How we train for Ethan Allen

The Vermont countryside is very scenic. Rolling hills and some steep terrain will welcome us on practice day and again on race day. The Camp Ethan Allen ski Biathlon track is almost universally hilly. The range area & finish line and one section out back are the only real flats that we will experience during the race. Its going to be hill climbing and fast downhills. We are training to not only survive the 10/12k ski events, but to do well. We will be accompanied by world class skiers on race day and just being in that company is worth the trip.

We are building our cardio fitness at effort level 2/3 most days of the training week and putting in two strength training days as either a second workout of the day or in place of a cardio. The cardio part will get you through the race, the strength will give you speed.

If you run or cycle on flat terrain, you will get the cardio benefit but not much new strength. If you choose rolling hills or interval treadmill settings, you will also get some strength training that will match the terrain we expect in VT. When you run a hill, shorten your stride and increase your tempo to ease over the hill instead of pounding up it. World class distance runners use a foot strike rate of about 180 steps a minute regardless of the incline which means they have to shorten up on the hill and stride out on the flats for speed. Practice counting just one side (right or left) strike during one minute to find your current strike rate. If you are like most runners, its slower than the champions but it doesn't have to be. I used an iPhone metronome to remind myself what tempo I should be running at. If you cant get your legs going that fast, then use your arm swing to help. Its been found that faster arm swing is critical to running fast.
Cyclists can do the same cadence work with 90RPM which oddly enough is just about the same cadence as running.  On the hills, shift down to keep the cadence as constant as you can. I use a cycle computer that shows me cadence/distance/speed/etc to check myself. This cadence was found to be an extremely consistent and efficient numer for human performance and is used by world class cyclists as a good average with some faster, some slower, but most in the 90RPM give or take a few percent.

Back to skiing: My first time racing on skis was a humbling experience and the reason I want to share so much about training with team. I thought I was fit and always do real well on my annual PT test. I want to make sure that we all have the opportunity to train well for the race so you can enjoy the race as well as do your personal best.

TIP:
Training log example from this morning: Run on street - 5 miles, 42 minutes, ~500 cal, Clear & 49F, Shorts tech shirt fleece sweater headlamp.

Jeff