Today we did L3 intervals on East Bethel road. Sadie did the intervals sans poles due to her broken finger (and her coaches’ interest in hammering the speedskater drill into her brain… success!), and Ashton did them DP only. The interval was 2.6 km long over rolling terrain. Jeremy Blazar (our new assistant coach – see the coaches page) and I stayed dry inside the van and took times and lactates!
Sadie / Time / Lactate / HR
10:06 / 6.1 / 167
9:00 / 5.5 / 166
9:38 / —- / 169
8:55 / —- / 167
Ashton / Time / Lactate / HR
10:30 / — / ”somewhere between 117 and 177″
8:50 / 4.1 / 167
9:30 / —- / 168
8:56 / —- / 168
The first one was going up, second one down, third up, fourth down (explains the time variation). At L3, the “scientific” measure we looking for is a lactate between 4-6 mmol – then we try to correlate a HR and a feeling that a skier can stick, so that a skier can ski at L3 without getting poked with a needle all the time. As for timing the intervals – we are just looking for speed improvement for a given level of exertion. Either over time from fitness gains, or over one workout from technique cues.
From the few tests we did today, it seems like everyone was pretty much on target for L3, plus or minus a few variations (restricted technique being a complicating factor). But, good enough work for one day! And excellent leg and arm workouts were had!
Ashton getting a poke:
