June and July are the months when most winter sport endurance athletes begin their training for the competitive season come November/December. Biathlon and cross-country skiing are no exception. Skiers are bulking up on technique perfection, strength, and endurance.
These summer practices were the toughest and the most rewarding workouts all year. I quickly realized that two practices a day were not for the faint-hearted. Most of the harrowing days took place during the hardest week in the training cycle. The best part was that I got to be in the mountains a lot! Moreover, these were the days my body was the most susceptible to sickness and injury.
Summer Takeaway:
I started learning about the importance of taking my average morning heart rate. I’m able to see my body’s amount of fatigue and even potentially predict sickness simply based on recording my resting pulse rate before I get out in bed in the morning. This information helps me plan my day, especially during the hard weeks in the cycle. I think about it as basically a superpower. Usually, the higher my resting heart rate is, the more fatigued my body is. If it stays high for too many days, then I take time off. What’s great is that everyone has access to this superpower! I wish I was enlightened to the day to day tools that morning heart rate offers a long time ago.
It still took months of procrastination before I started taking my heart rate. Changing my entire schedule based on only 15 seconds of information is a little nerve-wracking. I’ve still made some mistakes and continued pushing a little too hard. I’ve had to learn the hard way and get sick before I’m able to look back and see that maybe I should have taken a day off. That’s also okay. While I try to avoid sickness and injury as much as possible, sometimes I realize that I need to live and learn.
Summer Highlights:
June and July were filled with time trials, volume days, races, and travels! Summer went by in the blink of an eye.
I had my personal record in the Mount Marathon Race! This race is a half-mile run to the base of a mountain, then a half mile basically climbing vertically to the midway point (for those under 18), then back down again, finishing with a harrowing half-mile downhill run to the finish on Mainstreet in Seward.
July 4th 2022
Fun fact: this first-ever mountain race was started by two men in a bar in the year 1915. A man claimed that he could run to the top of the town mountain and back down in less than an hour. Others didn’t believe him. If he couldn’t make it, then he had to buy everyone a drink. The challenge took place on Independence Day, he made it down at 1:02:00. Yes, the day ended with free drinks! And so the tradition began. The newest record was broken in 2016 by David Norris. He clocked in at 41:26. You can read the history on Seward’s Mt. Marathon webpage here.
Classic skiing is a new skill that I started learning last season in high school. Classic roller skiing is a completely different skill that I started learning this summer. The nice thing about classic roller skis is that they always have kick. Imagine never having to layer all that kick wax on and cork it in over and over again. The catch is that there are no tracks to follow and the wheels are a lot less stable than actual skis. I started to get a better hang of it about two months in. Regardless, time trials are always fun because I can glimpse my potential!
As hard as those long days were during volume week, they were also amazing. There were many times that it was just me running on a trail to a faraway destination. I could hear the birds chirping over the sound of my breathing and I avoided the occasional moose and bear every now and then.
My last summer highlight was this black bear popping in to say hi. We greeted each other through the window. This is likely the only time that I would ever be excited to end up that close to a bear!
