February 26, 2008 (Falun, Sweden) – Stop being so serious all the time and go have some fun for cryin’ out loud. It may be the best thing you can do for your ski racing. Why don’t we place more value on having fun and enjoying life as a way to ski faster? Ski clubs everywhere have known about this secret weapon that gives their team an edge come race day since the dawn of sport.

Despite this, as well as scientific studies showing that a certain level of relaxation in the muscles allows an athlete to perform better, perfectionist tendencies always take over. The line between driven/motivated and anal retentive is sometimes a fine one. However the good news is that the amount of excitement each of us needs is completely individual. There’s no time like the present to ask yourself where your ideal place lies on the spectrum from a Monk in a Monastery to Bode Miller.

Over the course of many racing voyages in my past five years on the senior national team and three on the junior national team, I’ve definitely zeroed in on the amount of social non-skiing activity that needs to be incorporated into my training plan for optimal energy levels. For many years I opted for resting as much as I could at the hotel and found myself quite content with teammates, books and movies. However, unbeknownst to me, the lack of fresh stimulus was also causing a staleness to creep into my demeanor at a nearly imperceptible level.

This was just one of many factors that played into my performance decline in the spring World Cups last year. It became a vicious cycle for our sprint team (who in hindsight were guilty of being exhausted from spending four weeks in Japan and racing at the Nordic World Champs before crossing another 1/3 of the globe to race out the spring world cups). The cycle consisted of resting and dying of boredom in a hotel while trying really hard to do a good job preparing – followed by a poor performance (not making the top 30 half the time) – followed by more resting.

By observing successful racers from other teams, as well as noticing the level of “life enjoyment” of my all-time role model Sara Renner, a better way came to my attention. Leaving the hotel room and going on outings would enhance my life and therefore my training and racing. Starting in September I began to venture out for a casual drink and some dancing. I even went out during training camp and it breathed new life into my next week of workouts. Now that the winter racing is nearly done I’m as confident in the amount of outings that works for me as I am in my pre-race routines. I think even my immune system has benefited as I haven’t had even a cold in over a year now.

If you race better with a smile on your face, it’s time to think creatively about where you get your grin from. Next report following a sprint around the King’s Castle in Stockholm.

Race on,
Chandra