Winter Camp Recap and Midland SOD Race

Hi Team,

Thanks so much to everyone who came out to the camp last weekend, I was super impressed with everyone's downhill skills!

For anyone who wasn't able to attend the camp, here's a quick recap of what we talked about:

1) Goal Setting

• There are 4 'tires' that represent four types of goals an athlete can make. In order to perform at your best, you need air in all of your tires.
• The 4 tires, along with some examples, are: 
• Mental - do you find yourself getting discouraged or distracted in races? Are you really nervous before race starts? 
• Physical - do you feel like you're in good racing shape?
• Tactical - are you confident on downhills and around corners? how smooth are your transitions? 
• Technical - are your hips forward? are your ankles bent? do you ski relaxed?

• In order to set good goals, we talked about using the SMART goal setting technique:

• S - specific. Specific goals are better than vague ones, because it's easier to now when you have reached your goal. For example, 'keep my hips forward in one skate' is a better goal that 'improve my technique'.
• M - measurable. Your goals should be measurable, so that you can see improvement. For instance, making a goal of drinking a full water bottle to keep hydrated after a race would be better that saying 'I want to drink more water'.
• A - attainable. Your goal should be something that you can achieve! That being said, a goal that is challenging for you is often better than one that would be really easy. A challenging goal is more motivating, and also leaves you with a greater sense of accomplishment.
• R - relevant. Your goals should be relevant to your sport. While getting a new PB in the 100m is not a bad goal, if you are setting goals for skiing this is not particularly relevant.
• T - timely. Goals are best when they have deadlines. Deadlines can be short-term, long-term, or in between. Technique generally takes time to change, and so setting this goal for the end of a season is probably better than for the next race. 

Goals can be made in any of the four tires, in the short term or in the long term. If you have any questions about how to set good goals, or what kind of goals would be best for you, please feel free to send me an email, or talk to your coach! 

2) Race Plans

We talked a bit about race prep and visualization at the camp as well. 

Visualization can be a really useful tool when you are getting ready for your races, especially the night before after you have skied the course. 

The best visualization happens when you use all of your senses - Can you smell the air? Can you feel the snow under your feet? Can you hear the announcer, and your coaches cheering you on? Can you feel fatigue in your muscles, or adrenaline in your body? Can you see the course ahead of you, and feel yourself gliding along? 

The more details that you can add in, the more realistic your visualizations will be, making your race day feel more familiar, which can also help you to feel more in control. You can use visualization for before the race, or during the race, or both! 

With practice, your visualizations of the race course should take about as much time as the actual race would to complete. 

I personally like to draw out the race course the night before, marking out uphills, downhills, and my strategies for each. 

If you are someone who often forgets their race plan when they are in the zone, try telling your coach or someone who will be out cheering a few points that they can remind you of as you pass. Another option is to try adding visual cues to the race course. You can buy coloured ribbon 'tape' from the dollar store or hardware store, and wrap a little around trees during your pre-ski at points in the course that you want to remind yourself of something in your plan (sounds weird, but it works!)

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The Midland Ski Race is back on for tomorrow - start lists can be found here: 

https://zone4.ca/race/2020-01-05/88874c68/results/

If anyone would like to register last minute, same-day registrations are permitted, but please note it is cash only.

I will be at the start line at 9am for those who would like to do a group pre-ski. If anyone has questions about race plans, warm ups, or anything else, please let me know! 

As well, good luck to everyone racing in Thunder Bay on your last race tomorrow, and congratulations on some great racing so far! Don't forget to smile, even up those big hills!