[Nicole Williams]

Hi coaches! I live in Utah and, thanks to recent storms, have some snowy areas where I can safely backcountry ski. Do you have any tips for how to utilize skiing for my aerobic workout days? I had been road running, where my output is pretty consistent, but skinning vs downhill will of course be different outputs. Should I base the workout on the uphill time, heart rate, or something else? Thanks!

Topic

[Coach]

Coach on October 19, 2021 at 8:54 pm #58309

Hello Nicole!

This is a great question-you can for sure backcountry ski on your aerobic days, use the same aerobic threshold you set earlier, and follow the time that is prescribed in Training Peaks. Don’t start adding time just because it is fun to ski ;). The total time should be car to car so don’t just account for uphill time. I hope that makes sense!

Best,
Maya

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on October 19, 2021 at 8:55 pm #58310

Hi Nicole,
You can absolutely use skiing/skinning. Keep the workouts at total time so for example: 60 min might be 45 min up transition/15 min down. Stay at or below AeT on the uphill, this may be fairly slow but we still want that work to be aerobic. And usually HR drops on the downhill, that is expected and desired. No need to try and keep it up in Zone two.
Let me know if this makes sense or if you have other questions.
C

[Nicole Williams]

Nicole Williams on October 20, 2021 at 4:35 pm #58326

This is perfect, thanks! I went out for a ski before seeing this and based it on uphill, so I’ll ease off a bit for the next time.