DN Interval training overview and comments

 

DN training for advanced skiers (and those intermediate skiers preparing for an event or adventure!) over the next few months – we will have interval sessions each Tuesday night

General goal: build efficient & relaxed speed on skis in a long-term healthy way

For some, the goal might be a big ski trip to the mountains in March, for others it might be a specific event like the Finlandia or the Birkie.   A few principles to keep in mind throughout all your training:

1)     Maintain injury-prevention strength work year-round. We tend to assume that we DESERVE to be able to do all the physical things we want to do, but that’s not the case!   Our bodies were not built to be skiers, cyclists, rowers, etc., so a small amount of injury-prevention strength work once or twice a week needs to be maintained year-round – see our videos on the things that have helped members build injury prevention strength for skiing and other sports.

2)     Regular easy aerobic activity.   Hard endurance training day-after-day leads to a lot of negative stress that can turn into really unhealthy chronic stress.    To help build your body’s ability to handle a bit of harder training on other days, you should be aiming for 2 to 3 sessions every week of only light aerobic intensity – e.g. brisk walking or light skiing for an hour+.

3)     Enjoy the outdoors.  We are lucky to be able to be outside in the winter and enjoying the beauty of beautiful winter days!

Plan – this plan can be modified for specific goals and each person’s strengths and weaknesses – feel free to reach out to discuss in more detail.

Interval sessions should not be overly hard.    Goal is to maintain relaxed & efficient speed to the very last interval effort.   We want to ingrain good technique, rather than push too hard!!

Week 1 – interval session – 4 to 5 x 30 seconds pick-ups with 1 to 2 minutes easy skiing in between – good technique but at a faster speed; can add in a bit of terrain

Week 2 – 4 x 1 minute pick-ups with 2 minutes easy skiing in between; should not be breathing too hard at the end of each interval

Start adding in a longer and hillier ski each week – these skis can get longer or a bit more intense as you progress over the next several weeks.  E.g. 1 hour hilly ski … then 1 hour 30 minutes hillier ski … building to 2 hours plus of hillier faster skis on terrain closer to your goal

Week 3 – 4 x 2 minutes with 2 minutes easy skiing in between; should have great relaxed technique throughout; should be a bit faster than goal pace, but not too fast!

Week 4 – 4 x 3 minutes with 2 minutes easy skiing in between; if goal is to race really fast, then you can be breathing fairly hard at the end of these, but otherwise keeping technique relaxed and efficient

Week 5 – 4 x 5 minutes with 2 minutes easy skiing in between

Week 6 – 3 x 8 minutes with 3 minutes easy skiing in between

Week 7 – 3 x 8 minutes with 2 minutes easy skiing in between

Week 8 – 2 longer hillier skis

Week 9 – easier week of skiing before bigger goal skis / event

See below for one injury-prevention exercise Jessie Diggins does year-round - go to 5:50 into the video for the exercise

Interval training

Howdy Skiers,

Well I guess we can go ahead and call the season over.  For now.  30+ degrees wreaks havoc on the snow.

We're probably all well into our summer training and have cast off our toques and gloves for shorts and sandals with black socks up to our knees.   Clearly we are the coolest of all athletes.

Here's another write up about intervals from Dr Gabe Merkin's email newsletter:

Short Intervals are Best

 

Interval training means that you alternate bursts of intense exercise with slow exercise until you feel tired. Short intervals are defined as lasting less than 30 seconds each, while long intervals usually last more than two minutes each. The most efficient, time-saving and health-benefitting way to exercise is to use short intervals (Scan J Med & Sci in Sports, Jan 2014). You can do many more short intervals than long intervals because they do not cause much muscle damage and you do not build up significant amounts of lactic acid in less than 30 seconds. Long intervals can cause so much muscle damage and such high levels of lactic acid that you can do very few of them in a workout. They also take longer to recover before you can do your next interval workout. Competitive athletes need to do long intervals as well as short intervals, but if you are not competing in sports, you don't ever need to do long intervals.

The faster you go in an interval workout, the greater the gain in your ability to take in and use oxygen, and the faster you can ride or run. In one study, short intervals improved one-hour race times the most (Med Sci Sports Exerc, May 1999;31(5):736-41). This study compared 30-second all-out, 5-minute all-out, and 40-min all-out bouts of cycling. In 10 weeks of twice-a-week, effort-matched trials, they found that short interval training was more effective than long intervals in improving mean power output and VO2max (the maximal amount of oxygen you can take in and use per minute). VO2 max is the best laboratory measure of how fast a cyclist can ride or a runner can run over a distance.

How to Do A Short Interval Workout
• Warm up by jogging, cycling or swimming slowly for 5-10 minutes
• Pick up the pace for 30 seconds or less, until you feel a burning or tightness in your muscles or shortness of breath
• Then exercise very slowly until you recover your breath and your muscles feel fresh
• Alternate these 30-second-or-less sprints with slow recoveries until your muscles start to feel heavy or tight
• Cool down by moving very slowly for at least 5-10 minutes.

Apply these concepts to any sport or activity that requires continuous motion. For example, if you are riding a bicycle, warm up slowly for 5-10 minutes. Then increase your speed and the pressure on the pedals for 5-20 pedal strokes. Slow down and recover, then repeat. As you become stronger, work up to 50 pedal stroke intervals, or whatever you can do in 30 seconds or less. Do not start your next interval until your legs feel fresh again, the burning has gone away and you are no longer short of breath. When your leg muscles start to feel stiff and heavy, stop the workout for the day and spend 5-10 minutes cooling down by exercising at a very slow pace.

Rest Periods Between Short Intervals
It makes little difference how long you exercise at a reduced pace between your short intervals. The shorter the rest between intervals, the longer it takes to recover from the next interval (Med and Sci in Sports and Ex, August 2005). When an athlete trains for competition, it is far more important how fast he can run each interval compared to how long he has to rest to recover between each interval. I have seen Olympic champions at every distance, particularly the shorter events, coming back to do their next interval when they feel they have recovered enough, not after they have waited a prescribed recovery time. Athletes learn their ideal interval rest durations through trial and error. They may want to rest until their pulse drops to a comfortable rate, or until they are breathing at a normal rate, or until their muscles lose soreness and feel fresh. Competitive athletes can use either active and passive recoveries (moving slowly or standing still) between intervals (Eur J Appl Physiology, March 2005;93(5–6):694–700). Active recovery drops lactic acid levels toward normal faster than passive recovery (Med and Sci in Sports and Ex, Apr 1, 1996;28(4):450-456).

Rules for Short Interval Training
Athletes train by "stress and recover". On one day, they take a hard workout which damages their muscles. On the next day, they feel sore so they take easy workouts, and when the extreme soreness goes away, they take a hard workout again. You should do the same.
• If you are doing interval training properly, your muscles will feel sore on the next day, so do not do intervals on consecutive days. Always allow at least 48 hours between interval workouts, and 72 hours is probably better.
• Plan to go easy on your recovery days; do not plan to take off. If your sore muscles feel better after a 5-10 minute warm up, exercise at a very low intensity. Stop exercising if you feel discomfort.
• If your sore muscles do not feel better after a 5-10 minute warmup, take the day off.
• You can do your next interval workout two or three days later, or when your muscles feel fresh again. Never attempt an interval workout if your legs still feel heavy or hurt after you warm up.

Advantages of Short Interval Training
Interval training workouts take far less time than conventional workouts that maintain a steady pace at lower intensity. We have known for many years that high-intensity training improves performance and is necessary for competitive athletes in all sports. Now researchers are finding that these short bouts of intense exercise offer tremendous health benefits for everyone. See Interval Training Helps Your Heart
Intervals Lower Blood Sugar
Lactic Acid is Good For You
Intervals for Everyone

Caution: Intense exercise can cause heart attacks in people with blocked arteries leading to their hearts, so before you start interval training, check with your doctor.

Source:   https://www.drmirkin.com/