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L4 and time trials as we approach the season! Why?

November 9, 2022
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In the last blog I wrote about how I think of some training weeks as more of a preparation week rather than a recovery week. This is where we do not necessarily need the easy week from a hard couple weeks of training prior, but we need to be fully recovered for the hard workouts to come. In the last couple weeks of training we had two L4 sessions, one classic roller skiing, and one bounding, and two time trials. A skate sprint and a roller ski classic 15k mass start race. 

The first of the workouts was pretty standard L4 training. We did 6x4min classic on a road that trends uphill. We were able to work on the three types of technique; striding, kick double pole, and regular double pole. The speed of these intervals is similar to that of a 5k race. You are going about 90 percent of max speed but your technique should be as good as possible. Normally on our team we alternate who leads these intervals and as we get into the final two or three, we have an idea of who is going the fastest and they will take the front. We try to take 3 to 4 minutes of rest in order to be fully rested for each one. 

Classic L4 intervals

The second L4 workout was bounding. For those in Bozeman, we did them at Drinking Horse. This set was also 6x4 minutes. Bounding is a strange technique that takes a lot of practice and quite frankly, a will to want to bound. Some nordic skiers do more of just a standard run than a bound. And bounding is a lot harder and slower than running. So this workout is best to do on your own because you won’t feel too competitive, at least for me. In this workout because the technique is more natural than roller skiing, we push quite a bit harder therefore our lactate numbers are also higher. 

Both of these workouts were on the days that we do strength. And as we have switched to more L4 workouts, we have also switched to a power based strength. The weight we use can be similar to the max strength weight, but the motions are smaller and meant to be faster. For example we do pull ups but they are only from a 90 degree bend in the arms to the top. And we do split squat deadlift so the range of motion is less.

Last weekend we did two back to back workouts. This is a great way to replicate almost everyone of the supertour and world cup races this winter. There is always a sprint and a distance race back to back. And it can be important to teach the body to flush the lactate overnight and also how to properly fuel for these events. You need to eat a lot after the first race to not only recover from the effort, but also prepare for and fuel up for the next day! I like pasta!

The first day was a skate sprint simulation at the roller ski track at Cross Cut. We went through the warm up and qualifier, and then had roughly an hour after we started into the heats. To make the heats more competitive for everyone, we did kings court style where the top heat is the first 6 qualifiers, then the second heat is 7-12 and so on. Then after each heat, the top two finishers move up, the middle two stay in the same heat, and the slowest two move down. I ended up winning the qualifier and Logan won in the final of three heats.

The final sprint heat!

The next morning was a mass start 15k classic race. The course was different from many courses we will race on this winter, but still good practice. It was a 6 min climb, followed by a gradual descent back to the bottom of the climb. The descent was flat enough though that you had to double pole, and the draft was too strong to break away. So the only chance of a break away was on the climb and a skier who was hurting only had to suffer for six minutes before getting a full recovery in the draft. Logan, Reid, and myself were able to break away from the others but after I had tried three times to break away from Logan and Reid, the race came down to a sprint finish. Logan took home the gold, I finished second, and Reid came in third shortly behind. 

After four very hard workouts the past two weeks, we had a few easy days, and have been blessed with a lot of snow! We were even able to ski on groomed corduroy this morning! So why so much L4 recently? Well as we approach the season we need to start to take all the fitness from the long hours and L3 training, and turn it into race speed. And the only way to do that is to go hard! During L3 sessions, the goal is to not produce lactate, or very little. But now when we go hard, the body is producing a lot of lactate and we need to teach our body to be able to flush it during a race. So why not do L4 year round to really teach the body to flush lactate? I like to think of our racing and L4 season as a glass of water. There is a finite amount of water and each session we do, we are taking from it. We fill the jar during the summer and fall, and take it from it during the racing season. So we need to time it correctly to have enough “water” all season! 

As the snow is falling and the groomers are grooming, the BSF Pro Team is eagerly awaiting the season! We have two and a half weeks before we leave for our first races in Silver Star Canada! Stay tuned for a few more updates as we approach the season!