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Hard Training at Its Finest
This is the last of our athlete accounts of the May VO2 training block. Most of the athletes have another similar block scheduled for mid-to late July, and Team Today will have more updates on this training at that time. Enjoy!
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\r\nVO2 Max Training Block
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\r\nBy Justin Freeman
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\r\nDay 0:
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\r\nA month or two ago, Trond, Pete and I sat down to talk about training. The goal was to figure out what went right last year, what went wrong, and how to apply these lessons to next year’s training. One idea I was hoping to sell them on was doing intervals on consecutive days—something I have had success with in the past but that Trond has shied away from. I had no idea that they were way ahead of me in this department!
\r\nTomorrow I will be starting a weeklong block where I will do intervals every day. The stated goal is to markedly improve my VO2 max—possibly by as much as 2 or 3 ml/kg/min, a rather startling amount, since many athletes don’t add this in a year.
\r\nCompleting the block will mean very carefully controlling each and every interval, each day. To help me do this, Pete will be going out with me every day and measuring how much lactic acid is in my blood. Our goal is to keep it around 4-5 mmol. Any lower, and I won’t be going hard enough to get much benefit. Any higher, and I might not last the week.
\r\nI’m skeptical; the intervals seem a little too short, and a little too easy. And the number of consecutive days seems pretty high. It’s not that I think it will be easy, I just wonder how much this is really going to help me.
\r\nOn the other hand, there is enough data backing up this training approach that I would be foolish not to try it. My goal for the week is to stay precisely in the right zone during all of my intervals, and then to see what it does for me in the coming months. If the benefit is clear, I will be doing another, longer block in the early fall. If not, I will modify my training in that time.
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\r\nDay 1:
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\r\nThe training block got off to a slightly inauspicious start. I met Pete at the zoo in Salt Lake City so that I could do some ski walking intervals on the hill behind it. Unfortunately, I got there without my heart rate monitor or my bounding poles. I needed the former to help me stay at the right intensity, and the latter so that I could maximize the number of muscles I worked, a goal of the training block I hadn’t quite understood.
\r\nWe warmed up and found a good stretch of trail anyway. Pete waited for me at the top with his lactate kit, and I did my best to ski walk up in high level three. When I got to the top, Pete jabbed me with a sterile needle, but not deep enough to get enough blood. So he stabbed my fingertip again. At this point he realized that he had forgotten how to run the lactate machine. I sat there doing my best to keep bleeding while he wasted a few test strips trying to figure it out, until we decided that I should start my next interval while Pete figured out the machine.
\r\nI went easier on the next interval, since my pulse (based on counting for 10 seconds at the end of the interval) had been higher that I thought it should. When I got to the top, Pete had remembered how to measure lactate. He got plenty of blood on his first try with a needle, and the LaPro machine made a friendly beep as it started to analyze my blood.
\r\nThe third interval was slower still, as I continued to believe that I was going to hard. At the top I received unpleasant news; my lactate had been significantly low on the second interval and I needed to pick up the pace.
\r\nI did, but even my fourth interval wasn’t hard enough. We decided that I should go and do one more. I worked the fifth interval very hard, getting my heart rate far above what I had thought appropriate. My lactate was finally, barely, acceptable. I was beginning to realize that this might be harder than I had thought.
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\r\nDay 2:
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\r\nI took a nap in the afternoon after my first workout. I was tempted to do the same on the morning of my second. When I woke up it was pouring rain—about the hardest rain I have ever seen in Utah. And it was extremely cold. Still, I had agreed to meet Pete in Heber, so I threw all of my warm training clothes into my car and headed out.
\r\nWe met at Chris Grover’s house, in actual sunshine—apparently it was only raining in Park City. Chris, Pete and I put on skate skis and warmed up, looking for a good hill.
\r\nAbout the time I was warmed up and ready to go the rain hit. Pete pointed to some dry pavement where a tree was sheltering the road and told me that my intervals would end there, regardless of whether they seemed too short or too long.
\r\nAbout halfway up the hill I noticed that the wet pavement was also covered in motor oil. In a way this was good—the slick surface this creates forced me to ski with excellent technique—but I had a hard time thinking of it that way. All I knew was that I was wet, cold, and increasingly tired, and I was just starting the workout. I got to the top, and Pete jabbed me with a needle. He didn’t go deep enough, so I had Grover try. Grover nearly got my bone, and the blood flowed freely. It was at this point that I shared with the coaches an important discovery: whether the needle prick is deep or shallow, the athletes are going to complain.
\r\nMy lactate was almost double where it had been yesterday. I thought this meant I could back off, but Pete told me that my system was just getting warmed up and to come up at the same pace. I did, the oil slicks seeming to expand, the hill growing longer. My pulse was higher, but my lactate did indeed drop. Pete told me to do another, same pace.
\r\nThis of course meant working a little harder, but I did, though I cursed the fact that the tree which sheltered my coaches was so high up on the hill.
\r\nThe fourth interval actually seemed a bit easier. Perhaps it was just knowing I was done, but I finished feeling ready to do a couple more intervals, though grateful that I didn’t have to. I cooled down, drove home, ate a huge lunch, and took a nap.
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\r\nDay 3:
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\r\nThe weather was beautiful today, nothing to complain about there. And the workout, five times about three minutes classic skiing on the Soldier Hollow rollerski loop, was uneventful. I seem to be settling into a routine with these workouts. The only thing of note today was the inappropriate remark Pete made mad about my heart rate topping out at 169 on every single interval, and the admission of my laughter as evidence that I can’t claim to be any more mature.
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\r\nDay 4:
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\r\nThe weather was back today. Pete, Wendy and I met at Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City to do some ski walking intervals on a hill that Pete and I found while warming down on Day 1. This time, I had both heart rate monitor and poles.
\r\nWhen we are almost ready to go Wendy commented that she in plenty warm. I commented that this was unsurprising given how bundled up she is—she had thick tights on her legs and two layers on top—I have shorts, a singlet and a paper-thin windbreaker.
\r\nAs I start down after my first interval (lactate a bit high, pulse surprisingly low), I realize that Wendy dressed far better than I did. The mix of sun and occasional raindrops gave way to an intense hailstorm. The trail became wet and muddy and I slid down the steepest section, hoping that I wouldn’t land on my face.
\r\nBy the time I finished the second interval the hailstorm was over. I was still wet, and I was concerned that my lactate was so high when I didn’t feel very fast.
\r\nMy last interval was a bit faster, but my lactate was well above the recommended range. I talked with Pete about doing one more, but we decided I was done for the day. I cooled down, drove home, and napped all afternoon.
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\r\nDay 5:
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\r\nToday was another uneventful day of intervals—the best kind. I was skating at Soldier Hollow, and I am definitely feeling more tired every day, I still feel pretty strong.
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\r\nDay 6:
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\r\nToday was definitely the hardest day. Pete unexpectedly had to leave town, so I was on my own today. And whether it was having no one to cheer me on, or just the fact that today is day 6, I had a hard time getting through four intervals. In fact, this was the first time I didn’t feel like I could do another good interval at the end of the day. If tomorrow wasn’t the last day, I would be kind of worried.
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\r\nDay 7:
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\r\nToday was a perfect day of intervals! I was back by Hogle Zoo, alone and in good weather this time. My first interval was sluggish, no teammate or coach to cheer me on, no hailstorm to fight against, just a lonely deer skeleton waiting for me at the end of the interval (Pete’s doing—on Saturday he made a brilliant piece of avant-garde art by leaning the skeleton over an oil pipeline sign and sticking some flowers through the skull).
\r\nI wasn’t sure how I felt after this first interval, so I picked up the pace on the next. About halfway through, something clicked and I started to feel great. During my recovery as I headed back down, I felt like a rock star (not sure why we use that expression since I imagine rock stars spend a lot of time hung over…). My third interval was faster still, yet I only felt better. I hadn’t been sure about doing a fourth interval, but now it was clear that I should go for it. I hammered for all I was worth, glad that I wouldn’t have to go so hard for many days, and got to the top 15 seconds faster than I had on my first interval today.
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\r\nDay 8:
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\r\nI spent most of my time today in bed or on the couch. It’s a good sort of fatigue—something a couple days of sleep will cure. I’m not sure I have developed the ability to suck down an extra quarter liter of oxygen every minute, but at minimum I have given my interval training a great jump start. I’d write more, but right now I need another nap!
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Start of the 30 Kilometer mass-start, 2002 Winter Olympics, Soldier Hollow.
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\r\nTeam Today is a non-profit organization run by, and for, the athletes of the US Cross-country team. The USST is run on a shoestring budget, and our increasing success at the international level is making for increasing demand on our ever-limited resources. To find out how you can join Team Today, visit www.teamtoday.org, or contact Andrew Johnson bode1978@yahoo.com, or Pete Vordenberg pvordenberg@ussa.org. With your assistance, we will be THE BEST IN THE WORLD!
Written By: JFreemanDate Posted: 6/17/2004Number of Views: 339
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