Lessons Learned as an Independent Racer
Team selfie on a ridge line in the Crazy Mountains near Bozeman
Training this summer has been some of the best training I've ever had and as the training flies by, so does the summer. There is a bit too much to mention in a brief post, but the many miles of roller skiing, countless trails of mountain running, hours of stability strength in the gym and so much more, has made the last few months feel like a blink in the training cycle. This has had me thinking quite a bit about the differences between this year and last, and the lessons I have learned from an entire year of training and racing independently. Location certainly is something I have thought about, but mostly in that Bozeman has some of the best summer training grounds (really great roller skiing, access to for less stressful mountain running, an incredible skier gym, some altitude but not too much) than anywhere else I have lived. Most recently, running the entire "Beaten Path" through the Bear Tooth Mountain range as an over distance run was straight up incredible!
Of course, one of the biggest highlights of the summer (and differences from last year) has been training with my new team, CrossCut! (yes, one word, of the CrossCut Mountain Sports Center) Having a team: daily coaching, training partners, dedicated facilities, an organized training plan... Has been an immeasurable benefit I can’t emphasize enough! More on teams below. So, here is the first installment in the summary I am writing about this past season; Lessons learned as an independent racer.
Skate rolling through canola fields around Bozeman
Double pole speeds in the August heat
Lessons Learned from Independent Racing
It is hard to boil down my entire last year of training and racing into a few bullet points, but if I were to list the things I am realizing are making the biggest difference this year, here are the take-aways, in no particular order.
Having a team: This is price-less. No matter how self motivated I was and how strongly I thought I could do it alone, a team is so much better. Whether it's having others to challenge me, learn from, bump elbows in intensity or just having company on a multi hour session, teammates become your family and are greater than the sum of their parts. This team is strong, quirky, a bit scrappy and downright awesome.
Having daily coaching: I will admit, I completely underestimated the value of having a coaching staff dedicated to making our team the best athletes we can be. Tips and pointers at each session to over-arching seasonal and year planning to just having someone tell you it's ok to be tired or say got for it when you have a dream adventure session in mind. Coaches are irreplaceable and invaluable and I can't thank Seth and Nick enough for the energy they put into our team. (Pictured on each end of the guys row in the team photo)
Altitude, intensity and speed: I LOVE Aspen, Colorado. I was born and raised at 8000 feet and up and did hundreds of hours of training there last season. It was breathtaking (ha ha), slightly stressful on my body and did not train any fast-twitch muscles... Nationals this January was the first time I raced at sea level in 7 years and though I was fit, I was not fast. High altitude is great lots of high volume, low heart rate training: i.e. going slow and long. This summer I have been training an average of 4000 feet lower each session and I am not nearly as tired, I recover faster, I can feel different muscle development now that I am not aerobically limited and able to incorporate significantly more intensity/speed sessions than last year. Hopefully this race season will reflect all this as well.
Race support consistency: Last season I relied heavily on the support of the Nordic community at large throughout the race season. I am hugely grateful for having race support from Aspen, Sun Valley, Dartmouth, Caldwell Sports, friends and myself and realized just how important having consistent race support is. Having techs that know your skis, know how your skis act in different conditions, are focused on you and your teammates and as an athlete - knowing your techs protocols and routines. Races become chaotic and race mornings are never the time to introduce new variables, which was often the case for me last season. I am very excited to have consistency and routine with our upcoming season.
Funding, Funding, Funding: There is no way around the realty of money. Funding can make or break a season. In extreme cases, lack of funding limits the athlete in a number of ways and full funding allows an athlete to pursue being the best athlete they can be. I am somewhere in the middle where I make budget conscious decisions but was just fortunate enough last season to avoid the toughest decisions. The worry of having enough resources to finish a season is a huge stressor and I am incredibly grateful for the support I had to fund the race season last year. I am not in a funded position this year either and will be fund raising again and facing the less fun parts of being an elite athlete.
Funding brings me to the next email, coming soon, on the breakdown of how much last season cost and where the money I raised went and how the full tour of the domestic circuit can be done on a shoe string. Not to mention, the costs incurred which aren't directly related to race and travel, but add up and are often over looked.
That's a wrap on the lessons learned from independent racing last season and an update on summer training! Thank you for reading. Happy dog days of summer and I will be back soon!
Cheers,
Scott
Formal team photo in new uniforms