SkiPost Newsletter

Dear SkiPost,

Question on race pace intervals.

I'm a Nordic Combined/ XC ski coach. I had my athletes do 6x2 minute race pace rollerski intervals up a long fairly steep hill. The athletes warmed up for about 25 minutes before going into the workout. Interval times were between 1:50 and 2 minutes for the 6 reps. They skied pretty hard and the times were slower near the end of the workout. Cool-down was longer than the warm-up....around 30 minutes.

One athlete decided to try one more race pace interval on the same steep hill right after cool down. He skied that interval much faster than the workout intervals...around 1:30.

Does that mean the warm-up was too short? Or does that mean you can ski fastest after doing intervals followed by a short slow ski?

Dear Coach,

I would have to say that there are probably a few factors at work here. The first is along the lines of your assumptions - your skier could benefit from a longer warm-up, and could probably do with a few shorter intervals before he gets started on the longer ones.

I was a runner through college, and in many interval sessions on the track (repeat 1km and longer) I would have to start with a set of repeat 200m intervals. These lasted for about 35 seconds, and if I was off on my pacing I could adjust without having any real negative affect on the rest of the workout (read: the most important part of the workout). They simply served as a means to find my pace.

Since there are a lot of variables at work in rollerski workouts, it is probably best to get these athletes in heart rate monitors and keep detailed, individual records of these times for future repetition. Heart rate monitors will give them one more point of reference through the workout. If they start getting close to high rates that are known to be too high you can give them either longer rest or take the pace back DURING the interval. Ideally you want these intervals to speed up or stay within just a few seconds/beats per second through all six. This is, in my experience, the most effective way to race.

It certainly sounds like these athletes may have started too hard, and struggled to maintain these times even though they did stay close. It's not unusual for a kid asking for more intervals (most likely in better shape) to be able to clear the lactate they built in the workout during the cool-down. If you had asked him to go out and hammer a 1:30 off the bat you can most likely count on him having the capacity to handle that, but that wasn't the nature of your workout. Thus, you really want to emphasize perceived exertion, heart rate, and the need to project how they THINK they will feel 3, 4, or 5 intervals later.

The good news is, these kids are in shape. They just need a little more control, and perhaps a few more things to think about during these interval sessions to keep them constant. We should use interval sessions to think and learn how we will pace our races, so that when we get into the race season we no longer have to think - it becomes automatic. This, I would imagine, is a principal that is slightly more apparent in the jumping element of your sport, but so important to fast skiing too.

Thanks for the question, and best of luck!

Justin Easter

Dear SkiPost,

When roller skiing I have a problem making the skis track straight. The toe of my kicking foot tends to drift to the outside slightly during recovery, which of course makes the ski track that direction. It's enough of an issue that when I'm training I find myself focusing more of my attention on making the ski track straight than on the rest of my technique. I'm wondering if this is just an inherent problem with rollerskis, with their short length and soft, grippy wheels, and I shouldn't worry about it, or if this is a technique problem of mine that's just exacerbated by roller skis (I don't seem to have this problem when skiing on snow, even when skiing without a track).

My major concern is that I find myself continually adjusting my kick in an attempt to correct the problem, and I'm afraid that I'm going to screw up my snow technique because of it. Any advice?

Hello,

I asked my good friend, new coach, and former Subaru Factory Team member, Tim Weston what he thought about this. Together we came up with a few possible answers to your question.

The first possibility is that your bindings are not mounted perfectly parallel to your rollerskis. This could dramatically change the way the wheels of these short skis track. I would go back and just take a look at them - make sure your bindings aren't dramatically hanging off the edge of your skis.

A second possibility is along the same lines. In the past Tim has physically bent the toe-bar in his boots - probably from a fall or near-fall. This caused his skis to track to the sides, and made for some really messy skating - this issue would have the same effect on classic skis. If you see this when you look at your boots, it is certainly time to replace them.

The last, most probable possibility deals more with technique. We were thinking that there is a chance your 'kicking' leg is actually swinging back and too far to center. If you watch a runners' stride you will notice that their feet will often come to center in the back, and not follow a strait line. This is what makes classic skiing a little different than running, because your legs don't naturally want to follow a front-to-back path. When you are skiing on snow you have skis that are always touching the track or guiding you in the right direction, and this aid will certainly help correct your problem.

Possible ways to rectify this issue include drills that will strengthen weaker muscles in your quadriceps. I fear getting too specific, because I really don't know if this is the problem without seeing you ski. You should solicit the help of someone who can watch/video you to determine if this is the case, and then get a strength coach to help you develop a plan that will balance these muscles. If you determine your leg swing is the problem you want to train your muscles to work in that front-to-back motion, and that may be best achieved by rollerskiing without poles, doing leg swing mobility drills (i.e. front-to-back), and the above-mentioned strength plan.

Hope you find your answer in our suggestions.

Justin Easter
Subaru Factory Team &
Tim Weston,
Bridger Ski Foundation/ Subaru Factory Team Alumni