Grant Wilson - Training Diary - 27 July 2012

Mat running off onto the grass to stop at the bottom of the descent

Carl about to run off onto the grass to stop with Hochfellen in the background

This morning we started off by heading to Hochfellen to practice our classic skiing by completing a number of reps up the Steinberg road. We all started by using no poles on the way up with coach following me to make sure I had took on the points I had been taught previously which was mainly getting my weight off my back foot and onto the front. Once we reached the top Mat and Carl broke away and then went up the hill a further 4 times doing first of all using only one pole and then repeated this using the other hand. They then went on to use both poles and finished by double poling all the way up. Meanwhile once I got to grips with moving my weight from ski to ski the coach and I then worked on stepping forward more to help glide. Lastly we moved onto using poles and finally my classic technique is starting to come together. Due to the heat our afternoon session was cut down to just an hour (35c). A short skating circuit circling the range was set up by the coach which we skated round and this allowed us to practice shooting with a pulse and entering and exiting the range with speed. First we performed one shot drills onto metal targets while in the standing position which proved a little harder than just static shooting. Towards the end of the shoot Carls trigger came off which meant no more shooting for him. While he and the coach went off to work on his skate 2 Mat and I went onto doing full series shoots onto metal once again. This time the circuit was a little longer which created a bit more of a challenge with an increased pulse once again.