Welcome to the pre autumn training newsletter. I’m really looking forward the autumn training and I hope you are too.

The training on the hill will incorporate a variety of important areas and we'll try and take regular looks into

Free ski technique
Tactics and skills practices [such as starts]
Race [& pressure situation] practice
Drill work

Most weeks will incorporate a variety of these areas but it is important that you ‘train yourself’ to recognise all the areas that you need to improve in as it is performance you require – not just a technical display.

Each week off hill subjects will comprise of things such as

Video feedback
Recovery routines
Fitness [testing/various subjects]
Footie/Volleyball
Various indoor presentations
Ski prep

General organisation for week one and consecutive weeks:

Please call me on Sunday night to 'check in' for the Monday morning arrangements.

We will start on Monday morning with a meeting in week one [Nov 3rd] at 8.30am outside the lift pass offices by the train in Val Claret. We can have a horrible coffee at the bar next door whilst the lift passes are being organised and then we will go up together and split into 2 groups. Please be on time as I will get everyone’s pass together and please bring the money you will need to buy the pass as Tignes lift pass office won’t give you credit! Please also remember that we get a good deal on the lift passes and we need to use this system in conjunction with Tignes STGM to get the coaches passes.

For new arrivals on consecutive weeks, please call Dave on Sunday night to find out the arrangements for the following day.

[0619 92 7659]

Note: all lift pass money needs to be given to me the Sunday night before training along with a photo 16/11

I will usually be available for a quick meeting in Tignes Le Lac at around 9pm should you wish to go through things and we can organise this on the phone. If not, it is essential you 'check in' on the Sunday night to get details of meetings for the next day etc..This is because the coaches may go up and set and meet you up on the glacier on a designated piste. However, Dave will always meet the guys who need to get lift passes early on the Monday morning circa 7.45 am AT LIFT PASS OFFICE from week 2.

Please bring a method of payment as you will have to pay for your pass there and then. Tignes haven't provided me with exact prices for 5 days, 10 days and 21 days [despite numerous requests] but you can estimate it by looking at the tariffs on the Tignes website http://www.tignes.net/tarif_0809.html and then subtract 10%.

Fatigue & fitness in the autumn.

The off hill fitness work we will do will laregly be themed around maintaining your best condition possible for December. Often training on a glacier can induce fatigue over a prolonged period. People who are planning on training for a long time need to factor in the following:

Mental fatigue – if you get to a stage when you are losing enthusiasm to train, it is time to rest. Bad weather days may be a good opportunity to go down the valley for example.

Physical fatigue – Often training at altitude can have the effect of depleting fitness, energy levels and making you feel sore and tired. You must take action to avoid this:

Fitness, nutrition and hydration:
Simple low intensity afternoon exercise
Recovery routines [jog/cycle swim]
Stretching

We will run a couple of fitness tests at the start of the camp that we can run again later in the training to monitor your physical capacities [for the long stayers : 4 wks +]. The idea is simple – that your score shouldn’t diminish notably – or you’ll have to do more and higher quality recovery work. It is very important that you can peak mentally and physically for the Dec test.

Look forward to meeting you on Sunday night or monday morning. Please feel free to contact me should I be able to answer any questions you may have.

Dave Morris

0033 619223014