Transitioning from skiing to running
The seasonality of Alaska’s sporting opportunities favors the athlete that utilizes specific training to prepare his or her body to handle novel stresses. When it comes to running, athletes need to be fit to run, not run to get fit. Building a foundation now facilitates health, performance, and success later this summer.
Although both Nordic skiing and running are aerobic sports, several factors must be considered to reduce injury risk when returning to running in the summer. During running, the body repetitively accommodates forces close to four times body weight. Unless running is continued throughout the winter, one must devote some time to developing enough strength in the passive tissues (bones, joints, and ligaments) and dynamic tissues (tendons, fascia, and muscles) to accommodate this increased load. Biological tissues require time to adapt and remodel. There are no shortcuts to developing tissue resilience! Too swift of a return, leads to overload and injury.
When considering the development of passive resilience, nothing is more important than “time on feet” in the ‘endurance zone’. If you have not been running, your first training goal is to introduce easy and consistent load to your skeletal system. These ‘endurance zone’ runs should be easy enough to be at “conversational pace.”
Duration, or how long each run should last, is largely based on an individual’s history with running. If you are new to running, begin by setting a realistic time goal consistent with your skiing aerobic capacity; typically, 20 to 40 minutes of easy running, or a walk-jog program, is a recommended start.
If you are an experienced runner, but have not been running over the winter, consider starting with 50% to 75% of your typical running volume as you transition back.
Anyone returning to running should consider building at least a four-week base of passive loading before mixing in speed work or high intensity mountain running. Furthermore, a runner should try to build consistency in the number of days that run each week starting from the very beginning of the running season. If you plan on running five days a week later in the summer, start with at least four to five days a week of easy running this spring.
Most of your dynamic tissues should be well developed after this winter season of great skiing. As you return to running, consider capitalizing on these gains by adding a weight program to target the strength of your core and legs. Strength training is one of the best ways to develop power and performance. In addition, strength training is consistently identified as the best intervention for injury risk reduction.
For runners, a training program should emphasize the development of abdominal, quad, glute, soleus, and foot intrinsic strength. Also, prioritize exercises that introduce single leg loading and balance challenges. Favorite exercises include lunges, single leg wall squats, single leg Romanian dead lifts, knee to chest bridges, and seated calf raises with weight over the top of the thighs. For a more in-depth resource on the development of running specific strength, mobility, performance, and resilience consider reading Running Rewired by Jay Dicharry, PT; it’s a great resource.