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I'm pretty darn happy with my October training. I had my most successful intensity block ever - hard, but the intervals felt good, and the sets toward the end of the block were as strong or stronger than at the beginning. I've also figured out - finally, after two years - not to expect any great performances for the entire following week. October's focus was on upper body strength: four doublepole intervals sessions, a 5K doublepole-only rolleski leg during the Team NordicSkiRacer.com Duathlon, 20 minutes of single-sticking (arms-only) during a distance session, lots of doublepoling during classic distance sessions, and lots of abs, arms and shoulder strength work. You haven't lived until you're tried single-sticking up a hill without using your legs! The first 10 minutes of my 20 minute session were hell, particularly when an uphill came along. Eventually, I got into a rhythm that include using my abs to initiate the pole plant and life got easier. I even sprinted the last 5 minutes! I did get a minor bug during the month (Jill got it, too) that caused me to lay low for a couple of days and eliminated some of the intervals I had planned. In fact, missing a couple doublepole intervals sessions led to the decision to doublepole the Duathlon rollerski leg.
Some interesting reading USSA Cross Country Skiing Sprint Coach Vidar Loefshus wrote a great article on TeamToday.org called "Olympic Sprint Training" that really resonated with me. I was intrigued by his thoughts on strength training. First, Loefshus says, "Generally speaking strength training and power development can assist in two areas: performance and prevention." Early in the season, I pared down my upper body strength training to just doing dips and pulldown exercises - focusing on performance. But my shoulders began to hurt. I had to start working on rotator cuff and rear deltoid exercises to balance out my muscles - I added a focus on prevention. Result? Shoulders no longer hurt and I prevented further injury.
Second, Loefshus said the team was in it's fall "power-velocity phase" so they could "turn the strength into quickness (speed) and power." In the beginning of October, I felt strong, but didn't feel I had is much snap. To increase quickness and explosiveness, I did a couple speed sessions and also started bounding and plyometrics. I expect to do more in November. Finally, Loefshus states:
I really like his thinking! A few years ago, a coach (not Torbjorn) recommended I stop doing intervals and strength training on the same day - it was too hard. But I felt that a strength session following an interval workout was very successful for me - my body was loose and warm and ready to work hard again. And it let me have an easier session the next day. Since reading this, I feel vindicated - and no longer feel guilty when I head to the gym after an interval session. I also like the idea of keep hard days hard, and easy days easy. Too many skiers go out at the same pace everyday, never pushing their body to a new level. But pushing hard one day means letting it recover the next. Read the Loefshus article - I only touched on a small fraction of the goodies hidden within. And even though its about sprint training, the vast majority applies to distance skiers as well.. November Plan Thanksgiving is coming up. I not planning on getting any great training in over that weekend - I'll be in Irvington, NY attending my sister's wedding. Hopefully I'll at least get in a short run or two in plus a strength session. No West Yellowstone Camp this year...
November also has another intensity block (6 interval sessions in 8 days) and an upper body strength block (doublepole interval sessions). I'll increase the number of explosiveness exercises (bounding and plyometrics) and step up the speed sessions. We've had great weather so far - it's supposed to be in the 70's tomorrow! - but it's got to end soon. November to me is training in the dark, in the cold, in the rain. I hate November. But I don't want to lose any of my hard-earned gains. If the weather is really bad, I'll head indoors to the treadmill or the weight room or my Armit down in the basement. I also have a cheap plastic rain suit I wear when I'm stuck in the rain. I'm also resigned to the fact that cold weather makes everything slower. The distance I go during a 4 minute interval is shorter now than in September because my rollerski wheels don't roll as fast. It frustrating - it feels like I've detrained because I'm not going as fast or as far, when the reality is it's simply a function of it being cold outside. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it....) My headlamp is charged for night-time rollerskiing. How are you handling the dark?
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