Wednesday Workout: Mountain Boarding Anaerobic Workout with Colette Bourgonje

This week’s workout comes from Colette Bourgonje, a 10-time Paralympian who recently retired from the Canadian Para-Nordic Team to enjoy other hobbies at her home in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, including kayaking, biking, and sitting outside sipping coffee. Over the last two decades, she’s racked up 10 medals between the Winter and Summer Paralympics (three silver and three bronze in sit skiing, and four bronze in wheelchair racing).

While Bourgonje, 52, won’t miss four-hour training sessions that leave her stiff and tired, she’s looking forward to going out and doing something of her choosing for a couple hours at a time.

“I just don’t feel good if I don’t do something,” Bourgonje says. “Exercise is a lifestyle and you can’t just stop.”

While she does the following speed workout on a mountain board, which sit skiers use for dryland training, this could be done as a double-pole rollerski workout on pavement or trail running with poles (although the latter won’t give you as much of an upper-body workout).

“I like this workout because of the change in pace, which makes you focus on technique with speed and adds variety with the distance you end up putting in,” Bourgonje explains.

The Workout: Mountain Boarding Anaerobic Workout

Total time: Up to 2 hours

Warmup: 20-30 minutes with 3-4 accelerations

Intervals: 3 x 4-minutes in Zone 4, with fully recovery in between each (3-4 minutes of easy movement in Zone 1)

Rest: Take a 10-minute set break.

Repeat: 3 x 4-minute intervals (with recovery periods) once more, for a total of 24 minutes of work.

Cool down: 20-30 minutes with stretching after