Today was the third day of the PSIA/Nordica Race Camp at Copper Mountain. The primary coaches for the event are PSIA Demo Team members Michael Rogan and Deb Armstrong, with JP Chevalie of Copper and Matt Schiller of Nordica also providing coaching.
Today was a "choose your favorite" day, and I picked SL since I need a lot more work there than I do in GS (where I also need a lot, mind you!). The approach today was to set a few drills and then a full-length SL.
The drills were:
1) A course of 8 45 degree poles for shinning practice
2) An apex drill with stubbies (and bit tighter towards the end)
3) A course that alternated 4 stubbies with 4 45 degree long poles
And then a full course set down CDL.
The focus today for me was to begin to get my body more inside in the turns, and I used a tip from Keith Giglio (Executive Director, PSIA-RM) to great advantage. Last night, he mentioned looking inside the gate. So, I did that today and, viola!, my body was moving more inside the gate. I actually managed to block a number of gates, and run the entire course a few times. I did push enough that I fell twice--once from hooking a gate and once from jamming a rut.
The big technique challenges for me are to move more forward as I move laterally (instead of purely laterally) while allowing my feet to get further out and away from me (instead of keeping them under my body). What Debbie keep calling, "Boom! I'm driving there."
It's a move very much like walking. Pushing off the stance foot while walking means that I close my ankle and open my knee, moving my hips forward. The movement in the turn is similar, with the added lateral component, "grabbing the hill" (as Deb said), and moving with the skis (or, for my use, ahead of them).
It was also interesting to me that, while free skiing and arcing the Doberman SL Rs, that my sensation was more of a dance. I was more aware of my CoM moving independently of my skis than I remember being in the past. I have quite a number of things to consider over the summer!
Today was a "choose your favorite" day, and I picked SL since I need a lot more work there than I do in GS (where I also need a lot, mind you!). The approach today was to set a few drills and then a full-length SL.
The drills were:
1) A course of 8 45 degree poles for shinning practice
2) An apex drill with stubbies (and bit tighter towards the end)
3) A course that alternated 4 stubbies with 4 45 degree long poles
And then a full course set down CDL.
The focus today for me was to begin to get my body more inside in the turns, and I used a tip from Keith Giglio (Executive Director, PSIA-RM) to great advantage. Last night, he mentioned looking inside the gate. So, I did that today and, viola!, my body was moving more inside the gate. I actually managed to block a number of gates, and run the entire course a few times. I did push enough that I fell twice--once from hooking a gate and once from jamming a rut.
The big technique challenges for me are to move more forward as I move laterally (instead of purely laterally) while allowing my feet to get further out and away from me (instead of keeping them under my body). What Debbie keep calling, "Boom! I'm driving there."
It's a move very much like walking. Pushing off the stance foot while walking means that I close my ankle and open my knee, moving my hips forward. The movement in the turn is similar, with the added lateral component, "grabbing the hill" (as Deb said), and moving with the skis (or, for my use, ahead of them).
It was also interesting to me that, while free skiing and arcing the Doberman SL Rs, that my sensation was more of a dance. I was more aware of my CoM moving independently of my skis than I remember being in the past. I have quite a number of things to consider over the summer!
