Training Log - November 22-28

Real training week #2 down and it went as planned. With a vacation week at hand, I wanted to get some volume first and some intensity second. I accomplished both without killing myself. I think most of this is due to the fact that I went easy when the plan called for doing so. And this is the trick that most skiers will have to master if they want to increase their performance whether for racing or just getting faster on certain tours.

Click to read more ...

Training Log - November 15-21

I am fully poaching the idea for this post from Jared at SLC Samurai. I'm sure most readers are at least slightly curious about what we are actually doing in training when we're not writing about it. Putting it here will create at least one post each week and may provide a spring board for more in-depth pieces when ideas are scarce.

Click to read more ...

Intensity Timing

One of the faithful posted a comment/question regarding the last article on skimo training. As is my habit, I will answer the question here in a follow-up post as I think most readers will find the answer helpful in working through the details of their own programming.

Alright....back to skimo training! (nothing against cycling). One thing I'd like to hear your opinion on.....what days do you think its appropriate to do lactate workouts (like leg blasters, 3x30 squats, etc)? Combined with leg days at the gym? After a speed/interval session? Also, how many times a week do you think this kind of training is beneficial?
Thanks,
Ray

Click to read more ...

Early Season Skimo Training

I felt like I was getting away with something yesterday getting out on my road bike. Hard to believe it's the middle of November and I'm still riding outside. There was a bit of snow on the road in the shadows and I sense the end is near. Might have to put the studded tires on and sneak rides in when conditions permit.

Still rideable...just barely.

Click to read more ...

Crank it up!

I spend a lot of time in these pages talking about base and volume and the critical adaptations we get from both. Recently, I went to the other end of the spectrum and covered some ideas on power endurance and lactate tolerance. Admittedly, the amount of time you spend both training and racing on the former is large and, on the latter, small. In the middle, lies a critical zone of intensity which is probably where the real selection in races is made. We don't spend a ton of time here when competing but it often represents the most decisive zone in which we operate in a race. In a word, it's called THRESHOLD. This is what you exceed when you blow trying to hang with the leaders on a climb. In a ski mountaineering race, your threshold either keeps you in the hunt on the climbs or you watch the top placings move away from you up the skin track. In a cycling time trial, threshold is where you try to spend 99% of the race. God, do we ever hear a lot about this these days.

Click to read more ...