Season of David - Part XII
By:  David Zylberberg   (2003/07/15)

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.

This week I was fairly busy and have decided to document my week in order to give people a glimpse at my summer. Sport Canada and the National Ski Team provide funding for living expenses to the top skiers in the country. Last year, I did not ski fast enough to receive this funding though I still believe I am capable of skiing that fast. As a result I must work during the months when I am not attending Carleton University and have taken a job at the Ministry of the Attorney General. This job lasts from 9-5 Monday to Friday and would not alllow the 11-6 shedule prefered by elite skiers. Also, it does not allow vacation so I was not able to join the rest of the National Athlete Development Centre for our Lake Placid Training Camp. Here is what I did instead. They say if you ski fast, money takes care of itself. I didn't ski fast last year so here is me trying to train international volumes in order to ski fast next year while working. This shoudl also provide an interesting contrast to the articles others will write about their week's at training camps

I should put a disclaimer before I give a description of every workout I did this week. These are ones that are suited to my current fitness, weaknesses, season plan and time and should not be taken as a template to base your activities around. Some of the workouts I do may give you some ideas and I hope they can help but do not try to duplicate my week unless your circumstances are very similar. Also this is a fairly high volume week in a high volume period (summer).

Monday	7:50	wake up, since I am not training this morning I get to sleep in
	9:00-12:00	work
	12:00-13:00	Lunch, I also stretch every day on lunch break because there is no time to do this otherwise.
	13:00-17:00	work
	17:30-19:15	easy run, 40 minutes of plyometrics, easy run, felt very good, almost felt like I was gliding through air
	19:30-21:00	eat supper, watch part of bike race I taped this morning, had to fast forward large chunks
	21:00-21:30	prepare for tomorrow morning, get ready for bed, fall asleep
Tuesday:	6:30	wake up
	6:40- 8:10	kayaking, followed by a few situps, chinups and back raises
	8:10- 9:00	breakfast and go to work
	9:00-17:00	work
	17:25-19:30	Skate rollerski with some legs only, felt good, felt I was powering up some hills in legs only
	19:40-21:00	east supper, watch bike race tape, wish I could see more since it looks like a good race
	21:00-21:30	get stuff ready for tomorrow, get ready for bed, fall asleep
Wednesday	6:30	wake up, getting used to this hour again and being ready to go early
	6:35-8:00	easy run and a few chinups, situps, back raises (personal best 23 chinups)
	8:00-9:00	breakfast, get ready for work, get ready for PM workout, go to work
	9:00-17:00	work
	17:30-20:40	my 3 hour rollerski ended early when a pole tip buckled (see comments at end) so I quit early and paddled for 1.75 hours giving a total of 3 hours
	20:45-21:20	east supper while watching tape of bike race, try to shovel in a lot of food
	21:20-21:50	normal pre-bed routine
Thursday	6:50	wake up, shorter workout so I can enjoy going to bed 20 minutes later
	6:55-8:00	light run and half an hour of core strength, hoping to hold better body positions next winter
	8:00-9:00	breakfast, get ready for work
	9:00-16:50	work, got to leave early because we ran out of work late in afternoon
	17:20-20:25	skate rollerski, was going great until rain started halfway, some pavement surfaces do not grip well to rollerski wheels when wet
	20:25-20:50	make supper
	21:50-22:00	watch bike race, nice to have 1 hour to myself since I can sleep in tomorrow
	22:00-22:30	normal pre-bed routine
Friday:	7:50	wake up, breakfast, get ready for work, really tired all morning, maybe body is starting to expect morning workout
	9:00-16:50	work, again we ran out of work after 16:30, slow week
	17:20-19:30	classic rollerski with a lot of double pole (longer version of a workout mentioned in guide to rollerskiing) no longer that tired, workout went well, I guess work helped me recover from those 3 hard days
	19:40-22:00	eat supper, then watch bike race
	22:00-22:30	normal pre-bed routine
Saturday (no more work until Monday)	7:30	wake up, breakfast, check e-mail, watch live bike race
	9:30-11:15	Speedwork at track, these are all out running intervals with recovery being to jog around until heart rate under 120, I find them good for leg speed and staying fresh in summer. Ran 5 1000m intervals with 30km/h wind (3:11, 3:01, 3:11, 3:12, 3:09 I know they're slow) Recovery was very quick so I think I am in good shape but getting dulled by volume
	11:45-15:30	lunch, watch bike race, talk to family, relax (benefit of weekend, can feel human again)
	15:30-16:15	get hair cut, go to University
	16:15-18:00	run and strength circuit, feel amazing, speedwork helped me feel good
	18:30-22:30	relax work on equipment (of little use) eat supper
Sunday	7:30-9:15	wake up, eat breakfast, get ready for long workout
	9:20-10:40	double poling, planned 2 hours but broke replacement pole tip and began run early, had been double poling very well
	10:40-13:20	run, planned 2 hours, extended it because of broken tip, this makes a good long workout (half double pole, half run) though I usually do 3 total hours. Run low on energy last 30 minutes since I only brought 1 energy bar but occasional blueberries from side of trail lets me finish. I was fading but kept intensity in high zone 1 and pace respectable Week now over

This is life trying to train like an elite skier and work full-time. I gave this schedule since I felt busy this week and thought it would interest others. It is hard but without the training I cannot compete with the guys who ski full time. Also, I find that when I adjust well to working, I actually train better after work than I would if I was not working and doing the main workout in the morning with the secondary one in the early evening.

About those pole tips, I have had a lot of bad luck this summer in breaking the tips of classic rollerski poles. I have not been rollerskiing on Infinity Poles, since the only ones I own are my 2 pairs of racing poles for the winter. Rollerskiing is harder on poles than snow skiing and also provides extra opportuinities to break stuff. For this reason I do not like to risk my best equipment and use older, non top of the line poles. My using old poles has nothing to do with any possible weakness of Infinity's (I have found them as durable as other poles while having other advantages, also I didn't rollerski on my best poles when I owned other brands). I have been buying special pole tips for a few years and this year I have had a few buckle (the plastic bends and is no longer holding the tip directly below the pole and poling becomes unreliable. After Wednesday's break I was trying to figure out how to solve my recent problems and added an old basket to my pole. This old basket had the tip come out.

I hope you all had productive weeks out there and that you have more time to enjoy life then I did.