A veritable skill in its own right and if you want to do XTRI events then its one well worth acquiring. Easy to coach in person so im looking at dates to run a session. In the meantime @Karianne Lancee had the mashed quads that go along with downhills at pace so I took some video to help me explain. Big thanks to @Beppo Buchanan-Smith and Daniel for modelling. The lads got the brief and in the video the main take away is 'body alignment' but there is a big confidence element to it too. So we are showing two different methods. One is inefficient, sore and well incorrect. The other takes bottle and practice but is well 'right'. What we want to do is stand tall as always but allow gravity to lean us down the hill. If we are over cautious the brain says lean back to slow down. What happens then is you are using the quads as brakes..taking full impact on every stride. On already tired legs thats more risky than finding a nice flow..dabbing the feet frequently to cut the speed when needed. A bit like making good turns in downhill skiing. Take a look at the video and see if it makes sense then go try it. If nervy do it on the road or a grassy slope first to get the hang of it before hitting the trails.

Current temps are 8 degrees. Lots of snow still to melt so race day temps likely to be 10 so if you haven't started dipping to acclimatise now is the time. First few dont need to be long just getting the head round how the cold feels and how it impacts you. It's a bit like boiling a frog..get in get used to it and race day has no surprises

Interesting news from the CEO..lady winner is a hyroxer. The cross over is real.

We as usual have a decent cohort tackling this years race. Just onboarding a new lad from the US and Sean will be looking after Gordon this year ( Swissman 25). Just checking and across all coaches we now have 11 entries prepping. It may be useful to ensure you have your logistics in place ASAP and if you need help with support let us know as we do have drivers and runners we can set up for you. Do make sure you have accomodation sorted for your teams as its not fun sleeping on the floor in the Casa Celtman!

We continue to explore the world. New member of the gang Kalem from down under is tackling this bad boy. Great to have him on board. Australian Alpine Ascent XTRI - looks a belter