After the off day, we began our four day GS training block.
A lot of the athletes at the camp are in their first year of FIS (International
Ski Federation) racing, which means they have to move to a larger ski radius.
Often this is a difficult transition, so the coaches included brushies in our
course to ensure that we skied the correct line. The conditions were a little
more variable, ranging from rock hard surfaces to softer rutted ones, but as
our head coach Simone reminded us, difficult conditions make a better skier.
This entire camp was a progression. Therefore, we were still
working towards a stable upper body and we started each day with the same
pattern of drills as the block before. The warm up drills helped us create
efficient habits in our skiing, and once we brought those into the course, our
skiing improved noticeably.
Les Deux Alpes had a few more busy days, but luckily this
barely affected our training. Simone organized priority access for BSA
athletes; the same level of access as the French regional teams. This meant
that in the morning, we were able to skip the main queue for the first gondola,
which would otherwise be a 45-minute wait.
A few afternoons this week, we were very lucky to be visited
by a Nemanje Ignjatovic, a world class ski technician who had previously worked
with the Finnish national ski team. He was more than able to answer our
questions, and he showed us his tricks for maximizing ski preparation.
The day before our off day, we hiked towards the Diable
chairlift. Once again, it was quite a difficult dryland, but the views provided
temporary distraction from our tired legs and shortness of breath. The
following off day, we once again split into two groups. My group drove to see
the medieval town of Briancon, and the long established military fort, built in
1709. The other group stayed in town to go swimming and to go down the
luge.
The final training block that I participated in was another
four days of slalom. During this session, those of us who are going down to
race slalom in South Africa began to shift into race mode. Often, the training
camps I have attended have one or two days of freeskiing then the second we go
into gates, everyone focuses on skiing fast, and the thought of skiing
technically well goes out the window. This makes the course seem much harder.
However, since we had already run gates while doing drills, skiing the correct
line and focusing on our technique, there was a much more solid foundation for
focusing on speed. We had one foggy day out of the four, but the lifts stayed
open so we were able to train through it.
On the final day off we played paintball. This was my first
time ever playing so I was a little nervous. This was not helped when a group
of 20 Italian boys showed up. They were also on a ski camp. We ended up mixing
with their group and playing against other BSA members as well. It was far more
fun than I expected! Ultimately it was a giant game of capture-the-flag in a
forest area. Each team had a fort and structures to hide behind. Paintball with
two ski teams obviously became quite competitive and some of us may have left
with a few bruises but everyone was alright.
In a week or so, a group of us are heading down to South
Africa for ten FIS slalom races. I wasn’t aware that you could ski in South Africa,
so this will be an interesting experience. I will post my next blog while I’m
there. Thanks for reading!
