One Skate Timing Triad: Recovery Phase

This video is one of a set of three. The other 2 videos are (links will be added once these videos are complete.)

• One Skate Timing Triad: Pushing Phase
• One Skate Timing Triad: Transition Phase

During the Recovery Phase:

1. The hands and poles return to the start position after the pole push.
2. The leg and ski return to their start position under the skier’s hips.
3. The body position transforms from it’s deeper, flexed position into a more extended, taller position.

Common Timing Problems

Ideally the movements of the arms, legs and body are synchronized so the motion is fluid and continuous and everything arrives back at the start position as essentially the same time.

Two common problems with timing during the recovery phase are:

1. Hands/poles are too slow, compared to the recovery of the leg/ski. (= leg/ski too fast relative to the arms/poles)
2. Body straightens too quickly during the glide phase.

Strategies to improve timing during the recovery address these issues.

• Shorten the pole push by adjusting how far back you push the poles and how quickly you turn around the hands at the back of the body.
• Lengthen the time it takes for the leg and ski to recover under the hips by improving balance on the supporting leg, with the outside leg hanging wide of the midline.
• Maintain flexion in the supporting leg longer during the glide.
• Look with your peripheral vision – when your hands have returned to their position at in front of the shoulders, the ski should still be not fully recovered. The ski completes its recovery just as the poles are adjusted and set in the snow.

Suggested Drills

Exaggerated Follow Through Drill

Elastic Elbows

Quick Hands

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