Race training starts in earnest on our French ski instructor course
It’s all been a little quiet from our French ski instructor trainees of late, as they’ve been enjoying their Christmas break and the amazing snow conditions that hit Serre Chevalier over the holiday period. However, they are now back training in earnest and are really getting to grips with the core of the course – speed and slalom training...
For their return to training on 2nd January, the crew were told to bring along their slalom protection and skis for the first time. So everyone kitted up in their shiny new helmets, chin guards, shin guards and hand guards. Unfortunately Adam and Ryan were a little late getting their slalom skis, so they had to make do with their overly long and fat off piste skis for the first day, which added to the challenge!
Here’s how it went for Ryan:
“Once they were all set up (there were 4 slalom tracks set one after the other down the piste) we were told at the top that it didn’t matter who had done it a hundred times or who had never done it at all, we were all going down it. So we did, reluctantly, waiting until last to give it a go, skiing towards a pole that you basically have to punch to the ground whilst going as fast as you can without catching your skis on the bottom of the pole and making sure not to get the pole straight in your face… easy! It was a surreal feeling but great to get the first run out of the way and to realise that it’s not as scary as it first looks, but it is harder.
“Another thing we realised throughout the day was how tiring this training is and how much cardio it comes down to, all that fitness training has helped massively and we couldn’t have done this now without it.
“A great start to the new year, although daunting, realising that slalom is a hard sport with marginal room for error if we’re to pass the test technique, we’re both excited for it all still and we’ve still got so much more skiing to do before the seasons up, its only just begun!!!”
Over the next couple days of training, Ryan and Adam still didn’t have their slalom skis but did have some piste skis which were at least the right kind of size and shape. They worked on using their outside ski more, which is vital for increasing slalom speed. Tiredness started to creep in the more they worked on their gate training.
“Now I have said before that skiing is tiring and that your legs hurt but you never get that tired out. What a load of rubbish, I was so out of breath! Give me a bleep test over all that any day, well certainly not for the enjoyment factor. I was really starting to enjoy it now, when you get it right it’s an amazing feeling.”
On one of the afternoons they were told that they would be skiing side by side over the slalom courses. This added element of competition really managed to get our crew picking the pace up. It certainly went down well with Ryan:
“Another amazing day doing something different again, that’s the great thing about this, I know we’re training slalom every day now for a while, but every course is different and there’s the competitive element, the camaraderie, the willingness to succeed and get better and the fact that we ski all day every day. Love it!!!”
