Cross-country Skiing Champs Regimen

    Being in late middle-age, I'm interested in how top level athletes of my vintage and above stay in shape. I found an article about one such person, former Olympic cross-country skier Trina Hosmer, in the Wall Street Journal "What's Your Workout?" column by Jen Murphy recently.
  Ms. Hosmer was a 1972 Olympian, and, at 71, won three gold medals in last year's Masters World Cup in Finland.
   She got into cross-country skiing while attending the University of Vermont in the mid 1960's. Her future husband, David, was the captain of the Nordic ski team, and she would go along to the races. There was no women's team, but Trina's desire and talent earned her a spot on the men's squad.
    She earned her Olympic spot while raising two children, and working full-time as a data-analysis consultant at the University of Massachusetts. Trina took time off from competing for awhile, and returned when her kids went off to college. She's since collected 32 age-group gold medals in the Masters World Championships, mostly against women at least a decade younger.
   Diversity and periodization are the keys to her workouts. Year-round, she starts the day off with 30 minutes of Ashtanga yoga for her balance, strength, and flexibility.
    In the spring and summer, she really mixes it up, with 30 to 50 miles of biking a week (in the mountainous Stowe, Vermont region!); hiking in the Green Mountains; running (no more than six miles at a clip); and tennis. This regimen taxes her muscles in different ways to avoid the injuries that over-training in one particular fashion can do.
    In the fall, she gets more focused, with cross-country-specific workouts like roller skiing. In the winter, she takes advantage of the snow by getting out every day she can for some type of Nordic skiing workout,as well as teaching women's clinics.
   Now retired from her full-time career, Trina has a garden, and eats much of what she grows in the spring and summer, avoiding processed foods, and "eating locally."\
   Her diet is healthy without going overboard, and she seems to enjoy keeping the holistic Vermont approach to nutrition, and life in general. It was somewhat gratifying to read she will enjoy moderate amounts of wine and beer, and homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
    Lean and fit, Trina probably has to work on keeping enough calories in her, as cross-country burns up the most calories per hour of any aerobic activity. It uses all the major muscle groups, and is low-impact, which makes it a safe alternative for injured runners. Plus, you get the visceral benefits from being outside on a crisp, winter's day. Sounds great!        
           

Snowstorm workout

  In my younger years, I would love running in a snowstorm. I'd pile on a couple pairs of shirts, a sweatshirt, and a windbreaker and trudge through just about anything. My workouts weren't at any great pace, but it felt good to conquer the elements to some degree, and I admit some pride when people used to tell me "I saw you out running in a foot of snow......you're crazy!" I'll plead guilty to that, I guess.
   As I've gotten older, I've lost the desire to test myself in that regard. Treadmills have also become more accessible and advanced, so I simply can get a better bad weather workout indoors than out.
   Today was the first snowstorm of the year in New Jersey, and it's been a doozy. Sideways snow, temperatures that have dropped 40 degrees in less than 24 hours, and 10-15 inches predicted before it's all over.
    I got the club open this morning, and was joined by a couple of die-hards. Armed with an early-morning Aleve in my bloodstream, I took to the treadmill. For the first time this winter (after a  hamstring pull in December) I did some mile repeats.
     Against my self-defeating instincts, I've adjusted my pacing according to my "VDOT rating" from the Jack Daniels' Running Formula textbook. It calculates your training pace based on your last 5-K race time (22 minutes for me, in November).
     Based on that, my "threshold" or repeat mile pace is 7:42, or 7.8 on the treadmill. I had six miles in mind today, so I started the first at 7.5 (8- minute pace), and kept the grade at 2 (equivalent to running outside) throughout.
     After a three-minute walk, the second was at 7.6; the third at 7.7; and the fourth at 7.8; all at the 2% grade. It felt "comfortably hard."
     The fifth mile I took to 7.9, but dropped the grade to 1%. The final interval was at 8.0 (7:30 pace), but a grade 0, and it felt the easiest of the six. I could have pushed it a little harder, but that would have risked injury that would result in many more missed workouts.
     A quarter-mile walk to finish, and it was 7.5 miles of total running. After the workout, I "rehabbed' on the foam roller for about 10 minutes. I felt good. The workout was within myself, but challenging enough. If I want to run harder in training, my next 5-K will have to be a little better, to improve my "VDOT." It's all very scientific.
     Part of me misses my outdoor snow runs, just for the exhilaration of finishing, and defrosting in a hot shower for about 15 minutes. However, I'm relying on science and common sense these days to keep me running, in my late 50's.
   (The VDOT Calculator can be found on the Runbayou website. It's well-worth following!)                
        .