Torbjørn’s
November training.
11 hrs of running, 17.5 hrs of rollerskiing, 14 hrs of skiing, 5.5 hrs
of weight training, and 2.5 hrs of biking. Overall, it was a very good
month for me and I cannot do more unless I’m "home alone"
for a long period. Physically, I feel that I could train up to 13-16
hrs/week without burning out mentally or physically–as long as I take
occasional "vacation" weeks of 4-5 hrs or less. However, I
have a tendency to get a little bored on distance workouts longer than
1.45 hours. I guess that comes with my overall ambitions and goals.
Skiing fast is a lot less important these days (at age 45), but a
lot more fun than when I was 15 and trying really hard. Right now,
the idea of feeling good and being physically strong 10 or 30 years
from now (if I live that long) is a lot more important than beating
someone in a race. Despite all this, Gordon and I frequently talk about
who we can or should beat when we do distance workouts. At the end of
a long workout it’s hard to think about someone we can’t beat!
The fastest female world cup skiers? the best male masters? world cup
skiers from the past (as long as they have had kids, got a job and gained
a few pounds)? No problem. Justin Wadsworth and Marcus Nash? Only when
we have a good sugar buzz going after bonking during a long workout.
We usually get a little more realistic after we have put on dry clothes
and are driving home in the car.
The Approach to Training
specific (rollerskiing and skiing) training this month. We discovered
some newly paved roads with very little traffic in the neighboring town
of Heber and that made rollerskiing much more attractive. It’s
great when you can rollerski on brand new, perfect pavement on one 2-hour
loop and less than 20 cars pass by. It is also a lot easier to "get
your rollerskiing in" when you feel relatively safe, and the discovery
of these new roads increased my rollerski options a lot. I approach
all training the same way as Bjorn Daehlie approached food and nutritional
plans. Everyone expected him to have a scientifically laid out meal
plan but he simply "only ate food he liked." I approach training
the same way–I only do workouts I like and want to do and I do them
at my pace. I (of course) have a plan for what I want to do, but I’m
not a slave of the plan and neither should you be. Adjustments are absolutely
necessary!Reduce your training and skip intervals when you are tired.
Keep track of your rest heart rate if you are training a lot and make
adjustments if it goes higher than 5 beats above your baseline
The Hard Sessions.
month. My best session was a same day pursuit session on rollerskis.
First, we did 5 K (two full laps) classic on the rollerski course at
Soldier Hollow. One hour after we finished the classic time trial, we
did a 5 K skating time trial in a gradual uphill in a different location.
I felt surprisingly strong in the skating and for the first time this
year I felt I could go hard and fast for the entire time trial without
having to slow down because of "feeling the lactate"
or fatigue. I simply felt great!
Other
hard sessions:
– 5 K running time trial
– 10 x 1.15 minutes Rollerski skating intervals intensity 3-5
– 3-4-5-2-3-4-3 running interval intensity 3-5
– 5-6-7 minutes running intervals intensity 3-4
The
Best Workout
session worth recording in the memory book. I had just arrived home
from West Yellowstone at 6 AM after driving most of the night (8 hours)
through on/off snowstorms. I slept for 45 minutes in the car with the
engine running outside a closed gas station somewhere when I couldn’t
stay awake any longer. I was tired (no kidding) when I got home and
went to sleep right away and slept for four hours. I hadn’t planned
to do any training that day but after staring at the 2-3 feet of new
snow I just had to go skiing, and at 7 PM I put my old Fischer Crown
skis in the car and drove the 10 minutes up in the Red Hawk hills behind
and above my house. I drove the Subaru onto the shoulder until it stopped
in the powder and I had to push hard to get the door open! In the dark,
I put on my skis and walked with high knee-lifts to get through the
snow. The moon came up and I scared up a couple rabbits while walking
towards the other side of the mountain. Here I had a perfect view of
the lighted Olympic ski jumps and they were impressive from a distance
of 4-5 K. The moon, the darkness and the totally silence reminded me
of my old army days–dressed in an all-white camouflage outfit (with
white skis and poles)–patrolling in a NATO war practice in Northern
Norway to prepare for a possible Soviet invasion. On the other side
of the mountain, I hooked onto a perfectly plowed road at a future development
area–no houses, no cars and a gate 3-4K down the road. One inch of
ice layer and one inch of new snow makes for the perfect "ski on
the road workout" so I jumped into a tuck and glided down to the
gate. It was steep so it didn’t take long to reach the bottom.
I quickly turned around and skied up again. Perfect kick on my own "private"
moonlit road. After reaching the top dripping of sweat, I turned and
did it again. Walked back to the car through the powder and got home
at 9.30 PM. You just can’t beat workouts like that.
Plans for December.
of weekly hard sessions in December. Two intervals or one pace and one
interval session per week. In addition, I will do one speed session
(short accelerations in easy terrain) and skate without poles for 3-6
kilometer once per week. Look at how I described build up intervals
last month
My interval session might look like this:
– 4-6-4-6 minutes intensity 3-4
– 2-3-4-1-2-3 intensity 3-5
session in weeks where I enter competitions. I might reach high heart
rates in these sessions but I will not push hard in many and long intervals.
I will continue to do weight training but will use 5-25 reps, fast motions,
and heavy weights on 3-5 exercises and more reps on a few other exercises
like sit-ups and triceps press. I also suggest that you skip or reduce
your intervals during your first week of skiing. Concentrate instead
about getting some time on snow and work on technique.
I need some feedback.
the readers, could e-mail me comments on my monthly reports. Is this
a thing you would like me to continue or should I focus on translating
more articles and write more "news" stuff? Are there things
you want me to bring up, discuss or comment on these pages? Were there
any of the monthly postings that you liked better than others? What
do you like to hear about? Are you also a reader of our wax and race
reports throughout the winter? Thanks in advance. My e-mail is tbk@xmission.com.
I’m sorry but I cannot answer individual training questions.
Have a great month!
Torbjørn
