Once 4th of July vacation was
over, it become time to train more specifically. That meant getting off the
bike and doing more rollerskiing and ski walking.
Several key areas grabbed my attention, much because of
things I'd learned at
Sten Fjeldheim's excellent clinic in Grand Rapids:
Lots of technique work
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Doing balance
and strength drills at Sten Fjeldheim's racing clinic in Grand
Rapids.
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- During every skate rollerski session, it was "Bend at the ankle, drive
the knee down, power glide for as long as practical." I did quite a bit of
uphill skating without poles - as slow as I could so I could really feel what
my legs and rollerskis were doing.
- On V1, I began the long process of unlearning poor pole position.
Yes, I was one of the many at Sten's clinic who found out that we'd been
holding our poles wrong for years. By the end of July, I was mostly in
the correct position, although I was still having a trouble starting out
in the right place. I'd transition into V1 with the poles not always
right, then correct in the next couple pole plants. Something to
continue working on in August.
- Ski walking, driving the knees. I'd learned the Russian style of
diagonal stride - body at a 45 degree angle to gravity, lower leg
perpendicular to the terrain. I'd know that classic skiing had become
more upright recently but didn't understand why. At Sten's clinic, I
figure it out - when you're more upright, you can pre-load the leg for
more power. During our ski walk technique work, we'd land on the "gliding"
leg, then press the knee forward and down (i.e., we bent at the ankle)
just like in skating before kick.
I ski walked a couple times while running, then did a ski walk interval
session, really focusing on this preload before the kick. I can do it
going relatively slow, but as soon as I pick up the tempo, I have
problems. Another thing to continue to work with in August.
More classic skiing
Torbjorn Karlsen and Sten Fjeldheim both agree: even
skaters would be better off doing lots of classic skiing. Supposedly,
you use more of your body so you actually get a better workout. Oh, and
"classic" means mostly doublepole and kick-doublepole, not diagonal
striding.
I decide
my monthly time trials this year would be classic sessions rather than
skate to force myself to classic more. In my mind I think, "Well, I could
skate today or do a doublepole session. Think I'll doublepole - it'll
help next month's time trial."
Ah, the games we play with our heads...
Strength Training:
I'd had great results on the road bike climbing hills early in the
year then seemed to lose it. The change: I'd slacked off squats and the
leg press. I increased my trips to the weight room in July to fix the
problem. I always do squats (with a machine or free weights) and some
sort of pull-down weights every session, focusing on pulling as much
weight as I can so I can only do 3-6 reps in a set.
I'll add in the leg press and other upper body weights as time allows.
I'm using a combination of full-range motion and
Doug Garfield's RepMotions resistance.
Core strength continues to be done once or twice a week. I think I
need to start adding some shorter sessions in between, maybe in front of
the TV like I did last fall.
And not to forget the home life: Jill and I have a wedding to attend in
August, so we signed up for ballroom dance lessons with three other couples!
I figure dance days will be "active rest" days"!
Overall, July went quite well.
July 2005 Plan
Execution |
Training Goal |
Number of sessions planned |
The Reality |
5 mile rollerski time trial at 85% MHR |
1 |
Did a 5 mile classic
rollerski in 26:04 |
Anaerobic Threshold (AT) intervals
(85-90% MHR) |
8, some up to 8 minutes long.
Rollerskiing or ski walking only. |
7 interval
sessions, with intervals ranging from 4 to almost 10 minutes. |
V02 Max intervals
(90-95% MHR) |
None |
None |
Distance sessions |
Longer (2+ hours) distance sessions
if possible in Zone 1-2 (60-80% of max heart rate), with one
"easy for the first half, hard for the second half" session |
Several 2 to 3+ hour
sessions, including one that averaged 70% of my max heart rate for
the first 85 minutes, then 86% for the next 60 minutes. |
General strength |
1-2 per
| 7 sessions core & abs
strength training, 8 sessions of lower body / upper body weight
training. And it's made a big difference. |
week
August Plan - Happy Birthday to Me!
My birth month is also the beginning of VO2 Max intervals for the season.
In general, it appears that the harder you go, the greater the
improvement to your VO2 max. And VO2 Max is a big indicator of how well you
can potentially perform.
Here's a rough guide from running sources on how hard you have to run to
reach what percentage of VO2 Max. These are estimates and assume that you've
trained at lower intensity in order to handle the higher intensities!
Running Pace |
% of VO2 Max |
%
of Max Heart Rate |
3K |
100% |
100% |
5K |
95% |
98% |
10K |
90% |
93% |
Marathon |
80% |
88% |
I think it may be better to think about pace rather than heart rate,
particularly if you've never had your max heart rate determined by a formal
test.
My Anaerobic Threshold intervals are skied at roughly a marathon pace
(think Vasa 50 K or Michigan Cup Marathon 30K); my VO2 Max intervals -
rollerskiing, running, ski walking, and skiing - are done at a 10Krace pace.
My VO2 Max intervals tend to be about 4 or 5 minutes long and I do 4 or 5
at a time with a 3 minute rest between. The first two minutes of each
interval are spent coming up to speed: I try to gradually increase my effort
so that I 'm at 90% of my max heart rate at the two minute mark. At that
point, I try to hold my pace (or a little faster) for the final 2-3 minutes.
VO2 Max intervals are hard, but not all out. Still, you can't do too many
of these in a row without burning out. Rest is really important and a key
component for improving and for not getting sick!
August 2005 Plan |
Training Goal |
Number of sessions planned |
5 mile rollerski time trial at 90% MHR |
1 |
Anaerobic Threshold (AT) intervals
(85-90% MHR) |
6 |
V02 Max intervals
(90-95% MHR) |
6 |
Speed intervals
10-20 second all out sprints - but no longer! |
A few, as part of
distance sessions |
Distance sessions |
Whatever I have time for |
General strength |
1-2 per
week |
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