Author Archive | Adam Terko

With a long stretch of training ahead, now is a good time to take steps to improve your daily work and sessions. A lot of us skiers know that there is benefit from taking it easy on some days, and working hard on others. Sometimes, easy work done for a long enough time provides good benefit…other days, hard work in a short session is the call.

How can you measure these workouts and be sure you are doing the right thing, at the right time? One of the best measurements is your heart rate, which can guide everything from your workouts themselves to the recovery you’re getting when you AREN’T on your feet.

Heart rate monitors vary from the inexpensive and simple to state-of-the-art computers packed with power right on your wrist. But you don’t need to spend hundreds to get a lot of benefit. There are plenty of interesting articles out there to guide training and learning…I’ll link two relevant ones below:

Light reading: Fasterskier article (summer 2019)

Dense reading: Marit Bjoergen’s training history (scholarly article)

How do we utilize Heart Rate monitors with the club? We generally group training into 5 different “zones” or “level”, the most common way for skiers to simplify this stuff. I’ll list the theoretical percentages of max HR (more on how to determine that later) as well as examples of what that pace looks like among our Juniors.

“Norwegian” Level 1, 50-60% of max HR: Generally the pace we use on a very relaxed recovery day or session, such as an afternoon jog at training camp after a morning that included a hard workout. Any uphill is walked. Termed this because of tales from an international training camp where “on easy day’s the Norwegians shuffled along and went super slow, but on the interval days they kicked everyone’s a@$.”

Level 1 60% of Max HR: Easy pace training, some hills may be walked on steep trails (such as the singletrack at Cochran’s) while other gradual hills like those you may find on dirt roads would still be in a run. I like to have this 60% be the average for the workout, meaning in some cases you would be above level 1, especially on rollerskis and ESPECIALLY on classic skis where it’s important to go quick enough to maintain good technique.

Level 2 75% of Max HR: Best way to describe this is either when you are feeling a bit “in the zone” on an L1 day and pick things up naturally, or when people begin to jockey for position and show some edge or advantage in what should be an easy workout. Funny enough this always seems

Skiing science subject Will Solow

to occur at REG camp and NEG camp where athletes from opposing clubs end up training together…who would’ve thought? At MNC practices this will usually lead to someone either yelling “Pace-Police!” to encourage a slowdown, or simply going to the front and slowing the pace oneself (therefore literally becoming the Pace-Police Officer)

Level 3 80-90% of Max HR: Best suited to longer intervals on terrain that is gradual. One of our keystone workouts in the summer is Road 101 in Smuggler’s Notch. The interval itself is about 20 minutes in length, with the last 4-5 minutes being steep enough to become L4. However, the road starts with long gradual sections that can be skied with good control. This is the type of workout, whether running or skiing or biking, where you feel like a “hero” because your technique can hold together. However you are on or just below the Anaerobic Threshold where your body starts to rely on stored sugar and lactic acid begins to be produced faster than your body can remove it naturally…inte

rvals and work of this type helps you can a lot of efficiency by training your body to handle greater and greater levels of effort and oxygen consumption.

Level 4 90-95% of Max HR: An effort of hard work that can range from 2-15 minutes in length, sometimes shorter. If you have ever competed in a 5km race, much of that time will be at level 4 with the exception of descents and (if you are on skis) flat and fast terrain. Quintessential L4 workouts are 4-5×4 minutes uphill running, or 6-8×2 minutes rollerskiing. We are also a bit fan of 30/30 workouts (30 seconds on, 30 seconds off) at Level 4, where your body gradually loses the ability to clear the lactic acid produced within the allotted 30 second recovery window. This type of training helps top speed, efficiency, mental strength, and pacing.

Level 5 95-100% of Max HR: Pretty tough to sustain…this is reserved for sprints and speeds! Think the final 100m or a race, or alternatively a 200m effort on a track. This helps work on speed-of-movement and fast-twitch recruitment. Also, head-to-head this type of effort is usually very fun!

How do I know my max HR?

There are a lot of tests out there, as well as simple rules like “220 minus your age” which has been around for a long time. In our world, without access to serious testing facilities and oxygen-uptake measurements, there are a few ways I’d suggest going about this:

• Uphill run test. Luckily we have an option for one coming right up! However this can be done whenever you choose. Ideally this will be a test of most (if not all) uphill terrain for 11-18 minutes. In some cases going longer than this means your body will pace naturally into a more controlled effort. However, it’s highly likely that sometime during an uphill run test you will be at least within a few ticks of your max HR. If your monitor tells you your “max” for that workout (most all should) use this info!
• 2min repeats. Alternative to an uphill run test, 2 minute hard intervals up a hill are great. Recovery time is just the trip back down, and using poles will both be more ski specific AND create more effort from the whole body than running alone.

Lactate testing: another way to measure effort and the subject for next time!

Although we may all have personal preferences of when to start rollerskiing (all the way from “I can’t wait to get on the rollers this spring” to “Don’t expect me to ever touch those things”) it is generally accepted that for training purposes, the start of rollerskiing coincides with the start of the “training year” on May 1…or in this case, April 27th in terms of how the calendar dates fall.

Due to the fact that we…

a) lost a chunk of end-of-season racing and regular training and

b) have been restricted in our training by remaining socially-distant and keeping off trails

…I am proposing we unofficially begin the rollerski season a week early.

During a switch of seasons, it’s natural to feel a bit awkward while also noticing some soreness in areas that may not present in one sport or another. How many of us began the running season and had to keep it slow and short at the beginning to ease into the new motions and stresses on the body? The same should go for rollerskiing.

This off-season is where we make a lot of technique progress. This progress most often happens through good repetition and habits…as the US Ski Team coaches are fond of saying, “practice doesn’t make perfect: practice makes permanent”. It we go out and do a long ski before we are ready, we might fall into troublesome movement patterns or not have the strength yet to perform motions with good energy. All of a sudden, we are making weak movements permanent by staying out too long and drilling them into our bodies.

Keep it short and steady, increasing week-by-week. Just like a runner builds up mileage to prevent overuse injuries, rollerskiing should be at least somewhat structured in terms of volume. Starting in the 30-50 minute range for the first 2-3 rollerskis is a great way to ease back into the motions. If you feel like that workout is “not long enough”, you could rollerski for the first part and then switch to running or biking for a bit after the ski. But do not be tempted to go out and treat things like you left off with your last long ski at Craftsbury or Trapps.

Stay safe and be seen. While quarantine has made things a bit less crowded on the roads, that’s no excuse not to wear hi-viz clothing while rollerskiing. Unless you are exclusively on a bike path (and even then it might be helpful for others) please wear reflective clothing or, at the very least, a yellow or orange shirt. I don’t think anyone in our club needs to be reminded to wear a helmet during a rollerski, but I’ll put that here anyway…

Drills are your friend, and your poles are not. Unless you have been really working your upper-body during the month of April (bonus points if you have!) you are likely going to get a bit tired in that area first and foremost. In order to gradually build up that tolerance, while also getting in some great balance and technique work, I recommend starting EVERY skate rollerski with 10-15 minutes of no-pole skiing. Not only does this keep you from over-cooking it right off the bat, it also helps the body learn and re-learn good movement quickly by isolating one part of the ski motion. Check out this somewhat-dated but still-relevant MNC video showing several rollerski drills you can do on your own. Another unintended benefit of quarantine? There are a lot of empty parking lots out there!

For those of us with classic rollerskis, it is never too early to work on double poling, though I might suggest keeping those DP-specific sessions even shorter than a skate session because this is the technique where it can be very easy, especially in the early-season, to break down in the core, hip, and upper-body areas. A progression of drills the Juniors have done for years is what we call the “activation drill”. I would be a wealthy coach if I had a nickel for every lap of Stadium Loop at the Range that has been done by the Juniors as a part of this “activation drill”…it is basically the way we will begin most every rollerski practice, as it is worthwhile both for double pole and V2 technique.

Rollerskiing also comes down to the equipment itself. Make sure your gear is ready to rock! Just like you would check your bike tires before a ride, make sure all nuts and bolts are tightened. I’m a big fan of using Loc-Tite or any other brand of thread-locking fluid which is a few bucks at most hardware stores. It’s a 10-minute task to loosen the nuts holding your wheels on, putting a little Loc-Tite on them, and re-tightening.

Sharp pole tips are pretty useful…you can buy new ones when they get dull, OR you can use a diamond-file to keep them sharp and get a LOT of use out of just one pair!

• You can get ones from Swix or other tuning brands which are technically made for alpine ski edges. These are sold at Skirack in the alpine tuning section on the lower floor near the bike service desk.
• You can purchase tool-sharpening diamond files from hardware stores (this yellow Smith one is the model I have, and I like it because it’s a bit larger AND yellow, which means I’m less-likely to lose it or leave it somewhere on the side of the road or trail).

If you have composite rollerskis (made of a mix of materials and cap construction) like Marwe 620 or Swenor Fibreglass, check the wear on the materials. When using these types of skis try as best you can to keep them clean or at least wiped-off if you’re skiing through terrain that’s got dirt, sand, salt, etc…

Lastly: remember that MNC members get 30% off Swenor rollerskis at www.enjoywinter.com with the code “MNC1920” at checkout! Swenor skis can also be found at Skirack right in downtown Burlington! Other good sources for rollerskis at reasonable prices:

RollerskiShop.com/Pursuit Rollerskis

Pioneer Midwest/Hjul Rollerskis

Got skis? App Gap 2019 by Pennie Rand