Photo: Roger Carry
Finish the season strong
Believe it or not, only about a month of race season is left. After many days of training and racing this winter, the end is near.
Where does your season stand?
At this late point in the season, you’ll probably fall into one sf three camps regarding how your season has gone.
Breakout season
First, you may be thrilled with your skiing and race results progress. You’d be perfectly content if the season ended today.
But wouldn’t you want to continue your great season by taking it to a higher level? With a great season under your belt, you have nothing to lose and more to gain by making a conscious decision to “bring it” in every run to see how fast you can ski. If you don’t finish (DNF) more than usual, it’s no big deal because you don’t need the results. Only good things can happen if you finish while leaving it all out on the course. You could add more good results to your season and find that you have another gear that you can carry into the summer and next season.
A decent but not great season
Second, you’ve had an okay season in which you’ve shown improvement in both your skiing and your results, but you haven’t done as well as you had hoped. Though you wouldn’t be entirely happy if the season ended today, you wouldn’t be exactly upset either. There’s still time to turn a decent season into a great one. So you might as well commit to skiing as fast as possible because doing what you have done all season hasn’t worked that well for you. Why not try something different?
A disappointing season
Your season so far has been very disappointing, filled with setbacks or plateaus in your skiing, unsatisfying results, and frustration. You’d be one unhappy camper if the season ended today. You might want the season to end today just to end your misery. As the saying goes, “It ain’t over till it’s over.” With several races ahead, it’s not too late to salvage your season and conclude it on a high note. With a mediocre season so far, if you keep doing what you’ve done, you’re probably going to get the same results (remember Einstein’s definition of insanity).) Why not try something new and see what happens? You have nothing left to lose in a losing season.
What attitude will you take in the final stretch?
You’ll fall into one of two camps for the end of this season.
Ready to call?
You’re either thinking about the off-season and eager to hang up your skis, get on your mountain bike or sailboard, or maybe sleep for a week.
Committed to finishing strong?
Or you’re still eager for the upcoming races and are committed to do everything possible to finish your race season strong.
If you fall into the first camp, you might as well end your season now because your chances of having a good end-of-season are negligible. Why? Because you won’t bring the necessary drive, intensity, or focus to get much out of your training and to give it your all in races. Though there are no guarantees, your only chance to finish strong is to commit to getting the most out of your training to ski your fastest in races during the season’s final weeks.
How this last month of the season plays out depends on your attitude and your actions between now and the time of the last run of your final race appears on live timing.
You’re Skiing Well
Let me introduce you to Taylor’s Law of Stupidity: If something’s working, change it. That is just plain dumb! If you’re skiing well, keep doing what you’re doing. You are in an ideal position this last month for several reasons. First, because your season is already a success, the rest is just icing on the cake for you. Second, the pressure is off to get results, so you can race with reckless abandon and not care about what happens. Trust your skiing and focus entirely on what you must do to ski your fastest during every run. If you keep doing what has worked so far, chances are you’ll finish strong.
Your Skiing is Mediocre or Worse
If your season so far is either disappointing and devastating, remember not to panic! If you panic, bad things happen.
- You shift entirely into result mode, focusing only on the outcomes you need to salvage your season.
- This pressure triggers negative thoughts (“If I don’t get a good result, my season is a failure.”)
- You experience anxiety and tension, making it physically impossible to ski fast.
As hard as it will be, you must let go of the pressure (“Even if I have a lousy season, I will be okay.”) and focus on the process (“What do I need to do to ski fast?”).
It’s time to step back, take a long, hard look at your skiing, and see if you can identify any changes that will help you get your season back on track.
Fight, don’t flee
With the prospect of an unsatisfying season on the horizon, you’ll naturally go into survival mode and trigger your fight-or-flight response. When we were cavemen, flight gave us our best chance of survival. That’s probably what you want to do now. But flight, in other words, skiing cautiously in the hope of getting a good result, is an inevitable failure, or failure in the form of a slow period.
At times like this, your best chance is to fight.
This means instead of feeling sorry for yourself and giving up; you need to direct your frustration into attacking every run, every training and race course.
In reality, ‘bringing it’ won’t necessarily produce a good result; your aggressiveness may lead to a big mistake or a DNF (did not finish). But going for it is your only chance to get the desired result. Or, you can let go of everything, relax, and let your body ski without your mind trying to control everything. You will undoubtedly ski better than if your mind is trying to control your body. Whatever the outcome, you will feel better ending your season with a bang instead of a whimper.
Back to Basics
Whether you’ve had a stellar, mediocre, or awful season so far, there are some things you can do that may help you finish the season strong. Go back to basics. In other words, do things that have helped you ski fast in the past.
- Take care of your body: Get enough sleep, eat well, and maintain your fitness.
- Revisit technical and tactical fundamentals that may have slipped during the long season (do a lot of drills to keep your skiing foundation solid).
- Follow your complete training and race routines to prepare you for the gates.
- Practice mental imagery for fast skiing. The feelings and images you conjure up will build your confidence and get you fired up (or calmed down) and focused.
- Commit to quality training: Every training session should have a clear goal, ideal intensity, and specific focus in every training run.
- Lastly, and most importantly, remember why you ski race: because you love it and it’s fun.
Enjoy the rest of your season!
About the Author: Dr. Jim Taylor
