When Kilian Jornet started training for skimo racing when he was 13 years old, he worked with two coaches. One coach provided training plans each month, and the other conducted technical training (e.g., how to stride and glide, avalanche courses, and general mountain skills). Between the ages of 13 and 17, Kilian was immersed in this kind of structured training.
As a teenager, Kilian didn’t just train; he describes himself as being obsessed with training. He would frequently run 25 kilometers to and then back from school, or he would cycle 60 kilometers to find snow and then do his skimo training for 2 hours. He considered the hours on the bike as “transportation,” not as training.
In this video interview, he tells Steve House how and why he was able to manage the high training volume.