Road to the National Championships

It has been a while since my last blog, so I thought I would update you all on what I have been doing and and my plans for the next few months. I've been very busy with university and training hard for the national championships.

 

Gym Training

Since January and my time in Les Deux Alpes I have been working on my stability and core exercises. I have been attending Pilate’s classes every week and have been seeing dramatic results.  Pilates focuses on stability, flexibility, core strength and grace (which I definitely do not have.) Mikala (our instructor) does her best to adapt exercises for me and is keen for me to improve.  There are some really nice people in the group and I enjoy banter with them. It's quite funny actually I'm finding I'm getting mothered by a couple of the women there, being the youngest and one of the only guys definitely has its good points!

I have also started training with a friend at university (Rob) who is also a Lecturer in biomechanics. He approached me recently and asked if I would like him to train me. Naturally, I bit his hand off and I am currently in the process of seeing him twice a week.  He is focussing on pure form and is working on my weakest areas. He has had me squatting with footballs between my legs (to stop my knees rolling in) and his eye for detail is having a positive impact on my training.  I couldn't believe the difference to my normal training, I definitely felt the burn!

Ski Training

Since attending Pilates I have noticed a dramatic difference on the slope and in my walking. Steve (DSUK Coach @ Chillfactore) has been trying to get me to do a specific drill for the last few months, which involves picking the outrigger (poles in my hands) up, after initiating the turn with a pole plant like movement. This gets my weight over my downhill ski more, giving more control.  Up until attending Pilates I have not been able to do this, but two weeks ago I managed to crack it!  

If you would like to see a video of me doing that drill click here.

This has completely changed my style of skiing and I am focussing on reducing my reliance on the outriggers more and more, to make my skiing more dynamic.

Steve has been pushing me hard over the last few weeks and loves winding me up, forcing me to try my best.  Although at some times he has told me off for working too hard. We have a great relationship and really enjoy working with him.

I have carried on attending the race training on a Sunday Morning with Carl at Chillfactore, the early starts haven’t gotten any easier though(5am start)! We have been focusing on working the ski and finishing the turns in the gates

The course soon gets cut up and is of a harder style (I hope) than I would see in a real race, giving me a real challenge. Since attending, I can normally manage a few clean runs, where as at the beginning I was struggling to even finish on a course that wasn’t cut up. The picking up of the outrigger has helped a lot on this as I am getting more grip, giving me more control (which is always a bonus.)

Ski Gear

I am currently looking to buy a race suit for this next race. My mum made me try one on (typical mum thing) before I bought one, not bending very well is never a good trait to have whilst trying to squeeze into a skin-tight one piece race suit!   I'm still looking so if anyone knows anyone selling one please contact me ☺

What's next?

On the 12^th March I will be travelling out to Saalbach for the Austrian National Championships and then onto Balderschwang for the German National Championships for my next race.   A friend and I will be driving there over a couple of days, two men, 3 legs, 2 crutches and a car full of ski stuff will make the 2600+ mile round trip. 

I will definitely be skiing in the Slalom discipline but I am also hoping to try my chance in the Giant Slalom arena. This will dependent on whether I can handle the Giant Slalom skis and whether it would be worth it. As mentioned in previous blogs Giant Slalom skis are a lot longer than slalom skis and the turning circle is larger.

Exciting things to come but I best get my university work done first, Speak to you later.

Thanks

Alex

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Or email me on alexclarke1992@outlook.com

Les Deux Alpes

Hey guys,

Sorry this is a bit later than planned, I had quite a lot of uni work to come back to, so that took over. 

First of all, Les Deux Alpes was amazing. We were lucky to get a dumping of powder before we got there.   The weather was stunning all week; every day was glorious sunshine, except the last day where it snowed.   Les Deux Alpes has a variety of different slopes and I was lucky enough to have got a hotel right next to the main gondola (like a cable car) so I did not have to trek far with all my gear.

I met my university Ski Team out there. There were roughly 40 – 50 of us that had come over from Preston for a week in the Alp’s. There were planned socials on and off the mountain. There were some interesting fancy dress nights, ranging from Rubik’s cube night (I must say I was the only dressed up on that night, the team forgot to pass the memo on) to toga night. Although these were nights out and the focus was on having a good time, this did not detract away from my skiing, although made it a little more difficult at times.  I skied roughly 4 -5 hours a day and was on the slope for roughly 10:30am every day.  I tried to plan time for recovery and rest after I had been skiing in order to maximise my performance on the slope for the next day.

The first couple of days I focused on just getting myself settled on the hill and used to skiing some of the steeper runs, whilst also using my new outriggers. After a couple of days, I alternated between my Giant Slalom skis and my Slalom ski’s, working on the goals I explained in my earlier blog.

The new outriggers worked a treat; I found I was able to hold an edge on the ice easier and found that the turning was more reactive. I was able to get a bit of feedback back to my Chief Engineer (Dad) for some tinkering when we next get time together. I also found that, although the weight had dramatically increased it did not bother me too much.   There were a couple more tests I wanted to try (removing the break pin and the comb break) but due to the icy conditions and the poor visibility on the last day, I didn’t want to risk it but I will be conducting these at Chillfactore when I get the chance. 

My goal for the Slalom skill’s was to work on my consistency, this involved finishing my turns and getting a stronger edge angle. I believe this was a success; it was great to get out on the hill and just ski. There was some really nice runs, so I could play around and challenge myself. 

I found it quite difficult to get back on the Giant Slalom ski’s these are considerably bigger than my Slalom ski’s, I struggled with the tips of my ski’s crossing. After a hard day, I soon reassessed my goals for them.  Over the week, I just worked on skidded turns, keeping the skis separate and trying to get a better position over the ski.  Towards the end of the week I managed to do just that and was consistently skiing some steeper blue runs without the tips crossing (which is a start J.)

I have taken everything that I have learnt/development over the week and I am putting them into my skiing lessons and race training to Chillfactore. Tomorrow (18^th January) is the first day I get to try the new outriggers in slalom gates, I am hoping from the feedback and the experience I gained from Les Deux Alpes this will make a massive improvement, I will report back when I know more.

Overall a great week, missing it already.

Speak to you soon

Alex

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If you would like to donate to my cause, please click here

or Contact me on alexclarke1992@outlook.com

A New Year

First of all I would like to wish you a very happy new year and hope you had a great Christmas.

As I had not written for a while I thought I would let you all know what I have been doing and what my plans are, moving forward.

Since coming back from Landgraaf I have had meetings with my coach at home (Steve from DSUK.) We have discussed plans to move forward and how to best capitalise on knowing what class I am and also from my experience in Landgraaf.

I have been having lessons weekly and been attending race training at Chillfactore.

Steve has took be back to basics, focussing on getting a much better position on the ski but really getting a good edge for control in the steeper and icier conditions.  Steve has even been getting me doing drills going up the lift, in order to get a strong edge initiation. I feel like my technique has improved dramatically over the last month, I have been exhausted after every lesson and even not been able to gym train as much because of it….Which I am hoping is a good thing.

Race training has been fun so far (I am not enjoying the getting up at 5 am on a Sunday part though!) Carl at Chillfactore has been tailoring a lot of the drills for my style of skiing and seems keen for me to improve. I am finding time in gates is imperative to my improvement, I intend to carry on doing this for as long as I can, I have only been twice so far but I plan on keeping at it.

My dad and I have also been out in the garage creating our very own kit. We noticed that whilst I was out in Landgraaf, my outriggers (the poles I have in my hands) were skating over the ice and I was losing my line and slipping out.  So over the Christmas break, we acquired a set of old ski’s that we chopped down to size and screwed them to the bottom of my outriggers to trial.

On first test, they were brilliant. I found I was finishing my turns much easier and even felt in more control but there was a few points that we have taken from it i.e. The Weight and the edge kicking back slightly. Now we are going down the path of tuning these for performance, we have been discussing length, sharpness of edges, shapes of the skis and amount of brake. There is a load for us to play with, so it is an exciting time ahead.

On Saturday I go with the University Ski Team for a week in Les Deux Alpes, France. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough time to go race again but I am hoping to go again in March. On the other hand, a week out in the Alp's gives me a good amount of time to bed in my new outriggers and get some concrete feedback on what works and what doesn’t. Although this week will have nights of debauchery and drinking (water of course) I have set some targets for myself in order for me to improve and continue on my path.  

These are:

Able to ski red runs on my Giant Slalom Ski’s

Consistency on my Slalom ski’s

Feedback for my new outriggers.

Hope you all have a good start to 2015, Update to follow when I am back.

Thanks

Alex

If you would wish to sponsor me on my Journey Please click here

Or if you would like to contact me please email Alexclarke1992@outlook.com

Learning Curves as Steep as the Slopes

We have just got back from a hard week in Landgraaf Holland, which was for the opening ski race of the year and for race classification. 

It has been a great week with 27 Nations all coming to one venue to race. Our Team (British Disabled Ski Team) came back with an impressive haul of 5 Gold Medals, all for visually impaired skiing. Three in Female and two in Male. It was a week of highs and lows with learning curves steeper than the slopes. The First three days (Monday – Wednesday) were focussed on training. We trained predominately within Slalom gates, whilst also working on key skiing fundamentals that could be transferred onto the slope. Thursday and Friday were Race Days.

Before I was allowed to race I had to go through a classification process by the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) to put me in subclass. This was on the Wednesday and consisted of a series of tests that looked at my strength, gait, tone and spasticity of my muscles. The overall test took around 20 minutes and I was told that I qualify for an LW1 Standing class (Strong Leg impairment affecting both legs) but I also qualify for a sitting class, if I ever wish to swap to sit skiing. At this moment in time, Standing is the only thing for me; I love the challenge and love the sense of freedom and movement that I get from it.  

Thursday was the first race day. We were up at 6am and on the slope for 8 for warm-up and inspection.  The race started at around 9am I was the last man to go for Mans standing. There was 37 racers on the track before me, so the course got quite cut up. There were around 33 gates that we had to ski through, down from the usual 50 due to the size of the venue not having enough room for the usual 50 gates.   The start was a drop off a steep roller. The roller was around 8 to 10 foot, which began with a sheer drop off into a half pipe style run down to get you onto the course (the first time I have done this.)

 

As a person, I am never normally consciously nervous but this time I was. I felt sick and struggled to relax.  As I was in the queue for the start gate I felt sick and just wanted to do it….the waiting was the hardest part.  The racers dropped off the starting platform and my number came closer, I could feel my body tightening up.  I approached the start gate and the time wand was moved across my path (used to initiate the timer.) I dropped down the roller onto the course and started my first run. I heard the tannoy calling my name for Great Britain and the adrenaline hit me.  I managed to guide the skis down the top two thirds of the course and just as I was hitting the lower third of the course, I lost my balance and wasn’t quick enough to get my edge to bite and I fell over. Needless to say I wasn’t very happy.

That evening, I sat down with my coach (Euan) and we went through the video analysis of my run. I wanted to identify the feeling I got from the run with how I actually ski’d, so I could remedy it in future.  Looking at the footage from the first race, I was tense, broke at the waist and not looking where I was going, everything a skier shouldn’t be.  Needless to say I was gutted but I knew what I had done wrong and what I needed to do for the next race.

Friday came and the second race quickly approached. I had a great warm-up, I felt confident, at ease and was skiing great (the best I felt I have ever ski’d.) I had good form and was moving on the ski and felt in control.  The course inspection went well, the gates looked good and achievable, besides the big patches of ice.

I walked up to the start gate like the day before, a lot more relaxed and at ease. The countdown began, I dropped into the course straight onto sheet ice, unable to get my edge in quick enough from the compression of the roller, losing a lot of height and hitting a pile of snow, falling over.

Needless to say I was absolutely gutted, I had felt good that day and was feeling confident for making it down the course.  Unfortunately my lack of experience and even lack of time in gates was my downfall. I did not notice the change in conditions from the inspection.  Even though I wasn’t happy, I have learnt a lot and there was a lot of experience and positives to bring out of this.

 My ‘attempts’ at these races just makes me more determined to come back stronger and smash it. I have plans in place to progress for my next race, which should be Austria in January.

 I have to remember what is an achievement for myself and not get detracted by other peoples success or the speed they pick up something. I am still very new to this and I have a lot to learn. Two little races will not hold me back from goal, they are but just walls I need to climb to get there. …I was feeling quite philosophical writing this, can you tell??

Thanks

Alex

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If you would like to contact me please email alexclarke1992@outlook.com

or If you would like to donate click here. 

Arriving in Landgraaf

After an overnight ferry and a very early start, we have finally landed here in Landgraaf.

As mentioned in my previous blog, Landgraaf (Holland) is home to Snowworld one of the biggest indoor ski slopes in the world.  I am here for 3 days training, classification and 2 days racing.

There are nations from all over Europe here. They have come for classification and to race in the first IPCAS (International Paralympic Committee Alpine Skiing) race of the season. 

Classification is used to give racers their subclass for the overall class (Standing, Sitting, Visually Impaired.) Subclasses works similar to the golf handicap where it gives racers with less of a disability less of a time bonus then of those with more of a disability.

It has been a hectic month, not just training/conditioning myself for the race but also with university. Work has picked up and I am finding myself spending more and more time researching for assignments, which at times has detracted from my training….much to my annoyance.

But besides the conflict of interests I am still finding I am improving and getting stronger. Steve from DSUK has been putting me through my paces at Chillfactore and is focussing more and more on pushing me to the limit. 

Right enough of me waffling on I will check back with you guys after my Race on Friday…Wish me Luck.

Alex

If you wish to contact me please email me at alexclarke1992@outlook.com