Maximizing speed

When I first started alpine ski racing I had stronger technical skills than tactical skills.  It would probably be realistic to say that my technical skills were almost non-existant.  I remember my first season racing, many times I would stand at the top of the course very nervous, mostly because I was afraid of picking up too much speed.  Because of my age, I had a fairly high number in the race and therefore by the time it would be my turn to go, the course already would have deteriorated to the point of where it would be much more difficult to ski.  Usually at least 80+ racers would have already gone down the course, and if it were just one of those days, it was likely icy or rutty and I would find myself in a situationn where I would lose control or my skiis would come off.  In fact, in my first season, I was injured racing because that happened.  I should have stopped racing after my first season, until I learned proper tactics through training gates, but I continued for another three years.  I haven't officially been in a timed race for a few years because I have been trying to improve my tactical skills.  It is not something that people often specifically train for, however it is very useful to focus on improving tactics.  A focus on tactics can foster success because it can prevent injury and instill confidence in a new racer.  One of the key concepts of tactical skills is understanding how to manage speed.  The ability to manage speed is crucial to having a successful run.  One reason why I struggled in racing when I first started is because I knew how to ski fast.  In fact if there isn't anybody on the hill and conditions for skiing are perfect, I could ski really fast.  I call this speed, my maximum speed.  When I first started racing, I tried to approach my maximum speed in a race course.  This is why I got into trouble.  Many times it is not possible to ski at your maximum speed in a race course.  At least not for GS and SL.  In most courses you ski at a percent of your maximum speed.  There are many factors which affect the percent, these include: terrain, visibilty, course set and course conditions.  The most successful racers are able to maximize their speed within their own personal range from skiing slow (10% of maximum) to skiing fast (100% of maximum).  If you want to learn how to do this, the first thing you should do is ski on the hill where your race will be held.  Ski as fast as you possibly can, under good conditions, making roughly the same amount of turns you would make if there were a course set on the hill.  Call this speed your maximum speed.  Once the gates are set up, ski through the course, as fast as possible, while maintaining good control (ie. no speed dumping).  What percent of your maximum speed did you ski at?  For example, if you estimate that you skied at 60% of your maximum speed then this would be your race speed.  Where does that put you in your age category?  For example, is that time at the top of your age category or at the bottom?  This is important, because how well you do in the race depend on the times of the other people in the race.  You also have to consider your competition.  It isn't realistic for a 70 year old woman to compare her times with a 20 year old male, for obvious reasons.  That is why it is important to focus on improving your results based on your maximum skiing speed.  If your race speed puts you at the bottom of your age category, then it good to focus on improving your tactical skills and maximizing your speed within your own personal range of skiing speeds (0% to 100% of maximum speed).  When you are training, you need to start from your bench mark (race speed) and in my example it was 60% of maximum, and try to improve from there as opposed to just trying to reach your maximum speed each time.  A focus on the latter will cause speed dumping and result in possible injury if course conditions are less than ideal.  For example, on any given training day, you might have 10-15 runs through a course.  After a good warmup, the first run should be a fast but controlled run through the course.  This run will be skied at a percent of your maximum speed, say 60%.  The next run, you should try to ski just a bit faster, maybe 65%.  Each run you try to up the speed by small percentage, until you have reached a point where you can't reasonably ski any faster without sacrificing some control (ie getting late, reactionary speed scrubbing etc.)  This will become your race speed.  At this speed, you will begin to work on tactics and techincal skills that will increase this percentage of your maximum.  Some examples could be changing your line or making a change in your technical skiing.  For example, if you bash every gate in GS, you might find more speed by not touching as many gates.  This is possible only if you are racing at a percentage less than your maximum speed.  This will be determined through investigation of your race speed verses your maximum speed.