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SlapChop

Putting on skis
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Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen,

I'm running a pre-race prep day for our U14s on Friday, and the focus is going to be generating speed on flats. Their race on Saturday is on a hill that has some long flat sections, hence the focus.

Aside from setting an environment on flatter sections of our home hill, I was wondering if any one had some suggestions regarding drills, or even specific gate sets that would promote the preparation and mindset for Saturday's race.

Thanks!
 

D Lamour

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904B492D-1261-4B44-9222-8710AC9FE770.jpeg


Ride the tails!
 

Primoz

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Realistically it's not rely possible to generate speed, only option is to keep it as much as possible. And that means keeping skis flat as much as possible. Drills.. honestly no idea.... timed glide sections would do good to get feeling what's good or not, and to compare with others, as there are peope with feeling for glide, regardless on age, and those with not so much of this feel.
 

BGreen

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Skate drill: skate as hard as you can for a few skates, allow the skates to evolve into turns. Continue the motion effectively skating with both feet. Start the turns with full hip extension.

Corridor drill: Set a corridor with brushes on a flat section of hill. Aim for about 3-5m wide with brush spacing about 3m.

Course set: 8-9 m, pure rhythm, enough offset that they can't make the turns by being low and lateral, but instead have to work along the length of the ski. Start with sections of about six gates. When you move to full length courses, have the first interval about 6-10 gates from the start and the last interval the same distance from the finish. The idea is to see who is generating speed across the flats and who is just taking what the ski gives them.

If the race will be a U16 set, aim for closer to 10m with a bit more offset, so their is room to flip the base and push back into the ski in the transition.

As @Primoz says, generating speed on the flats is perhaps less important than maintaining speed in the steep-to-flat transitions. Set course sections that have a few turns on the steep and continue for a few turns on the flats. When inspecting at the race, discuss the importance of highest average speed rather than highest maximum speed. This means in all likelihood go into the steeps conservative so that you can have the highest speed going onto the flat. Too many people go straight into a pitch, gradually getting later each turn and then use the flat to recover. You can’t win a race on the steep, only lose it. Races are won on the flats.

Good luck to you and your crew!
 

Chef23

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I am not a race coach but a few things were told to me years ago by a racer that make sense and made me much faster without losing control. First obviously the edges are slow and riding a flat ski is critical. Second the front of the ski is slow. I was told to think about standing down through my heels. Not sit back but don’t pressure the forefoot. This thought allowed me to still control/edge the skis even on a flat while allowing them to run.

I have no idea if these concepts still make sense I a, sure some of the guys here can provide current advise.
 
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SlapChop

SlapChop

Putting on skis
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Awesome, some good points all around!

That really helps quite a bit.

I like the idea of using a set that forces them to control speed on the pitch in order to keep it onto the flat section, the points all of you brought up feeding this in particular.

I think the skating drill will be equally useful as well, considering this particular group needs to work on their movement and putting energy into the ski on flat sections, many have a tendency to just ride the ski and wait for things to happen.

I’m a little unclear about the brushy set - what was the drill running through it? Just skating around them? Quick feet?

I’ll let you know how it turns out. Probably take some pictures for posterity sake.
 
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SlapChop

SlapChop

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I guess I omitted the crucial detail that it’s a slalom.
 

BGreen

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Awesome, some good points all around!
I’m a little unclear about the brushy set - what was the drill running through it? Just skating around them? Quick feet?

The general point of corridors is to separate turning and transition phases of the turn (turn outside transition inside), or to confine a turn to a specific width (everything inside). The course sets force a turn at a specific point, whether they are making correct movements or not. The corridor allows them to focus on the movement pattern and not worry about where the turn happens. By using brushes instead of dye, it gives them a target to turn around. So the turn happens outside the corridor, the transition happens inside. Make the turn, as soon as the tips reach the line (going back in) flip the bases, engage the new edges, push back into the ski, aim at a brush to turn around, release the turn, flip the base, engage the edge, lather, rinse, repeat.


USSA filmed a new version of the drill this fall, but I don't know if they posted it yet.
 

James

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Second the front of the ski is slow. I was told to think about standing down through my heels. Not sit back but don’t pressure the forefoot.
This is one of the lessons to be learned in spring wet snow. You can really feel the slow down or conversely the acceleration of the mid to tail. Hard snow often masks the feedback unless it's extreme where one loses control.
 

hbear

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Also a balance of not enough pressure up front as the ski wobbles when that is the case as well.
 
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SlapChop

SlapChop

Putting on skis
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The general point of corridors is to separate turning and transition phases of the turn (turn outside transition inside), or to confine a turn to a specific width (everything inside). The course sets force a turn at a specific point, whether they are making correct movements or not. The corridor allows them to focus on the movement pattern and not worry about where the turn happens. By using brushes instead of dye, it gives them a target to turn around. So the turn happens outside the corridor, the transition happens inside. Make the turn, as soon as the tips reach the line (going back in) flip the bases, engage the new edges, push back into the ski, aim at a brush to turn around, release the turn, flip the base, engage the edge, lather, rinse, repeat.


USSA filmed a new version of the drill this fall, but I don't know if they posted it yet.

I'm really liking the Loveland Corridor drill, I've done something similar before minus the die 'turning marking' down the middle. I think I'll work a full set with a good transition from the pitch to the flats and then the rhythm section on the flats in the AM and put together both the brushy die corridor and a stubby corridor below it on a flatter section or the PM.
 

BGreen

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I've done something similar before minus the die 'turning marking' down the middle.

The center line is just that, a line. It can be used to denote flat skis, full retraction, jump it, or just a visual indicator. On a larger corridor, it can split it into two lanes for a lane change drill. Be creative. I don't set the center line that often just because of the time involved.
 
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SlapChop

SlapChop

Putting on skis
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The center line is just that, a line. It can be used to denote flat skis, full retraction, jump it, or just a visual indicator. On a larger corridor, it can split it into two lanes for a lane change drill. Be creative. I don't set the center line that often just because of the time involved.

Yes, I can definitely see that. Logistically its a tough one. For the purposes of Friday I think having the visual cue will be worth it - I know another coach has used brushies down the middle before, but the dye is a nice visual cue that I think should be fairly easy to setup if I give myself the time. Just means I'll have a short lunch on Friday! The beautiful thing about Fridays is that the hill is empty, so the kids can cycle through the course and drills, really getting a good number of repetitions in, which motivates me to capitalise the time.
 
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SlapChop

SlapChop

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And point taken on the line denoting different things. I think we'll have some fun with it for sure.
 

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