Controlling speed

Does a racer ever need to be able to control speed?  I have had conversations with instructors, coaches and other racers about this topic.  The opinions seems to vary when considering whether a racer needs to control speed.  In my opinion, I think racers do need to be able to control speed because their line and turn shape is fixed by courses.  It isn't always possible to ski at maximum speed because of  where the gates are located.  It is also related to the reasons I believe free skiing is different from racing or gate skiing, and therefore the technique used can be very different.  I think that racing or "gate skiing" requires much more advanced use of the basic skiing skills than free skiing does.  In a recent technical skiing video I learned that controlling speed is accomplished through a combination of skidding and edging.  Skidding meaning turning of the feet or pivoting.  A skier uses pressure control to dissipate some of the speed generated upon their decent.  Generally a racer would not want to dissipate their speed, however there is a time when they will likely have to "check their speed," in order to make a gate that might be out of the rythmical line of the course.  In the technical video, the instructor suggested that an effective way to control speed is to skid and edge through the top of the arc and extend, which sprays snow off to the side of the arc.  In a racing turn the only time a racer skids is in early phase one, so the appropriate time to dissipate speed would be early phase one.  The trick is to know how much skid you apply in order to dissipate the correct amount of speed.  If you skid too much, you will dump too much speed and you will have a much slower time than you want.  This is one of the things that makes ski racing so much more challenging than free skiing.  In free skiing if you dissipate too much speed it doesn't really matter, where as in racing it could mean the difference between winning and losing the race.

A different technique?

I spent most of the season skiing on this schedule.  One third of my mileage in GS gates, one third in SL gates and one third free skiing with a technical coach.  I must admit that although I made amazing gains in my technical and tactical skills in the gates, I spent a lot of time confused by the technical information I was receiving.  It really seemed to be in conflict with mt pre-existing knowledge and my own skills.  I figured out closer to the end of the season that it is because my technical coach skis using a different technique.  I don't know whose technique is right or wrong, or even if there is a right or wrong when it comes to ski technique.  I am starting to believe there isn't.  What this has left me with thinking is if there is a difference between the technique used in free skiing and gate skiing.  Or if there is a difference between race technique and free skiing technique.  The goals of these two seem to be different.  For example in racing the goal seems to be to get to maximum speed as quickly as possible and then accelerate into each turn once maximum speed is reached.  In free skiing it seems as though the goal is to find a reasonable speed to ski at and then maintain this speed with a consistent turn shape as one descends down the hill.  I am wondering if the difference in these goals results in different technique using the same set of skills.  If a difference exists here are some of the differences that seem to stand out in my mind after this season.  With the first skill of stance and balance there seems to be a difference in fore aft position.  In free skiing the weight seems to be balanced over the center of the ski or instep of the foot.  In racing technique the fore aft position seems to shift within one turn.  The weight is balanced over the tails of the skis when the turn begins, then in transfers to the front of the skis at the beginning of the carving phase, and then as the skier progresses through the carving phase the weight shifts back to the tails of the skis again.  It is possible that this difference is because a racer might spend more time "riding the ski" than a free skier.  Riding the ski is faster because the center of mass moves with the ski and doesn't work against the forces created by gravity.  The next difference seems to be found in the amount of steering used.  In many cases when watching a free skier, you find steering (pivoting + edging) through all three phases of the turn.  This seems to be done in order to control speed.  I was able to find one example of free skiing that had minimal steering, but the skier was skiing fast on a moderate slope where there were no other skiers and optimal snow conditions.  In this case the run seemed to be more representative of GS freeskiing.  In racing turns steering seems to be almost completely absent, and if there is a direction change in a racing turn it seems to be more of a pivot (no edging) and it occurs in phase one just before the skier enters the carving phase of the turn.  In this case the skill is used more for an abrupt direction change than it is to control speed.
Another difference that seemed to stand out had to do with the lateral displacement of the center of mass.  This I found much more difficult to understand and I didn't really get a sense of this until i got the opportunity to follow my technical coach down the hill on the tails of his skiis.  Because his turn shape is much different than mine, this exercise ended up really confusing my center of mass.  This caused me to lose the edge pressure on my skiis, making it difficult for me to stay in his tracks.  What I figured out from this experience is in the difference between how the center of mass travels down the hill compared to the path of the skiis. My center of mass tends\to travel almost directly above the skiis, on a pathway just slightly inside the pathway of the skiis.  Where as when my technical coach skiis, his center of mass travels more inside the pathway of the skiis.  I felt this conflict between the two different pathways as I was trying to stay on his path.  I did some research to see if this difference occurs because there is a difference between race technique and freeskiing technique.  What I found was that it seems to be more of a personal style and it depended on a number of different factors:  terrain, course set, traveling speed, turn style etc.  My only reflection on this is that lateral displacement of the CM is personal depending on the situation.  For example i find it easier and faster to ride the ski, keeping the CM less inside the arc.  I find it faster and also easier to generate impulse from the skiis.  I also am fairly light, not very strong and ski on a FIS ski.  When I use more lateral displacement of the CM I tend to "grind the edges" and find that I don't have the core muscles required to bring my CM out of the turn and forward into the new turn.  And this slows me down.  However this is only true of moderate terrain, if I am on steeper terrain, I find that more lateral displacement is necessary to control speed.  I also find it easier to generate impulse on steeper terrain than flat terrain.  Below I have some videos that show some of the differences in technique. 

Short radius turns

Slalom turns

Flush technique

Long radius turns

GS freeskiing

I couldn't find a video to show what I mean by "riding the ski" and "grinding the edges,"  but I did find a video that shows it on a snowboard.  The video below shows what happens when the snowboarder laterally displaces his CM inside the arc, verses when he keeps it on top with less lateral displacement.  Notice the changes in turn shape and speed. 

Carving on a snowboard

I am actually hoping to get some feedback on this post because the ideas from this post came from my own experiences this year and a lot of what I said is based on things that other people have described to me when I asked them specific questions about their technique.  I am only building my technical knowledge at this point, so there are a few things that I don't fully understand about differences in ski technique.  If you have any technical knowledge on this topic, please feel free to leave a comment on this post, thanks.

Using feedback

An athlete learns to improve their skills through reacting to feedback.  Feedback can come in many different forms.  You can get feedback from the interaction of the skis with the snow, from skiing in gates, or from a coach or other person.  When you receive feedback it is important to assess it properly before you decide to react to it.  Not all feedback is of the same value as far as improving your results.  For example your coach might see something you are "doing wrong" and they might give you a correction for it.  But the correction might not actually be the correct solution to improving your results.  Sometimes it might be based on something they have "heard" other people say so they pass it on to you, in order to help you.  Another example comes from the fact that in racing, when it comes to technique, there is no "right way" or "wrong way" to do something.  For example on the world cup you will notice that each racer has a slightly different technique.  And at any one time, anyone could win the race.  The best example of differences in technique that I can point out is comparing the technique of Kalle Palander and Felix Neureuther on the same slalom course.  Kalle uses more inclination to make his turns than Felix does, and Felix uses more angulation than Kalle.  Both however are excellent, fast slalom skiers and have the potential to win an SL race at any time. 

Kalle Palander and Felix Neureuther

Another example can be seen in comparing the cross-blocking technique of Michael Janyk to that of Thomas Grandi.  Janyk uses a very high cross block where he brings the pole guard up in front of his face, where as Grandi used a technique where he keep his pole lower to cross-block when he approached the gate.  Neither technique is considered wrong or right, just differences in style.  I personally have tried both types of cross-block and I prefer the cross-block where you keep the pole lower, because it helps with the timing of angulation when approaching the gate.  I think it is a personal preference.  Mike Janyk is able to angulate well with a high cross-block so I think the technical difference is irrelevant.  I was not able to find footage of Grandi online but I did find some of Mike Janyk.  Notice how high he brings the pole in front of his face when he cross blocks.

Mike Janyk

What is important to understand when you receive feedback is that you need to evaluate the feedback before you decide to react to it.  Feedback that you receive from another person is based on an opinion from the other person's perspective.  Because there is no "right way" or "wrong way" when it comes to technique, the feedback you receive must be able to make an improvement in your skiing from your perspective, in order for it to be valuable to you.  For example, if someone tells you you need to ski with your hands more forward.  That is ok, you can try a run or two like that, but if you do that and it doesn't create an improvement, then I would discard the feedback.  Anytime I receive feedback I consider it, but if doing it doesn't make me either "ski faster," "ski more efficiently" or "ski smoother."  I throw it away.  I will make notes about it, but I don't allow it to change how I ski.  This is how I propose you handle the feedback that you get, especially if you are experienced.  Also the feedback you receive may not always be in line with your personal goals.  For example, some people don't necessarily want to ski faster.  They may want to feel more stable or more in control.  Making a change in your technique that makes you ski faster can sometimes be scary.  Especially if you haven't developed the tactics required to manage such an increase in speed.