How many weeks do you have to prepare for ski-ing?  Seven weeks if you’re you’re going away at Christmas, and if you haven’t got a date, then book a trip soon!

What do you want from your holiday - to ski comfortably every day taking in the scenery, to enjoy perfecting your skills or to get some mileage in ready for events later in the season? Everyone has an aim but have you worked out how you’re going to turn that into reality? Even with the simplest goal of daily ski-ing instead of losing a day on snow to aches and tiredness, you need to be doing some preparation now.

Allergic to training plans?

The word training plan is a turnoff for people who just want a relaxed holiday, but if you’re a cross country skier you must enjoy a bit of exercise, so look for opportunities to do more and/or ski specific exercise. Roller ski-ing is the best option and there’s a London Region Nordic Ski Club coaching session on 11 November that you can book via the Club’s website. Then join the Club on the pre Xmas night-time roller ski tour of Richmond Park to practice your technique and find out if it improves with gluhwein!

Get out more

Consider doing more running, walking and, even better, nordic walking [or call it ski walking, pole walking or ski ganging, if you prefer, they’re all pretty much the same thing], or do regular sessions at the gym. Nordic walking has the big advantage that it exercises the upper body, gets you using poles effectively and improves co-ordination, plus you can do it anywhere outdoors. And persevere in the dark evenings so you feel virtuous [and fitter] than if you succumb to that early glass of wine and cosy sofa.

Is your training plan hazy?

If you’re planning something more adventurous like one of the popular Worldloppet races [see http://www.worldloppet.com for more info] you’ve probably got a more or less detailed training programme that you’re following with more or less success. If you haven’t got one or need a more focused schedule then look at the training scheduler on the Snowsport England website. There are also some useful tips about regular, quality training.

Defining excellence

In the same vein I like this quote which I found on the high energy website of Canadian Olympic gold medallist, Chandra Crawford:

"Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle

We can’t all win Olympic medals but if we decide what excellence will mean to us on our next ski trip then getting the training habit will help us achieve it.