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Training January 14 to 20

posted Jan 15, 2013, 5:54 AM by Maurice Moe Samm

This posting is for is week 38 in our yearly training program, this means that it another competition week. Nordic is doing two local races the Coup skinouk, zone 4 registeration closes on thursday and the X-C ottawa duathlon, register on zone 4 by thursday, Biathlon will be racing in Valcartier. Our focus in training, has changed from volume to race specific speed. There will be more intervals and less long distant skiing. We will always be focusing on technique. 

Good work to all of the biathletes that raced this week end and excellent job to all of the volunteers are race organizers that help make out biathlon race. It is a very big job to host a biathlon race and we should be very proud of our hosting.
 
Nordic I will send out a wax recommendation on Wednesday for the week end races. For midgets and juveniles, coup skinouk is the qualifier for Jeux de Quebec. I will have a wax team in place to wax your skis for this. Juniors you will be waxing your own skis and when I say you I mean you not your parents, brothers or sisters, or uncles. This is time for you to develop your waxing skills. This is a training race so if you mess it up there is nothing to loose. I doubt that you will mess it up. X-C Ottawa Duathlon is a team event, one racer does a classic leg and another person does a skate leg, so you will need to find a partner or you will get a partner on race day. Patty and I will be racing as a team so look out to the rest of you.

Make sure that you are doing good recovery as there is no time to be sick. Being sick now could mean missing a race.  Make sure that you are 1. Eating healthy food, limited junk food (less than once per week) 2. Hydrating well (3-4 liters of water a day regularly 3. Sleeping a minimum of 8 hours per night 4. Managing your stress load, living in a positive frame of mind, you now have a bunch of tricks to de-stress quick if you find yourself in a situation that you are stress out. If you are not recovering well during life then the classic symptoms are 1. Being tired and cranky 2. Not motivated to get your work out or other work done. 3. you get sick. Here is an article on staying healthy from athletes at the Calaghan Valley Training Center

Remember our focus priorities
    1. Stay focused during practice, limit the amount of standing around and chatting that we are doing. Many of you have significant national level goals for this season. We have been training for 8 months for the competitive season to begin.  We need to stay focused on the work out of the day so that we can transition all of our dryland training into super snow speed
    2. Make sure that we do good recovery healthy food, good hyrdation, quality sleep and manage our stress loads
    3. Stick to the plan. If we are doing an easy work out then go easy, if we are doing intensity go hard
    4. Support each other. How we support each other helps make practice fun build our self confidence. If we create a positive team atmosphere then we will race faster, have more fun and be the team that everyone wants to hang out with. If we are negative to each other, this acts as poison, and we spend too much energy on conflict than on skiing fast and having fun. 
 
Remember Ten Tips to a successful practice

1. Come to practice having eaten a nutritious snack/meal at least 45 minutes prior to practice. This will allow you to have enough energy to sustain a quality workout. Do not eat too much or to soon before practice as you will not be able to properly digest the food and you will have bloating, cramps and pain. We all have busy lives so you will have to be organized so that you have a snack with you before the start of practice. Remember this is your job not your parents they are busy enough driving you from place to place.

2. Come to practice well hydrated. Have a water bottle, full at the beginning of practice and empty at the end of practice.This means having drunk 2-3 litres ( more if it is hot and you are active) of water continuously throughout the day plus drinking your water bottle during practice and continuing to hydrate after practice. Do not drink a litre of water 10 minutes before practice this will not hydrate you properly and you will experience bloating, cramps and pain.  Being well hydrated at the beginning, middle and end of practice reduces the amount of recovery time (time where your body is tired). For early morning practice you should drink 2 cups of water as soon as you wake up to allow your body to be hydrated for practice.This should be a part of your morning routine everyday. if you are well hydrated it is easier to wake up.

3. Come to practice prepared with all of the equipment,  in working order, that you need for the day (running shoes, skis, roller skis, helmets, gloves, boots, poles, clothing, watch etc,) Having the wrong equipment sucks because you will miss out on practice.

4. Mentally prepare yourself for practice. Sit for a moment and center, slow your breathing, breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. Make sure that you are breathing to your stomach, you should feel your stomach going in and out with every breath. Take ten breaths like this. Focus on being positive, having good technique, excellent focus and willingness to listen and have fun through out the work out. When you focus on positive outcomes you release endorphins into your body which help you feel happy, stronger, and less pain. This is the runners high that people talk about.

5.  Be confident and motivated for the days training. The most damaging thing to your performance and training is low confidence, low motivation and low self esteem. If you do not believe that you can be faster, stronger and better then your progress will be very slow and if you do not want these things than it will not happen at all. You need to believe in your self and your ability. It is you who wants to do intervals, volume, technique work and get stronger, faster smarter, this is why you come to practice. Do your best in every practice. Your best is different every week as you get stronger or as you respond to stress in your life. Sometimes your best is amazing and sometimes your best is not very impressive. There are usually good reasons for this you are tired, sick, stressed but this is still your best given the situation. If you focus on doing your best you will show improvement over the long run.  

6. Support your team mates. Practice is always more fun when you are supported and having fun with your team mates. Being able to train with others makes training easier as there are others to push and motivate you. Make sure that you support the people who are faster than you and the people that are slower than you. Life is always like this, there are always people faster and slower than you and performance is about your personal best. Sometimes this is difficult but remember that it feels good to be supported and encouraged no matter how fast you are.

7. Listen to your body, and push to an appropriate level of intensity. If we are doing Long Slow Distance keep your heart rate low, if we are doing intervals push hard. Always remember that pushing too hard or too hard while you are tired, sick or injured could mean getting over tired, sicker or more injured. Talk to your coaches if you are feeling tired, sick or injured. Remember that there is no training benefit to being over tired, sick or injured.

8. Eat a snack right after practice and a meal within an hour of practice. After practice your heart rate stays high for a certain amount of time, 20 to 60 minutes. This depends on the practice intensity and how tired you are. If you eat while your heart is high you are replacing sugars/energy, protiens and nutrients in your body faster because your heart is moving your blood around your body faster. 

9. Make sure that you have extra clothes so that you are warm and dry after practice, change your clothes, shower as soon as you get home. If you are clean, dry and warm soon after practice you will feel better and be happier about practice. If you are sweaty, stinking and cold then you will not feel as good about your self and your practice.

10. Record your training on sport log. It is a way for me to see what is happening with you and how you are responding to training. When you record your training leave good comments and ask good questions. This means that you are thinking about your practice and training.

Remember Per Race Planning

I have sent you all a race preparation document that outlines in very good detail things that you should be focussing on when preparing for a race. Print it off read through it and pick three things that you are going to focus on in the upcoming race. This is a part of creating your race plan. We will be talking more about race planning in up coming training sessions.


Time management is very important. Make sure that you plan through your week so that you know the things that you need to get done. Planning is very important so that you have time for all the things that you want to do. Recovery is also going to be very important. More stress, action and general business in your day means that you need to have higher quality recovery time to make sure that you are well rested from day to day. Remember that good recovery means eating healthy foods at the right times, drinking (3-4 liters) plenty of water each day, resting and sleeping at least 8 hours a day of quality sleep. If you find that you sleep is poor quality or not enough then you are going to suffer the next day. The first symptoms of poor recovery are you are grumpy, tired, your desire to get things done is very low, and if it goes long enough you end up getting sick. 

The training program is set up to build you little by little, it should be rare that you feel as though you are totally destroyed after a work out. If you are than your recovery time is going to be longer which will affect the next training. Training also builds over time so if you are missing out on training or you are not doing your own self training you will find that you suffer in team work outs when you do show up. Being successful in a work out is very important to your mental development and your enjoyment of the sport. If you are not able to complete a work out then you don't feel as successful and it is not as fun. .


Tuesday, January  15th        

  • Activity: Skate skiing 10 x 1min intervals
  • Location: Chalets des erable
  • When: 6:30-8pm
  • Bring: Classic skis water and snack for after practice

Thursday, January 17th           

  • Activity: Classic skiing biathletes biathletes skate,  skis arms only and arms only strength work
  • Location: Relais Plein Air
  • When:6:30-8pm
  • Bring: Classic and skate gear, water, lunch change of clothing and snack for after practice.

Saturday, January 19th        

  • Activity: Race day Coup Skinouk and Baithlon coup #3 Valcartier make sure you register on Zone4    
  • Location: relais plein air
  • When: Please arrive by 7:30am it time to get your skis waxed.
  • Bring: Midgets and Juveniles you will need to bring both classic and skate as you have two races for jeux de quebec qualifier. Juniors you will only need

Sunday, January 20th    

  • Activity:  Race  day X-C Ottawa Duathlon this is a team event so you will need a partner for this race, I recommend all Nordic race athletes to ski the 7.5 race. Make sure that you register on Zone 4
  • Location: Nakkertok south
  • When: 9am - 1pm
  • Bring: Skate or Classic skis, water and snack for after the race.

Tuesday, January 22nd        

  • Activity: Skate intensity 4x4min 
  • Location: Chalets des erable 
  • When: 6:30 - 8pm
  • Bring:  Skate skis watch with a timer water, snack for after practice

Thursday, January 24th          

  • Activity: Classic ski, We will be doing coaching with racing rabbits and advanced jack rabbits
  • Location: Chalet des erable
  • When: 6:30 to 8:00
  • Bring:  Classic ski, water and snack for after practice. 

Saturday, January 26th       

  • Activity: Skate distance and coaching some will be coaching with Adventure rabbits and jack rabbit 3-4
  • Location: P6
  • When: 9-11am
  • Bring:  Skate skis, watch with timer, water and snack for after practice.

Sunday, January 28th   

  • Activity: Distance tempo I will want some coaches for Jack rabbits in the afternoon from 1-3 in the afternoon.
  • Location: P11 trail 36
  • When: 9-12noon
  • Bring: Classic skis
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