Editor's Note: This article was written earlier in the fall, but is still applicable as many of us are still in the middle of the transition to skiing.
I’m sitting in my hotel room here about as far north as you can get in Finland. Sariselkaa is the place, a little town with a focus on Nordic skiing.
The conditions are terrific here, with 5km of “train†track loops that will soon be 8 km, both skating and classic naturally. The organizers seem to be a little ahead of their Norwegian counterparts in terms of having early snow. Last week 3km worth of snow, which was stored under tarpaulin and sawdust, was spread out on the trails. This is a simple and old trick that allows the snow to survive the summer and heat. That’s how simply and relatively cheaply it can be done. Many national teams come here because they know that the conditions will be good. We are planning to stay here for 14 days, thereafter travel to Beitostœlen and then back again prior to Kuusamo.
When it comes to training in this period, cool heads need to prevail to achieve a sound training plan. Sometimes it is impossible to plan more than a few days of training, because it can shift between dryland and snow. It may even be impossible to rollerski because of snow, but not yet have enough to ski on.
Those that have the opportunity to travel to snow should do this after a while, although for those of us who are citizen racers there is no reason to hurry at this point. Training and capacity are actually better sustained with good dryland training, assuming that the motivation is there. It can also be frustrating to ski lap after lap in a short and hard loop accompanied by hundreds of other desperates who are all jockeying for position and attention.
My advice is to wait until the conditions have improved sufficiently so that you can ski a few calm distance workouts in easy terrain. Meanwhile, continue with dryland training, particularly the intensity, during the week. I’d suggest using the weekends for long easy skis, and the rest of the week for normal dryland training.
Of course, if you have good snow conditions, you should do more skiing. But remember to continue with dryland training. The snow has disappeared in December more than once!
Recommendations for Training, Combination of Dryland and on Snow
Volume/Hard Week:
5 — 6 Workouts.
1:
6 x 6 min, Lv.3 (Controlled Pace). Moosehoof/ski-walking/running/rollerski. 3 minutes of rest between repeats.