Olympic contender: Dougie CrawfordOlympic place booked, world championship top 30 nailed, respect from Cuche and Walchhofer secured, the future’s looking bright for Scotland’s new king of the speed disciplines, Fall Line caught up with Dougie to get the lowdown on a day in his shoes
"If it’s a training day, in the mountains, I’ll be up before 6am. I struggle to eat at that time, but I have to. I need the energy and I’m trying to put on weight. I’m currently around 77 kg but nearer to 85kg is better for speed, so I’ll ram down some cereal. Maybe I’ll grab some rolls, and ham and cheese, to eat on the hill too. I’ll have a cup of tea if there is some, or coffee if not, before I head out, I need it to wake me up.
By 7am, I’ll be on the piste with any other GB skiers around (we often train as a team) to get some decent sessions in before the tourists arrive. We do practice when the slopes are open but it heavily restricts the area we can use. You do get skiers ignoring signs and fences too. Sometimes they’ll be arsey about nearly getting hit, other times I’ll give them an earful as they’ve ruined a run, and I’m aggressive and focused – you need to be – and they’ve broken that concentration. Most of the time it’s fine though.
We usually start with speed training, five or six runs of super-G or downhill and then once the pistes start getting busy, pull and re-set a GS course or do some slalom as we’ve normally got less space to use. Summer we’ll usually be doing this in Saas Fee or Zermatt and winter in Lofer, so we’re in Switzerland a fair bit. This September I got to train in Chile which was amazing. The resorts are not huge, and there’s no nightlife - actually quite useful for us - but there’s some really good speed work to be had as the slopes are so quiet.
By 11am we’ll go for some lunch. It sounds early but you need a break. I’ll have a protein shake on the way down, to help recovery and then maybe have a sleep or a rest as well as something to eat. Often during the season we’ll be staying in a hotel and it’s just whatever they’ve got on the menu, often stuff like spaghetti bolognese or some sort of pasta choice; I’m not fussy but it can get a bit boring…
In the afternoon, if we’re summer skiing, they’ll usually be a free ski session. But it’s not what most people would call free skiing. It’s more like ski school, with lots of technique sessions, slow drills and basics done on the piste. In the race season, it’s different, with gym work instead. This is hard when I’m in Glasgow on my own, where I live, but it’s fine when there are a few of us together. You can push and motivate each other. I’m often with GB racers like Ed Drake, Jan Kochalski, Dave Ryding who I’ve known for ages. Sure, there’s rivalry, and everyone gets their share of abuse but we get on really well. At the moment Ed and I spend a lot of time together on the road as we’ve both made our World Cup and World Championship debuts last season.
Do I get nervous? Of course, but more for the British Champs than the World Cup, where nothing is expected of me as I’m new to it. My first race, at Wengen, on the Lauberhorn, the longest and fastest course on the circuit, was pretty cool with Walchhofer and Cuche both saying ‘hello’ to me as we rode the lift to the top, which was pretty cool as a total rookie.
Do I have any race superstitions? I really, really try and avoid that. You can’t have that messing with your head when you have to give a run everything both mentally and physically. I’m pretty relaxed at the start too, no screaming, just quietly focused. Once I’m about to go, I stamp my feet and get aggressive but that’s pretty late on just as I’m about to attack the course.
Throughout the season, they’ll be ski maintenance, usually late afternoon, too. We all help the technician, if there’s one with us, if not we do our own. If we’re part of a team and have someone to help it will take about 30 minutes to an hour. I generally use three sets of skis per day (I travel with two pairs per discipline) and we have to wax and scrape everything used. It’s a fairly relaxed set up with everyone looking after any skis rather than their own, but we all make sure we take really close care of gear. Again, I try not to have superstitions, but sometimes it’s hard not too when you’re racing well on a certain set.
By 7pm, we’re usually down for dinner. It’ll normally be in the hotel where we’re staying. So you’re totally at their mercy as to whether it’s any good. Sometimes we get lucky but often it’s stodgy, very plain meat and potatoes. There’s not much that different in Austria and Switzerland, where we spend most of our time, and I do long for a Mexican or curry sometimes. Whatever, I try and clear my plate, and in plenty of places the staff love chatting with you too. In countries like Austria, skiing is their main sport and they often want to know what people like Maier are really like and whether you’ve raced them. Most of them are so knowledgeable, it’s nice to have a chat.
Maybe after food we’ll watch a dvd on a laptop in someone’s room. Something light hearted that doesn’t last long, like 2 and a Half Men, is ideal. Or if there’s more time there are some favourite movies that always go round, usually comedies like The Hangover, Old School and Anchor Man.
Either way, with us being up so early, I try to be in bed by 9.30ish. Maybe I’ll read a little before turning the lights out, I like Christopher Brookmyre, but normally I’ll have my head down by 10pm. If there’s a big race, sometimes I struggle to sleep, and we always share a twin room with another racer to keep the cost down, so there can be snoring issues too. But nothing a quick whack can’t sort!
www.dougiecrawford.com
Posted by name - Wed, 20/01/2010 - 6:44pm
Olympic place booked, world championship top 30 nailed, respect from Cuche and Walchhofer secured, the future’s looking bright for Scotland’s new king of the speed disciplines, Fall Line caught up with Dougie to get the lowdown on a day in his shoes
"If it’s a training day, in the mountains, I’ll be up before 6am. I struggle to eat at that time, but I have to. I need the energy and I’m trying to put on weight. I’m currently around 77 kg but nearer to 85kg is better for speed, so I’ll ram down some cereal. Maybe I’ll grab some rolls, and ham and cheese, to eat on the hill too. I’ll have a cup of tea if there is some, or coffee if not, before I head out, I need it to wake me up.
By 7am, I’ll be on the piste with any other GB skiers around (we often train as a team) to get some decent sessions in before the tourists arrive. We do practice when the slopes are open but it heavily restricts the area we can use. You do get skiers ignoring signs and fences too. Sometimes they’ll be arsey about nearly getting hit, other times I’ll give them an earful as they’ve ruined a run, and I’m aggressive and focused – you need to be – and they’ve broken that concentration. Most of the time it’s fine though.
We usually start with speed training, five or six runs of super-G or downhill and then once the pistes start getting busy, pull and re-set a GS course or do some slalom as we’ve normally got less space to use. Summer we’ll usually be doing this in Saas Fee or Zermatt and winter in Lofer, so we’re in Switzerland a fair bit. This September I got to train in Chile which was amazing. The resorts are not huge, and there’s no nightlife - actually quite useful for us - but there’s some really good speed work to be had as the slopes are so quiet.
By 11am we’ll go for some lunch. It sounds early but you need a break. I’ll have a protein shake on the way down, to help recovery and then maybe have a sleep or a rest as well as something to eat. Often during the season we’ll be staying in a hotel and it’s just whatever they’ve got on the menu, often stuff like spaghetti bolognese or some sort of pasta choice; I’m not fussy but it can get a bit boring…
In the afternoon, if we’re summer skiing, they’ll usually be a free ski session. But it’s not what most people would call free skiing. It’s more like ski school, with lots of technique sessions, slow drills and basics done on the piste. In the race season, it’s different, with gym work instead. This is hard when I’m in Glasgow on my own, where I live, but it’s fine when there are a few of us together. You can push and motivate each other. I’m often with GB racers like Ed Drake, Jan Kochalski, Dave Ryding who I’ve known for ages. Sure, there’s rivalry, and everyone gets their share of abuse but we get on really well. At the moment Ed and I spend a lot of time together on the road as we’ve both made our World Cup and World Championship debuts last season.
Do I get nervous? Of course, but more for the British Champs than the World Cup, where nothing is expected of me as I’m new to it. My first race, at Wengen, on the Lauberhorn, the longest and fastest course on the circuit, was pretty cool with Walchhofer and Cuche both saying ‘hello’ to me as we rode the lift to the top, which was pretty cool as a total rookie.
Do I have any race superstitions? I really, really try and avoid that. You can’t have that messing with your head when you have to give a run everything both mentally and physically. I’m pretty relaxed at the start too, no screaming, just quietly focused. Once I’m about to go, I stamp my feet and get aggressive but that’s pretty late on just as I’m about to attack the course.
Throughout the season, they’ll be ski maintenance, usually late afternoon, too. We all help the technician, if there’s one with us, if not we do our own. If we’re part of a team and have someone to help it will take about 30 minutes to an hour. I generally use three sets of skis per day (I travel with two pairs per discipline) and we have to wax and scrape everything used. It’s a fairly relaxed set up with everyone looking after any skis rather than their own, but we all make sure we take really close care of gear. Again, I try not to have superstitions, but sometimes it’s hard not too when you’re racing well on a certain set.
By 7pm, we’re usually down for dinner. It’ll normally be in the hotel where we’re staying. So you’re totally at their mercy as to whether it’s any good. Sometimes we get lucky but often it’s stodgy, very plain meat and potatoes. There’s not much that different in Austria and Switzerland, where we spend most of our time, and I do long for a Mexican or curry sometimes. Whatever, I try and clear my plate, and in plenty of places the staff love chatting with you too. In countries like Austria, skiing is their main sport and they often want to know what people like Maier are really like and whether you’ve raced them. Most of them are so knowledgeable, it’s nice to have a chat.
Maybe after food we’ll watch a dvd on a laptop in someone’s room. Something light hearted that doesn’t last long, like 2 and a Half Men, is ideal. Or if there’s more time there are some favourite movies that always go round, usually comedies like The Hangover, Old School and Anchor Man.
Either way, with us being up so early, I try to be in bed by 9.30ish. Maybe I’ll read a little before turning the lights out, I like Christopher Brookmyre, but normally I’ll have my head down by 10pm. If there’s a big race, sometimes I struggle to sleep, and we always share a twin room with another racer to keep the cost down, so there can be snoring issues too. But nothing a quick whack can’t sort!
www.dougiecrawford.com