Spring Training: Skiing
A mini-series of articles intended to get you going this spring.
I often see that skiers “spring breaks” are too long and contain
too little variation. Good domestic skiers, masters or juniors don’t have
the need for a long post-season mental and physical break like World Cup skiers
do. They have spent months on the road, in and out of hotel rooms, and raced
up to three weekly races from November to April- while most skiers haven’t.
A long unnecessary break can cause a dramatic and unwanted reduction in endurance
and strength, and lack of variation in the spring makes you prone to injuries
when you finally get going.
Spring and early summer is when you really should make an attempt to have fun,
use different trails, roads, exercises, drills and training methods. There is
no need to be training with high intensity yet. Getting ready for larger training
volume and a variety of training methods later is the key idea.
In other words get in shape or stay fit – depending on your baseline – by training
well, without pushing the limits but with variation. It’s the only time
of year that the unsystematic approach is accepted and recommended.
The ultimate goal is of course to – in a fun way – be “fitter than a rocking-horse”
when it’s time to get back to a more systematic approach in May – June
sometime. These short training pieces are therefore written as we do them
and as we see them. They are not meant to be a “how to” or a training
program, but short and hopefully inspirational – something you can
implement in your training any time. If they get you “off the coach”
we succeeded.
Skiing
Many states still have snow. Early morning crust skiing before the sun melts
the surface can be a blast. Wide open areas can suddenly be dozens of kilometer
with unbelievable skating possibilities.
Late spring snow falls can create great classic skiing in places where the snow
has melted and created an ice base.
