You Asked, We Answered: How Much Should I Be Rollerskiing?

You Asked: "most of my masters ski friends and I ride and run in the summer. We begin rollerskiing in the fall. What would be the minimal amount of rskiing that would be helpful without detracting from bike racing/running goals. Decision analysis…road, gravel,mtb or trail/road run or strength work or ski erg or classic vs. skate rski. ?‍" 

Our Answer:

[Scroll to the Bottom for a "Too Long Didn't Read" Summary] 

The short answer is it depends. Rollerskiing is an invaluable resource for athletes to maintain ski specific training and fitness, but how much you need to do it comes down to individual training history, comfort on rollerskis/access to safe roads, racing goals, etc.  Rollerskiing is the most helpful for continuing to work on technique and ski specific movement during the summer. It helps us maintain our balance, our strength, and allows us a bit of a head start in the early winter when we get back on snow. 

Even if you are trying to focus on other athletic goals during the summer, if skiing competitively is a goal for the winter, I would recommend keeping 1-2 rollerski workouts during the week. To maximize the benefits of these workouts, I recommend one of them be intervals, and the other be technique focused within a distance ski. I would avoid the ‘lazy distance’ rollerskiing unless you are using it as a recovery ski and you are focused on skiing technically well. If you have limited time on your skis, target a ski specific goal. If you need to work on a specific technique, you can use your rollerskiing days to target that arm swing in your classic ski, or the lateral push in your skate, or whatever technique quirk you are trying to optimize. If you need to work on maximizing your glide phase, use your L3 intervals to work on skiing efficiently at a threshold heart rate. As long as these sessions are focused, they will go a long way in keeping some ski fitness close to the surface, while not detracting from your biking, running, and other adventuring.  

When deciding how much to rollersking, the biggest questions I would ask yourself are: What are my goals for the summer? What are my goals for the winter? What training would best support those goals, both short and long term? Do I like rollerskiing and do I feel safe doing it? 

Here is a very basic guide to how you might decide what amount of rollerskiing is right for you. 

3-5(+)x /wk: Skiing as Top Priority 

• Elite/SuperTour athletes (high comfort with rollerski training) 
• Highly motivated competitive recreational athletes 
• High priority on improving technique, balance, strength, all-around ski improvement  
• Maintaining “ski fitness” through rollerski intervals and distance. 

2-3x/wk: Multiport Balance: Skiing + [run/bike/etc..] a High Priority

• Competitive recreational, intermediate & multisport athletes looking to improve or maintain ski specific technique and fitness 
• Focus on technique & balance, but not necessarily intensity 
• Summer priority is other athletic goals (e.g bike, run) 

1-2x/wk: Beginner or Skiing as a secondary sport   

• Beginner, Recreational + multisport athletes 
• Athletes with low comfort/access to safe rollerskiing 
• Focus is on technique when rollerskiing 
• Aerobic base + intensity through cross training. 

A note that your training and priorities can change month to month, so it makes perfect sense to have some weeks where you don’t rollerski at all, and some weeks where ski-specific training is a bigger focus. As we get closer to winter, rollerskiing and ski-specific training should start to become a higher priority if you want to hit the ground gliding right away without feeling like bambi. 

There is a lot, and perhaps too much, emphasis on rollerskiing during the summer, sometimes to the point where skiers feel that if they don’t do it, they won’t be as fast or fit during the winter. However, for the majority of skiers who are not on the World Cup,  summer training should be accessible, fun, diverse, and consistent. Trail running, road/mtb/gravel biking, swimming are all great aerobic cross-training for skiing, so if that is what you like to do in the summer or you have racing goals in those sports, by all means go for it. You are right, however, that it is important to maintain some ski-specific training during the summer, so that you can keep improving the technique, ski efficiency, strength and balance that are key to skiing well during the winter. 

There are plenty of ways to include ski specific training without rollerskiing, including: 

1. Ski Erging: as a stand-alone workout, or as part of a strength routine. 
1. can add 15-30 second speeds into a strength workout 
2. Ski-specific strength (plyos, dynamic core, etc…)   
3. Balance exercises (anything that mimics ski movements - single leg, lateral pushes, etc..) 
4. Watching technique videos and visualization - train your brain to recognize what efficient technique looks like! 

Rollerskiing is ~relatively~ low impact and can actually be a great way to support running and biking goals during the summer. Doing any training method exclusively is generally not the best way to improve because the body is highly adaptable and will eventually stop responding to predictable stimuli. Doing the same workouts or strength over and over again becomes less effective over time. Adding different training stimuli and stressing your body in different ways is highly beneficial because it forces new adaptations. Simply put, cross training works to provide variety, both mentally and physically, both of which help you avoid burnout and injury. 

Which brings us back to our original questions of “what are my goals?,  “how do I reach them?” , and “what do I enjoy?” Use those questions as a guide to find the right balance, and remember to trust yourself and not worry too much about what everyone else is doing. 

TLDR: 

• 1-2 sessions per week is a good ‘minimum’ for maintaining ski fitness, but the volume can fluctuate to support your other athletic goals. 
• You can replace or supplement rollerskiing with ski-specific training such as erging, plyos, visualization, and balance exercises.   
• Rollerskiing is good cross-training for other summer sports, and vice versa. 
• As long as you are training enough (good aerobic base), training consistently, maintaining strength, and doing intervals, it doesn’t really matter what method you are using. 
• The biggest way to derail your ski season is to get injured, overtrain, or burnout, so diversity and balance are key to a successful summer.