The followingis the first in a series of weekly articles by the "infamous" David Zylberberg, one of the original members
of XC Ottawa. He is the writer of numerous amusing and sometimes controversial articles which have been
the subject of much discussion within the Canadian cross-country racing community over the last 8 months.
While David does not possess an advanced degree in physiology or sports science, hopefully the articles will
be the source of much entertainment while you are putting off work, school, or chores. David's articles
will be candid and will not be censored by the editors of XC Ottawa. (At least not usually) Please address
your comments and questions directly to David.
The beginning of June is the most common time in the year for skiers to
begin rollerskiing. Since I have merely been training fairly hard and
haven't done anything worth writing about, I thought it would be a good time
to give my thoughts and suggestions for rollerskiing.
Rollerskiing is a very useful training method for serioius skiers but is
also one that skiers must be conscious of using effectively. It has many
uses but is often missused, which leads to wasted effort and technical
impediments. The most important thing is that every rollerski session must
have a specific purpose and should focus on making certain improvements.
Sometimes this means doing technique drills or videotaping technique in
order improve it. Sometimes this means doing interval workouts in order to
maximize the specificity of the benefits (though this is generally more
common later in the year). Often this means focussing on specific strength
in which one skates without poles, double poles or does some arms only
variation in order to improve strength, power and muscular endurance in a
ski-specific fashion.
Skate rollerskiing is fairly similar to skiing on snow and can be done with
few technical limitations. It is the more common method of rollerskiing
among members of XCOTTAWA. I find it useful to include some legs only
rollerskiing during all skating workouts during the summer. One way to do
this is to take off the poles and ski for half an hour though this often
lacks focus. Rather, I would suggest doing intervals in which the one skiis
without poles at a slightly higher intensity than normal (still easy
distance pace). One example would be doing 5 x 5 minutes without poles, with
a minute of rest in between. These can either be done uphill or in rolling
terrain. The advantage of intervals is that focus is better maintained.
Another skate rollerskiing workout involves finding a short hill (30-60
seconds) and doing 10 or so repeats legs only at a similar pace to the
longer ones. If doing this workout, also do some repeats that are arms only
or double poling. It is important to remember when skating without poles to
concentrate on proper leg motion and pre-loading. Your legs will burn if
doing it properly but the pain subsides quickly after the interval.
Classic rollerskiing is more complicated than skating and should be done
with caution. Since the kick is perfect on rollerskiis, diagonal striding
will generally lead to technical problems and should be avoided. This means
that classic rollerskiing tends to emphasize the upper body, which can make
it an effective workout to develop that facet of skiing. The same workouts
that I mentioned above work well for double poling while on classic
rollerskiis but one should never do legs only classic rollerskiing. When
double poling be careful to still come down over the poles and hit the
ground hard as this is an important element to skiing properly.
I should also mention a few general safety concerns. If in Ottawa, only
rollerski on closed parkways or bicycle paths. Since it is illegal to
rollerski on an open parkway in Gatineau Park, I would advise against it. If
you are in other locations, find a place with limited traffic, good pavement
and a shortage of stop signs or red lights, since it is very hard to stop on
rollerskiis. A paved shoulder is useful but you can do without if the
traffic is light. It is a good idea to think through all the stop signs on
your route to make sure that you can safely go through them whatever the
traffic. Generally if common sense is used in picking a safe route there
should be few problems. Finally, always wear a helmet since it does not
impede the workout and can prevent brain damage in case of a crash.
