13 Vital Questions for Post-Season Reflection and Off-Season Prep

After a long and demanding winter, the 2023-24 race season is over. You’ve had some downtime to catch up on school and get some much-needed rest and recovery, both physically and mentally. You may also be looking forward to next winter. But before you put the 2023-24 race season in your rearview mirror, you might want to reflect on a famous saying, “Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it.” In other words, if you don’t reflect on last season, you may miss out on some essential lessons you can use for next season to continue progressing toward your ski racing goals.

Evaluate This Past Season

The first thing you want to do is to look back on the recently completed race season and evaluate how you did. Here are ten essential questions to ask yourself (and your coaches):

Did you achieve your goals this past winter? If so, why? If not, why not?

What are your goals for the coming race season?

What strengths do you bring with you from this past season that will propel you into next season?

What weaknesses have you identified that you need to improve on?

What has worked for you that you want to keep doing?

What has mostly worked that you may need to fine-tune and tweak?

What hasn’t worked that you want to discard?

What can you add to your training (physical, technical/tactical, mental) that has been missing?

How can you innovate in the different aspects of your training to take your skiing to the next level?

Finally, and specific to my area of expertise, what mental areas do you need to work on to reach the next level?

With these questions answered you can, in collaboration with your coaches, decide what worked and what didn’t in your training. You can then use this information to create an off-season training program that builds on your strengths and alleviates your weaknesses so you will ski much faster next season.

It’s About Preparation

Physical training. How you ski next season depends on what you do this spring, summer and fall. The physical conditioning gains you make and the technical, tactical, and mental skills you develop in the off-season will determine how much you improve and whether you reach your competitive goals next winter. To maximize your preparation, you must focus on three areas.

First, commit to an intensive physical conditioning program. Ski racing has become a sport of “beef,” meaning you need muscle, strength, and power (plus agility and mobility). The only way to develop these areas is with an organized fitness program that may involve weight training, plyometrics, speed work and stretching.

Second, the most highly committed ski racers spend at least part of the summer and fall on snow. Summer and fall skiing are essential for your technical and tactical development because you can focus exclusively on improving your skiing fundamentals without the pressure of getting ready for races. It also enables you to test and adapt to new equipment (though, my motto is: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” meaning if your equipment works for you, don’t mess with it. Testing distracts you from training and can cause you to question which equipment is best for you).

Mental training. Finally, and just as importantly, the off-season is the best time to engage in mental training. Just like physical conditioning and technical skills, mental aspects of ski racing (e.g., confidence, intensity, and focus) take time and effort to develop. An organized mental training program can have huge benefits when you enter the new race season.

Getting Going

Getting going for next season starts with deciding how important ski racing is to you. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• How big are your ski racing goals for next season?
• How hard are your competitors going to be working in the off-season?
• How badly do you want it?!?!

The key to achieving your goals next winter is to start now! Talk is cheap. It’s easy to say you want to be a great ski racer; it’s an entirely different thing to do the necessary work. If your goals are fairly high, the only chance you will have is to commit to intensive off-season physical, on-snow and mental training programs. When you get in the starting gate of your first race next season, your goal is to say: “I’m as prepared as I can be to ski my fastest.” And, with all that hard work in the off-season that you “deposited in the bank,” the chances are you will succeed and reach your goals.