So, that's a wrap. This week concludes seven weeks of focused training in preparation for my first skimo race of the year. Looking back on other seasons this has been the most directed and purposeful preparation I have undergone in the sport. Certainly, the act of recording and publishing my training in a public forum has generated some of that focus. It's an interesting exercise to put oneself "out there" for others to see and, possibly, comment on. It's a process I will continue doing through this ski season and, most likely, into the cycling season. It keeps me committed.
I have a new computer coming from Suunto that should add another level of detail to the documentation. As regular readers know, I've never been a big heart rate monitor guy. I find it generally distracting. During times when I have used one it merely served as confirmation for what I intuitively knew was going on. I have always felt that monitors are helpful for the uninitiated or those with such overwhelming lack of discipline that they need numbers in front of them to guide their efforts whether easy or hard. However, the new computers are significantly more sophisticated now and possess the ability to track data in ways that appeals to me right now. In spite of my belief in my ability to train "by feel", I have never made any concerted effort to confirm my efforts. With the new computers, I will be able to do this and more. Stay tuned.
Anyway, this final week of preparation before the actual taper week was revealing in a couple of ways. Sometimes it's hard to know just how deep you are digging until you climb out of the hole. After backing off last week and approaching some of my final hard training this week with more rest on board, my performances were noticeably better. It was encouraging feeling some punch come back in the legs - punch that I was not fully aware was missing. I'm hoping that the rest I get and the severe decrease in training volume during the final week before the race will yield even greater improvements in form. It's going to be very interesting, indeed.
So, the final hard training week was not a beat down by any means. The goal was to get some work done but not over reach in any way. I think I accomplished this for the most part although one could argue that the weekend had just a bit more volume than I really needed. The intensity was very low so I don't think it's going to bite me in the ass too hard. Sometimes my pathology is just painfully obvious. Can't hide from the numbers when they stare back at you from the training journal.
After a slightly easier week last week, I felt very recovered going into this week. Not that the volume was low last week but I think a combo of better sleep and improving conditioning simply has me tolerating things better. I decided to do a very easy lap on the King on Monday instead of my usual fully off day. Active rest, and all that.
The next day I headed up to the Pass for the big day of the week. Four laps of Edelweiss, three of them at race pace. I did these a couple of weeks ago and felt like shit, tired from the previous day's effort but I had a time standard to compare to. This time, I felt good and took 5 minutes off my time, lapping the run in under 20 minutes. That's better! I did three of them full gas for about 48 minutes of threshold effort. The fourth one was just a cruise.
Wednesday saw an easy 2 laps on the King. No stress, no volume.
Thursday I took my wife out for her first real day in the hills this season. I wore my slightly larger skis (Trab Free Rando - don't laugh, that's large for me!) and I did a lap and three quarters on the Pass due to an airport commitment later in the morning. The snow was killer. She encouraged me to get whatever workout I was anticipating and we met at the top for a sweet run down. I ended up getting about 30 minutes of threshold in two efforts. After the airport gig, I went back to the King for a second ski, one lap, and about 10 short efforts at VO2 max effort. I kept the rest intervals longer than typical, probably closer to 50 seconds. Not full recovery but enough to feel really good going for it. Interestingly, I felt so good that I contemplated a second round but remembered what the goal was and went home. Gee, almost had the pathology in check there.
Friday was super chill again - one lap on the King.
Saturday I felt fully recovered and headed to Taylor on race gear again. Very entertaining doing a big peak like that on silly gear. It's the perfect vertical getter since after about 10 minutes of easy skinning, you turn uphill and don't stop for 3,300 feet. Takes about an hour to do the climb (for me) at tempo. And that's what I did, twice. Felt great. If I did not have the race coming up, it would have been the day to get 10K for sure.
Sunday was probably more than I needed. The monkey was back whispering in my ear. I went to the Pyramid for the first time in two seasons and it was great. Skied awesome pow on race sticks again. Went very easy but felt more tired. Probably did not need the third lap but didn't resist the little voice! I rationalized it by thinking that since I seem to be recovering better with a day or two of easy, five days of easy should get me wherever I want. We'll see.
The numbers:
Monday ski, Snow King, one lap, easy, 40 minutes, 1,500'
Tuesday ski, Edelweiss, 4 laps, threshold, 2.5 hours, 5,000'
Wednesday ski, Snow King, 2 laps, easy, 1:40, 3,100'
Thursday ski, Edelweiss, 1.5 laps, threshold, Snow King, 10 x 30 seconds, VO2 max, 2:45, 4,600', then weights, front squats, dead lifts, 30 minutes
Friday ski, Snow King, 1 lap, easy, 45 min., 1,500'
Saturday ski, Mt. Taylor, 2 laps, tempo, 3 hrs., 6,500'
Sunday ski, Pyramid, 3 laps, easy, 3:40, 6,200'
Totals 15:20, 28,400'
Not much planned for the upcoming week with the races this weekend. I'll do an easy lap on the King each day and probably do some openers on Thursday. Gotta get the gear ready, too. Looking at the sign-up list for the race it is going to be well attended with the biggest field ever. Fours years ago I would have said that the sport is a bit too esoteric to grow but clearly it is gaining some popularity. The only down-side is that I will probably find myself back slipping down the finishing order as fields deepen. Sad. - Brian