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MID-SEASON
JOE BOUSCAREN
Contributing Editor for the Master Skier
Joe is a sports medicine physician and national class masters cross country ski racer with multiple age group medals from masters nationals in XC. He is a certified level 2 NENSA coach and has been coaching the fall camps at Silver Star B.C. for 5 years. Joe has a special interest in the physiology and biomechanics of endurance sports performance, and has rowed in 4 World Championship Regattas. www.skifast.us JBouscaren@comcast.net
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The author tire-draggin on rollerskis.
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After a two week stay in Bend, Oregon or Silver Star, B.C. I have often thought to myself, “If I had this mountain out my backdoor it would be easy to develop top level ski fitness and technique”.
A few seasons ago, frustrated by broken or inadequate speed reducers on my roller skis, I remembered a friend in Bend who used to drag a tire behind him while speed hiking dirt roads and trails. I thought, why not try
this on roller skis and three years later I’ve never looked back!
My “tire training” has evolved over the years such that I now use one of four tires: a 14” tire weighing 14 pounds, a 15” tire weighing 19 pounds, a 16” tire weighing 27 pounds and a 17 inch tire weighing 34 pounds. During the fall (and winter in low or no snow situations) these tires are used in various combinations to produce a few of the best cross country ski race simulation workouts I have ever done in my 30+ years of nordic racing!
Last winter, rather than driving 15 minutes to a flat 1km loop of man made snow I used the tires for my roller ski training throughout the winter and had my best season ever! WARNING: It takes a “thick skin” to roller ski with a tire in public!
Many of my “friends” have dismissed the idea due to personal embarrassment or spousal directives; I encourage you to push through these barriers, you will be on the cutting edge of a fabulous “new” training strategy. I have had only positive comments from onlookers, with one in ten making some good hearted joke about the tire.
I say “new” because, since training with the tire, I have seen articles in various places about tire training. It seems that ultra-marathoners, baseball players (Manny) and even cross-country skiers have used this strategy in different ways.
Unless my schedule calls for a very easy “maintenance” day, I always roller ski at least part of the workout with the tire and it seems especially well suited for the kind of race simulation workouts we need to be doing NOW to get ready for the “meat” of our racing seasons.
In Torbjorn Karlsen’s “How To, When To, Why To” training manual based on Norwegian training principles, the point is made that during the build-up to racing season there should be two high quality training sessions per week.
These sessions can be structured in many ways, but for master’s racers doing mostly 10 to 25km races throughout the winter with one or two 50 km’s thrown in, I find that one session on Wednesday of about 60 minutes at level 3 or “lactate threshold” and one session on Saturday of 40 minutes at level 4 “10km race pace” are optimal.
Both of these “high quality” training sessions use five or ten minute blocks of work efforts with two minutes of rest between blocks. The two minute rest period allows the skier to recover slightly before the next interval while changing or hooking onto a different tire for the next interval.
Using tires of different sizes and weights simulates climbing long moderate hills as well as short steeper hills. The time spent skiing without the tires maintains speed and skill at higher velocities.
Use your imagination and knowledge of your own body’s training needs to determine the exact profile of each of these two high quality training sessions; here is what works for me:
Wednesday, level 3 or “lactate threshold” or 25km pace:
10 minutes no tire
2 min rest
10 minutes light tire broken up as follows:
3 min “on”/1 min rest/ 3 min “on”/ 1 min rest/ 2 min “on”
2 min rest
10 minutes no tire
2 min rest
10 minutes medium tire broken up as follows:
(1:20 min “on”/ 40 sec rest) x 5
2 min rest
10 minutes no tire
2 min rest
10 minutes heavy tire broken up as follows:
(40 sec “on”/1:20 min rest) x 5
This Wednesday workout is long enough and intense enough to get ready for 25km racing while still providing a strong platform for the Saturday workout designed to stress the systems used in 10km racing.
Saturday, level 4 or “race pace” or 10km pace:
10 minutes medium tire broken up as follows:
3 min “on”/1 min rest/ 3 min “on”/ 1 min rest/ 2 min “on”
2 min rest
5 min no tire
2 min rest
10 minutes medium tire broken up as follows:
(1:20 min “on”/ 40 sec rest) x 5
2 min rest
5 min no tire
2 min rest
10 minutes heavy tire broken up as follows:
(40 sec “on”/1:20 min rest) x 5
These workouts can be used during the fall when there is no snow and even during the winter if low snow or lack of local hilly terrain limits the effectiveness of more standard on snow or roller ski training.
It is VERY important to maintain climbing (higher resistance) training during the race season. If you are racing on the weekend do half the listed Wednesday workout and use the weekend race instead of the Saturday workout. These race simulation workouts are equally effective for skate and classic techniques.
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