When Caitlin Gregg felt a familiar twinge in her left hamstring this spring, she ditched the running shoes and joined the Fix Studio for an Urban Training Camp that featured four days of cycling. Not only were the wheeled workouts were beneficial to her injured leg, but they also pushed her to a new level of interval intensity.
St. Scholastica Head Coach Chad Salmela shares his timeless and Seinfeld-inspired “Death Blow” workout. "What I love about this workout is the raw intensity and guts required while doing it," he writes. "... [It's] primarily for athletes who have raced a bunch but still haven’t seemed to reach into their anaerobic bag of tricks fully."
In the last year since she retired from biathlon, Germany's Andrea Burke (formerly Henkel) has been in a period of transition, taking classes and preparing for her big move to the U.S. while fitting in quality strength sessions whenever possible. “I really like to do [these] kind of programs for staying in shape and get some heart rate between studying,” she explains.
This week's Wednesday Workout comes from Caitlin Patterson of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project. Patterson's addresses how to feel sharp on days when your skiing is sluggish from her home course at the Craftsbury Outdoors Center.
In this revived Pro Workout, Caitlin Gregg (formerly Caitlin Compton) explains how to deal with challenging and unexpected circumstances, especially before race day. “You need to have the ability to be flexible and to understand that there are some things you can’t control,” she said back in 2010. “But there are tons of options. The beauty of cross-country skiing is that we do lots of cross-training in the offseason.”
Facing a lack of snow? Writing your training plan for next year? Here are some bounding tips from three-time 2015 national champion Rosie Brennan that will whip you into shape.
The reigning double-sprint champion from 2015 U.S. nationals, Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess talks about race prep and how he practices getting up to speed in training. "Personally I have an incredibly hard time replicating a race effort," he says. "The 15-15 is how I practice qualification."
There's snow in Quebec, and FS contributor François Léger Dionne gives us a great way to burn off the holiday treats and work on skate technique with the following workout, which he recently did at the Far Hills Ski Center in Val-David, Quebec.
What does a World Cup racer do after, say, a mini tour for recovery? We asked Canada's Alex Harvey, who placed 10th overall in last weekend's Lillehammer triple. He opted for an hour-and-15-minute run on Monday in Davos, led by coach Tor-Arne Hetland, who lives in Davos.
This gem comes from Matt Gelso, which he wrote three years ago after taking fourth in two distance races in West Yellowstone. Gelso, now 26, made the podium at this year's SuperTour opener with a 15 k skate victory in West last Friday. "I require a longer and very substantial warm-up, some simply need a few minutes to move around," Gelso explained. "It is important that you find your own unique methods and progression that gets you perfectly warmed up before a race."
This week's Wednesday Workout comes from West Yellowstone, where skiers are adjusting to altitude in order to prepare for Friday and Saturday's SuperTour races. FasterSkier caught up with the Montana State University Ski Team as they did their first Level 4 workout since arriving in West Yellowstone.
Good workouts never get old. This week, we bring back a Pro Workout of the past, which Devon Kershaw wrote almost exactly four years ago, just before leaving for Europe in early November. "A great workout this time of year – especially if you are coming off some volume (at altitude or not) and feel your body needs that lactate tolerance work to 'shock' the system," Kershaw writes.
St. Lawrence University Assistant Coach Adam Terko shares a dryland workout to get you ready for race day, and potentially 2015 NCAA Championships in Lake Placid. "A hard bounding workout with poles, done on the same terrain you race on, develops not only aerobic capacity and strong muscles but confidence and familiarity with a particular course," he writes.
This week's workout comes from U.S. Paralympics coach Eileen Carey, who shares a fun head-to-head speed session that works on both technique and tactics. "This type of workout is important for our program because we often have training sessions with athletes with a wide range of experience levels and/or with different impairments competing against one another," she says.
Wonder how the pros train for marathons? Holly Brooks, who's gearing up for a full season of marathons on the international circuit, has some tips and a workout to raise aerobic threshold and build speed bursts. "One of my go-to workouts is quick and simple: Over & Under, L3 pace workout with surges," she explains.
This week's strength workout comes from Team Hardwood Head Coach and Technical Director Ron Howden. "Athletes have all said after a couple of weeks, they feel more powerful and learn to pace themselves and work through pain in their upper body and legs," he explains.
Twice each fall, the University of Alaska Anchorage's nordic and alpine teams converge on their favorite sandbox for a sufferfest of sand-dune sprinting. "The family that plays together stays together and the ski team that suffers together can win together," Kastning explains of their larger NCAA goals.
Fresh off his wedding day, Bryan Fletcher gives some advice for how to keep your energy levels high, stay productive and get the most out of your workouts even during the busiest of times.
Looking for some extra motivation, what author Francois Léger Dionne calls "a simple spark so many endurance athletes tend to lose along the rocky road to personal gratification"? How about racing against the pros on your schedule and with home-gym advantage?
Fall is just beginning which means leaf-peeping, cider donuts, and pumpkin spice lattes are likely on your radar. However, once you get your head out of the changing leaves it may be time to focus on some new training goals as winter approaches.