedly fixated on the accomplishment. I do not subscribe to an outcome focus. A process focus is not only the best way to actually accomplish your goal, but it is the best way to learn, grow and maximally enjoy along the way.
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THR Podcast EP 4: Training and Resting and the Mountain Athlete Scene—Sam Naney of Cascade Endurance
Preparing for mountain adventures is now more science and less just throw-yourself-at-an-objective. And if you describe yourself as a mountain athlete, your training IQ has likely increased. Some mountain athletes have Sam Naney to thank for that—he joins us on the podcast.
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Using Ski Imitation Drills to Prep for the Season
To get as close to ski-specific movements as we can in the dryland months (short of plane travel to opposing hemispheres), we can use two main tools: rollerskiing and ski imitation foot drills. Rollerskiing definitely has its place, most particularly for Nordic skiing and increasingly for skimo racers. Not for the faint of heart (they lack brakes), rollerskis give you the feel of gliding and the required balance and timed force application that skiing uses, enabling you to keep those motor pathways firing throughout the year. But even more accessible (and less hazardous for most) are ski-imitation drills, notably ski walking and…wait for it…moosehoofing.
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