(This article is kind of a winter version of this.)

Dude, it is so on. Oh man it is so on. My head totally exploded this morning, because after much toil in a few months of so-so training, I finally remembered and connected with the major lesson that I learned this summer. I like example number two:

Recently something has been missing from my routine, and whatever it was was totally mental. During that time I’ve been banging (slamming) my head against the wall while feeling very motivated but very unsatisfied. Then I finally had a couple of very interesting coffee-shop skiing conversations yesterday and I think I got a little closer to figuring out why skiing fast confuses me so much.

After getting trounced in another interval session on Thursday and breaking a Swix star, I was feeling extremely discouraged. Why can’t I just dominate for once, huh? If I train extra hard for running I get a little faster, so why is it that if I train extra hard on skis everything appears to stay the same? Most of this is mental…well actually all of it is probably mental. Remember how your body magically shuts down when someone passes you with that special crushing confidence? If you’re in front or feel like you’re gaining an advantage you can do anything. Just look at how the winners of World Cup sprints are always standing and smiling and talking to everyone, while all the others collapse across the finish line in agony. The effects of that mental crush are strong for me in skiing. The problem is that it’s *extra* hard to overcome this stuff in skiing, where I have significantly less trouble in other sports.

“I figured it out,” and “I can’t lose.” Those were two quotes that I kept throwing out during an epic racing season this summer. The only thing was that now in the winter they didn’t make any sense. How was that possible? Why would someone be so cocky as to say something like that? Now it’s not my intention to dwell on trying to reproduce that one amazing experience way back when, but I definitely figured something big out this summer, where everything became clear and the path to my goals was well-lit and easy to follow. In the last few months I couldn’t connect with it, as if I’d lost the key. After spending what seems like an eternity piecing the concepts back together, I figured it out this morning. Yeah, that’s right, I have to rationalize everything, so sue me.

Signs that you are in the zone:

• You own your plan, and they’ll have to tear it from your cold dead hands.
• You can predict your personal performance, and so…
• …you have 100% confidence.
• You trust your training.
• You can’t lose.

I think the last one is the most important one. When you are getting the flow feeling I talked about in Mihaly’s book, you are totally invincible and you can’t lose. There is no finish line, there’s no podium or cute widdle engraved plates, you are just right there in that moment pushing it hard. Sometimes it takes an absolute truck load of mental strength to keep from submitting when you get passed and it starts to hurt, but the only way to truly tap your potential is to let it go by finding and focusing on the exact reason why you like doing what you are doing. For me, the reason is that I like the pain of pushing it.

Yes, another boring goals talk…

You want something, you practice, you don’t get it, you practice, you don’t get it, you practice, you start to get it. That’s the basics of the process. If it’s a longer road to follow, you might organize yourself with a plan, and a key part of the plan is to set up little goals to keep yourself motivated. This works like giving a dog doggie treats to keep them clued in and motivated. What happens when you take out the treats? Well, the dog stops listening. And no, I’m not going to describe to you how perseverance pays off two-fold, because you already have the perseverance.

Driving to Chugiak This morning, 0ºF

And seriously, skiing is special.

The funny thing about skiing is that there are almost no quantifiable doggie treats out there waiting for you to keep pushing you along the path. There are so many variables like wax, snow conditions, rollerski speeds, good days and bad days (thanks Rachel), that all your benchmarks are invalidated. The only obvious goals available to you are race results, like beating this or that person or placing in the top group in a field, but even that can vary drastically throughout a season. Unlike sports like biking or track & field where you can easily quantify your results using paces and PRs, in skiing you have to stay focused on a few far-off goals with little or no reward in the interim period. Add to that the requirement of year-round training and you are asking for A TON of commitment from an intermediate/advanced athlete. While I’m restating obvious ideas that most of you are already acquainted with, I’ve never thought about it like that before. Naturally these tough conditions favor focused people with regularly high self esteem, but if you are a competitive and ambitious person or a beginner who is very critical of yourself then you’ve got your work cut out for you, buddy.

One typical problem is that I’ve been skiing behind the same people for the last couple of years, and while I’ve gotten faster so have they and I’m still in second place. I think the lesson here is to recognize that the challenge is to adapt to create those little doggie treats to keep yourself in the game, because there is no comparison to training under the hammer of *pumped* and *motivated*. Always being second place is tough for a competitive personality, but I know that once I get a little bit of an upper hand I’m really going to take off, and all this stuff is going to start to look a little different. On the other hand, maybe I just did.

Bingo

Anyhow, when my brain blew up this morning I was brainstorming on a sticky pad when I wrote “the goal is the feeling,” and it hit my cortex like a bag of hammers. I totally think it’s valid blog-fodder, so pardon the intensity, vulgarity, and poor editing under implied context:

“”"
The goal is the feeling. How could you forget that? Results, results. Bullsh*t. You know it’s all about the process, so why are you so caught up in results? That’s why you had your winter training figured out in the summer, dumba$$! Forget the results and play the game of working your body to the max. All that matters is you work your body to the max. That always feels good, that’s always fun, and you know it. If you can’t do that only on the nordic trails, then get out and do a backcountry run before work or something.

This is all about the process, no matter what level you are at. THAT’s why you said before that you can’t lose.
“”"

Yeah, I know, I know, no magic key for everyone, blah blah blah.

Chugiak Stadium, still 0ºF

Caution Fast Hill

Cold Day Driving Home

My key is to remember that it’s all about the feeling of pushing it hard. It’s a fine art to adjust and balance your body, mind, and technique so that you maximize your total exhaustion, and for me that’s the number one reason that I ski, run, bike, hike, and climb. Running hard is fun. Hiking hard is fun. Skiing hard is fun too, it just takes a lot more practice to learn how to push it on the boards.

Now get out there and crush yourself you wuss!

Seriously, it was cold.

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