[ChristianB]

Im now on my seasonal rest and recovery break of 2-3 weeks and are strarting to plan the training for start up towards 2021 in Ocotber 12th. First comp isnt before (at best) late april/may. Live in Norway so much snow all winter.

I then have questions on how to periodizise my strength training. Im a wrong to plan for Max strength from now to around Christmas and than start muscular endurance strength training then?

Im planing to do as much of the ME workouts outside as possible on skimo or with steep running, any big drawbacks with the outdoor Me compared to indoor ME workouts?

Topic

[rich.b]

rich.b on September 22, 2020 at 11:36 am #45274

Based on our climate, Christian – I live in Sweden – your plan makes sense. All my running is outdoors, so the seasons dictate training. Our fall weather, when the daylight hours are short (42 minutes of daylight less per week now), it’s wet and cold and the first black ice arrives, I have found the period until mid-December conducive for heavier strength training. Then shifting toward progressive volume increase, maintaining strength and adding ME – the precise mixture between these and how much emphasis I put on each then depends on what my aims are for late-spring to early summer. The Strength and ME workouts are done on the back of my morning run-commute, so not as long sessions as in TfUA. In mid-April when bike paths are finally snow/ice free then speedwork comes into the mix, and hopefully hill repeats by the start of May when those are snow/ice free.
Obviously a key question though is what are your aims/goals for training?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on September 24, 2020 at 9:00 am #45384

First comp isnt before (at best) late april/may.

For what sport?

…any big drawbacks with the outdoor Me compared to indoor ME workouts?

What type of outdoor sessions? If you mean the uphill weighted carries, those wouldn’t be appropriate for a runner or a skimo racer. The cadence is too slow. But you could still do the gym-type sessions outside.

The key point with ME is that it’s sport-specific hypergravity training. The movement determines the specificity, and the extra weight makes it “hypergravity”. So mountaineers can use heavy packs and slog uphill. Runners and skimo racers should use less weight with a higher cadence.

[ChristianB]

ChristianB on September 28, 2020 at 9:50 am #45477

Thanks for the reply Scott. The sessions I’m thinking about is not weighted but steep S3 runs or skiing uphill on steep slopes. Steep and long assents are something im not lacking where I live.

I only compete in running, or that’s the only thing that has a priority. I might do some skimo races as training.

I just wonder if it’s to early to start those ME sessions in January

Typing on my cell, so sorry if the language and typos are a little of

[ChristianB]

ChristianB on September 28, 2020 at 11:35 am #45483

Thanks for your answer rich.b.

My goals/aims are to 1. have as much fun in the mountains as possible 2. Be able to competitive in both national and international mountain ultras. 2. Be able to not suck at more speedy runnable short (20-30k) mountain races.

At the moment im competitve at a national level on technical 50k races with as much vert as possible. I train around 800hr and climb about 350k meters in training. I train mostly of just going up and down mountains at low intensity.

I do not like to train indoors, but I can muster up 3 months of strength training.

[rich.b]

rich.b on September 29, 2020 at 11:51 pm #45563

Fun definitely comes first, Christian. 40-50 km has been my sweet spot, and I have done best when I have done the best blocks of winter strength training (finish typically top 5%, even though in my 50s; age-group internationally competitive). As I wrote before, mainly I add the strength (and/or SkiErg) on the back of my morning run to work, but my racing has been best when I have also had one dedicated strength session per week.

A little different from UA ME routines, my favourite session has been a combination exercise that I found from (formerly only called ) Mountain Athletics, so-called Curtis P (https://youtu.be/_a13APdV_BI). 10-15 min spinning warm up and then 30 minutes of these, and I was cooked. The goal in their old video of this (link above) was to do 100 … It’s been a while now, but my son and I had a challenge to do this and we got to 90. Anyway, ran in the Alps thereafter and I showed up super prepared.

[rich.b]

rich.b on September 30, 2020 at 3:49 am #45568

Just a small addition: I hit something over 600 hours/year, so not quite your 800, Christian, but built within that has been my own semi-structured periodization usually aimed toward one real focus race. I can train plenty (and hard) without race goals, so a race pretty much has to be something inspiring. There might be one earlier race as preparation and 1-2 later ones as bonuses from the residual fitness. Because I am only interested in a few races – and only 1 real focus event – it is easier to have that in mind to do the indoor sessions. Likewise, as you write, the point is to be outdoors, but as UA advocates, the gym time pays off hugely, both in performance but also durability.
Depending on where you live, one thing that can be good winter training is snowshoe running (with a pair designed for running) – if you have accessible snowmobile trails, and better yet if they have some vertical.