International Racer

New Zealand Camp 1 report

Although the snow gods weren't super cooperative with us on this block, we are fortunate that our resort partners were. Thank you to our resort partners for doing the best that they possibly could to deliver good quality snow and training opportunities for us, despite limited terrain and snow depth due to a very warm and dry June 2019. The word on the street in New Zealand is that June 2019 was the warmest – driest June on record. Thank you to Oscar and Simon & co at Roundhill, and Bruce, Peter, Mike, Shannon & Co at Dobson for the always excellent cooperation. As Chris would say, “…we had the terrain that we needed on this camp, but not necessarily all of the terrain that we wanted."

Lane 1 @ Roundhill

Watering @ Mt Dobson

Camp 1 by the #’s…

June 29 - July 13
11 training days
1 physical day
2 weather days
8 days in a row for the final push…great hustle gang!
Work to rest ratio of 6.0 : 1

See below for 'Camp 1' daily training summary and stats;

On snow training focus

‘Doing the basics better’ summarizes our primary theme for the camp. For our purposes on this block, the basics were;

Position – balance (4 planes of balance)

Fore – aft (front – back) balance
Lateral (side to side) balance
Rotational balance
Vertical balance

Lower leg skills

Symmetry (matching angles)
Ankle flexion (crushing the boot)
Lateral mobility (making angles with the lower leg)

Pressure management – 3 options for movement in the transition;

Cross Over : the body crosses over the feet…up and forward movement
Cross Under : the feet cross under the body…retraction to allow for forward and inside movement
Neutral : a blend of crossing over and under

Each movement type has its place. Snow contact and forward movement is the objective for all movement types.

Timing and coordination

Athletic movement (move with purpose to ski with power – move fast to ski fast)
Pole actions (pole swing – pole touch – pole plant)

This block was designed to develop these key skills and movements using a combination of the traditional slow and medium drills and technical skiing, and challenging drill courses. The drill courses were intended to challenge the athlete and naturally guide them towards instinctive and fluid performances in purpose built environments. As the old saying goes "you get what you set."...if you set a specific environment with a well considered objective, then you should get a good training effect.

You can't leave the ski room until you do your chins...

Slalom focus & training themes

3,000 + turns in environments on flat, medium & steep terrain using brushes, stubbies and long gates (traditional & old school (athleticism, arcing, level & separation))
The environments featured a lot of variety in setting, most notably;

Tight (8m & shorter, as short as <4m’s in steep brushes)
Medium (9-10m)
Turn shapes included straight, medium & turny
Track tempos from slow to fast

Snow for the most part was grippy decent, although we saw some softer surfaces as well.

SL training @ Dobson

SL training @ Dobson

SL primary training focus & performance themes

• Sprint speed on the flats

• Make speed in the first 4 turns (block double push…1/10 in every push!)

• Maximum intent – effort to push on every turn – never get outworked. Move fast to ski fast (clap…strength x speed = power!)

• Strike the gate (like a cobra…hitting home runs)

• The pole plant (pole touch) is the strike / the strike is the pole plant (pole touch)

• The pole plant provides stability – linking – re-centering – rhythm (you need all of those things)

• Hips and shoulders always inside the gate (the further inside the better…big # always visible on the inside of the gate)

• Energy from the rise line to the gate (push on the top of the every turn)

• Square – clean entry into combinations – stomp the exit (level!); this allows you to be in the fall line for longer, and attack the combination – moving deliberately from outside foot to outside foot

• Instinctive – natural – powerful skiing…we want to look for the simplest way to get it done – the harder that we have to think about it the longer that it will take to stick

Dessert @ Reflections...

Burger night @ Reflections

Physical training focus

The physical training component is designed to do the right amount of the right type of work for the athlete.

We seek to program intelligently and do the right things at the right times in the right amounts without compromising the quality or quantity of on snow training

Priorities;