Getting up to speed for this season: A review

By Published On: December 3rd, 2013Comments Off on Getting up to speed for this season: A review
Dr. Jim Taylor

Dr. Jim Taylor

Hopefully, you’ve spent the preseason getting ready for this winter of racing. If so, you should be stronger, better technically, and more mentally prepared than ever before. You’re now entering the final stage of preparations for the upcoming race season with a final period of conditioning followed by getting back on snow and tuning up for the first races.

I wanted to begin this new season of writing by giving you a refresher course on some key issues that I wrote about in past seasons. As all of my ideas build upon the previous ones, you can’t just leave those from last season in the past. Rather, you have to make sure these tools are still in your toolbox before you can add to it with the psychological information and strategies I will share with you in the coming months.

1. Prime Ski Racing should be your goal: Skiing at a consistently high level under the most demanding conditions.

2. You need to have the right attitude about competition and success and failure before you can begin to achieve your goals.

3. Just like with the physical side of ski racing, you can use Prime Profiling to better understand your strengths and weaknesses.

4. Motivation is the foundation of all of your efforts to achieve your ski racing goals.

5. Confidence is the single most important mental factor in ski racing.

6. There are five keys to Prime Confidence.

7. There are five things that I hate to see racers do in training.

8. You need to know the five themes to live by on race day to ski your fastest.

9. Learn to master frustration.

10. Five tips for race day success.

And for a little inspiration, these two articles about Bode and Julia and Lindsey.

Jim Taylor, Ph.D., competed internationally while skiing for Burke Mountain Academy, Middlebury College, and the University of Colorado. Over the last 25 years, he has worked with the U.S. and Japanese Ski Teams, many World Cup and Olympic racers, and several of the leading junior race programs in the U.S. and Canada. Jim is the author of Prime Ski Racing: Triumph of the Racer’s Mind, he publishes bi-monthly newsletters on sport, business, and parenting, and also blogs for huffingtonpost.com and psychologytoday.com. To learn more or to contact Jim, visit his website.

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About the Author: Jim Taylor

Jim Taylor, Ph.D., competed internationally while skiing for Burke Mountain Academy, Middlebury College, and the University of Colorado. Over the last 30 years, he has worked with the U.S. and Japanese Ski Teams, many World Cup and Olympic racers, and most of the leading junior race programs in the U.S. and Canada. He is the creator of the Prime Ski Racing series of online courses and the author of Train Your Mind for Athletic Success: Mental Preparation to Achieve Your Sports Goals. To learn more or to contact Jim, visit drjimtaylor.com