By Teemu Virtanen
For all of us reading the articles here on our site, cross-country skiing, and particularly long distance skiing, is close to our hearts. We hunger for more knowledge about training, nutrition, athletes, events, equipment and such. Most of us know how to train and what to eat and what kind of gear we need to succeed.
However, we always want to know more and are eager to try out new things. Training is naturally one the things that keeps evolving even if the fundamentals stay the same. As Gustaf Korsgren, the director of Team Ramudden, stated in one of our articles “not much has changed in training in the past 60 years.”
It goes without saying that for long distance skiing mastering double-poling is the key factor, and you have to do that as much as you can. By listening to our podcasts and reading our articles, you have learned that in the summer our Pro Team athletes spend most of their training time roller-skiing using the dominant double-poling technique.
In this article, we are not going to focus on double-poling but rather take a look at the basic elements of long distance ski training (double-poling will be a subject in our future content pieces). These basics are most likely familiar to most of you, and if you’ve been an active follower of our content offering, you have had a chance to read about these methods in the past as well.
In any endurance sport including long distance skiing, the core training methods are long slow distance training, often called LSD training, pace/tempo training, interval training, fartlek, long fast training and strength training. In every language, there are specific names for these methods, and now we’re taking a closer look at these terms and descriptions in English.
Long slow distance training is the core, or the foundation, for any cardio training. As the name implies, the idea is to do a long workout with a slow pace. For long distance skiers, this could mean exercises that can last up to five hours or even more. For recreational skiers and goal oriented active non-professional skiers, this would mean 2-4 hour long slow paced aerobic workouts that can now be roller-skiing, Nordic walking, running/hiking, road or mountain biking or any other endurance sport method.
As you get more experienced and your aerobic base increases, you can add short sprints in your long and slow exercises to break the monotonousness of your training. In so doing, you can avoid the common drawback of the LSD training, which is to reach the point of diminishing returns. This term describes time spent training that provides little in the way of results. In other words, you keep repeating your training and there is no change. If your training becomes too monotonous, you will not develop and improve as a skier.
Therefore, you also need tempo and interval training. Pace or tempo training is simply the effort level at which your body is able to clear as much lactate (a byproduct of burning carbohydrates) as it produces. Your body’s lactate clearance is at the same level as its lactate production, meaning the dreaded dead-leg or dead-arm sensation doesn’t set in.
The key difference between a race and a tempo pace is that when you are racing, going all out, your body bypasses this limit and fatigue kicks in quite rapidly. While in a tempo training, you can keep the same pace steadily for at least 20-30 minutes, and preferably much longer. You should do your tempo training at your anaerobic threshold or lactate threshold pace. The length of your tempo training depends on your physical shape, experience and goals.
Then, interval training is a type of training that involves a series of low- to high-intensity workouts interspersed with rest or relief periods. The high-intensity periods are typically at or close to anaerobic exercise while the recovery periods involve activity of lower intensity. The length of these intervals can change depending on the purpose of your particular workout. If you are seeking to increase your speed, they can be short 20-60 sec sprints with an equal time of recovery. If your goal is to increase your capacity, the intervals become longer up to 3-6 minutes, and you can do these in varied terrain.
Hence, varying the intensity of effort exercises the heart muscle, provides a cardiovascular workout, improves aerobic capacity and permits the person to exercise for longer and at more intense levels. Interval training can enhance lactate threshold and increase VO2 max and improve your speed in skiing. By training at this level, you are teaching your body to use blood lactate for energy, so that you can ski faster without “feeling the burn.”
Let’s take a deeper look at speed training, which is a close relative of interval training. It is an important part of training for all types of skiers because it helps you feel comfortable on your skis while going fast. The benefit to speed training is neuromuscular, teaching your muscles to move fast.
As mentioned above, a speed workout usually has short 20-30 second all-out sprints with sufficient rests. It is important to take full recovery because speed is the goal of these intervals. You can do this workout in sets of e.g. 5 x 20-30 seconds and have a 10-minute break between your sets. You can also add short sprints in your long aerobic workouts to break the monotonousness and enhance your speed capacity as indicated above.
One method that combines both interval and speed workout is called “fartlek”. The term comes from Sweden, and it means "speed play”. Fartlek training involves varying your pace in an unstructured manner throughout your workout, alternating between fast and slow segments during your exercise. The sprints and intervals within your fartlek workout should be between moderate to hard efforts with easy efforts throughout. This is a stress-free workout that improves mind-body awareness, mental strength, and stamina.
The long fast training is practically an extended tempo workout where you go for a long time with a relatively fast pace. This is a special training for long distance skiers, and many Pro Team Athletes add race-like elements in this long workout to imitate their races. This can often mean that the workout can be from three to five hours long and have intervals and tempo training built in.
In the Visma Ski Classics circuit, this type of long exercise is called “Vasalopp-pass” as it aims to simulate the famous 90 km race on snow. You need to be a very experienced and a physically strong skier to be able to do these types of demanding workouts. The recovery time needs to be substantial after a workout like this.
Finally, we have strength training that can be done at the gym or in a natural way, which now means double-poling on steep hills with repeated efforts or using your own body weight to do strength training at home. Due to the extensive use of double-poling, one specific area to focus on is your core so that you can maintain effective technique even if you become fatigued while racing.
Strength training — also known as weight or resistance training — is physical activity designed to improve muscular fitness by exercising a specific muscle or muscle group against external resistance, including free-weights, weight machines, or your own body weight as pointed out in the previous paragraph.
There are two types of resistance training; isometric and isotonic. The former involves contracting your muscles against a non-moving object, such as against the floor in a push-up, and the latter involves contracting your muscles through a range of motion as in weight lifting. You should maintain strength training throughout your race season and find your personal preference and method that keeps your muscle strength intact.
These are the basic elements or training methods you need regardless of your age, physical shape and capacity. The key is to know how to program these various workouts in your weekly and monthly training calendar so that you can reach the best possible outcome when the season starts. It changes depending on your training background and your personal traits, but in average about 70-90 % of your training should be aerobic long workouts, about 10-20 % intensive workouts and 5-10 % strength training.
For many older master skiers, the balance shifts towards more intensive workouts as their aerobic base is strong enough to sustain higher intensity in their overall training. A good example is Anders Aukland, Team Ragde Charge, and you can learn more about his training on our upcoming podcast next week.
