After a full summer of busy training, you might be feeling ready to take on the world! With a great base of fitness, you can take on workouts that are faster, longer, and tougher than ever. There are even some workouts that combine intensity and stamina in ways that are usually harder to accomplish earlier in the season. If you’ve been putting in the time this summer, though, it could be time to give some L3 “fast finishes” a try.
A favorite of Andy Newell and some of the pro skiers in VT and beyond, this workout is intended to push you when it’s hardest to dig deep: the end of a long interval. Whether by distance or time, the best way to conceptualize this workout is a set block of level 3 effort, with the last 10% being a level 4 race-pace-or-above effort.
Remember, level 3 is a pace you could sustain for 45-60 minutes…for many of us, it can be considered “marathon” pace.
Level 4 is a pace you could sustain for 15-20 minutes…for many of us, it can be considered “5km” pace.
Pick intervals of either 8, 10, 15, or 20 minutes in length, or maybe 1 to 5km in length. The intervals are L3, except for the last 10% or so which is a hard L4 effort. This means you’ll need to keep enough energy in the tank to push noticeably harder for the last part of the interval. It’s a good way to practice being powerful when you’re tired, but it also keeps you “honest” because if you go too hard in the L3 portion, you won’t be able to really have the extra speed needed for the end of each interval.
Try to keep the total “on-time” for intensity under one hour…so if you are doing 20-minute intervals, no more than 3 of them! That would be on the upper end of the toughness scale. A very standard workout might be 3×8-10 minutes.
Challenge yourself to up the energy on the final push, and you’ll remember tough workouts like this at the end of your races this winter when you’re duking it out with your rivals!
Comments are closed.