The following question was asked of me, by a very good up and coming LADY Nordic ski athlete.
"I hope to be able to have some really good summer training.
What are some things that you have learned from your time as an athlete?"
My comments are made from my experiences of over 4 decades of racing,instructing and coaching. #ucanskixc. If they disagree with your coach, go with your coach, as he knows you far better then I. However, many times we are saying the same thing in a different way. The video clips at the bottom are my way of backing up somewhat, what I have said, below.
Do not be discouraged if some exercises are not doable right now.
Train with those that are better then you, but not all the time. It is good to get out there and do some training on your own. Watching others and how they are approach a given situation, just before you get to it, will allow you decide to take the same line, or perhaps take a better line of your own.
There are certain standards that I feel are needed.
No extra body fat, if you are going to get serious.
You should be able to do an L-sit and hold for a minute, as well as super man push-ups. 20-30 Pull ups and some L-sit pull-ups, should be doable, hopefully. I am firm believer in pullups.
Hanging vertical sit-ups should be a piece of cake. Go to the playground and hook unto the ladder or find a tall friend. The vertical sit-up uses lots of hip flexors and core.
You need to have a high power to weight ratio!!You must love the hills and eat them up.
Say "I love hills"!!
Also try to train high and sleep low, if you are able?
Train in the most miserable weather conditions, no excuses.
Squats of at least body weight, working up to double body weight, for 3setsX10reps should be a goal. Be sure to do a warm and cool down set as well. Work up to doing lots of heavy, double body weight dead lifts, too(3X10). Pull logs, and large rocks, use heavy sleds for pulling, both forward and backwards.
Body weight: Stomach should be a six pack and the legs ripped and you should be able lift the skin off the legs, arms etc. Its fat, not muscle, if you cannot lift the skin off the muscle.
Ski specificity is so important. Lots of roller skiing and roller blading with ski poles, IF there is no snow.
Always be thinking technique, never go on automatic pilot. The only music I want to hear, is my heart rate, breathing, and the sound of the wind, etc., not music.
You need to work on the deltoids with high pulls, etc., for all the high elbows double poling. Sore rotator cuffs are painful and long lasting!!
Use the Ski-Erg if you can find one, pulling 200 watts for 30 pulls is a start, 350 watts for men. The Jacobs ladder, doing 500 feet in 5 minutes is common goal, for starters.
Always run with ski poles, the more body parts you use in training, the better, safer too. The heart needs to be working and use to, sending blood out to the WHOLE body, not just the lower or upper body.
Minimum, an hour ski/run/roller ski in the morning, slowly, and another hour to two hours (for running your dog) in the afternoon, plus scheduled coaches training. Go for an all day hike with poles, every 10 days or so, carrying a bit of weight in your day pack as well. Go for a mountain bike for several hours and take a dip in ice cold glacier water, brr! Alternating hot and cold dips will help with blood circulation.
Avoid sugar except real honey, maple syrup and dark chocolate, yum.
I tended to avoid meat in the couple of days, leading up to racing.
Use a slack line, bocce ball, and walk along the tops of those metal fences that are at schools, for your balance.
Stretch lots. Doing the splits and putting your palms on the ground should be doable. It is very important to have very flexible ankles so that in classic, your kick wax is on the snow for as long as possible. So stretch those Achilles tendons and calf muscles. Be sure to stretch those forearms, lats, triceps too.
Always try to race every two or three weeks to keep the mind sharp, even if it is just local time trials.
You should be able to recover at least 80 beats in 2 minutes.Fast recovery is so important in racing! A 100 beat recovery, in 2 minutes is very good! ie (190>90)
Always stay with your technique, and gradually work up your HR, till you can race without the technique falling apart.
You need to do speed work. For example, get on a bike and do some 10-15 second on 45 sec off, spins, as fast as you can for an hour, ie135+rpm.
Do lots of stutter stepping for 15 seconds on, 45 seconds off, using the arm pumping action too, for an hour.
I rarely did interval training but when I did, I did 3min on 2 off, 4on/2off, 5on/2off and 6on/2off, repeat for an hour. The fastest way to get fit is to race. BUT always have recovery time.
Keep a diary not just for training, but also a separate wax diary.
You should be able to hold 10 HR beats below max for an hour.
The leaner you are, the meaner you are, BUT you must have lots of ski muscle.
50% of the time is spent climbing in a race, so do lots of hill climbing, the longer the hill, the better!
Get on snow as much as you can in the summer, even if it is just one weekend a month.
Grab rock skis and ski as late as you can into the spring. Run on your skis from snow patch to snow patch, through the knee high cold water, if you have too. :)
A key factor for an awesome summer is to stay uninjured and healthy. That means get your sleep at night, 8-10 hours depending on age. Be like an animal and lay down for 20-30 minutes after eating. If you can, get a massage and hit the whirlpools. If nothing else Epsom salts in the bathtub.
Do not double pole below 45 degrees bend, from upright. This is for the long haul of life. Just keep falling towards your moving center of gravity. That means your hands will never brush you calf muscles, but will be just around or above the knee.
I think it is very reasonable to average at least 25 hours per week of ski specific training for you this summer.??
As long as there is no lightning, get out in that rain, wind, sleet, not many bugs (he-he), this summer. "WHEN IT RAINS, I TRAIN" was always my motto.
Practice running straight through the bush, no trails, ducking and weaving as it develops great hand, eye, and feet coordination and of course wear glasses and appropriate clothing . Pretend you are chasing a deer or Mantracker is after you, lol.
Get a heart rate monitor. Its used for making sure you are going SLOW enough, (125-145) and not just fast enough. A good coach should always be pulling on the reins, not cracking the whip.
Run on dirt not pavement. Replace your shoes frequently; you do not want shin splints.
Make sure you have eye blocker and ear plugs for sleeping in the summer time. Sleep in cool air, be outside as much as possible.
Suggested goals for vertical jumping, (40%> of height), as well as the standing broad jump (1 1/2 times your height >).
Some of the following weight lifting exercises that are slow and controlled, that I like are: dumb bell curl and press, push downs, overhead cable triceps extensions, side lying lateral raises, lat pull downs with the rope, seated rows, one arm dumbbell rows, T-bar rows with abdominal support, back extensions, machine add and abduction, donkey calf raises, high pulley crunches with the rope, side bends with dumbbells. There are of course many variations, but you have to start some place.
Get a ski resume done, and try to raise more sponsorship.
O ya, get out there and Have FUN!!
Links for watching and getting ideas of your own.
http://skike.com/en/home/skike-the-original-cross-skates_index.0.0.0.html?c=CA Site is fine though Firefox tries to scare you for Skike roller skis, off road too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZZGkokZ0E0 Ladies Norwegian team training
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8u8bvdEkJ0 Therese Johaug 6 pack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0oeHjca6Tk Therese doing gymnastics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7gokPJTuWA Justyna with 6 pack and ripped, hiking and then at 7'05" she is roller skiing pulling a tire. Notice how lean she is, no fat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiz37oPKZyI Marit at the 18 second mark shows ripped abs and strong upper body.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFfoqCgsZMU Jessie Diggins giving it 101% at around the 2min 12 sec, with clips of a team being serious as well as having fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tux7AlCHyU Kiki and Jessie talk about strong healthy bodies and being active all the time, for our whole lives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P_wzZ1sIXw Jesse’s favourite core exercise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CltMbFAz2Oc Jessie talks about injury and spending 2 hours on a spin bike at a time, ugg.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YXoispkigM Jessie doing a MVO2 max test.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5TP-Ameq9E Ladies downhill ski team training hard with some dry land exercises
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Bm7uE19MBE Marit Bjorgen has some very lean strong arms and big strong legs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQv7g7-94u0 Marit roller blading on gravel as well as on pavement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzA3M0ciskQ Kalla does some training in the wet and then they show some weight training, vertical sit-ups at 3’45,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRXB5vEOmC8&spfreload=1 Strength training being implemented in the early 1990’s for Nordic skiers, bah it was several decades earlier.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5KUhVHvmlQ Petter Northug doing a bit of training.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPsME8-gSDI Russian men with Alexander Legkov doing some dryland training.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2zCCgGB6hE Part 2 of Alexander Legkov
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