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We are changing it up this week with a slower workout. But not necessarily a less-difficult workout! The challenge of an “overdistance” workout is the duration. By going at a manageable pace but challenging the length, you’re teaching your body different mechanisms from short intensity. You are building your base to better handle hard efforts and easy efforts alike!

Coach Alex Jospe recently put together this video for NENSA’s Regional Elite Group. It can get pretty scientific but there’s a lot to be said for knowing what’s happening out there on the road or trail:THe

The challenge to MNC Masters this week is to get out and shoot for a workout of at least 120 minutes! This can be skiing, running, biking, paddling, or a combination! This weekend the Juniors did a combination of 1+ hour rollerskiing and 1+ hour trail running. These two compliment each other well, because they both require a bit of dexterity.

Combining modes may defeat one purpose of the overdistance workout (repetition) but it enhances the ability to go for a bit longer because you change the scenery and the sensations. Also, combo-sessions are a great way to get out there for a longer duration WITH good technique and form because you don’t spend quite long enough in either mode of training to lose consistency, strength, and technique! Plus, the logistics can be fun to work out and plan for!

Very long distance trail running!

This week we are tackling “30/30 speeds”, henceforth referred to simple as 30/30s. These are a staple of the Junior program but they are incredibly beneficial for any skier! The combination of hard work but short bursts and equal rest is very unique, with a very direct technique-focused application in addition to just pure fitness or strength.

The short nature of the interval means that on rollerskis (or on foot!) you should try to execute good technique for the whole speed. The recovery period is equivalent: 30 seconds on, 30 seconds easy but continual moving. Hence the title 30/30s. The tricky part is that the more of these you do, the harder it is to maintain that good technique. These intervals truly are “easy to lean/hard to master” because it’s quite easy at first to go hard…but it can catch up to you fast!

As Scott Johnston writes in “Training for the Uphill Athlete”, 30/30s are “a good way to introduce Z4 [Level 4, or race pace] into your interval routine and add in a bit of speed to what may become some fairly slow but hard uphill efforts. You’ll need a good warmup that culminates in three to four minutes at Z3 [level 3, or threshold pace]. Then you’ll be ready to roll right into the 30/30 sets.”

Johnston suggests starting with 2 sets of 6 minutes of 30/30s. Give yourself 5-10 minutes between set one before rolling right into set 2. As you progress through the summer or fall, bump it up to 2×8 minutes, then 2×10…eventually you could shoot for a whole 30 minute block, which is 15 minutes of intensity time!

After a strong turnout the past two weeks, we are now ready to kick off a formal 8 week Roller Ski Coaching sessions with Coach Andy.  The 8-week sessions will run Tuesday’s 6/16 thru 8/4 for a fee of $85.   Sessions will occur on the gentle terrain in Williston with any updates posted on the Masters Training Doc.

Links to register are below:

MNC 19-20 Membership (if you participated in Winter that membership is still active)

MNC Summer Roller Ski Registration

NENSA has started their #JuneTerm programming with weekly challenges for masters, competitive regional athletes, and youth skiers…but we’d also like to share some ideas every week that our MNC masters can tackle as part of a well-rounded training program!

We have great options every week, including Monday rollerskiing sessions, Thursday running opportunities, and Sunday bike rides (for an update on all these activities, click here).

But our weekly Masters Challenge is going to be focused on an intensity session that can be done in any mode: running, skiing, biking, paddling, hiking, you name it. We will be taking some “traditional” training workouts and styles and sharing them here.

This week’s challenge is a continuous uphill effort (CUE for short!). This is similar to our Uphill Challenge in May, but you’re not limited to running in this endeavor. The goal is to find a hill about 15-25 minutes long and try to go up at a steady pace. For some this will be an all-out effort to maximize the pain, but it doesn’t need to be brutal to be effective. At the end of the summer, you can re-visit your CUE site for a progress-check.

• Some might choose to use the same course they tackled for the Uphill Challenge: it has been over a month since that challenge and now would be a good time to see if some continued work has paid off!
• Some might choose a different mode…find a long road to bike up, a challenging section on a path to rollerski, or a windy day for a paddle: waves count as hills in a watercraft 😉
• You can also choose to take on the MNC Bolton uphill run test, which has GONE VIRTUAL! The Juniors did this test on Saturday, and before the race I re-mapped the course on Strava to ensure it would more easily show up as a segment. The “start” and “end” of the segment are not a little bit inside the actual course…so if you start 15′ uphill from the lower gate (by the “Waffle House”) and end at the plateau just before the top of the chairlift (above the wind turbine) and then add 10 seconds to your Strava segment time, you’ll have your Bolton test record time.

There’s no online requirements for weekly challenges…no submission platform, no media that needs to be sent in…just a chance to get inspired to try adding something to training! Next week (beginning June 15th) we will discuss and implement the always-beneficial “30/30s” into the challenge!

Bolton test…now virtual!

From the Vista base area, up Sherman’s Pass on the gravel road!