2020 Marathon Training Tips #5 - 1/20/2020

from Caitlin & Adam of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project

This winter, Craftsbury Green Racing Project athletes Caitlin Patterson and Adam Martin are offering weekly guidance via an email newsletter, to help you prepare for the Craftsbury Marathon or any other ski marathon. We (Caitlin & Adam) hope that this will be useful for those training for their first ski race as well as veterans of many previous marathons. Click here to subscribe to the newsletter.

Each week, we will explain a suggested workout and a technique tip that we feel is important to think about. While this newsletter will not constitute a full training plan, we hope that you can incorporate these suggestions into your preparation in order to arrive at the start line with more confidence in your efficiency and fitness!

The Workout: L4 Intervals

L4 intervals increase the capacity of our heart and lungs. They are hard, short, and can be very productive.

Warm up: Ski for 20 minutes at an easy pace. Then ski one 5 minute interval at moderate intensity: something close to or slightly faster than your marathon race pace. (Take a few minutes easy after the warmup interval before beginning the workout.)

Intervals: Ski very hard for 4 minutes and rest for 3 to 4 minutes. Repeat this a total of 4 times. The goal is to ski as fast as you can for the entire 16 minutes of on-time. This likely means pacing the first few intervals slightly slower, but when done right, every interval will feel very hard.

There are a couple of considerations to maximize the quality of these intervals.

First, it's best when each interval is continuous work and isn’t interrupted by a downhill. If you feel limited in terrain, find the best four minute section of trail, and use the rest period to ski back to the starting point. (Its okay if this takes longer than 4 minutes.)

Second, if skiing conditions are too slow or you don’t have good classic kick, your strength may limit how hard you can push your cardiovascular system. It is a good idea to prioritize good conditions and well prepared skis. As a fallback option, SkiErg and running intervals are also good.

Cool down: Ski for 20 minutes at an easy pace and enjoy the fact that you completed a very demanding workout.

Why and When: L4 intervals stress the heart and lungs (as well as every other system) and aim to increase our VO2 max. This is primarily accomplished by improving cardiac capacity, which is the amount of blood that the heart can pump in a period of time.

It seems we are most responsive to L4 intervals for a limited window before we begin to plateau, so many elite athletes do their highest concentration of L4 intervals immediately leading up to and during their competition season.

Technique Tip: Dynamic Kick

The kick phase of the ski stride is when the skier applies power to the snow in order to generate forward momentum. We conventionally use the term “kick” in the context of classic skiing, as the action of setting the grip wax. However there is also a kick phase in skating, when a skier pushes sideways against the snow to propel herself forward into the next glide.

In working on improving kick for either classic or skate, I like to think about a few aspects of the motion.

First, the kick should be thought of as an action that propels you forward. Do not think of kicking as your leg going backwards in either skate or classic; while in a photograph it may appear that the leg kicks back, it is in fact pushing off the snow in such a way that the rest of the body is propelled forward.

Secondly, make the kick dynamic.

What do I mean by dynamic? The internet defines dynamic as “characterized by constant change, activity, or progress” and “energetic and active.” A dynamic kick is a motion executed with good energy, a quick transfer of muscular energy to the snow to create forward glide. In classic, it’s especially important to ski with a quick application of power to set the grip wax. When skating, the kick will be most efficient if the skier can push off with good power and then ride the glide of the second ski, shifting the body weight and allowing for a brief relaxation before the next push. The amount of power and quickness of the application of force to the snow optimally vary based on your speed/effort and the type of snow or icy surface you’re skiing across.

If you need ideas for experimenting with the concept of dynamic kick, try this out: ski for 20 strides at a slow speed and in your normal style, noting how it feels and how far you travel. Now imagine that you can only push on the snow for a short ½ second per leg per stride. Ski for 20 strides at a slow speed again, using little muscular effort, but keep the kick phase at ½ a second per stride. Does it feel snappier, but hopefully still not physically hard, just different? Then repeat the same spot with 20 more strides, but this time put as much power into each ½ second kick as possible, using the short powerful application of power to the snow to create great glide, like you are sprinting to a finish line. While you do not want to ski with this high power style all the time, bringing a dynamic kick to your easy skiing can help you make neurological adaptations that will benefit your higher speed skiing.

By the type of experiment outlined above, you can see how it is possible to vary the amount of power you apply when skiing. Varying power leads to varying levels of effort and resulting speed. I hope that you will feel that an energetic and shorter kick has merits and can help you ski with better efficiency

Caitlin leading a heat during the US Nationals Skate Sprint in 2020. From the flying chunks of snow and leg thrown out to the side, you can tell that she made a strong push off to maximize her glide. Photo: Reese Brown

Your Authors

Caitlin Patterson is a member of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project elite team and the US Ski Team. She is a 9-time US National Champion, a 2018 Olympian and a 2019 World Championship team member. Caitlin considers herself a distance specialist, racing primarily 5k to 30k events, but loves the high-paced action of sprint heats too.

Adam Martin is in his third year training and racing with the Craftsbury Green Racing Project. He has started 8 World Cups and raced in the 2019 World Championships. Last year Adam won the freestyle Craftsbury Marathon. He is supported by Fischer skis and boots and Swix poles.

The Green Racing Project is an elite team of post-collegiate athletes who train and live in Craftsbury, Vermont. Their athletic dreams are supported by the Craftsbury Outdoor Center and Concept 2. In return for this support, the athletes engage in professional development by working on a variety of projects at the Outdoor Center.

Questions or Feedback?

Send feedback about this newsletter, or requests for future content, to caitlinpattersonskier@gmail.com. While we can't promise to respond to every request, we'd love to hear what topics are most interesting and write content that will help you become more comfortable on skis!