Teaching US to Winbr /br /The race season began last weekend for many of the Worlds top skiers and the USST had some great results. Kris Freeman posted a 1st and a 2nd , Kikkan won a sprint, Andy qualified 2nd without feeling great and Ida, Noah, Liz, Morgan, Leif and Glen all had solid results in some very competitive FIS races in Munio, Finland. br /Meanwhile, in Norway, Theresa won a 5 km convincingly and Marit demolished the field in the 10 km.br /br /So….what do we bloggers report and say? It’s pretty consistent… “watch out for Marit, she looks ready to rumble!” “Theresa is fit and flying.” And, “I hope the USST skiers aren’t peaking.”br /br /Does this seem odd to anyone else? br /Maybe we need to learn how to win.br /As a coach, I like to start the season on a strong note. It helps the athletes’ confidence to know that they prepared well in the off- season. After the early season races, we evaluate where we are and make plans to adjust training as necessary to try to ski our best at the biggest races. This is an expectation, not a worry. Does this mean that we expect to win every race? Of course not, but it is nice to know that you belong and that you can train through some less important races with the goal of doing your best at “show time”. br /br /I can pretty much guarantee that these US skiers are not trying to peak right now. They want to ski fast, but the goal is kicking ass at World Championships. If I were their personal coach, I would be psyched. They are in a good place. Does this mean that they will podium in every World Cup? Of course not, but they have showed that they are competitive. The rest of us should be energized by their results, not worried. br /br /Maybe we need to learn how to win. I would think it is a relatively straightforward process. First work your butt off and train really well. Second, show that you can win. Third, time it correctly so that everything comes together for your biggest races.br /We should feel good that we have skiers who have accomplished the first two steps and hope that they accomplish the third!div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-2351269514945577663?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
