It is always a good time at the end of each season to sit down and review what happened and how we could modify our training to produce better results next season. As a masters skier with family and job commitments I don’t have access to the latest laboratory testing. A lot of review is done by feel and being honest with myself. Oh yes and my wife helped me by giving me a heart rate monitor for my birthday last year.
I am unwilling to put in anymore time into training other than my daily hour in the mornings (a little bit more on weekends). So in the interest of getting more “bang for my buck†I have been using my heart rate monitor during the pre-season and the season itself in Australia to get some feedback. As a result I have been getting some interesting results that may help others or provide a point for discussion.
First of all, the search for the maximum heart rate. A physiologist at a lecture I attended told me to find my maximum without the use of a laboratory was to do a thorough warm-up and run a flat out 400 metres. He said that should get the heart rate up there. Well it gave me a reading of 180. At the age of 42 using the formula of 220 minus your age, I thought that was about right. Then a few months later I ran a 10km road race over a hilly course. My max got up to 188 and I averaged for the race 182! That little thing sure was pumping! Subsequently I found out another method of finding your heart rate is finding a slight incline that takes you 3 minutes to get up. After a thorough warm-up you do three bursts up this incline. The first one should be controlled, then the next two should increase to maximum effort by the end.
This method seemed to ring true when my skiing started when I noticed that it took a few hard hills in short early season races to get my heart rate up to max. It when it came to skiing I noticed differences between techniques and length of races. On the same course at altitude (1700-1800m) my max heart rate skating was 189, in classic 182. During the season this actually improved over the same course to 182 and 179. Through my reading I have found out that max heart rate can vary through activities. Theoretically the more limbs you use and resistance you have (e.g. swimming) the lower your max heart rate will be. Localised muscle fatigue will prevent you from reaching your max.
. Some of those sessions towards the start of the season were quite intense, trying to build up my lactate tolerance. I believe this was part of the reason why my results improved this year. I have also learnt from my review to adjust my training levels according to the activity or technique that I am doing.</p><p>This can be one of the fun aspects of cross-country ski racing for masters skiers. You don’t have the pressure of Olympic selection so you can use yourself as a laboratory and find out what really works. If it doesn’t work that is O.K. as long as you enjoyed keeping fit and healthy. A great thing of this sport is that there are so many facets to it you can still look to improve as you attempt to grow old gracefully.</p><p><i>Warren McCourt is a masters skier from Canberra, Australia.</i></p></div></div></div><div class=)