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.
I realized this week that some of the ideas I have expressed about training
appear to conflict each other so I thought I should discus these apparent
conflicts. The most obvious of these apparent conflicts is that between not
training to win workouts, focusing on the purpose of the workouts, and my
affinity for trying to push the limits of zone 1 on many distance workouts.
What I am about to discuss does not affect the purpose of training (racing
faster) but its planning and execution. When training there are always a
number of objectives to plan, some of which conflict. The most obvious
conflict is that between training fast (this is necessary to race fast) and
not getting overly tired. In order to train most effectively a balance that
best accomadates these elements in order to best prepare to race fast. This
balance is essential in planning individual workouts and in putting them
together into a training plan. An inproper balance in either direction is
not the most effective way to improve.
There are a number of other things that must be balanced such as increased
strength and the desire to avoid excess muscle mass (impedes climbing), or
training many hours to develop an aerobic base and the need to train fast
(at least occassionally). A conflict during race season is whether to train
through a race in order to race faster at a later one or to rest to be at
your best for that event. Other conflicts can relate to the desire to train
many hours and other priorities in life (job, family, school). In order to
ski fast and be happy (this deals with the last one) a proper balance must
be found between those competing objectives.
One particular dialectic that is important this time of year involves
distance training. Distance training is most effectively done at relatively
low heart rates (generally below 75% of maximum heart rates, I use a zone
that goes up to 150) in order to produce the desired benefits of increased
capillaries and blood volume, as well as to train the aerobic system without
the excessive fatigue that impedes training a lot. Now, it should also be
noted that distance training is not effective below a certain level, because
the aerobic system is not being taxed (Hence sleeping cannot be training).
As well, doing distance workouts faster is good for strength development,
training the muscles to move faster and for training with more efficient
technique. Finding the balance between the desire to keep effort moderate
and to do things fast is essential to effective distance training. I
generally train at a distance pace and effort comparable to other skiers
when not using a heart rate monitor. I often find it useful to try to see
how fast I can go with a heart rate below 150 or to push the pace a little
on distance workouts in order to get the benefits of training faster. Now, I
only do this with a heart rate monitor in order to ensure effort remains
within reason and in order to maintain the desired balance.
I should also expand upon last week's suggestion to challenge workouts. Even
if you are attempting to see how well a workout can be done, you should
never train to do the workout better. As shown with my challenging distance
workouts, you must also remember to keep the intensity in the desired range
and not turn a 2-hour rollerski into a 50km race. Furthermore, high
intensity intervals should always be raced, but not rested for, since they
are supposed to be hard efforts. Those cautions being noted, the desire to
do everything better and hone competitive instincts is another factor that
should be balanced into effective training. Being able to balance all of the
conflicting training desires is essential in order to race fast when it is
important to you. I hope you can all find the balance needed to achieve your
goals.
