Season's goals?

[NewEnglandSkier]

1.) Stop banking my turns
2.) Try not to let my mind/nervous thoughts affect my skiing as much
3.) Get more comfortable on steeper blues
4.) Learn how to use my poles better/pole plant-- I'm currently awful with it

 

[michpc]

My goals are to improve generally, get my BF on skis (:D), and demo some gear so I can figure out what I really need in a ski. Oh and I also have a goal to get out on the snow as much as possible!!

 

[toughgirl]

my goal is to reduce the amount of crying tantrums on the mountain LOL

 

[altagirl]

Focus on quality over quantity of ski days, and go XC skiing more often instead.
Do more backcountry skiing.
Do a better job of avoiding the pizza/nachos/etc. at Goldminers...
Ski in a few new places.

 

[amanda]

Ooooh, I love setting goals and making list - this thread is perfect for me!

1) learn to do at least one grab
2) ski the chutes at Mary Jane
3) improve my powder skiing

 

[volklgirl]

1) Have mucho fun
2) Get more comfortable in manky snow
3) Slide a baby rail
4) Make 2 or more turns in the pipe without falling
5) Beat hubby in at least 1 race
6) End up in the top 5 women for our race league in some race other than the Downhill (meaning skills over weight :( ).

 

[Acadia07]

lol toughgirl! :ROTF:

1) Ski A LOT. Get out almost every weekend to make my season pass worth it, and try a new mountain or two.

2) Have tons of fun.

3) Play in the park on my new twins. I'm excited to be a little daring. It may be the last year for a while that I can mess around with no worries, because we may have kids (or at least pregnancy) holding us back over the next couple years!

4) Glades! I used to love the glades when I was younger and worry-free. Again, I really want to play around more and be a little more daring this year.

5) DEMO. I'm saving for a pair of fast carvers, and want to demo a bunch that I have in mind before buying.

6) Specific goal: Plan a ski trip with my brother. He was my ski buddy when we were kids, and we haven't been skiing together for YEARS.

 

[altagirl]

Like others, my top goal is to remain injury-free all season. If that's the only goal I make, I'm ahead of last year.

I was really tempted to write the same thing. I've said that every year, and based on my success rate (or lack thereof), I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't work for me as a goal.

I think partly because it's not very specific in terms of how I can accomplish it. And it doesn't put me in a positive frame of mind either.


So basically, I've been trying to identify what the problems really are. I've actually NEVER been injured in a crash, believe it or not - so it's not a matter of taking fewer risks in that sense. At this point, it's a matter of dealing with the fact that structurally, my knees are not, and never will be 100% stable again. Which makes it easy for what's left of my meniscus to continue tearing and then lock up - once was even while going uphill, of all things. I'm thinking that it's somewhat related to the number of days I ski (which has been over 100 in non-injury seasons), particularly in less than stellar conditions. I've definitely had seasons where my goal was to ski as much as possible, or where I fell into believing people who tell me that the more I ski, the more my knees will get stronger and get used to it. But I don't think that actually works out for me in reality...

So I think I'm down to forcing myself to only ski on days where both my knees feel good and conditions are pretty good as well, and then just work on keeping my legs as strong as possible with other sports through the winter. Thus, my quality over quantity goal. (I'm sure I'm the only one with a goal of skiing LESS...)



Hopefully that's not too much of a downer! I certainly don't mean that's the solution for everyone - we all have separate issues when it comes to injury, I'm sure. But I just wanted to point out that in my experience, it's good to be specific with that type of goal - because until you have an idea of what you can do to achieve being injury-free, it's more like a wish.

Plus, I'm curious to hear what others plan to do to stay injury-free!

 

[abc]

I'm curious to hear what others plan to do to stay injury-free!

Ski more efficiently?

I don't take much risk when skiing so I can't take LESS risk, or I'd be staying in the lodge the whole time! :( But my injuries also have relatively little to do with crashes (I fell before I hit the tree). So for me, it's all about skiing correctly, with proper techniques so I don't put undue stress on my knees.

I found a proper warm up and religeous cool down stretch make my knees happier. In fact, makes my whole body happier.

 

[Telluride Ski Babe]

Plus, I'm curious to hear what others plan to do to stay injury-free!

I can appreciate everything you've said, and trust me, the goal of quality over quantity is part of how I plan on remaining injury-free. My accident last year was on February 1, after skiing almost every day of January. I was skiing in not the best conditions (e.g., flat light, deep shadows, light powder, but not enough to justify being out in the powder, if you know what I mean) and I was skiing too fast for those conditions. I'm not going to do that anymore. I'll only ski this year (okay after I'm over the thrill of just being on skis again and currently willing to face any conditions...lol) when I feel it's going to be a good day.

 

[altagirl]

Ski more efficiently?

I don't take much risk when skiing so I can't take LESS risk, or I'd be staying in the lodge the whole time! :( But my injuries also have relatively little to do with crashes (I fell before I hit the tree). So for me, it's all about skiing correctly, with proper techniques so I don't put undue stress on my knees.

I found a proper warm up and religeous cool down stretch make my knees happier. In fact, makes my whole body happier.

Yep - that's been a big part of my reasoning for taking lessons/clinics over the past few years too. Making sure I'm doing everything as correctly as I can to save my knees.

 

[altagirl]

I can appreciate everything you've said, and trust me, the goal of quality over quantity is part of how I plan on remaining injury-free. My accident last year was on February 1, after skiing almost every day of January. I was skiing in not the best conditions (e.g., flat light, deep shadows, light powder, but not enough to justify being out in the powder, if you know what I mean) and I was skiing too fast for those conditions. I'm not going to do that anymore. I'll only ski this year (okay after I'm over the thrill of just being on skis again and currently willing to face any conditions...lol) when I feel it's going to be a good day.

Ouch. Yep - those conditions always scare me! I love storm skiing, but the snow has to be consistent. That little bit of powder hiding things and low visibility are the worst.