30/30s

Yesterday was our first VO2max workout of the year. We've been focused on threshold and volume throughout the summer and fall - aside from an occasional race effort, we haven't done anything above threshold. The skiers have been patiently waiting for the chance to go hard - now the time is finally here.

VO2max (the maximal amount of O2 your muscles can consume) is largely determined by your heart's stroke volume (the amount of blood pumped in one beat). To increase stroke volume, you need to work your heart at near-maximal levels - 90-95% of max HR. The traditional way to do this is to do moderately long intervals (3-5+ minutes), usually on a hill, with plenty of rest between intervals. We'll be doing our share of this in the coming weeks; however, hill repeats aren't the only tool in our bag. Yesterday, we did short intervals on rollerskis - 30 seconds easy, 30 seconds hard, for 25 minutes total. If done properly, the skier's HR will gradually reach 90+% of max throughout the first several minutes of the workout. Because the easy periods are so short, HR won't drop significantly between hard efforts, and , for the last several minutes of the workout, the heart will be pumping near max regardless of whether the skier is going hard or easy. This allows the skier to rack up a lot of time near max HR, but without the high lactic acid buildup (and subsequent long post-workout recovery time) of a longer interval. Also, the frequent rest periods allow the skier to practice skiing at high speeds, as opposed to sustained hill intervals, where the pace is usually fairly slow. Nonetheless, 30/30s (or 60/30s, or whatever work/rest combination you choose) are a very hard workout, and our team is feeling it today. It's a good feeling - feels like race season. Lots more to come.