Preparing for World Champs
Photo Credit - Scott Patterson
My last three and a half weeks have been in Davos, Switzerland for an extended training camp. The last race I did was on January 30th in Falun and my next one is now quickly approaching on February 27th- the 30km Skiathlon at the World Championships. At the start of the training camp in Davos I felt like I had so much time, but around the halfway point I started to realize World Champs preparation was limited. Thankfully I had a good training plan and was healthy throughout the camp, which allowed me to stick to the schedule. I had six quality intensity sessions while in Davos. With only six races under my belt so far this season I needed some extra harder sessions to shift towards race shape.
Now I'm in Germany at World Champs and the work is done. Moving towards the races all I can do is have confidence in my preparation and keep my body in a good rhythm. For me this includes two workouts a day, some light intervals the week of the first race, and some flore core workouts. The thought with this is that I’m not really going to get into better shape between now and the races, but I could get stale, make myself tired, or just get in a weird headspace. So the way I cope with these concerns is to just keep my daily routine as normal as possible with a small reduction in total volume trained and a slightly reduced effort during intensity sessions. This is my style and it seems to work for me. Otherwise, if I do too little or rest too much before big races my body seems to shut down and go to sleep causing me to feel flat in the races.
So as the Skiathlon approaches and the Birkie Fever gets hotter the best thing we can do is stick to our normal routine, eat well, get some good nights rest, and smile. I’m stoked to start racing here soon!
After the World Championships there is one last World Cup weekend in the Engadin valley, which will be a 15km classic mass start and a 50km pursuit skate primarily on the Engadin Ski Marathon course. Super stoked for those races and getting home March 15th, which is two weeks earlier than most typical seasons. While getting back home is an exciting thought I need to keep the focus on this week!
Best of luck to anyone racing the Birkie :)
Photo Credit - Eric Packer
- David Norris
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