by Erika Flowers
This post is NOT for the NTS members who diligently filled out every day of their training log last year (believe it or not it happens to the best of us) This post is NOT for the skiers who felt 100% dialed all season long and who hit every one of their racing goals. Some of us, particularly working professionals, can find ourselves lacking motivation and a true vision for our skiing this time of year.
Despite a season with typical ups and down I can still find myself excited to set some bigger goals and craft a path to work towards them. With May right around the corner, now is the time to get your head, heart and body ready to tackle the year ahead with fresh eyes and a fresh plan. But where do you start when your training log is oddly blank, the numbers missing along with the traditional menu of race results you might typically lean on to guide your planning process?
Below is a checklist to get you ready to tackle any goal in the new year as well as the three guiding principles we recommend using to help you power to your potential and move faster on skis in next season.
1. Spend some time thinking about what you are excited for in a new training year
- Go for a walk or an easy run, sit outside on the porch in the sunshine, stroll around the neighborhood or spend some time in the garden consider what really gets you excited. Maybe you just want to be able to move faster on skis. Maybe you have a big race goal in mind. Maybe you feel like you’ve plateaued and are simply curious to see if you can get faster. Or maybe you want to feel less winded when skiing with your eager co-worker.
- Whatever it is – take the time to really consider what YOU care about to help structure your goals for the new year.
2. Write down 3 goals for the season.
- Make one a performance goal. Choose something that excites you! Ex. I will win the 30km at U.S. Nationals (or) I will finish in the top 10 in my age group at the Birkie (or) I will ski 100km in a day
- Make one a physical or training goal. Ideally pick something that helps you with your performance goal. Ex. I will do 10 pull-ups (or) I will do one interval sessions a week (or) I will sleep at least 7 hours a night.
- Make one a mental goal. This one is just as important to write down as the other two. Ex. I will talk positively to myself during workouts (or) I will try every one of the mental preparation strategies that I read on the Nordic Team Solutions site (or) I will meditate once a week
3. Ask yourself, what will it require to achieve my goals?
- For example, If I want to win the 30km at U.S Nationals I need to be able to ski faster than anyone else for about 90 minutes. To do that, I need to sustain pretty fast pace for a long period of time so my workouts are going to be structure around building up to that and getting comfortable at my goal race pace. I might start by doing 1X5km at L3/L4 and gradually build up to 6X5km at L3/L4.
4. Write down 3-5 action items that will help you reach the goals you listed in step 1
- You can either do one action item for each goal or you might write down three action items that support 1 or 2 of your goals from above. These will correspond to your individual goals.
- Be specific and narrow! Think about the most important 3-5 things you can do to help you get closer to your goals.
- Example: One speed session per week on roller-skis; 5km L3/L4 progression up to 30km total; Go to bed before 9 pm at least 4 days/week; One track workout per week to work on leg speed; Carry a water bottle with me wherever I go
5. Prioritize your 3-5 action items.
- Everything else is icing on the cake.
- Some of us have the luxury of ski training full-time but for those who don’t real life often gets in the way of training, throwing off a perfectly crafted workout schedule when an urgent meeting eats into your evening training hour. In a good week, you might execute 100% of your planned workouts. But what do you do when something disrupts your best laid plans? Think about picking three key workouts a week to prioritize and make sure you complete those no matter what, even if you have to switch what day do you them.
- Block time on your calendar to ensure you can at least get these three workouts in – whether they are strength, a long ski/run, or intervals.
- Ex. Using the action items above my 3 priority workouts each week would look as follows:
- 4X8 min. L3 skating (hard week) [or] 2 hour easy skate (easy week)
- Classic speeds 3X5X15-20 seconds
- Track workout [30/30s]X12
Guiding Principles: As you look to tackle the year ahead and make real gains after a year of floating, keep the following guiding principles in mind.
- Periodize your training: Make the easy workouts easy and the hard workouts hard. Likewise make the easy weeks easy and the hard weeks hard.
- Consistency is key: Although you want a lot of variation in your workouts and weeks (ex. Hard v. easy) consistently getting out the door is key. Use the rest of April to lounge around so when May 1 hits you are chomping at the bit and ready to get out the door every week!
- Prioritize 3: Pick 3 workouts each week that you commit to getting done no matter what. If you complete every single one of your planned workouts that is even better but commit to your three most important ones and give yourself extra kudos for anything above and beyond that.
