Why I think the GRP’s recent on snow camp in Oberhof went so well

Having just arrived in Park City for an altitude camp with the US team, I have had a lot of catching up to do with teammates who I haven’t seen since July or maybe even longer. Some common questions have been: “what have you been up to? Have you been on any trips outside of Craftsbury in the past few months?” When I tell people that I spent ten days training in the ski hall in Oberhof, the reactions are far from jealousy. It seems many professional skiers associate ski tunnels with boredom or illness. When I then tell people that I actually quite enjoyed my time in the tunnel, they generally respond with: “just give it some time, you’ll get sick of it”. This may be true, but based on how good my experience was this summer in the ski hall, I’d like to think that I could replicate the experience the next time I find myself skiing indoors. 

Upon completing the ten day intensity block that the GRP did in the tunnel, I felt like the entire team had just put in a really solid block of training. Initially, I didn't analyze why it went so well. However, with over a month passed since leaving the tunnel, I've had ample time to consider the factors that led to the camp’s success: relatively low volume, intentional on-snow time, and a focus on intensity.

Golden hour in Oberhof. 

Low Volume

This block in the tunnel was designed as an “intensity block” meaning that a much higher proportion of the workouts would be interval sessions than a usual summer training week. In order to counterbalance this and make sure the quality of the intensity stays high, the volume needs to drop. Often, such as during the July camp on Eagle Glacier or Thanksgiving camps for college programs, the focus is simply on accumulating as much time on snow as possible. This worked well on the glacier, as the 6k loop is entertaining for longer periods of time, and the altitude is prohibitive to the amount of intensity one can do. However, I’d find it difficult to stomach five hours a day on a 1.1k loop indoors. Instead, I only trained 21 hours on snow over the course of nine days in Oberhof with no individual session exceeding 2.5 hours. Not only does this approach avoid the monotonous grind of hundreds of laps; it also increases the quality of each hour that is spent on snow. It’s much easier to ski with perfect technique for two or three hours a day than for five.

Looking one way through the ski hall. 

Intentionality

Building off of how relatively lower volume made this camp more productive, having clear intentions for every minute spent on snow also boosted productivity. Simply put, it’s easier to maintain focus with shorter sessions. For example, we only had one day during this camp where we just went out and skied without speed, intensity, or technique work. This was the last day of camp and it was by far the longest, most boring ski of the entire nine days we spent there. While skiing without interruptions was initially pleasant, the monotony quickly outweighed any benefits. Instead, even when not doing speeds or intervals, Pepa was always out taking video and pulling us aside to give us technique cues. Skiing around in this fashion was some of the least structured time during camp, but we still got something to think about every time we passed Pepa (maybe every five minutes). Ultimately, the frequency of intensity sessions prevented the camp from becoming boring.

Looking the other way in the ski hall. 

Intensity

Being intentional can only mitigate boredom on a short loop to a certain extent. No matter how focused I am on easy distance, I will inevitably get bored doing a lot of it with limited terrain. This is where the camp's emphasis on intensity proved crucial. For me, intensity sessions are usually either the best or worst part of a training plan, largely depending on how rested I am. Especially for sprinters, intensity training is what truly makes endurance athletes faster in races. Therefore, nailing an intensity session is far more satisfying than completing an easy distance session. When I finish an intensity session, I feel like I've genuinely improved. This makes the physical pain associated with intensity manageable if not welcome. On the other side of the coin, a poor intensity session feels awful. Harder intensity, that is anything harder than threshold is supposed to hurt. Physical pain in combination with going slower than you feel you should be going is a recipe for a bad session. 

With this in mind, it becomes quite clear that a lot of bad feeling intensity would have made this camp suck while a lot of feel good intensity made this camp as awesome as it was. How did I avoid the worst of the two outcomes? The short answer is rest. For me, when I have a bad intensity session, nine times out of ten it is because I was tired. Because of this, mental and physical rest were paramount in my preparation for this camp. (check out my last blog on the vacation I took before this camp). Having taken care of this the week prior in the Czech Republic, I was ready to hammer a lot of intensity and enjoy doing it.

Snake farm, it just sounds nasty (pretty much is). 

Takeaways

Approaching this camp as a low volume, high intensity block of training with as much intention as possible allowed me to genuinely enjoy the opportunity to train on snow. The camp, occurring at the end of August, could have focused on high volume and still been productive, but I preferred our approach. This training camp in Europe took away quality training days in exchange for long travel days and interrupted the flow of summer training. On the other hand, the benefits of spending a lot of time going really fast on snow with a coach constantly watching completely outweighs the costs. I went deeper into the process of deciding whether a training trip was worth it earlier in the year in “Alaska Camp Part 1”.  

Ultimately, it was great to spend a week on both Eagle Glacier and in the Tunnel. Both on-snow camps were fantastic but for different reasons. Attempting the tunnel plan on the glacier would have likely led to burnout due to the intensity at altitude. Conversely, trying to match the glacier's volume in the tunnel would have resulted in one of the most boring weeks of my life staring at concrete walls. What’s important here is that seeking out unique locations to train is only half of the battle. Creating a specific plan for that location and preparing accordingly is equally, if not more, important. I believed we nailed it this time around, and I’m certainly not dreading going back.

Excellent leg room!