As the chilly fall air rolls in and with it dreams of snow and skiing, the former racer in me can’t help but feel the excitement that comes with an upcoming race season. A new start, a chance to let hard work and a love for the sport pay off. Whether you’re a seasoned collegiate skier, a master-blaster, or someone trying out racing for the first time, here are some useful tips for getting race ready!
Ski Prep: Pre-Season
Getting skis prepped for an upcoming race season really should start at the end of the last season. Ideally, your skis should have a layer of storage wax to keep the bases of your skis from drying out. The first step in prepping your skis for a race season is to remove last season’s wax to get ready for our race-specific waxing regimen. All you need for this is a scraper (a plastic one works best) and brushes. After scraping the bulk of the wax off of your skis, go in with a bronze brush. Do 2-3 passes with the bronze brush moving from tip to tail, you’ll see little wax particles coming off the ski. After that, do a few passes with a nylon polishing brush to get the last little wax particles out.
Now that your bases are clean, it’s worth taking your skis into Skirack for a stone grind. Stone grinding essentially flattens out the ski base, removing small scratches and damaged base materials. This makes your skis faster and easier to wax.
For an in depth guide to waxing, check out my blog titled "Cross Country Ski Waxing | A Guide For Competitive Racers"
Ski Prep: Pre-Race
Now that your skis are ready for the season, we’ll get into the pre-race waxing process. The wax you use for each race will vary due to the conditions of the day. In general, waxing can be as complicated as you want to make it. If you’re a school or club supported racer, you likely have someone waxing your skis or giving you guidance on what to use. For the casual racer, waxing may seem like a complicated process. Don’t fret, here are some race waxing basics.
For more waxing tips, check out "A Basic Guide to Cross Country Ski Waxing."
For glide wax, waxes come with a recommended temperature range on the packaging. Selecting the wax temperature that matches the air and snow temperature is the easiest way to select a wax. If you’re looking to keep it simple, Toko performance wax has an easy system for covering all of the bases (no pun intended) for temperatures. The waxes come in blue (cold), red (medium), and yellow (warm). If it’s a really cold day, they also have a cold wax powder to accommodate even lower temperatures. Swix has a wider selection of waxes with more specific temperature ranges to accommodate each day. Again, you can decide which brand you want based on how in depth you want to get with your waxing.
Similar to glide wax, kick waxes come with the ideal temperature range and snow texture on the packaging. You apply kick wax into the “kick zone” of your skis. When you buy waxable classic skis, you can ask for someone to mark a kick zone for you. This may change as you ski throughout the season. Pay attention to how your skis feel (if you feel like you’re dragging or slipping) or what the wax looks like after a ski (it may wear off to the correct location if your kick zone is too long). When it comes to the actual waxing process pre-race, my biggest tip for kick wax is test, test, test! If you’re slipping, you need “more kick” and putting a little extra wax on can help. This will give you an idea of what wax or combination of waxes work best for that day after you’ve selected the best few based on the general conditions of the day.
Clothing
As with any winter activity, dressing properly for the conditions will not only make you more comfortable while participating, but also optimizes speed by keeping your muscles warm on the start line. It's good practice to bring options for layering just in case regardless of what you think you’ll need. It's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
Depending on conditions, you may opt for a base layer under a race suit. This should fit close to the skin and wicks away moisture (Craft and Swix have great options for base layers). For socks, it's good to have something that is breathable enough that you don’t overheat but warm enough so you don't freeze (I like the Darn Tough Vermont Nordic socks personally). For headwear, I usually opt for a Skida headband unless it's really cold out.
For warming up, usually you’ll wear what you will during the race with an added layer on top. Typically that includes warm up or shell pants on the bottom to keep your legs warm. On top, select a jacket that will help block wind and add insulation.
After your race, it's always a good idea to change into fresh dry layers if you can (especially if you get wet from sweat or precipitation) before going out to cheer or attend an awards ceremony. For spectating, you’ll want to add warmer layers (like a puffy jacket) and winter boots to stay warm now that you’re not moving.
Nutrition
Simply put, you won’t perform well without enough food in your system. 3-4 hours before a race, eat a regular meal. My favorite pre-race breakfast has always been oatmeal with nuts and fruit to get some carbohydrates in my system (as well as a little fat and protein). An hour or so before the race, eat something carb-heavy that works for you. It helps to test these snacks out during training sessions to see how your body reacts to them. Energy bars and bananas are a common pre-race snack!
Post race fueling is just as important as fueling before a race. This is when you replenish nutrients and energy and rebuild muscle. Making sure to drink water and replenish electrolytes is super critical after a race. There are a number of sports drinks out there, Nuun and Skratch are some of my favorites. A post race snack should include a balance of carbs and protein to restore energy and rebuild muscle. This refueling regimen should happen shortly after the race, don’t wait too long. Nutrition varies from person to person, try out different pre and post race snacks during your training sessions. This is a very general formula for race nutrition!
Some Last Pieces of Advice
Whew, if that wasn’t too much to think about, I leave you with two final tips for getting race ready (and in my opinion, the most important.) 1. Having a good pump up playlist and 2. Dancing and jumping at the start line to stay warm and get pumped! Ultimately, we race because we love skiing, why not have some fun with it!
- Meg Charles,
Former Skirack Nordic Specialist
