Tee shirts to parkas. What a difference a week makes. The 34 degree temps combined with a 25 knot wind that rivaled a summer evening on Ellsmere Island (go look it up). The twenty [20] athletes that came were treated to, as Dan "dances with shorts" Statz said, "a shock to the system".
 
Just when you started getting use to this "system"  along comes this new thing of more resistance and higher reps, huh? Like everything in athletics as you improve you can actually decondition even if you are working out. As you acclimate to a workout  it gets easier and as a result you need to introduce new stress if you want to improve.
 
WHY YOU ASK? It certainly felt hard before. Stress and recovery stimulate the body to adapt. The adaptation desired is better fitness and hopefully the training involved will stress you and ultimately raise your fitness level. As you get better at anything the amount of stress goes down and occasionally  it is desirable to shake it up and trick your body into a response that will raise your fitness level. The beauty of a terribly hard workout is that you continue to gain benefits from it, sometimes for days or even weeks after completion. Your body elevates itself to respond to stress and can and will stay in a heightened state until the recovery is complete. The body anticipates more stress and goes into a conservation mode, speeding recovery. Brilliant in a way.
 
And now the notes:
  • When cold and when tired there seemed to develop some interesting technical "innovations" . Going hard or going flat out is NO excuse for letting your technique slide. Remember, training is simply acting. Rehearse diligently and you get an Oscar.
  • The goal of "paired training" is to improve your efficiency by being better technically than your partner. An example would be two skiers knowing 2 k's out that it will come down to a sprint. The skier who can maintain pace and yet conserve more energy is most likely to win. In cycling, the sprint is almost always won by someone who is not in the lead with a kilo to go. Having a partner that you can use as a benchmark will allow you to improve your own efficiency. Whew!
  • Motivation: It takes strong motivation do even do these workouts. Hard conditions with conditioned partners make it harder. The dividend will come with the snow.
 
There was a question posed about the predominance of classical drills. One reason is that it is easier to get up a hill straight than laterally but the real answer is that there is very little difference technically between skating and classical. Huh you say? The elements of SKIING are balance, power, aerobics and timing. They are not discipline exclusive. Case in point: Virtually any technically proficient (not a real lot) classical skiers can skate, skate well in fact, yet I know many technically skilled skate skiers who cannot classic to save their lives. Whatever mistakes you make classical skiing will probably be made skating but not as obviously. Remember, even I sound good in the shower!
 
Good night. I hope everyone came away more than just cold and tired. It was a good workout. We go again Tue at 5:28pm under the lights.