August. New Zealand.
Still an hour or two out of Auckland and high over the pre-dawn South Pacific there is nothing but blue. Blue unpolluted by other color, and every tone and hue of it too. From the edge-of-space dark-blue in the high west, fading all the way down to the pale-blue horizon where it meets the deep-blue sea far, far below.
Thirteen hours cramped in this winged-tube of air-born aluminum hurling through all that blue, all to go for a ski in August.
We came here a year ago on a tip that this was the place to be, and we found for ourselves that it is.
This is the longest uninterrupted period of ski specific training we get all year, and some of the best skiing. There was much to do in NZ to become the best in the world at cross-country ski racing, and I was just as eager to go this past year as the first year, even more so, urgently so.
The focus in New Zealand is technique and volume. We also did two to three intensity sessions a week, including a few races. Twice a week we drove down to Wanaka (about half an hour from Snow Farm — www.snowfarmnz.com) to lift weights, run and play soccer. We also took a shine to the public golf course in Arrowtown whose links are rough, rocky and cramped and where a ball gone astray is a goner.
. The Pisa range is a high plateau carved by bubbling creeks into rolling mounds dotted with wild outcroppings of shist. Andrew and I wound our way up one such bubbling brook onto a huge dome of white. The higher we skied the farther the summit pulled away from us. The jagged Southern Alps lay across the valley on our left. We could pick out Mount Aspiring poking above the other mountains in the range all hovering over the Matukituki river valley (one of my top 5 places to run in the world). The false summits finally relented and we reached the actual top where we could look down at the brown, grassy valleys sectioned into fields dotted with sheep and dormant vineyards (whose tasty wares we did sample one or two times during our stay). The ski trails in general range from gently rolling to steeply ascending and descending.</p>
<p>This coming summer we are planning a return assault on the South Island. We are also participating in a camp being held there (and to which you are invited): see <a href=http://nsavage.com/sts/academies.asp.)
To avoid illness and fatigue upon return the most important thing is giving yourself time to recover (the case after any hard period of training). That means taking at least one week very easy and probably more. Last year a bunch of our skiers, psyched up from the trip, returned to training too soon at home and got sick or very tired. At this level balancing rest with work is still our major challenge, and failing to do this is what sunk our late season ship this past year but we’ll get there in due time.
August training example: None of these weeks should be copied out right, as they are designed for elite athletes and for our particular set of training/travel circumstances. This training week for instance falls while we have been in New Zealand for two weeks already. It would be counter productive to emulate this dryland training.
These examples should only serve to give you an idea of the type of training we believe is necessary to win at the international level. Junior racers must gradually train up to this level — which means that their training now must be good enough to enable them to train at this level when they are senior skiers or there is a slim chance they will race at a competitive level as seniors (please see athlete competencies at www.ussa.org under cross-country, coaches).
Mon: am — distance. Pm — distance with speed.
Tue: am – Level 3 intervals. Pm — core strength, some spenst and a run.
Wed: am — distance. Pm — distance.
Thurs: am — distance. Pm — distance with speed.
Fri: am — long distance. Pm — core strength.
Sat: am — Ski race. Pm — run.
Sun: am — long distance. Pm — distance.
While the distance training is kept at a low intensity it is all high quality in that it is focused on correct body position, motions and application of power. This focus is as important as the volume of training, and without focus the volume is worth little — Prepare with Purpose. The week also includes one intensity session, one race, one speed session and two strength sessions. The hours for this week are 28 — but the point is these are not empty hours done at the expense of quality. Do not train to train. Train to win.
September: athletes rest and train at home for half the month and then return to Park City for the fall. The rest period here is, as it is after any hard period, VITAL.
Two-week training example (Hard):
Mon: off
Tues: am – Double-pole intervals 2 sets of 10 reps of 30sec with 20 second rest and 5 min set break at level 3. The reason we do these short interval/short rest workouts is to move faster while staying in level 3. Pm — Max strength (note — all max strength workouts are infused with some core strength as a warm up, between max efforts, and as a warm down).
Wed: am — Rollerski skate distance with speed.
Thurs: Lab test (treadmill running) levels 1 – 5, plus distance. Pm — Core strength.
Fri: Distance Classical rollerski. (We have done mostly double pole with some double pole kick in these workouts, and will continue with that for the most part, but we may add some striding bursts even on gradual terrain to learn to move quickly through a larger range of motion. This is for experienced skiers who know what the proper kick feels like on skis. It may also be useful to other skiers, but striding on rollerskis can lead to a slow and late kick).
Sat: am — skiwalking intervals. Level 3, 3min, 4min, 5min, 4min, 3min. Pm — max strength.
Sun: Long distance (combi run/rollerski). Most of these OD workouts are done running at 7 to 9 thousand feet on mountain terrain. We may vary this a bit more this year, but the long run should remain a staple of cross-country ski training for all ages and abilities.
Mon: off
Tues: am – Soldier Hollow 5/10km running time trial (see below). Pm — max strength.
Wed: am – Distance Skate.
Thurs: am — Core strength and spenst. Pm — Distance.
Fri: am — distance classical rollerski.
Sat: am — rollerski classical intervals level 3, 3 x 8 min plus speed. Pm — max strength.
Sun: am — Long distance run.
These running time trials are extremely ski fitness specific as they are held on the Olympic trails. We hold three to four a year. They are puking hard race efforts.
 this past October. Andrew Johnson has gone from 40:48 to 38:08. Carl Swenson from a post bike season 43:21 to 38:36. Justin Freeman from 38:23 to 37:34. Torin runs a variation of the SH 5km and improved his time over half a minute to 15:57. Wendy Wagner who can’t run the down hills at SH due to her knees improved her track 5km by a minute.<br />
Holding a running TT on a hilly course is a great form of training and when done on the same course consistently a great test of fitness improvement.</p>
<p>October: The athletes are still in Park City. The focus is on intensity.</p>
<p>Hard two-week training example:</p>
<p>Mon: off<br />
Tues: am – Skate Rollerski time trial on the hilly loops at Soldier Hollow. Pm — Max strength.<br />
Wed: am — distance.<br />
Thurs: Morning forecast calls for pain – lactate tolerance intervals bounding (this is level 5) 2sets of 5reps of 1min (45seconds for ladies). Pm — core strength.<br />
Fri: Easy bike ride.<br />
Sat: am – Rollerski skate intervals, level 4, 5 x 5 min. Pm — max strength.<br />
Sun: am — Long distance run and rollerski.<br />
Mon: off.<br />
Tues: am — running intervals 2sets of 7 x 400m at 5km race pace (level 3). Pm — max strength.<br />
Wed: am – distance and some spenst. Pm — Easy bike ride.<br />
Thurs: am – Classical rollerski intervals, level 4, 6 x 4 mins (doublepole, d-pole w/kick). Pm — core strength.<br />
Fri: am — distance.<br />
Sat: am — Lactate tolerance (level 5) skate, 2sets of 5 x 70 (50 for ladies) seconds. Ouch. Pm — max strength.<br />
Sun: long, long bike ride.</p>
<p>Got it?</p>
<p>From Park City we departed, on October 22nd to Fairbanks. This was a disaster. I have gone up there for many years and never seen anything like fall 2003. There was an inch of snow when we got there and then it rained. The Fairbanks ski community is known for getting tracks together no matter how grim, but this was not doable. There was, however, skiing at Salcha.<br />
Salcha is a town about 35 miles south of Fairbanks. I guess it is a town, although I personally have only seen the elementary school which is where the ski trails start. There is nothing else in the near vicinity except for trees and a growling ice-clogged river. </p>
<p>I have driven in icy conditions all over the world, but the ice covering the road from Fairbanks to Salcha was what speed skaters call fast ice. It was world record ice. People say, “it’s a skating rink out there” but this was beyond that, hard, rain-slicked, glare ice without a trace of snow or a single grain of gravel on top. The drive was unavoidable and the skiing in Salcha was doable due to the extremely hard work of their groomer. He was out every night doing everything he could to make the conditions as good as they could be. Thank you Salcha. Thanks also goes out to the Athletic Club of Fairbanks for letting us lift weights there.<br />
The Fairbanks community is incredibly helpful and generous, but the snow being what it was we had to bail on Fairbanks none-the-less.</p>
<p>Back in Park City the snow was good — which is unusual for late October/early<br />
November. An important part of the early season is learning about the athlete’s skis — which pairs are good for which conditions and how to best wax the classical pairs. And so though the conditions were good, they were still spotty so the coaches spent a good bit of time shoveling snow onto the trial. The athletes put in hours on snow working on strength, fitness and technique. They also kept up with strength training
and generally did the Fairbanks thing in Park City. Many thanks to White Pine Touring for the great early season skiing.<br />
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Please keep your eyes pealed for info about Andrew Johnson’s Team Today project — your chance to join us on our voyage to Olympic Medals.
