Nutrition

Ski racers in the Race to Win stage work with dieticians and professional chefs to design dietary intake plans to properly fuel a national team ski racer. 

A well-fueled ski racer will have the nutrients and energy they need to perform in ski race or training. Coaches and the integrated support team that includes a dietician continue to educate and support ski racers by educating them on the positive benefits of healthy eating habits including refuelling and maintaining hydration before, during and after training and competition. Ski racers should learn the essential tips on sport nutrition so they can eat like a champion and fuel themselves properly to become a performance ski racer. 

• Use Canada's Food Guide to help you plan healthy meals.
• Plan meals ahead of time help to ensure you have all the required ingredients to prepare a healthy meal in your allotted time frame. 
• Plan and pack healthy meals and snacks to take to the ski hill to eat during and after training. 
• Ski racers are encouraged to have a full water bottle of water with them at all times. Cold weather is dehydrating. Encouraging ski racers to sip on a warm, water - light electrolyte drink or tea will help to maintain hydration throughout a day on the slopes. 
• Listen and respond to signals of hunger and fullness.
• Ski racers are encouraged to learn how to read nutrition labels along with learning how to prepare basic meals on their own. 

The Fuel for Gold program that operates in partnership with CSI Calgary offers up some great nutrition tips in their blog by Kelly Anne Erdman, MSC, RD, CSSD. 

RELATIVE ENERGY DEFICIENCY IN SPORT (RED-S)

Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) is a condition that can affect skiers of any age and sex. RED-S occurs when an imbalance in energy intake and energy output has detrimental effects on bone health, menstrual function (female), metabolic rate, immune function, cardiovascular health, and psychological health. (Mountjoy et al., 2014). 

Sport performance lags when available energy stores are low. For ski racers during this stage of development, it's vital to assess intake needs and adjusting intake to meet the energy needs of training and competition.

Decreased energy intake can promote the development of osteoporosis resulting in reduced bone growth, weakened bones, reduced peak bone mass, increased susceptibility to stress fractures and premature osteoporosis. Stress fractures can lead to the loss of participation in on-snow training and competition for long periods. 

Ski racers with RED-S are at an increased risk for injury, decreased endurance, and reduced muscle strength, along with reduced coordination, impaired judgement, irritability and depression (Mountjoy et al., 2014).

In female ski racers, poor and inadequate energy intake can also lead to delayed menarche and other irregularities due to the decrease in estrogen. Parents and coaches must be on the watch for girls who are now more susceptible to low moods, which can lead to depression, eating disorders, and low self-esteem. Iron levels should be checked by a medical professional and monitored if required. https://www.wada-ama.org/en/what-we-do/international-standards

SUPPLEMENTS

Ski racers should be educated about the use of performance enhancement substances and their possible side effects. Research supports a balanced diet as a legitimate means to top performance. 

Sport is about competing and performing to the best of your ability—the pursuit of human and sporting excellence. Taking prohibited substances or using prohibited methods is cheating, and can be very damaging to an athlete’s health. Doping undermines the fundamental spirit of sport and severely damages the integrity, image, and value of sport.

Ski racers are influential role models for young people. The behaviour of elite ski racers can have a significant impact on young people as they admire and aspire to emulate their sporting heroes, especially their actions and attitudes.

The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) is Canada’s national anti-doping organization. The CCES implements the Canadian Anti-Doping Program (CADP) on behalf of the Canadian sport community.

CCES, in collaboration with sport organizations, athletes, and coaches, medical support personnel works on behalf of all Canadians to achieve doping-free sport and to protect the right of athletes to compete in a fair and ethical sport environment.

The CADP is a set of rules with respect to the use of prohibited substances and methods in sport adopted by national sport organizations (NSO) and multi-sport organizations (MSO) that serves to protect the integrity of sport and the rights of clean athletes.

The CADP is compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code (Code) and its six International Standards dealing with various technical areas along with their associated Technical Documents. Organizations, athletes, athlete support personnel and other persons belonging to sport organizations that have adopted the CADP accept these rules as a condition of participation in sport and agree to be bound by these rules.

The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports (CCES) does not promote the use of supplements but recognizes that athletes often use them. Read the CCES supplement message to protect yourself against an anti-doping rule violation if they are using nutritional supplements.

INJURY PREVENTION

Ski racers can prevent most injuries by being physically fit and literate, and by wearing the appropriate and adequately adjusted equipment for the activity including ski racing and training. A ski racer's most important tool is his/her body, doing what they can to defend it against injury is vital!

Ski racers should seek to maximize their results without putting themselves at risk of injury by following a few simple steps:

• Spend time completing a proper warm-up.
• Adapt and set up equipment to match the needs of the ski racer.
• Stay hydrated, it's crucial to replace lost fluids and minerals.
• Ski racers should listen to what their bodies are telling them; go hard when there is energy!
• Recovery is as important as preparation

RISK FACTORS FOR INJURY INCLUDE:

• Physical fitness, ski racers need to be fit enough for the challenges presented during training and competition.
• Are the ski racers coming back from injury?
• Properly fitted and adjusted ski equipment. Poorly functioning, poorly fitting, or improperly adjusted equipment can cause more harm than good.
• Protective equipment including properly fitted helmets can prevent head injuries. 
• Skiing while fatigued and not taking enough breaks for rest or stopping when tired. Often only a short break at the top of a course that includes a short warm-up routine is all that is needed. 
• Skiing outside of the skill level and comfort zone of the skier. The level of challenge is dependent on the skier’s current technical and physical capabilities or inabilities.  Proper course setting to match the experience level of the ski racer correctly is vital. Exposing skiers to activities significantly higher than their abilities can result in frustration, failure, a decline in motivation along with increasing the chance of injury.
• Skiers should be well rested, hydrated and fueled before arriving at training. Proper hydration and nutrition throughout the day will decrease the risk of injury.
• Changing snow conditions can affect ski racers depending on their ability level. Check in to see how they feel about the terrain and snow conditions. 

INJURIES CAN BE PREVENTED THROUGH THE CREATION OF WELL-PLANNED TRAINING SESSIONS LED BY PROFESSIONAL COACHES.

Planned training sessions should include the following activities: 

• A proper introduction to the activity and skills ahead of the training session. 
• A warm-up that includes supervised physical fitness movement preparation. 
• Well, planned skill progression is matching the skill and development age of the ski racer. 
• Course and terrain inspection. 
• A proper cool down.
• Conclusion. 
• Debrief with the ski racers to gain feedback on the session in preparation for the next training or competition bout. 

In a study conducted by  Müller, et al. on long term athletic development in ski racing they found no single fitness parameter responsible for determining the risk of injuries, a comprehensive fitness regimen starting at a young age is crucial for coping with the physical requirements of alpine ski racing and minimizing the rate of both traumatic and overuse injuries (Müller et al. 2017). 

Possible injury prevention measures should concentrate on core strength, neuromuscular control, reactive strength training and limb (a)symmetry (Steidl-Müller et. al. 2019, Müller, et. al. 2017). 

MAINTAINING BALANCE

While it is a challenge to balance the competitive training and race calendar for ski racers, it's not impossible to create a balance between participation in sports, family time, social time, work and education. 

MAINTAINING A BALANCED LIFE THAT FOSTERS THE DEVELOPMENT OF HEALTHY HABITS INCLUDES:

• Scheduling family and social time with friends. 
• Ensure there's enough time to get proper rest and regeneration. 
• Finding a balance between school, sports, and work. 
• Develop a simple monitoring routine to assist ski racers with their recovery between training and competition bouts. You cannot manage your response and need for recovery and regeneration if you don't measure it. 
• Allow time for social interaction with other ski racers and friends in an unstructured environment.
• Reduce screen time.  
• Get involved through volunteer activities at your local ski club to give back and support young ski racers with their development.