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Workout of the Month: The Benchmark Individual TT
By:  Kyle Power   (2010/06/09)

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          The May month of training has come and gone and I have finished up my first 4-week cycle of training this summer. For the most part my training has been fairly general with lots running distance, some Mtb biking, ski walking and real good amount of strength training using weights, brutalizing core workouts, and I even already broke out the famous XC Ottawa tire pulling.

Getting back in to structure training as well as balancing a work schedule made for an interesting couple of weeks that I thought went pretty well and oddly enough it felt good to feel tired again.

Last week was a rest and recovery week for me but it also included one of the best workouts I did thus far, feeling wise, and that was a long z3 Time Trial. This workout is done usually at the end of a training cycle and one that I will use it as a Benchmark workout to monitor progress through out the summer.

Here is what the Benchmark Time Trial entails:

It is a long continuous interval workout with a target heart rate at zone3. It must consist of loop that can be done any number of times from 3 laps onward and the total time range can vary with the activity you chose to do. I think most XC Ottawa athletes do this sort of thing on Roller Skis but in the Summer I am not bless with such good roads for this type of workout, so I alter the workout to fit the needs of the Labrador Skier.

I think it is important to do this workout ski specific, even though there lots of fun cross training activities to do in the summer, we must remember that we are xc skiers and technical workouts must be done! I decided to keep it to a traditional dryland training TT and did 3 laps of a approximately 2km loop, Ski Striding on various rolling terrain with some small climbs.

After finishing the workout and recording all 3 lap times I have set a benchmark for next month. Now I can compare my lap times, overall times, consistency and how I felt throughout the rest of the summer to keep my training moving in the right direction for the up and coming ski season, hence the importance of the workout!


Here is an example of some good rolling ski striding terrain. Even the tough workouts can be enjoyed on trails like these!

Every club and team has there own ways of doing these kinds of tests throughout the dryland period, I thought I would share mine with everybody in case you’re looking for ideas.

 
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