Blog
Not Your Typical Doctor’s Notes
It’s the New Year! A time when people make new resolutions for positive changes in their lives, or seek new adventures for personal growth and exploration.
Setting goals is a wonderful thing that can give you motivation and a new sense of purpose to your everyday actions. However, oftentimes these resolutions can be made off the cuff, or because it’s something “everyone should do”.
Below are 5 steps to help you set and achieve your goals for the new year. The focus of this exercise will be on athletic goals, but these principles should apply to all areas of life.
Sitting at a café eating pulpo and drinking coffee at the Muxia in Spain (known as the edge of the world) the day after finishing my 160-mile journey, I noticed a tattoo on our server’s wrist that perfectly summarized what I couldn’t find the words for: Live the moment. An emphasis on the action of life, not just the mere observation of it.
We don’t like taking days off. Running IS part of our routine. It is an essential part of our day!
While our “racing” season may come and go, there isn’t truly an off-season. Because we keep running. Maybe we run less. But we keep running.
So what really needs to change regarding this idea of an “off-season”?
Actually, it is more about what needs to be added to the regimen, verses changed.
Many of you know the importance of strength training for skiing. Whether you do it because you know it decreases your risk of injury, or simply because your legs don’t get as sore, you understand that there are benefits.
However, the buck doesn’t stop with just strength training. While it is undoubtedly an essential aspect of ski preparation and decreasing your risk of sustaining injury, there is another aspect of training that is often overlooked or neglected completely.
The basics, the fundamentals, the building blocks, the foundation….
all of these terms are describing the same thing and are used throughout all of sport and life.
Whether you are talking about the defensive tactics of a world championship team or examining the elements of a Fortune 500 business, much of their success is can be whittled down to the most elementary tenants in their respective field.
Injury prevention is a myth.
No amount of exercises, mobility drills, or stretching will ever be enough to PREVENT injury. Sometimes injuries just happen.
So if you can’t prevent injury, what can you do? There is a significant amount of research showing that strength, coordination, mobility, neuromuscular control, balance, and training habits can REDUCE the RISK of injury. YES, I know it feels like I’m splitting hairs here between “prevention” and “risk reduction”, but there is a huge difference in connotation and the mentality associated with those words.
Let’s not think just about what the next season is and, by default, let it dictate what we do. Let’s not continue going from one race to the next, one season to the next, expecting change (an effect) that has not been caused. Instead, let’s think deeper about what we can start putting into practice this present season in order to positively effect the next.
