Pre-season training gives skiers more stamina for the slopes

By Tom Guerquin

THERE ARE TWO types of skiers on the first day of the ski season. There are those who get there for first tracks in morning and are last off the mountain, and there are those who spend the day in the chalet whining about their sore quads.

It’s the pre-season training that differentiates them. One type of skier spent the fall getting ready for downhill season and the other was sofa-skiing and watching Cheers re-runs.

When skiing is your sport, it’s tempting to forget about training during the warmer months. Let’s look at the training you need for the pre-season in terms of endurance, strength and power.

Endurance is the key to keeping you on the hills as long as possible. Running, cycling and swimming are the most common sports that help build endurance, however, each have their pros and cons. Like skiing, running relies on lower-body muscles — quads, hamstrings and glutes. Unfortunately, it is also a high-impact sport and if you train too hard, you risk joint injuries. Cycling saves the joints and increases power in your lower and upper body muscles. It also flushes lactic acids faster than running, but your core can get lazy while pedaling in a seated position. Swimming uses the whole body — shoulders, lats, quads, glutes, hamstrings and core. Although it does create whole body endurance, you don’t build power in the legs like running and cycling. n Here is a good regimen to build endurance:

Weeks 1 – 2 Monday, Wednesday, Friday – endurance training 30 minutes at an easy pace. Tuesday, Thursday – interval training Warm-up for 10 minutes at an easy pace Three minutes at a steady pace (at your lactate threshold — the point where you feel a burn, but not burnt out) Five minutes at the easy pace Repeat six times Finish the workout with a 10-minute cool down Weeks 3 – 4 Monday, Friday – endurance training 40 minutes at an easy pace Tuesday, Thursday – interval training Warm-up for 10 minutes at an easy pace Six minutes at a steady pace Four minutes at the easy pace Repeat four times Cool down for 10 minutes Wednesday – endurance/ interval training Warm-up for 20 minutes at an easy/ moderate pace One minute at a hard pace (above your lactate threshold, give all you can) Five minutes at the easy pace Repeat three times Cool down for 20 minutes

Weeks 5 – 6 Monday, Friday – endurance training 60 minutes at an easy pace Tuesday, Thursday – interval training Warm-up for 10 minutes at an easy pace Five minutes at a steady pace Six minutes at an easy/moderate pace Repeat six times Cool down for 10 minutes Wednesday – endurance/interval training Warm up for 20 minutes at an easy/moderate pace One minute at a hard pace (above your lactate threshold, give all you can) Five minutes at the easy pace Repeat five times Cool down for 20 minutes

Now that you built enough endurance to last a whole day skiing, let’s work on power and strength to get you down the slopes. Keep doing interval training on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the next six weeks. For skiers, uppers body strength isn’t as important as the lower body. The quad and hamstring muscles are fundamental to skiing. Once in the gym, you want exercises that mimic the way your body will feel on snow.

Picking the right weight to start can be difficult, especially if you dread going to the gym. Find the highest weight you can lift for 10 – 12 reps (always with

Weeks 7 – 8 Monday, Friday – lower body Barbell squats Barbell forward lunges Barbell lateral step-up Barbell dead lift Barbell lateral lunch

Three sets and 12 reps in each set 60 minutes of endurance training at an easy pace Tuesday, Thursday – interval training Wednesday – Upper body Bent-over row Seated shoulder press Wide grip chin up Dip

Three sets and 12 reps in each set Interval training Weeks 9 – 10 Increase weights Monday, Friday – lower body Barbell squats Barbell forward lunges Barbell lateral step-up Barbell dead lift Barbell lateral lunch

Three sets and six reps in each set Tuesday, Thursday – interval training Wednesday – upper body Bent-over row Seated shoulder press Wide grip chin up Dip

Three sets and six reps in each set Weeks 11 – 12 Repeat weeks 9 – 10 with more weight

good form – back straight and knees pointing forward), on the last rep you should be struggling. It is always good to have a spotter with you while lifting, in case you need help with the last few reps.

For the following exercises, slow down the first part of the lift to four to five seconds, and then burst back up. You will find that this strategy mimics the way you ski. — Tom Guerquin is a committed downhill ski enthusiast who worked with Ottawa Outdoors Magazine as an Algonquin College writing intern.

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TAKE A MOMENT to look away ing phenomenon. Look for the ahlete ture presented by the from Gatineau Park’s beauty on a who worships “pushing” but is often simultaneous appearSunday morning and check some encumbered by injury and diminishing ance of these symptoms, human nature instead. performance. overtraining can cause

Amid the constant ebb and flow of It’s tempting to casually diagnose athletes to do poorly in bikes, roller-blades and roller-skis, look overtraining (a certain training partner the very competition for at the faces of the owners. Some people cries out “overtraining!” every time which they are preparing. chat quietly, others urge friends on as he’s passed on his bike) but it can be An inability to train in they belt up the hills, while still others difficult for elite athletes to recognize. a sustained and enjoyengage in a grim and private ritual of Elite athletes tend to spend much of their able way can become a exertion. Listen to that roller-ski coach time on the verge of overtraining, so the longer-term problem for trying to whip up his crew: “Like always! line between “hard” and “ineffective” lifetime athletes. Hammer like hell!” is difficult to perceive. The most basic The psychological

Watching this gut-busting pageant symptoms of overtraining are chronic effects of overtraining in with the coach’s dulcet tones is remifatigue and decrements in performance of combination with poor niscent of the ancient sporting religion 5–15 percent. competitive results can of self-mortification. Athletes thrive on Unfortunately, this performance result in a destructive pushing the limits of their own tolerance. deficit can also be interpreted as a sign cycle of effort and injury.

The self-discipline to push through that more training is required. The more Preventing overtraining pain and keep training can contribute to specific physical and psychological should clearly be on the success, but only to a point. Many weeksymptoms listed here are also not obviminds of coaches and end warriors believe that “going hard” is ous signs of a problem because they athletes when assessing all that matters, but athletes who fail to occur normally in most athletes during training programs. respond to their body’s signals may actuhard training. One method of ally see a decrease in their performance. Taken together, however, these achieving this is to Hammering like hell all the time can symptoms generate the unhappy impressimply be clear about produce “overtraining syndrome,” which sion of an athlete who is no longer training goals and assess regularly really means you end up feeling like hell. listening to his or her body, and no whether your training is helping you

After long periods of high-intenlonger training effectively. If coach and achieve them. This could require a shift sity or high-volume work without rest, athlete are unable to see the larger picin philosophy for some athletes as they’re overtraining forced to recognize syndrome produces a period of prolonged fatigue PHYSICAL Decrements in performance PSYCHOLOGICAL Depression their own athletic goals as the driving motivation, rather when an athlete Chronic fatigue Decreased self-confidence than a general experiences Elevated resting heart rate Mood changes devotion to push performance plateaus or decreases, despite continued trainSlower heart rate recovery Persistent muscle soreness Elevated blood pressure Apathy Lethargy Low motivation hard.

Periodical training programs are a valuable ing. Most active Unexplained loss of body weight Sleep disturbances asset for this shift. individuals can Headaches Loss of appetite These programs identify a friend or teammate trapped in this Deterioration of sport skills Frequent illness (cold, flu) Excessive emotional display Lack of concentration schedule training into lengthy cycles to allow for a lonself-defeatMenstrual irregularities ger-term view of

training that includes periods for recovery. Seeing individual training sessions as part of a master plan gives even the easiest workout a focus. It also averts the need for periods of emergency recovery for the lowperforming athlete.

Constant assessments of an athlete’s performance are also essential when evaluating the effectiveness of training. From the micro to the macro, an athlete’s body gives many signs. Biochemical indicators of overtraining appear in the blood and can be evaluated by medical technologists.

A simpler solution involves regular fitness testing to ensure that improvement in fitness is occurring. The most important assessment to be made, however, is the one that should be made daily by every athlete. How do you feel? While the ability to master pain wins races, the ability to interpret the signs from your body accurately makes one able to train far more effectively.

Training provides the opportunity to feel a sense of communion with your surroundings and yourself. Clear focus on final goals, confidence in training and gauging your body’s needs can make your Sunday morning trek though Gatineau Park feel like part of a larger plan, rather than just an exercise in spinning your wheels. — Ed McNeely is an exercise physiologist who has been a consultant to 17 National Sport Organizations. He can be reached at: e.mcneely@rogers.com. For further information on training, contact the Peak Centre for Human Performance at 737-7325, or visit the web site at: www.peakcentre.ca. Email: info@peakcentre.ca.

These factors alone or in combination could lead to a training schedule that demands too much of an athlete:

Inadequate recovery between training sessions

Excessive amounts of high intensity training

Increases in training volumes of greater than 10 percent per week

Sudden increases in training intensity

Monotonous unvarying training programs

No break in training between seasons

Frequent competition and travel

External stressors (family, job, school, etc.)

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