Goals for the 2012 season.

Well its a new season and it is time to set some new goals.  I am always nervous my first day in the gates.  This is partially due to the fact that my first real year in adult racing was a bit of a disaster.  I was put into a league that was too advanced for my level of skills.  The race courses were set up for a lot of really advanced racers, people that were even once pro.  That is ok, but I really didn't have the foundation for that.  After a couple of years of really struggling, I decided to take a step back and focus more on the training and development of skills.  That was great, except that I unfortunately lost a lot of good coaches, and I am a bit on my own now, forced to look for new ways to gain PD.  Part of the reason I started writing these ski racing blogs.  So what are my goals for this season?  Very simple.  I want to learn how to manage speed and the technical elements involved in speed management.  For a lot of us masters we manage our speed mostly on instinct.  But I want to learn to understand the technical aspects of speed management, as well as become a master of it myself.  I think if I can do this it will improve my confidence.  Yesterday we had great training conditions for this.  The course that was set for us was icy and full of ruts.  You couldn't take it at top speed.  In fact, you could even ski it with good timing.  It required a strategy where you had to balance on your edges, scrubbing just enough speed to control timing, but not too much.  And then wait for an opportunity to switch edges and set up for the next turn.  A very challenging exercise in speed management.  I might actually have to get out and free ski on my FIS skis, which isn't what I did a lot of last year, especially on steep terrain.  I think I need more experience on the skill of speed management.