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  • Keeping Endurance Training During Alpine Ski Season

    In North America, it’s nearly time for the ski resorts to open, yay! In the last blog I wrote about the benefits of alpine skiing for endurance athletes. You can find that column here.

    Throughout the years I have coached several endurance athletes (cyclists and triathletes) that are alpine skiers. I work with them to maintain some endurance fitness, while enjoying the wonderful snow sport of alpine skiing.

    A great question that I get from followers is how to structure endurance sport workouts during the ski season for these athletes. Before breaking the skiers into three categories, let’s outline guidelines for all skiers:

    • Include a recovery day before and after ski days that are four or more hours long.
    • Wear a heart rate monitor to get a glimpse into how much aerobic work you are getting during a ski day.
    • Stay on top of nutrition and hydration during ski days.
    • Strength train for the eight to 12 weeks prior to ski season.

    Next, let’s break skiers into three categories, with recommendations for each category.

    One or two ski trips per season, one to three days of skiing per trip

    If you are an endurance athlete that skis once or twice per season, I suggest a recovery block of a day or two before the ski trip and a few easy aerobic days after the trip. The more days you plan to ski, include more recovery days. I suggest recovery before the trip because going into a ski trip with tired legs provides more opportunities for errors and injury. Don’t worry about endurance workouts during the ski trip, just enjoy the snow, family and friends.

    Multiple ski days (some six to 10) during the season spread across months

    This athlete goes skiing several times during the season, and likely the days are spread across weeks from December to March in the northern hemisphere. Plan to take it easy in your endurance sport workouts for one or two days before and after the ski day(s.) If you are a multisport athlete, substitute the ski day in place of a sport training day where you are the strongest (bike or run.)

    A ski enthusiast, skiing more than 10 days in a season

    Athletes in this category live in or close to a ski resort. Skiing occurs multiple times every two weeks, sometimes more than two days in a row. Generally, these athletes are skiing four or more hours during most days and the ski runs are intermediate or advanced. Skiing a day that includes multiple bump runs or deep powder can end up being a combination of endurance and strength training.

    • For these athletes, structure your training to include one long ride every two weeks. A “long ride” might be two hours for some athletes and three or four hours for others. This long ride every two weeks is enough to maintain a solid endurance base.
    • If your ski routine includes Nordic skiing or skinning uphill, this ski day can be substituted for a long endurance ride.
    • Put multiple recovery days between ski days and long run days. Skiing multiple days of bumps and steeps is plenty of leg work.
    • If you are a multisport athlete, include one to three workouts in each sport, every two weeks in swimming, cycling and running. Decrease the number in your strongest sport.

    I caution athletes not to try to include all endurance sport activities and just add skiing on top of that plan. The risk for injury and illness increases when you try to “do it all.”

    Dial back endurance sport activities and enjoy the snow!

     

     

     

     

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