I have no off season...

They skiers I know keep their lives together in the summer.  The cyclists I know get their 'honey-do' lists done in the winter.  Most years, I don't even have an off weekend between the end of the fall cross season and ski season.

In December, I raced Fair Hill. On a Saturday.  It was a great course but my legs and head were checked out for the season and my result indicated that.  Ah well, at least I had to wear more than a shortsleeve skinsuit at ONE race this year.  It was fun - three bikes, three people, two dogs, and a minimal number of extra wheels.  That's right, I said two dogs.  I'll write more about Oz sometime.

Sunday morning after an early morning run, we drove to Vermont.  Ski instructor camp.  I'd never been, even though it's a big deal and almost a third of the Ski Liberty instructors make the trip.  Can I just say - I love starting ski season with strong legs and endurance!?

After nearly a week in Vermont, we drove back late and I did one of my favorite things on Saturday - lead a hiring clinic for a small group of new instructors.  Only this year, the resort wasn't open yet.  Warm weather meant we were confined to a strip of white on the beginner's hill and a lift open just for us.  The weather didn't get colder after that... and the resort didn't officially open until December 30th this season.

But wait, how cool is that - I had like 2 weekends of an offseason.  I rode my bike.  A lot.  More training hours than November or October.  I played on the rocks at the Shed. A lot.  I rode with friends on the road. Long rides in the wind. Long rides in 60 degree December balminess.  Long rides in chillier weather.  I didn't get enough science done, but I thought about my science a lot.  That helped, actually.

Right now, I feel great.  Life has been busy but balanced.  But the crux of ski season is on me.  I have some travel coming up for training and personal skiing, then some more likely for PSIA events.  Plus every weekend, I teach beginner skiers, beginner instructors, and all the gang that's been around for years.  Yikes. Time to hold on until March.

I have some big goals this year for cycling.  If you see me on the slopes, ask me how my training is going.  I don't want to forget who I am the other 8 months of the year!

delayed reaction

So, for those of you who don't know, I was unsuccessful (the politically correct wording equivalent to failed) at a pretty tough ski instructor exam this year.  It's the last one really - the one that means you get to be a full examiner some day.  I didn't expect to make the team on the first try - I also didn't expect to be as low in the scores as I was.

Disappointed.  Frustrated.  I walked away pissed off (at myself) and thoroughly motivated to bring a better package to the table next time.  The following week, I showed up for some coaching with one of my favorite ski teachers, and he was surprised to see me - I guess most people bug out for the rest of the season when they miss the cut.  The feedback I'd received didn't match the picture he was seeing.  Until it did.  But we talked a lot about performance anxiety and training for performance.

I led some clinics.  I goofed off with friends on the snow.  I went to Utah with Shea for some powder skiing on the big mountains.  The snow melted.  Cycling season started for real.

Somewhere in there, a dear friend also succeeded at maintaining their current certification standard (another way of saying unsuccessful). They were bitter.  Thought the process was unfair and stupid.  I balked that the certification process is stupid but agreed that the group dynamic was weird and a few examiners had been less than perfect.  The question of why go to a certification exam lingered.  This friend, in part, felt the peer pressure to go, facilitated by a ski school in which 80% or more of our returning staff values PSIA certification as a personal and professional goal.

It got me to thinking what my motivation is to be on the examiner squad.  I love the movements of skiing.  I love sharing them with others, and in the East, some of our most motivated and knowledgeable students are our fellow instructors.  I value what I've learned from ski teaching about communication, learning styles, and interacting with students and think it's important information to convey. I love the camaraderie of my development team peers and fellow PSIA staff members when we're out on the road, having "date night" after being cooped up indoors all day due to a tornado warning.  Or just having a beer.

But... I rearrange a lot of other my other important priorities in the winter to get time to be a part of PSIA.  I get less done in lab.  A lot less sometimes.  I don't ride nearly as much.  I eke through weeks without groceries.  I skip days at my home mountain**.  I forgo trips that I might otherwise take.  I skip date nights, girls nights out, seeing my mom except in passing to pick up or drop off our furry monsters.  I don't get to spend as much time as I'd like integrating what I learn out on the hill - either for teaching or personal skiing.  I tiptoe around the politics of a group of people who pride themselves on being the best ski teachers out there.

**My home mountain recently won the "Conversion Cup" for the best beginner's program in the nation from the National Ski Areas Association.  How cool is that?  I'm thankful for many of my mentors there who developed the program and proud of all of us who are out there, taking groups of 6 on a busy Saturday and teaching them how to turn to a stop.  Simple.


The problem, or perhaps it is a good thing, is that this delayed reaction is happening at a time when there's only rain - snow season won't come back for 7 months.  Maybe the sting of disappointment will drive me again, as it did right after the exam.  Maybe.

my feet hurt

Okay, they don't hurt badly, but it's been warm and I've been in my boots 9 out of the past 10 days.  I'm not really sure how that works and I'm certain that it means I'll pull a couple of long days at work this week to get caught up with my flies.  When it's warm, my feet swell a bit and rub in places they shouldn't.  I also have discovered that my sunscreen is outdated (i.e. doesn't work well anymore) and I need to acquire some new.

I've been out on the road with PSIA - understudying and administering an exam then some more understudying.  And then back at Liberty for a full weekend - complete with dinner in the tavern with some divas and getting our lessons planned so we could leave soon after our shift was over.  Oh, and I've been volunteering so that I can teach more beginner skiers. 

Turns out I love teaching beginners.  I can only hope that the people in my groups have as much fun as I do.  Lots of success with them this weekend.  On Saturday - it was in the (light) rain.  Nothing like volunteering at a rainy lineup to feel like you're contributing!

A rodeo rider in my group (seriously! - he was from Mexico City) crashed all the time but was thrilled with it.  Another young woman was checking skiing off of her bucket list.  She went sky-diving last weekend. 

A family of three was learning together - snowboarding didn't stick.  Church group friends were making fun of each other and making near-parallel turns.

A 10 year old asked me if I knew much about skiing.  She announced she didn't know anything and could I please teach her.  A timid woman just "got it".

My groups were cheering for each others' successes this weekend.  It was pretty cool.  I also watched at least 3 of them forget to get off the lift and trip the stop gate (on separate occasions).  Whoops.

But - scary moments too.  An instructor in my clinic group fell this weekend and wound up with a concussion.  I think I'm getting a road ID to wear while skiing.  Watching the staff work to get contact information is motivating that decision.  They had his cell phone, all the numbers in the HR office and his 8 year old son was with him in the ski patrol room.  What if he left his cell in his bag and was at a resort he didn't work at?  Thankfully, he only spent a night under observation, but won't be on skis again this month.

Linking (thud) turns (thud) on the (thud) bunny trail...

Yes, I am a geek.  I have a four year plan.  It's related to skiing.  At least I'm willing to admit it.  Part of that plan says "learn to snowboard".  I had only ever tried once before - 14 years ago, when I was first teaching.

A recipe for disaster: 5 young ski instructors, 0 snowboarders, 1 icy night = 2 runs of going straight to a crash then straight to the shop to return the rental board.

I had in my head that it might be a good weekend to go play.  The fact that it's spring along with some exceptionally unfun weather (rain, rain, rain, again) meant that few people were there to teach.  But it was raining.  Like really raining.  So I was hanging out (bored) indoors.  Until someone brought out a vew-do board for me to play on.  After figuring out this side-to-side balance thing (in my ski boots, no less), it was clear - it didn't matter how hard it was raining, I wanted to go try something new.

I trekked to the rental shop.  They were super helpful - out of probably 2000 snowboards, they had only rented 5.  I went to the ski school - my buddy Nate was ready to brave the rain with me.  I was sent back to the rental shop for wrist guards.  By the time I strapped my right foot in, I was sweaty.  Very sweaty.  This beginner stuff is hard work!

After a few straight runs and a couple little turns, we headed up the lift.  By this time, another ski instructor who knows how to ride was with us.  Lucky for me, we were dressed almost identically, so from afar, the stalkers in the lodge couldn't quite tell who was who. She's much better than I am.  Probably has something to do with marrying a snowboard instructor.

Really, you want me to strap both my feet in?!  Okay, but now I can't get up.  Seriously... I can't get up from my heelside edge.  Half the time I get up on the toeside just to flop right back over onto my rump.

And you want me to turn?!  Already!?  I can't even go straight on this thing.  Okay, but... uh oh... thud.   Okay, here I go... arg, what's that?!  A gully in the middle of the bunny hill?  Sure I'll ride a mini halfpipe on my first day (sidenote: this was a proper gully with lots of mud and grass by a few hours later).  If by ride you mean go down the middle of it.  And crash at the bottom.

But, by the end of the day, I was mostly linking turns on the bunny hill.  No one ever said learning to snowboard is easy - I'll go a step further and say that man, those guys teaching on a busy weekend have it way tougher than us skiers.

And yes, I rode for a while again on Sunday.  Part of the four year plan, remember?  Toll on the body:
Bruises.  Both knees.  Good thing it's bike season and I've gotta break these legs out to the sunshine.

Ending with a few thuds... sort of...

Ski Liberty closed last weekend.  I know there were puppy dog eyes around when Eric (the GM) came through on Sunday, announcing we were done.  I had hoped for a spring weekend.  A proper no-one-else-is-here-and-we're-going-to-clinic-in-t-shirts weekend.  A Saturday night kick-the-keg event at the tavern.  But alas, rain and a forecast of 60degrees this week meant it was not to be.  It's spring.  The incredible season ended on a rainy day in the middle of March.  Thud.  There were other thuds, but that's for another post.

Some of us have spring trips planned.  Some of those trips are centered around an exam.  Thankfully this year, my spring trips are just for fun. Good luck to those pursuing their goals. 

Bluebird days and long drives

We went to Vermont Monday.  After work.  And came back last night.  This is something that I think college kids do when they can sneak a day of bigger mountain skiing in.  Guess it should make me feel young? 

For the first time since early January, I skied somewhere other than home... and could see the top of the mountain from the bottom.  I've skied at several other places on other trips...all in the rain, snow, and/or fog.  It was great to ski in the sun of a March day - even better because it was a Dev Team training day with Matt Boyd.  8 or so of us got together for some good old-fashioned ripping with a bit of arguing about skiing thrown in for good fun.  I learn a lot from watching my peers on the team - it's fun to celebrate everyone's individual strengths and work to improve our weaknesses.

We did some "Bode Miller" turns yesterday on the wide open blues at Mt. Snow... the muscles in my hips aren't feeling like a college kid's at the moment.  I'll blame it on the 7+ hour drive home last night.

Performance anxiety...

Our bodies physiologically respond to stress and anxiety.  I know that you cyclists out there know what I mean - look at the line for the port-o-pot at any race.  Based on my own mom at horse shows when I used to ride, I think most moms do too. 

I was up skiing at Elk yesterday with some other staff trainers from Liberty, and we got to talking about how to train for performance mode.  At least for me, performance mode is different physiologically in skiing than it is in bike racing - my body responds differently.  I have to wonder if this is because I train so differently for my two passions.

Last year at Dev Team Tryouts (skiing), I was in a zone where I couldn't think, could barely form a sentence, and was singing random songs loudly enough that people thought I was tuned into my ipod (I wasn't).  By contrast, at most bike races I'm either visually and mentally focused at the start line (i.e. ignoring you no matter who you are) or I really really have to pee.  Sometimes I'll chat with friends at cross races to make the interminable time between call-ups and the whistle go faster.

In thinking about it, I train for performance often when I'm riding.  I race most weekends.  I train time trials on the road a few times a month.  I ride with mountain biking friends that are faster than me and try to keep up (never mind that usually I am trying this after they've already ridden for a couple of hours).

In skiing (especially at a small, mid-atlantic "mountain"), I train for precision.  A lot.  I do drills, focus on movements on every turn, follow others and mimic their movements - feeling how those movements affect my skis.  In other words, I look pretty most of the time. In skiing unlike in bike racing, I don't often experience exam situations - where the outcome is measured by someone other than me.

So then how can we as ski instructors train for performance? Well, obviously we need to put ourselves in the position to perform more often.  Clinic less, ski more?  Ski under the lifts when I know people are watching?  Race through the bumps, testing balance and agility?  Get the video camera trained on me more often, knowing that people I respect will dissect the movements?  Let it all hang out when the conditions are dicey?

I'm pretty sure this is not the last time I'll think or write about this.  Perhaps this is really just a preview of what I'll eventually write for the DivaSkiTips blog.  Who knows.  If the microscope was working and the database server wasn't in use, I wouldn't be writing at the moment anyway.

Annoying habits...

It's been a busy winter so far, and I've spent quite a bit of time driving to far away places to slide on cold snowy stuff.  Thankfully, I've done a lot of this driving solo - but even I'm annoyed at the things I do.

1.  Press the scan button.  Allow radio to scan for up to 20 minutes.  Listen to 2 minutes of a very crappy song to which I can sing some of the words loudly.  Press scan again.  In north central PA and West Virginia, there are a plethora of country music stations and radio ministries.  I don't care for either.

2.  Tell myself I'm not going to eat candy.  Bring grapes to substitute.  Buy candy the first time I stop for gas.

3.  Forget to bring my water bottle out of the trunk after having a dead battery - 2 hours of parched-time.

4. Bring way too much stuff.  A boot/gear bag, a bag for the other uniform, a bag of clothes, a cooler AND my laptop bag.  On the last trip I brought two pairs of skis - like no one in West Virginia would have an extra pair if I broke a binding or something.

5. Leave my cooler in the car, figuring it is cooler out there.  Forgetting that even a cooler won't keep grapes from freezing when it's in the single digits.

6.  Singing loudly without knowing the words to pop music and hip-hop.  Even when it's the third time that hour that the Fireflies song is on.

This week, I'm staying home.  The car has a new starter and a new battery.  It won't even get to go on my next trip - someone else is driving to Elk next week!

Playing on snow: December by the Numbers

Ski season started later than it was supposed to.  But I put 9 days on snow this month.  Unlikely that I'll get back on snow before the new year, so that's probably the final count.

So far I've:

• Led 4 new instructors through learning how to teach (in the freezing rain!) and hired all 4
• Skied in EPIC southern PA powder while reminding 6 old instructors how to do their jobs
• Understudied an awesome clinician up at Hunter with 12 PSIA'ers from Virginia, PA, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut
• Studied indoors during 1 of the nastiest, rainiest days at Liberty in a while
• Taught back to back to back clinics (3), squeezing 2 quarters of the Steelers kicking the Ravens all over the place (!)
• Worked a bunch of hours in lab when not many others were there
• Taught 0 members of the skiing public
• Tubed on man-made snow 8 times on Christmas day.  In the drizzle. 6 with spins.

What I haven't done:

• Skied in Vermont.
• Blogged much.  Only a few here.  1 Diva Ski Tips entry.
• Been ready for Christmas early.  Yes, I was wrapping all gifts on Christmas Eve.
• Lost weight.  Enormous amount of candy is killing that.
• Gained weight.  Not sure how this works.
• 0 Miles.  Haven't been on any of my bikes since Reston.  Intend to start base miles on the trainer later this week.  Or next.

Divas blog about skiing...

Woohoo.  The DivaSkiTips blog is up.  It's been up, but I finally feel justified announcing it since I finally finished a post for it.  Put together by a few divas, it's meant for the ski instructor who's bored at work, studying for an exam, or (as we all are, I hope) a perpetual learner.  We all learn by doing, and part of that for the divas is writing about it.  So there ya go.  Our tech tips, teaching strategies, even a few exam hints.  So head on over and check out what I think about how you should set your goals for ski season.  Funny enough, it feels a bit like how I set my own goals for 'cross and skiing this fall.

Mmmmm.... ski season is coming part 2...

Returning instructors' meeting.  Those of you out there who teach know, this is not always the best use of one's time.  But I've managed to teach for some 14 years and only gone to 1 of these prior to now.  A few years of being in college, a few times of moving, and a few well-timed weddings kept me away from the fun.  But seriously, it's not that bad.

Sunday was ours - led by a former educator, it's short and sweet and full of props for people who've been doing good stuff.  Last year I made the list because I'd taught 110+ hours.  That landed me in the top 5 of part time instructors.  As a testament to how busy we were last year, I logged some 118 or so hours of teaching and clinic leading and didn't make the top 10.  crazy stuff.  But I did get props for making the Dev Team at the end of the season on my first attempt.  Lots of fellow instructors already knew this - I spent most of the day receiving hugs, hearty handshakes and shoulder nudging/grabbing/shaking as well as some charges to "fix" their skiing.

The question... can I live up to their expectations?  What about my own expectations?  I'm coming into the season fitter than I've ever been so I've got no excuse.  There are some definite finesse-type improvements I'd like to incorporate into my movement patterns this year.  A challenging task when I spend most of my time on the hill teaching or leading clinics.  At the exam in March, I struggled with acheiving a round turn shape and mightily bombed the one footed skiing tasks - a testament to a lack of flow and finesse when my balance is altered a bit.  I'm also not thrilled with the quality of my average demo maneuver right now. 

There are some teaching goals I have as well, but as I'll be experimenting with a few of the people that might read this eventually, I'll keep those quiet for now. 

In less than a month, the ski season rolls...

Swinging from the sky

A few months ago, perhaps after a pitcher at the Liberty tavern, a few ski instructor friends convinced me that in order to see them in the summer, we'd go do Trapeze together. Yes, as in, flying trapeze, like they do in the circus, only much, much simpler and with ropes and nets to catch me. It turns out, ski instructors all bike and party in the summer too, so we've hung out without having to hang upside down.

But, this was an especially good plan since another friend of ours co-operates the trapeze school, which recently relocated from Baltimore to D.C. so they can have a year-round rig. So we met up in a parking lot near the convention center, signed our lives away, and started with "Ground School". It should be no surprise to me that the instructors were good - Brian is one of the best skiing clinicians I've worked with and quickly working his way up the PSIA ladder to eventually be an examiner. I expected his staff to be well-versed in presenting information, dealing with fear, and having fun. They were.

After we were cinched into our safety belts (even the skinny people get pooch tummies from this process), we learned that we would be learning a knee hang and a backflip dismount from a swinging bar some 20 feet above the bouncy net. But the key - do "what they say when they say it". Okay, I really think I can follow directions. I hope.

I'll admit that the first time up the ladder to the platform was pretty overwhelming. I really saw how the trust built on the ground was essential for success here. The instructor at the top told me to lean forward while they held my belt so that I could reach for the bar. Two hands on, improbably leaning forward into space, gripping a swing. How did I get here?

On "Hep", I hop and am off into space. Whew, this is scary fun. But then the hard part - I'm supposed to do something? Wait, who said this was gonna be work? Legs on the bar. Ha. If you fail to time it like they say (back to the "what they say when they say part"), this is nearly impossible for someone with less than a lotta abs. Of course, when I later listened at the right time, it was much easier - momentum is a wonderful thing.

Once I got my legs up over the bar, I had to let go with my hands, hanging upside down! What fun. Once right-side-up again, a swift set of kicks and letting go at the right time leads to a backflip. Which, I of course discovered, can also turn into landing on your face. Gently, of course, because those safety lines are being held by someone who slows you to prevent the face on net experience.

Toward the end of the class, an amazingly strong Neil from South Africa (I think!) climbs a rope (like in elementary school, only missing the knots) to another bar and starts swinging. If I can time all that knee hang stuff right, this rather attractive guy with an accent is going to catch me?! (truth be told, he also got to catch Shea and Zeke and Brian). Under the pressure of timing for the catch, I got my knee hang on the first try and made it! How cool.

In talking with Brian while at the rig, he pointed out that we, as teachers and coaches and athletes and people, should be a beginner at something every once in a while. As coaches, learning something new lets us feel the fear that our skiing students have - how do I look? am I wearing the right thing? can I do this? will I be the only one who can't? wow, it's really high up here... As an athlete, it's good to be moving in new ways and figuring out how to listen to directions again without existing movement patterns getting in the way. Plus, when you do something new with friends, well, it's just plain fun.

Sidenote: Fun pictures coming as soon as those with the camera upload them.