Skiers – Need a coach?
number of skiers I am coaching by offering my services to (a few) additional
skiers. There will be a monthly fee for this service and the coaching/communication
and follow-up will be similar to the way I work with National team caliber
skiers. The training programs will be personalized to fit individual
needs, ambitions and work schedules. Personal coaching might be appropriate
for you if you have experienced a plateau in your racing, need inspiration
or simply want someone to push and guide you in choosing appropriate
workouts. One or two exclusive dryland camps (starting this summer),
one snow camp, and video analysis will be incorporated into the program.
E-mail and/or access to a fax machine is required. If you are interested
in more information, e-mail me at tbk@xmission.com.
Please only use this address for coaching inquiries.
Torbjørn’s October training
did 49 hours of training in October. This included 16 hours of running,
11 hours of biking, 14 hours of rollerskiing and 5 hours of weight training.
The Hard Sessions.
the hard sessions which is my goal. If I’m really tired during
warm up or when I start the intervals I find it better to only do half
of what I had intended to do, skip them all together or greatly reduce
the intensity. But I didn’t need to do any of the above this month.
I guess I’m simply not training enough to get really tired. One
or two easy days after an interval session is usually enough to feel
great for the next hard effort.
this month were build up intervals (ei. went harder the second part
of each interval or ran/roller skied a lot harder on the last two intervals
compared to the first two).
in flats and up hills: 4 minutes (heart rate 155-158), 5 minutes (h.r
160 – 163), 4 minutes (h.r 166- 168), 5 minutes (h.r 168-172), 4 minutes
(h.r 170-179). My maximum heart rate is about 185.
Example from a running and bounding w/poles session: 3 x 4 minutes running
in rolling terrain, heart rate 160-168, then 4 x 3 minutes bounding
with poles heart rate 166-179.
Some of the other hard sessions this month (I did 12 of them):
–
1 x 15 minutes intensity 3, 8 x 1-2 minutes intensity 3-4 roll skate
in rolling terrain
– 7 x 2 minute roll classic, hard double pole in flat terrain, intensity
4-5
– 3 x 7 minutes skate uphill, intensity 3
– 6 x 4 minutes running intervals uphill, intensity 3-5
– 30 minutes pace roll, skate, intensity 3-4
The
Best Workout.
Sunday October 28th I had the best workout of the month while visiting
Grand Junction, Colorado. The plan was to ride the Colorado National
Monument Loop on my road bike. This ride is my all time favorite because
of the incredible scenery, challenging climbs and low traffic level.
It’s not the longest ride – just plain fun. Actually you do
work hard on the climb up to the rim. The Rim Rock Drive, which is the
part that’s in the Park, is 23 miles of breathtaking views. The
road climbs from the Grand Valley of the Colorado River to the park’s
high country, and then winds along the plateau rim where you can enjoy
panoramas of the great rock formations, canyons, distant valleys and
mountains.
per year and have done so for the last decade. This ride used to be
one of the stages of the Coors Classic road race series back in the
eighties. Several scenes from the movie The American Flyer was filmed
there (I like the movie – you should check it out!).
started the ride at 9am – equipped with rain gear since it was
pretty cloudy. Sure enough it started to rain shortly thereafter. I
decided to do the loop counter clockwise so I headed to the west entrance
by way of easy rolling roads (South Camp to South Broadway and then
Broadway). It took about 40 minutes at an easy pace to reach the West
gate, which is at an elevation of 4690 feet. From there you climb steadily
for about 4 miles. My heart rate was 133-139 and I felt good. When I
reached the Visitor Center/Book Cliff View I was at 5787 feet. I went
through two dark tunnels – glad both times that no cars or trucks
approached. From the visitor center it is 11 miles of gradual uphill
to the highest point of 6640 feet. I was feeling great so I tightened
the waist belt on the backpack, emptied the first bottle of diluted
Enervit and shifted to a harder gear. As I passed the Monument Canyon
view, my heart rate was 147,148,152. Shifting to the next harder gear
and coasting by Highland view, my heart rate was 156,160,166 (altitude
6479 feet).
It started raining again (oh well) and I started singing the old Doors
song (I always do on this ride for some reason) – Riders of the
storm…
Now with four miles to go, I alternated sitting and standing which allowed
me to push harder. My heart rate increased to 167,169,170, 171. With
one mile to go, I started to max out but managed to keep going at the
same heart rate over the top. What a great feeling! I couldn’t
stop now… so I rode my highest gear down the hills, passing two
cars going the same way. I got a nasty look but also a friendly hand
signal from a Park Ranger. Suddenly it was over – 2 hours and 20
minutes of joy! These are the workouts that keep you going and that
you dream about – unbeatable!
I actually did the same loop, just in the opposite direction, plus biked
from my in-laws house, which made the whole thing 3.5 hours. (Makes
you want to visit your in-laws when you know what the possibilities
are!).
Gordon’s Month
about two times per week. Not as often as last year since we seem to
have more conflicting schedules this year. Anyway he looks strong in
the interval sessions, about the same level as me on the flats and gradual
uphills and a little tougher in the steep up hills. I do hope that the
fact that I seem to be doing more strength training than him will make
up for that "steep uphill" difference come race time. He gets
in one long rollerski workout of about 2-2.5 hours per week and that
is longer than any of my rollerski workouts. On October 27th he ran
the Agony Hill Time trial in 16.40, not as fast as he had planned to
but clearly better than that miserable day in August. He also mentioned
something about struggling with a cold for the week leading up to the
time trial.
Plans for November
to October. Two to three quality sessions per week and one weekly interval
session where I hold back. I’m choosing 3-7 minute intervals for
the session. The total interval time including recovery is around 30-45
minutes. The intensity is usually 3 with some intensity 4 at the end.
is more speed oriented and I prefer short intervals (30 seconds to 3
minutes) in flat terrain or easy rolling terrain for this session. Total
interval time including recovery is usually 10-25 minutes.
is usually hard in uphills with a couple intervals in intensity 3-4
before moving into 4-5. Example: 3-4-3-4-3.
on few reps and heavy weights with an occasional session or some exercises
with focus on 30-60 reps. I do many reps on stomach, triceps and on
one back exercise.
week with 2-3 interval sessions will be when I go up to West Yellowstone
for the annual fall camp. I don’t do intervals during this week
since it’s usually my first week on snow. My days are usually teaching
technique to a class of 5-10 skiers in the morning. After the class
I might ski 5-10 kilometer.
1-2 hour distance workout and the intensity is usually 1-3 depending
upon who’s on my tail. (Warning: Just watch it, I might put a little
thin layer of red klister on the tail end of my skis to prevent the
really obnoxious tail suckers from gliding up on me following drafting
behind me in the downs). That’s a good Old Secret Norwegian relay
trick – so don’t tell anyone.
Happy training
Torbjørn
