by Erich Wilbrecht
The first snow fell this past weekend in the mountains surrounding Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and though it’s already melted up to 11,000 feet, it served notice that winter will arrive soon. From running, biking, hiking and climbing I’m amazed how quickly my thoughts turn to skiing the first time I see snow in the Tetons, and how my training will be changing along with the leaves. If you’ve had an active summer you should have a good base of cardiovascular fitness, and now it’s time to focus on becoming fit for the upcoming ski season. That’s what this article is going address; but first, let me briefly mention what you won’t be reading.
A great deal has been written over the years about training for cross-country ski racing, much of it by current former World-Cup or Olympic skiers and coaches. While this information can be interesting to the masters skier, the majority is highly technical, and the volume of effort required to engage in an elite training program is too damn rigorous for those of us who have more in life to get done than simply eat/sleep/train. So you won’t learn about my views on the proper angle of your elbow during V-2 technique, or if 4.5 mmol of lactic acid is the ideal inflection point for anaerobic threshold. And I won’t be suggesting you quit your job to train 5 hours a day (unless you call and ask nicely). Don’t get me wrong, for almost a decade I lived that life, and, like all ski racers I delayed life – career, kids, financial stability – in exchange for learning to ski fast and collecting a vast array of now stunningly ugly lycra race suits. Now in my late 40’s I still enjoy racing, and I love feeling fast and strong, but the whole effort lies tucked gently in the middle of my normal American experience of work and family, and all of the obligations contained therein. So if you want to get fit and have fun on the ski tracks this winter, read on, and I hope you enjoy my down and dirty cliff-notes on training for the (working persons) Master Skier.
Goal Setting:
It all begins with a simple goal, which is never simple, of course, but may read something like this; “Finish in the top 25 of my age group in the Boulder Mountain Tour”. OK, so there’s a goal, now ask yourself this- is it realistic? Are you reaching too far, or not far enough? For instance, “get out of bed and drink coffee” is also a goal, and it may feel empowering to check off another item on your “to do” list, but is it underreaching?
Goals are an amazingly powerful tool, as they begin a transformative process that engages your mind first, which is what you need to change before you can change your body. So, now armed with a goal that is realistic, reaching a bit, and ultimately fun, you can now create your training plan.
Planning your Training Year:
Nordic skiing can be divided into roughly four seasons, Spring, which is a time for recovery, travel and fun. Summer/Early Fall, training begins, but often in sports not related to skiing, like trail running, mountain biking, climbing, and not water-skiing. Which brings us to the current transition season of Fall to Early Winter, perhaps the most critical time for the Master Skier. The goal now is to reintroduce your body to the specific motions and demands of skiing. The best way to accomplish this is to roller ski or pole bound while running, mixing in a few specific strength workouts along the way.
Fall Training- Roller-skiing:
If you always dreamed of confusing drivers on your local roads, garnering queer stares and finger pointing from children as they drive by, then by gosh get yourself a pair of roller-skis and let the side-show begin. If you’re a Nordic skier you’re used to being considered a bit of a geek already, but at least while on snow the sport seems to make sense. This is cast aside as soon as you click your ski boots into the bindings drilled into roller skis. The flip side is that no one will confuse you being sane, so they will slow down (and probably take photos, or throw something soft or liquidy out the window at you) and probably not run you over on purpose. Yup, it’s a bit of a freak show you are providing as a public service as you skate or stride your way down the paved bike path or shoulders of the county roads, but be brave,(and don large, dark sunglasses) because there is NOTHING better you can do for your Nordic skiing off the snowy than roller-ski. Period.
Roller Skiing Equipment List:
First, start with a great pair of roller skis that suits your fitness level and your local road conditions. For skating I use nothing but V-2 Aero 150’s. They have pneumatic tires, speed reducers (sort of brakes), and ride smoothly over rough pavement, which is a requirement in mountain west. For years I skied on hard (and fast) wheeled light bodied roller skis with no brakes, but almost all of my workouts were completed on closed tracks, or on very rural roads with smooth pavement, and no errant chips of gravel. If you have a smooth bike path, or even access to a roller-ski loop nearby (are you living in northern Europe?), then V-2 makes a great new ski that is light, smooth and responsive, but definitely not for rougher roads. The wheels are hard and narrow and will catch on gravel, stopping abruptly and catapulting you headlong onto the pavement. Which brings us to the next pieces of equipment…
- helmet (one used for biking will do well),
- thin gloves to save your hands from blisters or road rash
- aluminum ski poles
- carbine pole tips and a diamond stone sharpener to go along with the pole tips.
Call Skinny Skis or your local Nordic shop for their equipment recommendations as well as having them mount the bindings on the roller skis. For classic skis I use a pair of Swedish skis with medium hard rubber tires. Since most of my skiing is on rougher roads I skate mostly and save diagonal ski training until I hit the snow in November.
Here are two roller ski workouts you can do each week in preparation for your skiing.
(a) - “Back to Basics Skating”- Warm up for 10 minutes. Once ready, use only your poles and double-pole for 10-30 minutes (depending on terrain and your personal fitness level). Focus on setting the poles and completing a very crisp push, without bending over fully in the old style double-pole. Keep a high tempo of poling and feel your lats and upper abs engage. Remember to sharpen your pole tips before every workout, or you might as well be watching TV because your poles will be useless on pavement. After this, grab your poles in hand, and skate only, with no poles at all. Skate every piece of terrain, no matter how steep. Focus on keeping the knees bent and the upper body upright, just as if you’re running. Do this for 10-30 minutes. Then bring it all together with 20-30 minutes of regular skating.
This is one of my favorite workouts on and off snow. It reminds me how important each element (upper and lower body) are for proper skating technique, and it reminds the body to engage all of the muscles used in skating, and to not get lazy and let just the arms or the legs have all the fun.
(b) - Roller-ski fartlek intervals. Fartlek is not a word used by Mike Meyers in any of his recent Austin Powers films, and I’m not sure why because it’s such great adolescent prurience. It a Swedish word meaning “speed-play”, and for some reason the overtraining American type-A Nordic freaks have applied it to mean “death intervals”. So in the true spirit of international understanding, and Scandinavian appreciation, I’m highly recommending that we all honor the true spirit of “fartlek”, and slow down a bit while going “fast”, and have fun along the way. For roller-skiing, this means pick a rolling section of pavement, and while tooling along enjoying the fall foliange you should feel frisky and throw in a little sprint. Just when your thoughts turn dark and your breathing ragged, slow down and go back to trundling along. A few minutes later, when you feel absolutely recovered, repeat this process and throw in another fun sprint. These aren’t supposed to be long, maybe 15 seconds max, and probably shorter. The purpose is to use your muscles at high speeds, teaching the neuromuscular system to fire and move quickly, all the while doing so in an aerobic environment, so you’re not making much lactic acid. I know, Vince Lombardi would not have approved of this mamby-pamby fun training, but remember that Ray Nitschke never skied the Birkie either!
Pole- Bounding:
If roller skiing isn’t for you, or it is but you want to add another dimension of dry-land training to your menu, then pole bounding is your ticket. This is the most simple and elegant (and frugal!) way to train for skiing just before the snow falls. It involves using short classic length ski poles (take the baskets off), that are about as high as your armpit. With them, you can hike, jog, sprint, lope or bound your way up hills, feeling like a real Nordic classic skier. The technique should closely resemble skiing, with the arms working in opposite rhythm of the legs; in other words, simply start by walking up a hill with your poles in your hands, and you’ll notice that your arms swing naturally in counterbalance to your legs; right leg and left arm forward etc.
From here try to delay each stride, load the leg while bent, and then explode forward to the next leg, hold that landing, then repeat. There are several levels in between simply hiking with poles and the explosive bounding I’ve just described, and they serve different purposes. For most casual skiers it’s enough to hike your way up a steep ridge or mountain using poles. This simple act engages the upper body muscles we use in Nordic skiing, the lats, triceps and upper abdominals. If you possess more serious racing goals, you’ll need to bring more intensity to this workout.
I have seen grown men (oxymoron, I know) puke after serious pole-bounding interval sessions. I’m not joking. This may be the single hardest thing you can do for dry land training, and the reason is that you are fully engaging your whole body in explosive bounds up steep terrain for up to several minutes. If you’re one of those kids who grew up worshiping the screaming crew-cut football coach with psychotic whistle-blowing tendencies, then I think you’ll enjoy these workouts.
For most skiers, however, keep it under control and build up slowly with intensity and the number of workouts per week. If done correctly, you should feel a little sore after the first few pole bounding sessions. Keep your breathing under control, and walk back downhill between each interval to ensure full recovery. Here’s a workout week hint for two pole-bounding workouts.
1. Run at an easy pace and carry your poles. Keep your hearrate lower and find hilly terrain. On each uphill use your poles and bound up until you reach the top (10 seconds, or several minutes). The key here is to bound easily and engage your arms with each bound. If your reach the top and your body and lungs are burning, you’re going too hard, SLOW DOWN! This is an aerobic workout, barely touching the threshold level.
2. After a warm up run of 20-30 minutes, find a very steep hill. Bound up with explosive bounds about 1-2 minutes. Walk down and recover to a lower heartrate; repeat 10 times or so. This is harder than workout one, and focuses on plyometric, or explosive bounds that mimic classic skiing up steep hills. Warm down run for 20 minutes and stretch.
I hope these two specific tools – roller-skiing, and pole-bounding – will add to your enjoyment of skiing this winter, and will help you feel more prepared when the snow flies and it’s time to ski. Good luck this winter, I’ll be back on the Skinny Skis website in a couple of months for another article for early snow skiing, so in the meantime may your wax job be just a little bit better than those in your pack!
About the author:
Erich Wilbrecht began Nordic skiing in Jackson Hole at the age of 16 when he moved to Wyoming from the Midwest. With a background in cross-county running he took quickly to the sport and in his 30 year racing career he skied for Dartmouth College, the U.S. Biathlon Team, and the Fischer Factory Team. Along the way he has skied in the NCAA Championships, 5 World Cup Biathlon Teams, the Albertville Olympics, and every major ski Marathon in the US, and several in Europe. He is North American Biathlon Champion and multiple Biathlon (summer and winter) Champion. Erich lives in Jackson Hole with his family, and has worked for Sotheby's International Realty as a broker for 15 years. He still enjoys racing -especially when some young punk implies that he’s too old to go fast! – helps with clinics with Skinny Skis and Toko Racing Service. If you have questions about training, please contact him at erich.wilbrecht@sothebysrealty.com.