Strengthen YouR Strengths
By Erika Flowers
Whether a long time NTS member or new to the site, most everyone reading this has one thing in common: we all want to get better at cross-country skiing. Perhaps you have spent the last month working on whipping your hands through to improve your double pole or practicing agility drills to enhance your balance or ankle flexion on rollerskis. While we all have things we can do better, fixating on our weaknesses is all too easy and we wind up forgetting about the things we already do well.
The best advice I received early on in my professional ski career was to strengthen my strengths. I credit this advice to U.S. Ski Team head coach Matt Whitcomb. While I will always have work to do on my double pole and improvements to make on quick starts, those things are never going to be the skills that help me win races. However, my powerful climbing and my feel for the snow on my skis are the things that make the difference between fifth and first. But I have to remember to train those strengths as much as my weaknesses. With the ski season in sight, now is the time to lean into the things you do well and turn them from strengths into super strengths.
Try this exercise to first identify the things you ALREADY do really well. This is often harder for people than they think. We are really good at noticing what we don’t do well but are much less confident identifying areas where we are particularly talented.
1. Write down five things in cross-country skiing you already do well. Try to pick at least one in each of the categories below:
- Physical – maybe you have biceps bigger than Arnold, stamina that allows you to ski for hours without getting tired, or balance that means you stay upright even in the middle of a hurricane.
- Mental – perhaps you are really good at focusing on internal cues during a race or workout or you are super calm under pressure or when conditions are less than favorable.
- Tactical – like Sophie Caldwell, you may have a knack for reading the skiers around you to understand when to make your move or maybe you are really good at skiing relaxed while following other skiers to save energy and ski efficiently.
- Technical – you may have a stellar V2 alternate that can’t be beat or perhaps you are really good at initiating your double pole with your core.
- Special Sauce – perhaps you have a really good feel on your skis so testing before a race is a piece of cake, or maybe you are really good at watching and imitating other’s technique so you learn super quickly.
2. Then ask a coach, teammate or someone who has watched you ski to do the same thing and write down 3-5 things they think you already do really well.
3. Compare your lists and notice things you may have missed. Pay attention to both the overlap and the areas where you differed.
4. At least one day per week, pick one of your strengths and work on that rather than your weaknesses! This is how you turn your strengths into super strengths and find your personal “edge” in cross-country skiing.