Summer training has a lighthearted feel for a number of reasons. The weather is warm, the sun is bright and the latest giddy pop songs are freely blaring on the radio. The race season is far away and the pressure of performance feels even more distant. Long workouts invoke challenges to go farther than ever before, and interval sessions are friendly competitions among friends.
Will, Baxter, and Kai. This could just as easily be intervals OR an Eastern Cup race
In fall and winter as the races approach, and in the midst of competition season itself, everything carries more weight. Every long workout and interval session is filled with questions:
“Am I going too hard?”
“Will I be too tired tomorrow?”
“So-and-so is looking fast today…oh no”
“What was that weird tweak in my shoulder??”
The pressures of a race season, felt by National Champs down to BKL rippers, can drive anyone nuts. It happens to coaches, too. On race day I often go from 6am to 3pm without eating or drinking at all…the sheer stress and excitement of the day just overwhelms everything. It can be both a great thing and a recipe for disaster. With racing season upon us it’s important to balance managing stress and getting fired up for the next competition with enjoying the sport and keeping things light. We often race fastest when we are having fun, tough as that is to believe.
Eliza racing at Biathlon Jr World Trials. Take the stress of racing and then add targets to hit!
Standing on the start line, waiting for the gun to go off, is like the fall season and first few races. Then, just like everything else, the racing becomes routine. We’ve just heard the gun go off: we’ve got one High School race and one Eastern Cup under our belts. As Holiday Break ends, we’ll be “out of the stadium” and on our own, with each racer navigating his/her way through a complicated, busy and hectic race season all the way until Junior Nationals, Easterns, U16s and States.
Trepidation on the start line!
I’m confident that we’ve prepared well. Early results are backing that up, and when the course through the season hits the metaphorical steep climbs and tricky descents we’ll be ready for them too!
