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I fixed my ADS in one sport, but feel like I have it another…is this possible?
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So last year I trained myself into a terrible state of ADS. I did this by offseason running and then compounded it during the winter Skimo season. Starting at the beginning of 2022 I began working with an Evoke coach and we largely cured my running ADS. We did this by developing an aerobic base through a volume of lower intensity running. as a result, my AeT went up and we then progressed to L3 intervals etc. before I get to my current question, some perspective: my ADS was so bad that I simply could not jog at Z1( eg under HR 130). I had to walk at regular intervals to keep my HR at Z1. current running drift tests at altitude show an AeT of something like 145, up from 130~ last spring. big improvement in running fitness.
And that leads me to my question: I have started my Nordic ski season. I’ve now been on snow about 8 days over a 3 week period. I find it basically impossible to skate ski in Z1 on rolling terrain. my HR goes to AeT when I feel like I am moving at a very slow Z1 pace. I cannot skate slowly enough( or efficiently enough) to spend extended periods of time at Z1( on terrain that would be easy low Z1 running). so I feel like I have “nordic skating ADS”…the challenges are so similar to my issues trying to run at Z1 last year. Nordic skiing is obviously a full-body workout with many more major muscle groups being called into action. So, it is possible to have cured my “running ADS” but still need to cure my “skiing ADS”? is ADS and/or aerobic conditioning really so sport-specific ?
Hi Brian,
I’m definitely not an expert and I would like to see the input from some of the coaches on this. I’m wondering if this is just a “specificity” re-adaptation that takes a bit of time. What I mean by that is, maybe by now your body got so used to running that it might take a bit more that 8 days of skiing to “fully” use that aerobic engine you built running to the new demand.
Are you still keeping a high volume of running outside of the skiing workouts?
Hope I didn’t make it more confusing 🙂
Radu
Radu has pretty much nailed it.
It is related to the “economy” or the energy cost of locomotion. I happen to know that Brian is taking up Nordic skiing after a 30+ year hiatus. Nordic skiing is one of, if not the most, technically demanding endurance sports. His current level of technical proficiency, especially in the skating technique is low enough that it is costing him significantly more energy to ski than it is to run.
Improving/refining technique in skiing is something that takes a lot of time and PERFECT practice. If you practice poor technique, all you do is get really good at doing it wrong. With only a handful of days on snow so far, this technique deficiency is totally understandable.
Major, like double-digit, gains in performance can be had by improving skiing or running economy. Whereas adding either more volume or more intensity can actually have the opposite effect on performance if you have poor technique.
Say you add high-intensity intervals to your training in hopes of increasing your endurance performance. But your technique gets worse when doing those intervals. You are perfecting poor technique. You are engraining inefficient movement patterns into the motor nervous system that can be hard to unlearn.
Scott
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