We’ve had our first taste of the brutality of fall over the weekend, where bright colorful leaves are swept off the trees with a biting wind and stinging rain. T-shirts are replaced with jackets, and gloves become more necessary for rollerski sessions.
But for the majority of this last week, the sun was out and things were downright hot. With three planned intensity sessions this week (classic speeds, L3 skating, L4 bounding) we had a lot to balance.
I may write more deeply on this in another post, but one goal this fall has been to fuel ourselves really well before/during/after practice, especially on weekdays. Training is physiologically most difficult at 4pm. It’s long after lunch, and the hours are approaching dinner…add the emotional downturn of post-school energy and focus, and you have all the pieces in place for a difficult slog throuhg training.
Before practice, I have been setting up a “fuel pitstop” with some suggested before/during/after snacks and drinks. It is most easy to neglect the before and during sections I’ve noticed. Everyone is pretty aware of the need for a snack after practice, and usually most go home and have dinner within a reasonable timeframe. But I’ve definitely noticed the uptick in mood, performance, and focus when a skier can start each training session with a handful of Teddy Grahams, a bag pretzels and Nutella, or a package of crackers and peanut butter.
We also tended to always bring water belts each day, set them down at the start of practice, and forget them until the end. We’ve tried to now have scheduled pitstops between interval sets, or at a designated time during the workout, to consume electrolytes and sugars like Skratch, Gatorade, gummies, or fruit snacks. Again, the differences are noticeable to me, a coach watching from the outside of it all.
For anyone looking for suggestions, here’s what we’ve been going with…
Before
Easy-to-digest carbs , low fiber, easy-to-grab, sits well in stomach.
MNC station: Teddy Grahams, pretzels/GF pretzels with optional Nutella, peanut butter cracker packs
During
Sugars and salts, taken with water (either solids with regular water, or specific electrolyte/carb beverage)
MNC station: Skratch, Gatorade powder, fruit snacks, gummy candy, banana
After
Carbs and protein, easy-to-consume
MNC station: Chocolate milk, with optional protein powder! A good option would also be to add to this with more carbohydrate like crackers, pretzels, or Grahams from the “before” station
Note: many of these suggestions come from the book Roar, by Stacy Sims
We also tended to always bring water belts each day, set them down at the start of practice, and forget them until the end. We’ve tried to now have pitstops between interval sets, or at a designated time during the workout, to consume electrolytes and sugars like Skratch, Gatorade, gummies, or fruit snacks. Again, the differences are noticeable to me, a coach watching from the outside of it all.
So if the goal of all this fueling is to improve our focus, function, and readiness for workouts, how have they been going? Very well!
Nico getting ready to launch into a 5km interval
Gillian putting in the work on a super solid day
We always look forward to the “5k Project” workout, involving multiple intervals of 5 kilometers. This isn’t to be done at a race pace, but rather a controlled effort to work on pacing, focus, technique, and aerobic efficiency. The more we do this workout, the better we get at dialing-in the correct effort level.
Some of the team running XC this fall were present for this session midweek, and they skied an amazing workout…a reminder that there are many ways to go about preparing for the ski season. You don’t have to be at every ski session, and you don’t have to be at every running practice…you can strike a balance if you’re willing to compromise a bit in different scenarios!
Astrid dabbles in at least 4 sports in the fall (XC, soccer, biathlon, skiing) and was able to join us for our easy distance ski this Sunday
Honey Hollow bounding; a hallmark of fall training
