Over-distance, intensity and taper: final Birkie training

CROSS COUNTRY SKIING
BY JOE HAGGENMILLER AND CHARLIE DEE

Charlie Dee: By the time most people read this, Joe, they’ll have three to four weeks before facing those hills between Cable and Hayward.

Joe Haggenmiller: Let’s help skiers develop a plan for completing their Birkie prep.  Everyone from elite wavers to wave 7, skiers should have a blueprint, where they work backward from the Birkie to outline their plans to minimize pain and maximize efficiency.

CD: As a certified obsessive trainer, I’ve always been secretly in awe of skiers who show up with minimum training, then go out there and make it to Main St. before dark.

JH: Me, too. This article, though, assumes that people have built up both their endurance and speed for a couple months prior to the period we’ll be talking about. For cold-turkey-Birkie folks, here’s a pat on the back and a good luck wish.

All three types, 21-28 days before the race

CD: While you like to work backward to design the plan, I think folks will understand it best if we work forward towards the Birkie from a point 21-28 days before the race.

JH: Let’s start with the simple distinction between three different kinds of training: intensity, strength and over-distance. Intensity means level 3 or level 4 workouts in which you work on skiing fast while making sure you keep your technique solid.

Strength training involves working on specific areas of the body, either on snow or off. Over-distance generally involves long, steady skis at an easy pace on varied terrain for 2-3.5 hours.

CD: Is over-distance what we used to call LSD … Long Slow Days?

JH: Erase LSD from your vocabulary. We never want to ski slowly; we want to ski easily.  Over-distance (OD) means a long, easy-paced workout.

CD: For the first time in many decades, I’ll drop LSD. Before going any further, we should explain again the difference between workout levels 3 and 4 so people will understand intensity training.

JH: Level 3 generally refers to the average speed you could maintain for a race of 20k or more, while level 4 is the speed you could maintain for a shorter race … 15k or less. Level 3 is also called the aerobic zone, meaning you’re breathing hard, working hard but generally not going into oxygen debt or producing the lactic acid that makes your muscles burn. Level 4, the anaerobic zone, is harder, faster, more painful and thus takes more out of your body.

CD: So, 21-28 days out from the Birkie, we should still be including all three: intensity, strength and over-distance?

JH: Right. You and Andy Keller covered intensity training in detail in your article from the November 2016, Silent Sports edition, so we won’t go into as much detail on that. Let’s focus on OD because it’s often misunderstood by intermediate and even some advanced skiers.

Over-distance (OD) is key

CD: Does the “over” refer to one’s anticipated Birkie time and making sure to have at least one training run that lasts longer than that – or “over?” I know when I used to flirt with 3-hour Birkies, going out for somewhere around 3.5 hours gave me one less thing to be anxious about since after completing that long ski, I knew I’d be able to get to Hayward. But now that I’m much closer to four hours, I’m not sure what to do.

JH: I don’t think we have many readers who are World Cup athletes, training 900-plus hours per year. For the rest of us who mostly ski two to four times for 60 to 90 minutes during the workweek, training longer than 3.5 hours just wears the body down, making it difficult to recover and have effective training afterward. For confidence, enter a practice marathon three to four weeks prior to the Birkie. Many CXC Marathon Cup events would fit the bill.

CD: Well, if it’s not for confidence, what’s the point of OD?

JH: Let’s back up here and review the body’s fuel for marathoners. Recall that your body has two primary kinds of fuel: muscle glycogen (stored carbohydrates, aka “carbs”) and fats. You may also be able to burn protein in certain circumstances, but we would like to avoid cannibalizing our muscles.

The reason for OD training is to develop your body’s ability to use body fat because everybody has only a limited amount of glycogen. Doing an OD training once a week –  assuming you can discipline yourself to go easily enough – will teach your body to use that fat.

CD: When I carbo-load the night before a marathon, I don’t really use it?

JH: Actually you do. But, rather than using it exclusively and then running out of it, the goal is to use as little as possible until the very end of the race. No matter how much spaghetti you eat Friday night, you can’t store enough carbs in your system to get you to Fish Hatchery without other fuel.

Bonking is when you haven’t trained effectively, or have gone out way too fast, and your body calls on those carbs too early. Instead, we want to burn a mix of fats and carbs, using as much of our fats as possible for fuel.

CD: And the trick to avoiding a bonk is simply to train at over-distance?

JH: I wouldn’t say “simply.” It requires discipline to train easy distance and over distance throughout the season.

Medium-paced training of little benefit

CD: Tell me about it. I love intensity training because of the challenge of trying to go fast and the endorphin-produced high I get afterward, but when I’m not doing intensity, my default speed is a medium pace.

JH:  The medium-paced training might feel good, and I certainly would never discourage anyone from doing any skiing that feels good, however, if your training goal is to build endurance and efficiency, simply skiing a medium pace all the time won’t do you much good. Once you get to a half-marathon or marathon, you’ll stand a good chance of bonking because you’re likely burning pure carbs the whole time, so you’ll flame out.

CD: Message received. I must do over-distance, but not over 3.5 hours. What should our workouts look like 15-21 days prior to the Birkie?

JH: This is a crucial time. You should put in your last large volume week, with possibly two OD sessions: one of 2.5 hours at the beginning of the week and another of 3 hours six days later. In the middle, mix in a level 3 session – either 2 x 20 (minutes) at very slightly above your Birkie pace, or one 45 to 60-minute workout at your Birkie pace.

CD: And the other session that week should be shorter intervals at the higher intensity level 4?

JH: Yes, either that or a combination of specific strength/high-intensity level 4.

CD: Let’s give examples of each one, starting with the level 4 session.

JH: I really like 4 x 4 or 6 x 3 level 4 where you go hard while concentrating on your ski technique and pacing and then take roughly equal active recovery between each hard rep. The way you decide which to do is dependent on what you’re comfortable with from your previous training.

CD: If my toughest level 4 training this season has been 4 x 2 or 6 x 3, I should stick with that rather than ratcheting up so much?

JH: That makes sense. After all, you’re not 25 anymore.

CD: What’s the alternative example that combines strength training with high-intensity skiing?

Combining strength and intensity

JH: For the combination of strength and high intensity, find a trail with varied terrain that includes climbing for about half the loop – a route that will take you 3-5 minutes to do full-out. Caution: don’t go overboard on the terrain. There’s no need to do this on a World Cup trail with really steep hills like the north side of OO on the Birkie Trail.

For this one, you’re going to alternate two different varieties of intensity loops, with a recovery period between each one. Start with a full-out sprinting loop, as fast as you can go while keeping your technique together. After recovering, do the same loop with poles – only as hard as you can. Go back to the full sprint loop, then a loop of no-pole skiing. Your recovery between each loop can take anywhere from half the time to the full time of the work effort.

CD: Would two of each be sufficient – two sprinting loops and one each of poles-only and no-pole?

JH: Sure. But it really depends on what your intensity work has been the past two months. If you’re capable of more because you’ve built up, do more.

CD: I’ve never seen a weight room I enjoyed, except for injury recovery, but oddly enough, there are people who like to do their specific strength work inside.

JH: Anybody who has been working in the weight room throughout the season, should continue that, and you can substitute it for the no-pole and pole-only training described above. However, when you’re within two weeks of the Birkie, scale back the effort in the gym slightly. At this point in the season, building strength is in the rearview mirror.  One or two gym sessions per week should allow folks to maintain what they have.

Taper time

CD: Great. This takes us to the period 7-14 days before the big race.

JH: Now you’re starting your taper and focusing on recovery. Do a low-volume week, and dial back the intensity a bit. However, if you didn’t manage to get in your last OD at the end of the previous period, do that at the beginning of this one. Between 7-10 days out, dial back your training to a level focused on maintenance and sharpening to make sure you’re recovered, restored and healthy for the Birkie.

CD: In the final week before the big race, I’ve always kept up some intensity but shortened the duration dramatically. If my short level 4 sessions have been 3 minutes, I’ll cut them to 2 minutes and not do as many. Is this counterproductive?

JH: No. It makes sense. For the Saturday Birkie, if you feel energetic, either the Tuesday or Wednesday before would be ideal to do a mild intensity workout and still allow yourself plenty of time to recover from it.

CD: Similarly, for the Friday Kortelopet, either Monday or Tuesday would be good for this. Please be specific about what you mean by “mild intensity.”

JH: For mild intensity, I recommend multi-paced work, using two different speeds: race pace and some above-race pace speed. An example here may be 2 x 6 at your expected Birkie pace (level 3 or slightly below) with 3 minutes off between each.

Rehydrate, take a 5-minute break of active recovery, then do 4 x 1 at above-Birkie pace (level 4), with 1 minute of active recovery.

CD: That’s something I never considered. I’ve always thought of intensity as distinct silos: either shorter level 4 interval days or longer level 3 interval days. You’re really challenging my rigidity here, Joe.

JH:  After your multi-pace workout to get sharp and confident, some easy skiing and one light strength session the rest of the week could be in order. Most importantly, follow your standard race-prep routine.  It is best not to be experimenting at this point.

CD: Even if we can’t follow it precisely, Joe, you’ve made the point that we should at least formulate and try to follow a plan.

JH:  Nobody ever follows a plan perfectly, but having a sound plan for the last few weeks leading into a big race pays dividends. Hopefully, everything clicks allowing you to look good when you swoosh down the bridge and hear those cowbells.