One of the first questions that I ask racers and coaches I work with is: Should you race like you train or train like you race? By far, the most frequent response is: You should race like you train. This answer seems perfectly reasonable if you think about it. When you train, you’re relaxed, feel no pressure, and are only focused on skiing your best. Why wouldn’t you want to do that in a race?
And, in an ideal world, I would agree. But we don’t live (or ski race) in an ideal world. The reality is that there is one huge difference between training and races: races matters! How fast you ski and your times and results in training don’t matter. And the fact that racing matters brings with it all sorts of baggage related to expectations, focusing on results, comparing yourself with other racers, and fear of failure. That’s why so many racers train much faster than they race. And, as we all know, one of the great challenges for racers is translating their training speed into race results. This barrier is also one of the top-3 reasons why racers come to me for help.
So, my initial reaction to the seemingly obvious answer that you should race like you train is that you can’t…unless. What’s the unless? Unless you train like you race!
As I’ve noted in a previous post, one of your most significant goals on race day is to be as prepared as you can be to ski your fastest. Think about everything you do to get prepared for a race:
- Good night’s sleep
- Nutritious breakfast
- Physical warm-up
- Skiing warm-up
- Inspection
- Start area routine: equipment, physical, mental
Now, let me introduce you to two essential rules for ski racing success that makes it an absolute requirement for you to train like you race so you can race like you train.
First, whatever you do in races, you must first do in training. This too seems obvious, yet is often neglected by racers. Have you ever tried something new on race day that you’ve never done in training? Hopefully not, but if you had, it probably didn’t work very well for you because if you haven’t practiced it in training, there’s no way that it will work in a race. If you want to ski technically and tactically well in races, you better get that technique and those tactics down in training first. The same holds true for every other aspect of your race preparations, whether ski tune, physical readiness, or mental preparation.
Second, whatever you do in training is what you will do in a race. Ideally, the purpose of training is to develop effective skills and habits that will translate into fast skiing on race day. But here’s the problem: racers often practice bad skills and habits in training. For example, if you practice being in the backseat or dropping your hands in training (not intentionally, of course), that’s what you become good at and that’s what comes out in the race.
Whether you practice good or bad skills and habits doesn’t just apply to technique and tactics. It has a huge impact on your mental preparation as well. Here’s a common example that drives me absolutely crazy when I work with racers. As I described above, on race day, you go to elaborate lengths to prepare for each race run. But, I see racers at the start of training courses leaning on their poles and chatting it up with their friends right up until they take their run. What these racers are doing is developing the skills and habits of skiing at about 70% focus and intensity. So, on race day, what happens? Either they race at 70% focus and intensity or they try to kick it up to 100% focus and intensity, but their mind and body explodes because they’re not used to skiing at that level of focus and intensity.
So think about what you do on race day to get ready and do the same things in training. For example, do a good skiing warm-up, inspect the course (don’t just slip it), get your body moving at the start, and do mental imagery. Of course, you don’t have to go through a lengthy pre-training-run routine, but you should shrink it down to a 1-2 minute version of your pre-race routine.
With all that said, let us return to my original question: Should you race like you train or train like you race? My answer is a resounding “YES!” You should train like you race so you can race like you train. The more you can make training like a race, the more you will ingrain in your body and mind the skills and habits to ski fast in a race.
The ultimate goal of which is that when you get to a race your body and mind automatically do what you do in training and you will ski fast in the race just like you do in training.
