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EXPERIENCE. OVERATED.
Obj: Power Endurance, Strength
Warm up: 1-Mile Tire Drag
Training:
(1) 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Dead Lift @ 185#
Kettlebell Clean & Press @ 2x 16kg
Bench Press @ 135#
(2) 100x Hollow Rocks
Comments:
E-MAIL QUESTION:
Dear Rob,
I've been following your website for awhile now, and I understand that most of your athletes are climbers. I participate
in ski mountaineering races, and am wondering how these workouts would equate to training for racing. I have been doing a
large amount of running, biking and swimming for cardio, as well as guiding in the mountains each day. What can I do to get
more out of my intervals, endurance, medium length workouts, to be at my fastest.
- Alex
ANSWER/COMMENTS:
Brian Harder's experience proved that gym-only workouts will help you with your ski-mountaineering training, but can only
take you so far. At the beginning of the race season last year, he was placing behind where he had placed the year before,
when he did more sport-specific training. So he significantly cut back on his gym time and limited it to lifting heavy, and
went sport-specific hard, mainly by doing intervals up Snow King mountain here in Jackson, and long ski-mountaineering tours
on the weekend. By the end of the season, he was back on top form, but upset by his late start.
My understanding is that this year he will start his sport specific training earlier.
One of the issues was his weight. Brian is a mutant in the gym, and had gained some upper body mass. When he cut back
on his gym work, he also significantly limited his upper body lifting, and lost weight. A big chest doesn't help you get up
the hill, he noted. Rather, it's just dead weight you have to carry and extra muscle which robs your legs of much needed oxygen
during the climbs. There's a reason, he says, the best bike racers and ski mountaineers have spoon chests and toothpick arms.
Understand that our gym training program is an elite level, general fitness program. It will get you in good overall shape,
but if you want to do your best during the ski mountaineering season, you need to get sport specific, in your training and
practice, the closer the season comes. Ski mountaineering races are decided on the uphill, so I would recommend that the bulk
of your interval work be running/hiking/biking uphill.
Most of these races seem to last 1-2 hours, which means you'll also need some long, slow training in the uphill mode -
long hikes/runs with up and downhill sections.
Gym work - I still believe in gym work to develop overall strength. Brian said recently he plans to hit the gym after
the bike season ends and before the ski mountaineering race season begins to develop leg strength. Between now and the beginning
of the season, I'd recommend the same for you - heavy squats, heavy lunges, heavy dead lifts, and a few heavy push presses
thrown in for some balance. In addition, I'd recommend loaded core work such as ankle's to bar, sand bag getups, back extensions,
slashers, etc.
I'd probably recommend 2x week until the first of October, sprinkled in between interval and long slow days climbing.
If you have to chose between the two, chose sport-specific.
At the first of October, I'd cut your gym time back to once per week and recommend you adding another day of sport-specific
training or practice. By practice, I mean skiing downhill, transition time work, dialing equipment, nutritian, etc.
In general, my guidance/opinion is this: Hybrid training like ours will get you into great overall condition. But to reach
your full potential as a ski mountaineer racer, you need minimal upper body mass and maximal sport-specific conditioning.
Raw strength gained in the gym will complement this sport-specific training, as well as make you more durable.
Understand that a ski mountaineering race, like most competitions, is an "artificial" environment. If you get
hurt, help is close by. You don't need well rounded strength and conditioning to perform at the elite level - unlike the demands
on a mountaineer or soldier, who work in dynamic environments, and require a more well-rounded level of fitness to be prepared
for uncontrollables.
- Rob
E-MAIL QUESTION:
Hi Rob,
I've tried to keep up with your posts with the workouts over the last summer months and have really appreciated you thoughts
and reflections on the different approaches to training for endurance efforts. I'm currently training for a 20k trail run
at end of October and have been following a schedule that ironman coach Gordon (I don't know his last name but his website
is here: http://www.coachgordo.com/gtips/index.html ) advises where you train 4-5 days hard, 4-5 days easy, 2-3 days hard,
2-3 days easy and repeat.
I was curious what your thoughts were on such a periodization. On my hard days, I'll get in a workout from your site,
train intervals, or a hard long trail run >1hr. On an easy day I'll either rest, take a shorter 25-50 min run, or train
lift along more conventional endurance sport parameters (2-3 sets of 10-15 reps each muscle group).
I continually think about this approach versus something along the lines of crossfit in addition to 2-3 workouts per week
from the crossfitendurance.com website. I tend to check out both sites and see that people performing the CF-endurance workouts
have good results...but it seems as though the 3-on-1-off scheduling in addition to the CF-endurance website encourages much
more intense training much more frequently. For me, there are certain benefits to doing what I am doing: my knees and elbows
feel better, more chances to train strength through your workouts, more recovery, more freedom to listen to my body, and less
need to plan a periodization schedule.
Anyway, I was just curious to know your thoughts on CF-endurance in combination with crossfit as a way to train for outdoor
endurance sports.
Cheers, Dan
COMMENTS/ANSWER:
Hi Dan -
Your periodization question. I don't know the coach's work or intent, but every endurance periodization plan I've seen
has used heart rate or something similar to measure intensity. So a "hard" day would be intervals at or near max
heart rate, or an hour at lactate threshhold, and an "easy day" would be a long, slow run or walk in the aerobic
zone - like 65% of MHR.
Your interpretation of your coaches' periodization plan may be skewed, and I'd ask you to check directly with him.
I'm vaguely familiar with the CrossFit endurance approach, which as I understand it, limits endurance workouts primarily
to interval sessions in all three modes (run/bike/swim) lasting around 20 minutes, interspersed with CrossFit WODs. It appears
there getting good endurance race results with this.
In general, CrossFit WOD, my stuff, and other hybrid training programming will get your in great overall condition, but
won't allow you to reach your full potential in a particular sport. So if you are competing, and serious about it, you need
sport-specific training, and lots of it. I know many in the CrossFit world disagree and they could be right, this is just
my opinion.
I definitly like the idea of taking the intense, CrossFit training approach and applying it and other gym-based training
principals including complex training to endurance modes. But I also believe that the endurance athlete needs to condition
his or her aerobic base/fat burning energy system through long-slow, distance training.
I'd recommend you spend your time in the weight room lifing heavy dead lifts, front squats and push presses, and like
the athlete above, hammering your core with loadable exercises. I'd avoid the 10-15 rep stuff, and not worry about too much
breathing in the gym. Go heavy and do your breathing during your mode-specific training (running.)
But then again, it seems that what your are doing is working for you (allowing you to avoid sore knees/elbows). Are your
trail running times getting faster? If so, perhaps you should stick with your training and disregard advice from dumb, slow
and weak strength coaches like me!
- Rob Shaul
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| Brian Harder racing in the Allan Butler Memorial Twightlight Criterium, in Idaho Falls, Sunday. |
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