muscle memmory

[coldcat 0]

How is skiing/riding during the first days of the season for you, do you find you need to recover that muscle memory or does it come back straight away?

[mattlucas 0]

You will definitly have to get your ski legs back

 

Even though you might want to go hard the first coule days it's always best to keep them short

 

I don't think I ever got my resort legs last year. Even in March a day of deep powder in resort was difficult

[tsondaboy 0]

I am working out regularly off season, so the first days aren’t much of a problem. Just a bit rusty maybe.

[coldcat 0]

Well, I was actually asking more about technique/skill rather than physical condition.

[keba 0]

I usually find it comes back quickly, maybe a day taking it easy to get everything sorted. Haven't skiied for 18 months though (new baby), so this season might be different...

[tsondaboy 0]

These two are quite linked I think. Seasons that I was not working out, it took me more than 4-5 times to reach the level of the last day in the previous season. Mostly because I don’t have the strength to puss it hard enough from the first days. Seasons that I do work out, it doesn’t take me more than 2-3 days on the slopes to pick it up from were I left it.

[2pints-mate 0]

I usually think I'll take it easy on the first day of a season. But I never do, I just want to get out there. So I'm usually sore at the end of the day. But it feels good!

[Ocean11 0]

coldcat, nobody is reading what you've written, but fortunately I know what you're asking. It was a big concern of mine at the start of my second season. I remember wondering if I'd have to start learning everything again. I decided to take an aggressive approach and act as though I could really snowboard on my first run. So I had a very disappointing first run with lots of flopping about in the snow.

 

But when I stopped thinking about it, the muscle memory was still there, and not only was it reliable, all the thinking about snowboarding I'd been doing in the interim seemed to have honed it somewhat. (There's a very good introduction to the skill of 'image training' in "Thats Ocay XX Time Is on Our Side" by Geoffrey Norman, explaining how American POWs in Vietnamese prisons went sailing and played golf in their heads to pass the time, and discovered afterwards that they had improved considerably.)

 

So to sum up, I'd say it's best to think about it now in advance, and as you strap in for your first run, stop thinking about it and rely on your muscles.

 

(Oh, and standing on a step and cranking yourself up and down on your toes 50 times a day is a good way of preventing calf soreness on your first day. But you weren't asking about that.)

[panhead_pete 27]

I had 5 years off snow boarding and when i went back 2 years ago wondered if I would have to go through days or weeks of being a gumby, fortuneatly it was only a few hours although my courage had dissipated a lot - which isnt neccessarily a bad thing. Thats not to say I was back at my peak that quickly but I was competent.

 

Although I was never that good so most folks many consider me a gumby even when I am riding as well as I ever have

[coldcat 0]

Ocean11, thanks

It's actually not my second season, but last season was the first season I could really start to be satisfied with my technique. So yeah, I was wondering how it would be at the beginning of the season.

[Early Cuyler 0]

Dont sweat the technique-Rakim

 

Nuff said!

[Ezorisu 0]

Don't know how it is for skiiers, but after a run or two, I've pretty much recovered most of my snowboarding skills. It gets better the more you've become habituated to it - I only went a few days for my first couple of snow seasons, but now that I've been pretty much blowing all my vacation days on snowdays, the relearning curve is much quicker. When I first started out, it took about a day to "get it back".

 

Hope that answers your question!

[bushpig 0]

I get it pretty much back immediately. The fitness issue is a different matter, but otherwise I'd say I have found it to be the same as getting back on a bike after not riding one for a while.

[Ezorisu 0]

Yeah, it takes a bit for the fitness to displace the fatness, even after riding MTB all non-snow season... I'll probably be all noodle-legged at Whistler this coming (American) Thanksgiving weekend, but I should be good for Hokkaido in December.

[coldcat 0]

That's really cool Bushpig, I hope it is the same for me.

[thursday 1]

Last season, I found my legs were killing me by mid afternoon. Definitely due to fitness problems.

 

Since September I've been cycling and hiking to tone the legs. Have noticed a sharp improvement when running up the stair now.

 

from Ocean11

"(There's a very good introduction to the skill of 'image training' in "Thats Ocay XX Time Is on Our Side" by Geoffrey Norman, explaining how American POWs in Vietnamese prisons went sailing and played golf in their heads to pass the time, and discovered afterwards that they had improved considerably.)"

 

I've always believe that. Even when golfing, I run through the shots time and again while travelling to the course.

 

Now I'm doing this for the slopes, picturing the shape of my body while going through the turns. Let's see if this works in December.

[giggsy 0]

I have to walk up 5 sets of stairs about 10-20 times a day. I often run up them. Good exercies.

[grungy-gonads 54]

Stairs are good. I always choose them rather than the elevator. Unless of course I'm going to the 40th floor!

[Hokkaidough 4]

40th Floor would be very good exercies gg.

[thursday 1]

I once did 41 down. It was a fire drill. Took about a week to recover.

[HeatherLocklearRocks 1]

Last season, I too got tired way too quick. This time I've been exercising through the summer and I feel in much better shape this time round. I'll have to try running up some stairs.

[thursday 1]

In my run up to Slope Day, I'm cycling and walking up hill sides quickly. Muscle stamina definitely more important than cardio vascular at the moment.

[daver 0]

i have a photographic muscle memory!

[cal 6]

I'm out on the bike a lot as well. It's much more fun than jogging. And you go furher

[samurai 0]

heck, I've gone entire seasons without ever feeling "on it." but that's because I'm a hack. BTW- I'm soooo scared of my new skis. don't know if I will be able to handle them.