Kevin Checking in from Sweden

Hey everyone, Kevin Bolger here, checking in from Falun, Sweden.

I just got back from a two-week vacation: a week in Montana for my sister’s wedding (my vacation week), followed by a week at home with my family. But now it’s time to get the ball rolling again.

Rewinding the summer a bit, when I sat down to make a plan, I knew we would be spending a week in Montana in July and then also some time at home with my family. Maybe I’m wrong here, but I believe a lot of skiers or athletes might look at this and stress a bit: I’m going to miss out on key training sessions, my routine is going to be thrown off, etc.

But I looked at it as a perfect opportunity to take a break from that routine, from those sessions, and focus on recovery for both the mind and body. Our season on snow is quite short, but the training year is so long. It’s no secret that it can be repetitive and, at times, quite boring. I love what I do, don’t get me wrong, but no matter how much you love it, you still need a break. In the summer, when you’re hammering out hours and intervals day in and day out, if you don’t take the necessary rest, you’re obviously not going to absorb the training. Instead, you’re just going to keep breaking your body down, and eventually your body will force you to rest by getting sick or run down.
This is where I come back to something I strongly believe in: a mid-summer vacation.

Now, I’m not saying go take a two- week vacation, dip your toes in the sand, drink some beers, and sandbag your training. But smash some training before, take a week plan a vacation, pack your running shoes, and drop your weekly hours. When I went to Montana, it was a busy wedding week with lots going on and plenty of fun. It was no stress for me to get up, take an easy morning run for 1–1.5 hours, and call it a day. That week I think I logged 7 hours-of low intensity just moving the body a bit.

I think the rest your body and mind get from taking a week like this is so important. After all the hard training you’ve put in throughout the summer, you get a solid reset and a much-needed break. And when you come back to the hard training that’s to come in the fall, your body is in a good place for it. The batteries are charged, the mind is focused, and you get to roll into the fall training block ready to fire!

But don’t just take my word for it. I asked a good friend of mine, Niklas Dyrhaug, a pretty decorated Norwegian skier who has a good idea of what he’s talking about, and here’s what he had to say:

“The pre-season as a skier is really long. I always had a small week (5–6 days) where I used to take some time off to recover and to get more motivation before the season. I had a budget with training, so the weeks before this small break I trained really hard. But I think it’s important physically, and especially mentally, to have strong, recharged batteries before the most important part of the training season in the fall and before the skiing season.”

So, in my opinion, don’t be afraid of taking that break. Of course, make sure you’ve been putting in the work and that you actually need it, but I bet that coming off a 5–6 day break, you’ll be ready to hit the ground running!

Playing “Kubb” with family and friends.

Great game