Wednesday Workout: Weng’s Fall Favorites

For this week’s workout, we consulted Norwegian national team member Heidi Weng. A 2014 Olympic bronze medalist, Weng, 24, finished third overall in the World Cup last winter. This season, she’s going all in — chasing the coveted Crystal Globe along with the overall Tour de Ski title.

To get there, Weng spends a lot of time with both hard intensity and easy distance sessions. Here are two of her favorite fall workouts:

1. ‘Moosehuf‘/bounding intervals:

5 x 5 minutes on steep terrain (i.e. up an alpine slope while using ski poles. One variation: 5 x 5 speed progressions)

“Hard bounding intervals on steep terrain are the workouts I love to hate,” Weng told FasterSkier late last month at the Madshus factory in Biri, Norway. “I love these intervals because I know they work, and they really challenge me. But I hate them because they are so hard. My legs fill up with lactic acid from the get-go.”

2. Long rollerski workouts:

Rollerskiing for 1 1/2 hours or more. (Weng advises to keep the intensity low and in check during these easy distance workouts. Opt for interesting terrain.)

“I love going for long rollerski workouts near my parents’ house in Enebakk, Norway,” she said. “There is hardly any traffic there, and the terrain is perfect for long workouts. It’s not too steep, but perfectly rolling and never boring.

“But it’s not too twisty and there are no really long downhills. I don’t like long downhills,” she added. “At the same time, it’s impossible to do hard intensity workouts on this terrain, for the exact same reasons.”