Have you ever thought about how incredibly difficult it is to be a ski racer? Whether training or racing many factors affect how well and fast, you can ski a course. And one small mistake or failure in any of these areas will result in a disappointing run with little to no opportunity to turn it around.

I see ski racing in three ways: always complex, sometimes complicated, and, in the end, quite simple. Let me explain.

Complex

Most people that follow alpine ski racing know that it is a very complex sport with many factors contributing to athletic development and competitive success and failure. The factors that impact ski racing performance lie both within and outside of racers’ control.

The environmental elements that greatly influence how you ski in training and races include terrain, snow conditions, course set, weather, and elevation. Additionally, ice, ruts, steeps, transitions, flats, tight or open courses, tricky combinations, cold, wind, snow, rain, and lack of oxygen make consistently fast skiing an incredibly difficult goal to achieve.

The sheer unpredictability of these external circumstances can cause failure for even the best prepared. Unfortunately, none of these influences on performance are within your control. Ultimately, all you can do is adapt to these complexities the best you can.

Influence of people

Other external forces include people with whom you interact. Teammates, other competitors, coaches, officials, parents, of course, and social media (a big problem these days!) are all pieces of the challenging “ski fast” puzzle. Comparison with other racers, over coaching, and the incessant need to publish positive posts on social media all add to the complexity of the pressure to ski fast.

Equipment adds a layer

And don’t forget the equipment. Though not quite as equipment-intensive as Formula 1 auto racing, the ability to ski fast depends on the complex interplay of skis, boots, bindings, poles, and related gear. This impact starts with testing and finding the right equipment for your ability and needs. It continues with boot alignment and base textures, and concludes with daily race tunings to optimize equipment performance.

Internal factors add even more to this complexity – physical conditioning, on-snow training, technique, tactics, sleep, nutrition, and technology use, especially these days. To consistently ski your fastest, you must maximize these areas to get the most out of your physical ability.  

And let’s not forget the mental side of our sport. You must train and strengthen your “mental muscles” (e.g., motivation, confidence, intensity, focus, and mindset). You also must have a well-stocked “mental toolbox” for when problems arise, including goal setting, positive self-talk, mental imagery, training & race routines, and breathing, to name a few. The interplay of these mental influences makes finding the ideal combination even more difficult.

Due to the very nature of ski racing, we can’t do anything to make it less complex. But it’s these complexities that make our sport so interesting, challenging, and, ultimately, fulfilling. All you can do is understand everything involved in making ski racing so complex and look for ways to manage them to the best of your ability.

Complicated

Unfortunately, too often, racers (and coaches and parents) take our sport beyond the realm of complexity and make it unnecessarily complicated. Those who ultimately suffer from these complications are the racers themselves.

You have a tough enough task responding positively to the many obstacles that are outside your control that I described above. It is entirely unfair that you should also be expected to also deal constructively with obstacles erected in your own mind,  your parents, coaches, and our destructive sport culture.

These mental barriers include over-investment in your racing, (you want to care about your ski racing, but you don’t want to become obsessed). You want to avoid perfectionism, and the fear of failure. Fear of failure is an epidemic in our culture and the #1 reason athletes come to me. Although, they often don’t know it’s the real cause of their mental challenges when we begin working together. Many athletes have a preoccupation with results, expectations, and pressure.

These obstacles conspire to do a massive mental whammy on you in the form of a loss of motivation, decline in confidence, worry, stress, anxiety, distraction, and a veritable tsunami of negative emotions. These emotions include fear, frustration, anger, disappointment, hopelessness, sadness, and despair. Then add these ingredients to the already boiling cauldron called alpine ski racing, and you get a toxic stew that makes consistently fast skiing very challenging.

Simple

I apologize for painting such a depressing picture of what it takes to be successful as an alpine ski racer. But I will end on a very positive note. While accepting the unavoidable complexities of our sport, your goal is to let go of the complications that burden you. Freeing your mind of these psychological and emotional difficulties is the Holy Grail of ski racing and, in fact, a happy and successful life.

Though beyond the scope of this article (much of my writing over these many decades has been devoted to showing racers how they can drink from the Holy Grail, so please visit my blog to learn more), I can offer you a perspective that may help you focus on what’s important and, in doing so, remove the weight from your shoulders that is laden with our sport’s complexities and complications.

Despite everything I’ve written in this article, ski racing is, in the end, quite simple. How’s that, you may wonder. Well, when you slide into the starting gate, you should have only one thought: ski as fast as you can! That’s it. That’s all. It’s that simple. You can call it bring it, full gas, full send, attack, charge, or what-have-you. Regardless, the message is the same: Clear your mind of all the complexities and complications (i.e., crap!) and get from the start to the finish as fast as possible.