Warren:

Killian, Steve and I discussed putting special VK training into the book. In the end we decided against it since it is a bit of a niche event, one which most people do along with or on top of the longer distance races. Very few VK specialists exist.

Since even the fastest Vk racers are going to be doing 35-40min of racing the same aerobic base that supports the longer distance races is also going to form the critical base for all the training. Much of this aerobic base work should be done on steep terrain, probably hiking with poles. If no mountains are available mid week then you’ll want to use a stair machine or incline trainer for some of this. As much as possible you need to model the terrain you will be racing on. During this base period I would recommend using the ME gym workout found in Training for the Uphill Athlete on p244. As explained in the book in depth (p240-244) the ME serves as a base for the high intensity interval training which comes later.

When it comes to adding intensity this is where i think 30-30s will come in very handy since they allow higher tempo and speed. This high intensity interval work will be most effective when it stands atop a big aerobic and ME base.

Thanks for coming to our talk in Vancouver. Glad you are enjoying the book.

Scott