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Best Terrain for Skimo Intensity Interval Training: Groomed Ski Runs or Skin Tracks?

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Regularly including various technical aspects of skimo racing in your workouts is crucial to your improvement. ISMF photo.

In any competitive sport, once you want to improve your speed beyond a certain plateau, you will have to incorporate regular high intensity sessions into your training (Zone 3 to Zone 5).

Skimo is no different and its various technical aspects introduce even more complexity compared to running or cycling. Skimo race courses travel across a variety of terrain, with most including technical climbing than just going straight up groomed runs.

With that, you might be wondering whether you should do your intensity interval workouts on nicely groomed runs or in a skin track?

Comparing Terrain: Groomed Ski Runs vs Skin Tracks

Comparing the two, by looking only at the terrain, the difference is obvious. Groomed ski runs are easy to climb up even for a skimo novice while skinning in a skin track requires more skill, especially, if your are trying to go fast.

Here are a couple of less obvious points how skinning between these two “terrain types” differs:

  • It’s easy to set into a steady rhythm for long periods of time on a groomed run. Skin tracks with switchbacks break your rhythm often, whether that be your breathing or your stride.
  • Having a consistent skin traction and grip on a groomed run is much easier than in a skin track because keeping good balance is less challenging.
  • Skin tracks usually have switchbacks, thus, your proficiency in kick-turns is crucial to maintaining your speed throughout the climb or high intensity interval.

We can point out more differences but the bottom line is that skin tracks require you to be a much more proficient and technically skilled athlete than groomed ski runs.

Click above to check out our Skimo Manual for proven skimo training tips and advice.

How To Choose The Best Terrain For Your Interval Training?

Now that we are clear on the difference of the terrain types, let’s take a look at how you should decide which workouts to do on groomed ski runs and which ones in skin tracks with kick-turns.

Consider Your Goals and Upcoming Races

The two most important factors when “designing” your intensity workout should be:

  • The goals you have for that workout as part of your overall training goals.
  • What type of terrain you expect in your upcoming important races?

It should be obvious that if you are training for vertical races primarily then performing intervals in skin tracks is not critical to your improvement. In fact, in this case, it might be even be detrimental.

The opposite is true if you are training for technical race or a classic European skimo race like the Pierra Menta. PM’s courses take place almost exclusively in skin tracks and the race includes many technical aspects overall.

Interval Workouts Suitable for Groomed Ski Runs

Early season interval workouts, at least the first few of the season, are best done on less technical terrain, otherwise, you might simply not be able to hold the required intensity for long enough (which is crucial for further progress).

VO2max, or Zone 4 high intensity intervals (5x 5min), are also better performed on ski runs because holding the high intensity for the entire length of the interval is very important in developing your VO2max.

Another example would be maximum speed sprint-style intervals (30x 30sec full-out efforts), it would be counter productive to perform them in a skin track. After all, the goal with these is to generate as much power as possible so it’s best when the snow surface is very supportive and consistent.

Interval Workouts Suitable for Skin Tracks

As already discussed above, depending on your goals and upcoming races, there are times when you can enhance your improvement by performing certain interval intensity sessions inside skin tracks with kick-turns.

If your goal race is a couple of weeks away and you know it will have plenty of skin track skinning, then completing your long intervals (3x 10min of Zone 3) and your high intensity intervals (5x 5min of Zone 4) using the same terrain as the race course, will make you feel strong and confident when the race day comes.

Once you achieve a certain level of technical proficiency, occasionally moving your interval workouts into technical terrain will continue to enhance your skimo progress. As long as you are able to hold the prescribed intensity, in any terrain, you will greatly benefit by matching the race environment as close as possible.

Click above to learn more about our various skimo training resources and training plans. From interval workouts to technique, they provide you with proven tips and advice to help you improve your skimo racing quickly.

Early Season vs Race Season

Early in the season, the priority of your interval workouts should be on building your engine. Work on your technique during the long, easy Zone 1 sessions. Create the best possible conditions (including terrain choice) for a given workout to gain the maximum benefits for the time you spend. Just like you wouldn’t do Zone 4 intervals using your powder ski gear, you don’t want to choose terrain that prevents you from keeping the required intensity or speed.

As your season progresses and your goal races are approaching, design your workouts around the demands of those races. Unless you want to be a pure vertical race specialist, you will need to develop your technical skills while you are breathing heavily and your balance is compromised. Besides, the technical aspects are what makes skimo so appealing and interesting.

Sprint Race Training

Skimo sprints are a special kind of races that require great technique at high speed in quickly changing terrain.

They seem simple at the first glance because they take only 3-5min, however, even without considering the many transitions, a sprint race is arguably the most challenging event to perform successfully on consistent basis.

With that, performing high intensity intervals on sprint-like courses is one of the best ways to improve your skimo skills quickly. Anything done well at high speed will be much easier to repeat when your heart rate is lower. So even if you don’t participate in sprint races, you can greatly benefit by incorporating aspects of sprint races into your training, it is a very efficient use of time.

In few days, we will be releasing a unique sprint and speed development training plan that will give your interval workouts an extra boost and maximize your time. Stay tuned!

How To Effectively Train Boot-packing and Running Technique for Skimo Racing

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Kilian Jornet on a way to winning his fourth Pierra Menta. Photo by Jocelyn Chavy.

Technique for boot-packing and running seems fairly straightforward since walking and running are the most natural movements to humans. However, several critical details do make a difference in efficiency.

The weight of the ski boots, loss of ankle agility, snow and handling of the ski poles all add to the complexity of simple movements we are born to easily master.

Training for effective and efficient boot-packing for longer (slower) races should be somewhat different from training for fast sprint races and running so we are discussing each on its own.

This article is an excerpt from our Manual For Ski Mountaineering Racing ebook.

Boot-packing for longer races

Usually, in longer races, boot-packing is up a steep slope with skis attached to your backpack. The important thing is that you use double-poling technique for this – planting both of your ski poles at the same time.

How to train:

Find a safe, steep slope (30+ degree) where you can set up 30-100 m (100-330 ft) vertical boot-pack. The right snow density for setting up a boot-pack track should allow for at least half of your boot’s sole to form a step.

Perform 3-6 climbs during which you double-pole on every third or fourth step.

Throughout the first half of the arms motion, you are using your arms for pulling, while in the second half (once ski poles’ handles are below your shoulders) you are using them for pushing, finishing with a full extension.

Intensity will be dictated by terrain but you can easily incorporate such a boot-pack section into your tempo intervals (zone 3).

It’s less suitable to incorporate these into your VO2 max intervals (zone 4) because of the time required to transition unless you are planning on performing the whole interval by boot-packing.

What elite racers do:

All elite racers use the double-poling technique during a boot-pack. They plant their poles, hunch themselves with their heads tilted down, then pull and push with force while their feet are doing three to five steps in one cycle. Their cadence (step frequency) varies greatly depending on the slope angle and depth of the track.

Boot-packing for sprint races

During boot-pack sections in sprint races or short (or lower angle) boot-pack sections in longer ones, the technique is the same as described above but since it’s performed on much shorter climbs, the cadence is higher as well as the force that is used for double-poling.

ISMF photo.

How to train:

Find a safe, 30-40 degree slope that will accommodate a 15-30 m (50-90 ft) vertical boot-pack. The snow should be fairly hard as the ideal foot penetration depth for good steps shouldn’t be more than just above your boot soles.

Perform 6-10 climbs with the double-poling technique described in the “boot-packing for longer races” above, but with your arms maximum force pulling and pushing on your poles while running (not walking) up the track.

These should be maximal speed efforts, so heart-rate intensity is not important, with about 1-2 minutes of recovery between the climbs.

What elite racers do:

All top sprint racers are very fast going up short boot-packs, covering four to six strides per every powerful double-poling cycle with a cadence of around 90-100 steps per leg per minute.

In the video below, around 30sec and 1min 30sec, you can watch elite racers running up during a sprint race at the 2019 World Championships.

Running in skimo races

Some races have flat or almost flat sections that are covered on foot (with skis on the pack) that could be on snow or on dry ground (gravel, pavement, grass). These sections are covered by running.

How to train:

To train for running on the snow, complete 6-10 maximal efforts of 10-15 seconds with 1-2 minutes of active rest between.

Use double-poling technique and lean into the stride, just like you would running in shoes, planting your poles far ahead of you and doing about 6-8 strides per double-poling cycle.

Best is to practice on groomed or hard-packed snow with minimal or no foot-penetration.

To train for running on dry land, complete 5-8 efforts at speed of zone 2-3 intensity and 10-20 seconds in length with minimal or no recovery. For these, you can carry poles in your hands without using them for half of the efforts while double-poling during the rest. Avoid doing these at your maximal speed as running on dry, hard ground in ski boots is quite taxing on all your leg joints. The ideal surface is grass or soft-packed dirt.

What elite racers do:

On-snow running sections are regularly featured at the top of boot-packs at various levels of competition, while dry-land sections are almost exclusive to long races that are in the spring months such as Pierra Menta, Patrouille des Glaciers, etc.

Top racers perform double-poling during the on-snow sections and usually carry their poles on dry land to prevent from breaking their pole tips.

Planning Your Training for Your Next Skimo Season

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Are you ready to ski yet? We bet a lot of you are. After all, the snow has been flying already.

We are proponents of planning your next season as early as May or June, however, unless you are shooting for the stars, you will most likely delay this until some version of the season’s racing calendar is out.

This is not a complete flop by any means as long as you are staying active throughout the summer. If you happened to mix in some racing then even better.

You might have heard Kilian Jornet say that he doesn't follow a structured training plan and trains more by feel. However, he still plans around his goals and does this after many years of high level experience.
You might have heard Kilian Jornet say that he doesn’t follow a structured training plan and trains more by feel. However, he does this after many years of experience and still plans around his goals meticulously.

Establishing Facts: Things to Consider

To come up with a reasonable plan for your next race season, it is wise to evaluate a couple of important things:

  • What are my goals? (races and adventures)
  • How long do I have to get ready for them?
  • Where is my fitness right now?
  • What do I need to do to be at my best at the right time?
  • Do I have all the gear in place?

While the above should be figured out as soon as possible, the below still have some time:

  • Where are my goal races located?
  • Are they at altitude?
  • Will they require significant travel to attend?
  • How will this impact my training and life?
  • Can I share race trips with friends?
  • How much will these trips cost?

Planning Your Training Around Your Goals

Now that you have realized some truths and set some goals, you can start planning how to incorporate the necessary training. Having a full time job doesn’t make it easy but most of us have that responsibility so you are in no disadvantage.

With a well thought out plan you can make big performance gains without having to commit to 3-4h of training every day.
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Drafting your training plan should start from the end and working backwards from your goal race (or race month) to the present. Analyze what demands (physical, technical…) your goal race will require of you. Is it a sprint, two hour individual, or a long teams race?

Beyond that, you also need to keep in mind that effective training should have continuity, progress, and variety to gradually make you improve to the desired level.

With all that in mind, here’s a simple example of how you can come up with a reasonable plan:

  • Goal event: January 27, 2018
  • Taper 1-2 weeks out
  • Focus on intensity 2-8 weeks out
  • Focus on strength and endurance 9-16 weeks out

From there, you can start planning your individual weeks and even workouts.

First, identify 1-3 goals for each period or week and then choose two primary workouts per week that help move you towards the goals. These are your “bread and butter” workouts and should be the priority. Once these are identified, fill in the rest of the week with the secondary goals and overall endurance work.

Secondary Considerations: Recovery and Nutrition

If you have been training for few seasons or following SkinTrack, you know that actual training is only one part of the whole puzzle. Recovery is equally important, especially if you have a demanding job or family commitments to consider.

The only way to improve is to adapt to higher (more demanding) training loads. To adapt you will need to strategically schedule recovery days and weeks into your plan. While this can be highly individual, there are some conservative general principles such as building your training load for three weeks followed by recovery period of one week, as well as having at least one full day-off each week.

Another factor affecting your rate of adaptation and improvement will be your nutrition. You do not need to obsess but eating mostly unprocessed foods and avoiding most junk food will be highly beneficial. You can also boost your caloric and protein intake during the most demanding weeks. Basically, if your body asks for more then eat more. We don’t mean ice cream though 🙂

Help with Planning

If you would like to follow a specialized skimo training plan and can commit 6-9h of training per week then we have designed such a plan last year – 12-Week Skimo Training Plan.

Besides that, you can get a deal on a package by combining the training plan with our Manual For Ski Mountaineering Racing e-book from which you can learn about all aspects of our sport, plus improve your transitions skills by learning from our videos.

Roller-ski Training For Skimo: Video, Drills and How-to tips

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Should I be including roller skiing in my summer and fall skimo training? And what should I even be doing?
If you have been wondering about the benefits of roller-skiing as part of your fall skimo training then we have some how-to tips. Eric provided most of the advice while Stano added some details as well. And we even shot a video to show you some drills 😉
For full descriptions of drills in this video, read the lower part of the article.

Who should consider roller skiing for skimo?

Before we get into specifics, let’s find out who will benefit the most and who can get by without it.
For most recreational competitive skimo racers, the best summer and fall training option is your favourite summer sport. Trail running, mountain biking, cycling, paddling and others provide excellent training stimulus that translates pretty well over to winter skimo fitness, especially when combined with a bit of skimo-specific training early in the season. Generally, for these athletes, we don’t recommend roller-skiing as a must.
Highly competitive athletes, for whom skimo racing is their primary sport and specific training occurs year round, might consider using roller skis in specific workouts to supplement their summer training. This group will reap the most benefits, especially if they need to perform at high levels from the very beginning of the skimo season.
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How to choose and setup your roller skis for skimo training?

First, choose a pair of roller skis that is designed for classic skiing and not skate skiing. This means that the rear wheel has a racket that allows it to only roll forward. This will allow you to mimic a skimo stride as if you were on snow using skins (gliding only forward).
Some athletes mount the roller skis with a tech binding toe pieces, thus, allowing them to use their skimo race boots. This seems like a good idea, as it is more sport specific, but in practice it’s not the best option for everyone. The primary issue is that skimo boots are much longer than cross country ski boots, therefore, especially for guys with big feet, the toe piece must be mounted further forward to fit on the roller ski. That affects balance of the ski, impacting both technique and downhill ability. Without space to mount a heel piece, having only a toe piece to hold you into the ski, means that descending is extremely dangerous. Skimo boots are also much warmer than a cross country ski boot and with increased sweating your feet will be more prone to blisters.
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Since we don’t see significant upsides to using a skimo boot, we recommend athletes use a classic cross-country (xc) ski boot and binding. These can be found pretty cheap at ski swaps and if you are buying a used roller-ski, it likely already has a binding. A slightly less supportive xc boot will also exercise your ankle stabilizing muscles and strengthening them in the process.

Terrain for skimo roller-skiing

The challenge with roller-ski training for skimo is finding the right terrain. Cross country ski terrain is rolling and fast, yet skimo is all about the long and comparably steep ascents.
While rolling country roads are ideal for simulating long cross country skiing stride, very few paved roads are built steep enough to replicate the grade of ski mountaineering racing tracks. If you are lucky to have a hill that is long and steep enough to properly mimic skimo technique, it might be quite the challenge to descend. Alternate methods of descent may be necessary such as hiking down, pre-placed bike, hitch hiking, etc.
Quality of the paved surface is important as well. Just like for roller-blading, the best surface is smooth paved road without much debris on it. However, these days you can also buy “off-road” roller skis with bigger wheels that perform quite well on gravel roads or less smooth pavements.

Maximizing the training benefit and Specific workouts

After the rant above, we recognize that roller skiing is not completely worthless so let’s discuss some specific details if you want to incorporate into your training.
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Zone 4 intervals:
Even a short steep hill can provide a good place to do short, hard intervals (something like 6 x 3 min in Zone 4). These intervals can be used in the intensity phase of your training and will serve to help sharpen both your anaerobic threshold as well as your ski-specific upper-body strength.
Technique and strength drills:
Roller skis are also useful for ski-specific core and upper body training. By double poling instead of striding, it becomes a much more core-intensive workout. One of my favorite sessions is a ski-specific strength workout on a flat or slight uphill that includes 10 x 30sec of “single-stick” alternate poling (a striding motion using the arms but not the legs), followed by 10 x 30sec of core-only double poling, and finishing with 10 x 30sec of full body double poling (a crunch motion that cross country skiers use on flats).

Final advice

Our advice for most athletes is that it is not worth the time and expense to include roller-skiing in your summer training. Most will see more gains by sticking to their primary sports and adding a skimo-specific strength routine in their gym strength sessions – see our Manual For Ski Mountaineering Racing and 12-week training plan for skimo strength routine and more detailed winter training.
For some athletes, however, especially former cross country skiers who already have the equipment, roller skiing can be a useful but still somewhat small component of their overall training for skimo.
And be careful on those descents! 🙂
 

New Training Plan Release: 8-Week Sprint and Speed Development Training Plan

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While our social media accounts were dormant over the Christmas, we were working hard on finishing our newest 8-week skimo training plan!
Eric and I did lots of thinking in the fall and we decided to create a different kind of a training plan.
Unlike our 12-week Novice and Intermediate plans, that prescribe specific training for each day, with our Sprint and Speed Development Plan you will be able to “plug-and-play” 16 specialized interval and technique workouts into your already existing training. Alternatively, you can design your own weekly schedules around them.
This new plan also features 14 detailed skimo specific strength training workouts to further maximize your speed gains.
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Is this plan only for sprint races?
Why there are no daily workouts?

Originally, we set out to design a training plan specifically for sprint races and follow the traditional format of prescribing daily sessions over a period of weeks.

Regularly including various technical aspects of skimo racing in your workouts is crucial to your improvement.
Regularly including various technical aspects of skimo racing in your workouts is crucial to your improvement.
But we changed our mind half way through the creation process for three reasons as we realized this plan can have much more application than for the pure sprinters.
Reason #1:
20% of workouts create 80% of improvement:
While it’s not enough to train only 2 days a week to keep improving over long period of time, there really are only 2-3 key sessions each week that will deliver you the majority of results.
With that experience in mind, we decided to provide you with two highly detailed key workouts per week, and give you guidelines on how to design the rest of the week around your personal schedule.
You can complete the 16 on-skis workouts in this plan over an 8-week period, and you can keep using them into the future as you will have a “library” of very specific skimo sessions at your disposal.
Reason #2:
Specific and focused training is the most efficient way to improve overall:
Sprint events are the shortest of all skimo disciplines but they are the most difficult to prepare for in order to deliver a consistent performance.
Highly focused workouts, including both intervals and technique, are required as the sprint event packs all aspects of skimo in only a 3-4 min race.
This type of training transfers well into longer races too.
Reason #3:
High-intensity sessions greatly benefit even long distance athletes:
While interval workouts designed around Zone L3 (your anaerobic threshold) are essential to improve performance for longer races – such as individual, vertical and teams race – there is lots of sport science research that proofs mixing them with even higher intensity sessions will be more efficient use of your time.
Your body needs a variety of stress to keep improving if you don’t want to get stuck at a plateau, or when you have limited time to train but still want to progress.

Sample workout from the plan

Intervals: 2x 8min of 30/30sec
Goal & Focus: Leg Speed Turnover and Technique
Terrain: Mostly flat or slight uphill, on-piste
Overall Time: 65 min
Description: Do a 20min warm-up on uphill or flat. This is a fast “30sec on and 30sec off” workout to focus on kick and glide, and high frequency leg turnover. Priority is to maintain good technique and stride through the entire workout. Rest 8-10min between the two sets…

Learn more

To learn more about this newest plan visit 8-Week Skimo Sprint and Speed Development Training Plan.
If you are interested in our Manual For Ski Mountaineering e-book as well as this plan then check out this package page to get a special price.

Our 12-week training plans

Since the release of our 12-week Novice and Intermediate Level skimo training plans, we have been receiving a positive feedback from those that are following them.
If you want daily guidance or want to follow a plan for a longer period of time then learn more about these plans at our skimo training resources page.
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Short and Long-term Skimo Training: Training to Train vs. Training to Compete?

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It’s appealing to follow the top athletes in our sport as many post all of their training on social media like Strava. It can be also incredibly tempting to try to mimic what Kilian Jornet or  other skimo stars are doing but it would be at a very high risk of failure, injury, or burnout.
While a few select athletes might be able to match the training of the pros, the vast majority of us have jobs, families, and other activities that occupy the portion of our life that pros dedicate to training and more importantly to recovery.
Aside from having the time and resources available to train and recover, it’s important to remember the training base that a professional athlete has to support their current training load. Training is cumulative, especially if volume is maintained consistently.

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Damiano Lenzi (left), age 30, is the current World Champion in both individual and team races, consistently challenging the legendary Kilian Jornet, age 30. Both have accumulated lots training volume over the years. William Bon Mardion (right), age 34, has been known to focus more on quality over quantity and has also reached an impressive collection of victories – but remember he still accumulated a lot of volume in the process.
A 30-year-old professional endurance athlete has probably been training between 700 and 1200 a year for 15 years! The average recreational competitive athlete may have less than half that number of hours in their “training bank”. The accumulated hours provide a support system for the training currently being completed – imagine a pyramid with all the training hours building the base, and the current training load as the very top.
The training bank needs to be maintained both on a long-term scale (many years of training) and on a smaller scale within the training year (maintaining consistency and using sound periodization throughout the year).

Long-term Progression

I’ve found a concept developed by the Canadian Cross Country Ski Federation for their long-term athlete development program to be very useful. During their development, athletes go through stages, one of which is “training-to-train”. This is the process of building a large training bank and is followed several years later by the stage “training-to-compete” where the athlete is focused primarily on training to be as fast as possible.
Ultra-running athletes often find that the volume and intensity of training required to merely complete their first ultra-marathon is considerably more than that needed to complete successive races and also find the recovery period post-race to gradually decrease. This is a good example of transitioning from training-to-train to training-to-compete on a multi-season scale.

Janelle Smiley, racing to first place, spends lots of time moving in the mountains thus by default accumulating big training volume. Photo by Eric Hoff.
Janelle Smiley, racing to first place here, spends lots of time moving in the mountains thus by default accumulating big training volume. Photo by Eric Hoff.
I find it is also important to keep this concept of progression in mind within a single season. For athletes focused on skimo as their primary sport, the summer is primarily base building. At the end of the summer and beginning of the fall, it’s time to build up the intensity training (training-to-train) that will allow you to complete the workouts done when winter begins, that will actually build your race fitness (training-to-compete). Once the race season begins, you enter a new phase where fitness is maintained and racing itself becomes the main priority!

Early Season and How to “train to train”?

Hopefully you’ve been building your training volume through the summer so that by the time fall comes around, you are at a good amount that you don’t need to build too much the rest of the year. It can however be a good time to put in a few final big volume building periods to get up to the level you’re expecting. It’s also a good time to start to focus on skimo specific type training – prioritize uphill training and consider adding roller skiing!
Finally, this is the time to add the interval sessions that will enable you to do even harder intervals in the training to compete period. Focus on longer tempo efforts in the 10-30 minute range with a few short threshold sessions.

Winter Season and How to “train to compete”?

This period is no longer about building volume. Instead focus on adding longer intensity workouts at threshold pace and above. Training should be 100% sport specific and carried out on skis as much as possible. Strength training should be focused on max strength tolerance for downhill skiing.

Training Smarter

Train smarter, not harder. Plan your training progression and give yourself time to train-to-train and then train-to-compete. You will not only be better prepared but also be less likely to experience an injury or setback.
Remember that the pros have also had a lifetime of training-to-train and that matching their training plans is not advisable.

Important Differences Between Training Volume and Training Load in Skimo Training

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How can two training plans be the same overall volume but be designed for two completely different athletes? How can we quantify training in a sport where the track is always changing?
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You may recognize a few (or all) of the below terms from various training resources. They all refer to the same concept, that of training load or how much work was done during a training session:

  • Intensity Factor
  • TRainingIMPulse (TRIMP)
  • Recovery Time
  • Suffer Score
  • Training Effect

In skimo, we can measure training time, distance of an activity, or vertical ascent. We can also measure training intensity by looking at pace, heart rate, and other measures. Individually, these measures are not particularly useful in telling us the value of our training but combined as training load, we get great insights about what benefits we will see.
Knowing only the distance completed per week is interesting but it doesn’t tell the whole story. If all you know about two athletes is that they each run approximately 40 miles per week, you might assume that they were similar fitness or had similar goals. In reality, a sprinter might run 40 miles per week but primarily on a track at a high intensity while a novice training for their first marathon might run the same amount over a much longer period of time at a very low intensity.
By combining volume (in this case distance) and intensity (in this case pace) we get an idea of training load – how much work is being completed as well as the physiological demands being placed on the athletes and the anticipated effects.

Measuring and Calculating Training Load in Ski Mountaineering

In ski mountaineering racing, pace can be a difficult factor to work with. The variable nature of the snow surface means that pace and intensity are not very well correlated (compared to a sport like road running where pace is highly correlated with intensity):
Deep, fresh snow means an athlete may be working at a high intensity but traveling very slowly and covering little distance. A well groomed low angle piste allows for very quick but fairly easy travel. Also, distance is relative, especially if descents are included in the calculation! For this reason, heart rate becomes the best measure of training intensity that can be easily quantified for skimo.
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To measure training volume in skimo, distance is not useful for the reason described above. Vertical ascent is much more appropriate but still significantly influenced by changing snow conditions. Time is the best volume variable to work with.
The rise of modern GPS and heart rate enabled training watches have enabled us to collect a big amount of data on every session as most watches and their accompanying analysis software allow athletes to define their heart rate training zones. Then workouts can be broken down by intensity level: 30 minutes spent in Zone 1, 25 minutes in Zone 2, 18 minutes in Zone 3, or similar.
Each of the training load terms at the beginning of the article take the time spent in a Zone and assign it an intensity value, and then add up the time in each Zone to get a total training load number. The simplest way is to give Zone 1 a value of 1, Zone 2 a value of 2, and so on. From our example before the calculation would be as follows:

  • 30 min of Zone 1 = 30
  • 25 min of Zone 2 = 50
  • 18 min of Zone 3 = 54

The total training load value for the workout is then = 134. For a simple comparison, a two hour workout entirely in Zone 1 would have a training load value of 120, thus, considered physiologically less taxing.
Most estimates of training load use more complicated intensity values that give each successive zone a smaller value so the low intensity zones are not undervalued, but that’s a topic for another post.

Training Plan Progression: Training Volume vs Training Load

Just like the training load of a workout can be calculated, the training load of a week, month, or entire training year can be determined. When developing a training program, it is important to look beyond just the total volume.
Is there a very little intensity (Zone 3-4) training or do you see a lot?
Who is this program designed for?
A novice training program may include a small amount of high intensity training. As the program increases in difficulty and a base volume is reached, volume might remain constant while total high intensity training time increases. In this case, overall volume (measured in time) stays the same but the training load increases, and new fitness levels are achieved!

How to Taper and Peak for Your Goal Skimo Race: Volume, Intensity, Recovery…

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After months of training, it can be daunting when the time finally comes for your big race. While it’s not possible to ‘make’ your race by training in the last week or two leading up to it, it’s definitely possible to ‘break’ it if you over do it!
By focusing on your taper, you give yourself the best chance for a successful performance.
taper-post-podium

Adjusting Your Training – Volume and Intensity

Tapering, to most athletes, means a reduction in volume so we’ll start there. It’s important to adjust your training properly, not just hang up the skis and hit the couch.
Your overall volume (time or vertical – depending on what you measure) should decrease approximately 50% during your taper week. Remember, the training is done, you aren’t going to make any amazing breakthroughs by putting in time the week before the big event.
As important is maintaining the frequency of training and intensity of your sessions. This means if you usually train five days per week, then continue to do so, just make each session shorter. Don’t drop interval workouts from your schedule but adjust them to be less taxing by reducing the number of reps and overall intensity while increasing rest between reps. One of my favourite intensity workouts the week before a race is shown in green below.
Use your reduced training volume wisely, such as to inspect the race course. Depending on the venue, a half-day lift ticket can give you a big advantage for scoping the course. Focus on descents and technical sections. You don’t want to be surprised by a sharp corner when you are racing at your maximum speed!
taper-week-example

Maximize Your Recovery

While adjusting volume is the most obvious part of a taper, there is much more to making it effective. Maximizing your recovery routine is a critical component.
Have a look at your schedule and figure out what time you are going to need to wake up the morning of the event, and what time you will need to go to bed the night before for a great night’s sleep. Use the week leading up to the race to adjust your bedtime routine so you get in the habit of getting to sleep on time!
The reduction in training time should also free up extra time to focus on recovery routines like rolling and release, massage, improved nutrition (take the time to prepare healthy meals), and preparing for the race.

Plan Your Race

Previewing a race course, as already mentioned, is critical. It might not always be possible to ski the entire course before race day but do your best to get a copy of the race map and check it out on Google Earth. Are you skiing on piste, open slopes, or in tight trees? Do you have dramatic turns or groomed runs to be aware of?

Some organizer provide a pretty good map from which you can figure out the locations of the climbs/descents and their vertical.
Some organizer provide a pretty good map from which you can figure out the locations of the climbs/descents and their vertical.
Best case scenario: Over the course of the preceding week, you’ve previewed every section of the course and taken notes about important sections on a copy of the race map. An advanced athlete can then use this information to visualize each section of the course and how they might react to situations at each point.
This becomes part of the overall race strategy. Being aware of the demands of individual climbs will help determine the equipment you use (mostly talking about skins here), how hard you will push in each section, and your nutritional demands.

Practice Your Transitions

While any time is good time to work on your transitions, the taper period is especially great. Going through the correct sequences of various skimo racing transitions will keep your mind sharp towards the race day and sometimes you can discover a bad habit that started to creep in during weeks of pure training.
Once you know the race details, you can specifically focus only on those transitions but pretty much at all times you need to be very efficient in these:

  • skins-on
  • skins-off
  • skinning to boot-packing
  • boot-packing to skinning/skiing

If you are unsure about the movement sequences in your transitions watch our playlist of videos below:

Equipment Preparation

Finally, and something easily overlooked, is equipment preparation.
Make sure, several days before, that everything is in proper working order. If your boot cables are frayed or your pole straps disintegrating, don’t wait until the day before the race to repair them. Give yourself a few days just in case the local shop is out of stock or whatever else could go wrong.
We always do a quick check of our boots (cracks/holes)bindings (cracks in the plate or loose screws), skis (waxed/scraped), skins (any glue touchups), and poles (mostly the straps).
Finally, check the weather and wax your skis for the expected conditions. Give yourself plenty of time and do a good job scraping and brushing. Do it when you have access to a bench and vice rather than behind your car at the venue!

12 Week Skimo Training Plan

In addition to our Manual For Ski Mountaineering Racing e-book, we released a very detailed skimo training plan that will help you to reach your best at your goal race – 12 Weeks to Your Best Skimo Race.
skimo-training-plan-cover-600x464

Training Plan: 12 Weeks to Your Best Skimo Race

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Today, after receiving much feedback and almost two years after releasing the Manual For Ski Mountaineering Racing e-book, we are proud to announce something we have been working on since summer – our first skimo racing specific training plan!
As its name suggests, we created this plan to be your daily training guide in the last couple of weeks leading up to your goal race.
skimo-training-plan-cover-600x464

Who can benefit the most from this plan?

It’s primarily designed for three athlete groups that we believe can reap the most benefits from such a training plan as well as those that want to take a more focused approach:

  1. Beginner and intermediate level skimo racers
  2. Time restricted athletes who need highly efficient training schedule
  3. And those that want daily guidance in their training

We considered usual time constraints and settled on 6 to 10 hours of weekly training volume based on a mix of  VO2max, tempo and lactate tolerance intervals, alternating with easy days and training races.
The plan was developed mainly with these goal races in mind – Grand Traverse, Mezzalama, Pierra Menta, The Power of Four, Wasatch Powder Keg, The Five Peaks – but will effectively prepare you for any ski mountaineering event.

More details

Without further due, just head over to this page to learn more about this training plan:
12 Weeks to Your Best Skimo Race
If you are also interested in the Manual For Ski Mountaineering Racing e-book then we created a “2-in-1 package” for you:
The Manual + this 12-Week Training Plan

Thank you for your continued support

We greatly appreciate all our readers and those that have supported us via purchasing our Manual in the past.
Thank you for keeping the SkinTrack going and keeping us motivated to always deliver the best content! It’s been 7th years in September 🙂
Stano & Eric
PS: Here’s a page from inside the training plan.
sample-skimo-training-plan

Skimo Training: How to Transition to On-Snow Training

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Summer is firmly in the rear view mirror and the days are starting crisp and dark. Snow is flying in the mountains and, depending on where you live, it’s time to finally start skiing. Before you do, here are our tips to make the transition as seamless as possible.
» Previous article in this series – Skimo Training Series: Training tips for September-October

1) Inspect your gear

Make sure the skis are in good shape and freshly waxed. Look for compressed edges and water damage. Inspect your bindings carefully for cracks, worn out heel pins, and check that all the screws are tight. Do necessary repairs to boot liners and check the shell rivets to make sure they are snug. Make sure that your bindings are adjusted to your boots – this is obvious but from time to time even the most diligent people get surprised some times 😉
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, diligently inspect and test your safety gear and make sure your shovel and probe are in working order, and that you have fresh batteries installed in your beacon and it works.

2) Pick the right location

All it takes is one well aimed storm and it can be game on. The best early season skiing is typically at higher altitudes and on permanent snow and ice or on smooth alpine slopes at ski areas. Paved or logging roads are also a good option as they don’t require much snow to be skiable. While glaciers give the best chance for skiing with minimal snow cover they also provide objective hazards. Crevasses can be thinly bridged and exposed ice can break ankles as Stano experienced two years ago.

Our early season ski attempt on Mount Baker (3,285 m), or Kulshan in native, couple of years ago didn't very well - unexpected frigid temperatures, wind-scoured glacier, and short day light had us turn around 400m below summit.
Our early season ski attempt on Mount Baker (3,285 m), or Kulshan in native, couple of years ago didn’t go very well – unexpected frigid temperatures, wind-scoured glaciers, and short day-light had us turn around 400 m below the summit.

3) Ease into it

Your first few ski sessions should be easy distance affairs. Hold off on the intensity until your body has time to adapt to the new training stress.

4) Prepare your body ahead of time

Let’s be honest, #3 is never going to happen. So to make up for that first, glorious 4-5 hour ski day (plus some hiking), make sure you adapt your training plan in the lead up to snow flying. Take a look at our previous post in the training series, as well as our training Skimo Manual and incorporate the following tips:

  • 1-2 roller-ski sessions per week will help strengthen muscles that have gone unused since spring.
  • Include poles on uphill training sessions to prepare your triceps.
  • Specific strength training should include:
    • Back extensor muscles should be targeted during core training.
    • Ski specific movements such as single leg squat should be incorporated into power training sessions.
    • Axial loading exercises should be incorporated into strength and power training sessions (squat, deadlift, cleans, snatches).

 5) Focus on quality recovery

Increasing training hours and training in colder weather increases the overall stress on the body. Immune function can be compromised so it is important to balance this stress with a renewed focus on recovery and nutrition. Fuel properly during and after workouts and avoid the chill!

6) Low angle skinning

As you transition from running shoes onto skis your legs and body will take some time to adapt. During this transitioning period, low(er) angle skinning is preferable as it is less taxing physically, thus, allowing for better technique and higher stride frequency. Once your body adapts, after couple of weeks or 6-8 sessions, you will be able to sustain good technique on steeper gradients as well.

low-angle-skinning
Ability to sustain high stride frequency is necessary for skimo racing because the light gear allows it. Practicing it in the early season by skinning low angle terrain will set you up for success later on.