I got back from Austria Saturday after two weeks race training.
This was my first camp and the first real opportunity to meet the team and see how they function.
We stayed at Hintertux resort, just up from Mayrhofen. The resort is well known for summer skiing and is aimed mainly at the ski racer.
The camp itself had a strict routine set out by the British Disabled ski team in order to facilitate continuous improvement.
There was 14 Athletes there with disabilities ranging from Visual impairments to complete paraplegics. Each with varying levels of experience.
The team had a great atmosphere especially to come into as a new starter. The team were welcoming and eager to give advice on how to 'get on' and get as much out of the time here as possible, whilst also giving tips on tuning gear and also skiing.
The programme roughly consisted of:
6am Wake up
7am Breakfast
8am Meet at lift and catch first lift to the top
9am -12:30pm Ski training
2pm-3pm Strength and conditioning
3pm -4pm Recovery
4:30pm- 5:30pm Video Analysis
5:30pm - 7pm Ski Preparation
7pm Dinner
9pm Bed
The camp also had pre set off snow days which each athlete had to follow in order to rest accordingly but also to gain some theoretical knowledge around ski racing and ski tuning. Every day skis had to be tuned, this consisted of re waxing the bases of the ski in order for the ski to glide correctly across the snow and filing and sharpening the edges of the ski. This was so that the edges would bite into the snow/ice better for better turn initiation and control at speed.
The Hotel was fantastic, it was a family run hotel which had been around for a few years. All the staff knew you on a first name basis and were very accommodating. On the first breakfast we were asked what was our favourite types of eggs. For the rest of the camp we received that every day without even asking. They bent over backwards in order for us to get the most of the camp. On the second week it was my birthday, the hotel dressed and decorated the dining room and even baked me a cake to make my time away from home as special as possible.
There was a lot of camaraderie between all the athletes, this made a good atmosphere and everyone was up for a laugh. There was no limit to the banter as all athletes had a disability and everyone was accepting of everyone else. I soon got nicknamed "the crippler" due to one of my T shirts having "cripple" on the back.
We were split into 3 groups, each group had an individual aim. This was aimed at getting the most out of each athlete in order for them to perform to the highest standard when put into a race. Each group had their own individual coach with the head coach Tony McAllister floating in-between all the groups giving advice and filming for the video analysis later in the day.
My groups goal was to gain a firm understanding of the fundamentals of skiing.
My coach was James Redpath, James was the Head Instructor at Cairngorn Ski School in Scotland and had been teaching adaptive for a few years. He was patient and great at giving feedback.
The first day we went out I was asked to ski on my Slalom skis in order to gauge my current skill level and to understand what basic skills I needed to work on to maximise my performance in a race. The day was hard but was great to understand where I currently sat.
At the end of the day we had meetings with Tony (head coach) to go through our goals and aims for the camp. My goals was to become proficient at using my Giant Slalom ski's and to gain finer edge control and better and more consistent skiing. Once these goals had been established we came up with a plan on how to achieve this.
*In Ski racing, depending on the discipline (Slalom, Giant Slalom, Super G and Downhill) depends on what length of ski you have to ski on with Slalom being the shortest ski used for much quicker turns and downhill ski's being the longer ski used for fast carves at high speed*
My plan was to learn the basics on my slalom skis for the first couple of days and then swap to the giant slalom ski to gain experience on these.
The first week and a half consisted of hitting these goals and was quite intense, I was knackered at the end of each day and was glad that it was lights out at pm, I definitely needed the rest.
The strength and conditioning consisted of a core workout and was used to remove the lactic acid build up from the day. A few of us took the opportunity to make best use of the glacier river to have an ice bath at the end of each day.....I can't describe how cold that was :O brrr..
On the last day I tried my first attempt at going through a slalom course, knocking my go pro off my helmet in the process and head butting a few of the gates out of the way(they don't call me smasher for nothing), I quickly got into a bit of a rhythm and absolutely loved it.
Unfortunately this day was cut short as I had a little accident on the ski's and was forced to retire for the day having a quick check in hospital. Everything was fine, just a bit battered and bruised, I was just annoyed that my last day was cut short but I learnt lots in the process.
I absolutely loved this camp, the professional attitude and the members made it an amazing experience. I felt that my skiing improved dramatically and has given me so many new ideas to put into my gym routine at home. I cannot wait to get back on the ski's and put what I have learnt into practice.
Classification in Landgraaf in November with maybe the opportunity to train again in October.
Alex
x
PS Gear took a bit of a battering....
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