TRE, that was a push!
We knew it, we knew it… We had lot of work to do from the very beginning and we have done a good portion in these past 2 months. The preseason turned out to be 3.5-4 months (from August to November) and TRE had to adapt. We made a tight calendar for September, the athletes pulled it through with a great progression and attitude.
Fitness camp from August 31st to September 3rd
After the first ski camp in August and a little rest we had 4 days of fitness camp. We kept following our plan and moving into a period of Hypertrophy and Max Oxygen in the metabolic. Results started to show up, the athletes were able to lift with better technique and heavier weight, also, the times were getting lower while running.
Ski camp 2, Juvashytta from the 6th to the 11th of September
After two days of resting, we were driving back to Juvass. Another good camp considering the tough weather.
We planned the preseason prioritizing GS in Juvass knowing we will have more time to be training SL in Snø during October and beginning of November. With that said, the days that could be compromised due to weather, we planned SL to make sure we will not be short on GS volume.
At the end we skied SL the 7th, the 8th was closed and GS 9th, 10th and 11th. We kept working on basics with posture from feet to hip and started to introduce the movements to create more power into the ski from transition to apex. The improvement was good, and the athletes were able to keep a higher intensity with longer courses.
Fitness camp September 13th and 14th plus Ironman test the 16th
Like everything in life, we must adapt to any external conditions where we have little or none control, so we did with the Ironman test.
The plan was to do 3 fitness days, a little rest and then drive back to Juvass on the 17th. Although, we needed the Ironman test done before we start the season to get our scores and be able to check where we are at. We are thankful to Trysil Videregående Skole (Trysil ski gymnasium) to let us join them on their test day, we used their facilities and structure to have it done. The safety distances were always applied; when they were doing a test, we were waiting in another space and vice versa.
The results showed some improvements from the beginning of August but gave us an input of reality on what we must work on.
Ski camp 3, Juvass from September 17th to the 27th
And finally, we got to the last ski camp this month and last big push. Again, weather had a lot to say and the mountain was closed 2 of the 9 days with scheduled skiing, another 3rd day was closed but we had it planned as a rest day.
Committed to our plan, we prioritize GS over SL and got 6 and 2 days respectively. We planned to introduce some SG but the snow/weather conditions didn’t provide the safety we were looking for. We focus on the tactics, applying a longer diagonal in transition to find more speed and force the athletes to create a deeper and a more efficient turn. On the technical aspect, we can proudly say that our ABC progression is established when the athletes need to come back to their basics: ankles-knees-hips squared. We also started to specify the movements each athlete need, to be able to apply the tactics in the course.
On the 27th we had the camp done. Special mention on how proud we are with our athletes keeping the focus during that week, it was a real mental effort and our plan on mental toughness is working. We had wind, rain, snow, ice, water, slush, salt, sun, fog, cold, warmth… In conclusion, any kind of conditions an athlete can find on the mountain, we experienced all of them in 7 days. Now we are finishing our week off and looking forward to start training in Snø on October 6th and 7th before our last camp in Juvass for this season. GREAT PUSH!
