Breakthroughs

Sometimes when the big goals elude us, it's hard to see the breakthroughs.  But these little improvements occur daily, and they're significant, because they're getting us closer to that far off dream.  A few times a week I've had some great training sessions.  They pop up seemingly out of nowhere.  Today, in fact, was one of those days, although you couldn't have convinced me of that from the start.  

It was cold, minus 4F.  It was just me and my coach, Erik, out for a classic distance ski.  The snow was bizarre.  I had prepared my skis for what I thought would be great kick- a good hard binder in my kick zone covered with some cold kick wax- and although everything pointed to a winning combination, it wasn't.  The snow was oddly greasy (uncommon for cold temperatures), yet it was draggy and slow too.  Good kick was hard to find, and the glide was also far from superb.  In the first 20 minutes or so I felt tired and lethargic.  My muscles were cold, and I was working hard to ski technically well with less than optimal skis.  For distance, we were skiing hard, and I just wasn't feeling it.

I won't say that my body was in it's best form today.  In fact, it was far from it, but at some point in the ski it came around.  But that wasn't the magical part (although it was part of the equation, as my body often warms up throughout the workout).  The breakthrough was in the form of a new "feeling" I got for my classic striding.  When Erik and I ski together we always work on technique.  We always ski at a good pace, which I like.  We always have a good time- laugh, joke, occasionally race, and talk- and then we stop and discuss technique.  

To be a really good coach you have to be an incredible communicator, as well as observer and interpreter.  Coaching, in my opinion, is one of the most difficult occupations out there.  You work with an athlete on so many levels, and let me tell you, we are complex beings.  My coach is the most approachable, intuitive, communicative person I know, as exemplified today.  Not only did he specifically prescribe this workout to my needs, and within the bigger picture of this week, month, year, etc., he came out with specific technique goals, which brings me to my next point...  Erik is an athlete (formerly an elite racer), and while some will argue this is not necessary, I can't imagine an effective coach who didn't ski.  The beauty of Erik's coaching is that he knows well how it feels to be an athlete, what it feels like to train, to be fatigued, to be race-ready.  He also knows the feel of different techniques, and although technique is evolving, he is moving along with it.

The key part of this began yesterday when Erik jumped into a local race unofficially.  He said he just wanted to go hard, but it also turns out he wanted to test some technique ideas and get a feel for thoughts he'd been mulling over.  As always, he had also been watching tons of video of world cup racers, and so during the race he "played" with these ideas himself. 

So today Erik came to training and somehow that experience played a role in the transformation of my classic technique.  Sometime during the course of our workout this morning, he taught me how to feel something I never have.  This session was not much different than many others lately.  We skied, stopped and talked technique, I tried something new in my skiing, and we bounced ideas around.  What was different was that I came away with a new take on classic striding, something I've done more times than I can count.

That was a breakthrough that left me energized for the rest of the day, but it also made me realize that little breakthroughs happen everyday, even when I'm too tired or sore or frustrated to take notice.  This last stint home has honestly been a roller coaster ride- back into training, feeling good, feeling terrible, up and down.  It is better being home figuring out what my body needs for training than thousands of miles away, prepping to race, anxious that my form is just not there, but being home has been hard in a different way.  It took an occurrence such as the one today to realize that sometimes it's important to put the big picture in the back of my mind.  Periodically it can be more beneficial to focus on the daily steps forward, wherever they many be found... in the subtle refinements of classic striding or even in a beautifully baked loaf of homemade bread.