Congratulations

Congratulations to all Upper Great Lakes Figure Skaters for a great 2010 regional competition.  For those who have made it through, a double congratulations to you.  Keep up the hard work of your in season off – ice training.

For those of you who didn’t make it through you will begin your active rest season.  This is the four-week time period during which you take 1-3 weeks off from skating and you also significantly decrease the intensity of any off – ice activity.  The primary objective of this active rest period of time is rest and recovery.  This an excellent time to have any injuries, however mild they seem, evaluated and treated.  Any off – ice activity or exercising should be mild and very different from what you normally do.  A few examples of different activities might be swimming and rock climbing.

You also need to be planning the next year of off – ice training.  I recommend having an off – ice coach/trainer who will change and progress your programs based on the timing of the season and the results of your assessments.  Always discuss your plans with your on ice head coach!

Again, congratulations to all UGL competitors and good luck next season!!

The final run

With summer off-ice training ( ie preseason) entering it’s final stages, skaters should be getting pretty strong and pretty tired.  For the UGL region there is about 6 weeks left of preseason and 8 weeks left until UGLR in Hoffman Estates.  Training has been dynamic with high intensity and low volume and therefore very taxing on the skater’s body.  It is very important to remember these three bits of advice:

1.  get plenty of sleep even with school starting 9-11 hours is typical

2.  make sure you stick with proper nutrition: fuel your workouts

3.  make sure you begin to taper your workouts 2-3 weeks prior to regionals

Remember the idea is to peak at your qualifying competition, not to be burned out!