Winter Raga

Pushing Volume, Finding Limits, Forging a New Baseline

Without going full savage, one of my precepts for winter was to expand my notion of beaucoup (a lot). The logical conclusion was to do too much—not all the time, but enough to scare the body into changing.

It makes me think endurance athletes are kind of crab-like in how we build and shed our work, requiring ever larger accommodation. As if our work is the body—the exoskeleton with which we confront the world—and the strengths and fragilities of this body define us in critical moments.

My results from last year feel repeatable, my training simple to replicate. But I did not come this far to start polishing or bedazzling my shell. What I need is a new one. So I let last year go and set about building a more resilient frame.

Winter is the best time to take pent-up energy—past pains and future thirst—and fucking do something. You can be excessive, put yourself in the hole without fear of short-term performance repercussions. I find doing damage liberating, and that happens to be how the human body functions: it builds by being broken.

I did nothing truly novel this winter. My training rose about a standard deviation from last year’s winter work, following a multi-year progression. The difference came from the marked effort required. It would be easy to call it good and ride the plateau of last year’s work, or go scavenging for the dreaded marginal gains—but where is the fun, where is the character building in that?

Context is key

Winter Block

December (Fetch Water): 88h / 43000m d+

I used December to temper the legs without accumulating excessive fatigue. After several months of low volume (September → November), I needed to reacquaint the body with training before ramping volume.

January (Boil): 107h / 56000m d+

I went out hot and played the January hero, but I needed to reaffirm that I was capable of madness. I remember coming home after skiing six hours in a blizzard and telling my wife, “If you want to win, you have to be crazier than the rest.” With that brazen attitude, I shuffled out the door every day.

For the most part, training should be banal, as the body responds best to a highly repeatable beating—but not always. Novel stimuli are necessary to create adaptation. I believe our training reflects who we are, and I’ve been characterized as intense (comes with the Dhiman genes), so I have no qualms channeling this barbarism from time to time. I needed to show myself that despite a growing household, I am more rabid than ever—more dedicated to the goals—and that meant training like an animal.

February (Simmer): 95h / 52000m d+

All the zeal and frenzy of January left the pendulum swinging the other way. I sobered up to the fact that I couldn’t sustain it and decided to train boring for a couple of weeks to let things stabilize.

No regrets. So much time out of the comfort zone made structured training feel easy. I still did some longer days but focused on accumulating volume through doubles and triples.

Completed training calendar February

March (Steam): 103h / 62000m d+

This flux—from expanding work capacity to stabilizing it—started to yield fitness in March. I returned to higher volume and was very consistent until the end of the month, when I caught a cold. During this time, I began transitioning to more running and am in the process of ramping kilometers and weekly descent.

Daily elevation gain in March

Training Characteristics

Intensity Regime

I stuck with base intensities, staying below my first ventilatory threshold (zones 1/2) for nearly every session. The distribution was roughly 2:1 (Z1:Z2), with about one hour of Z3 work regardless of total weekly volume.

Strength

I started working with a strength coach in November and stuck with it throughout winter. This extra stimulus crushed me at times, but I’m happy with the added challenge. I’ve now reduced frequency to once a week to allow for better running recovery, but I believe blocks of strength training will be useful throughout the year—especially for correcting imbalances and preventing injury.

Ski

I started skiing at the end of November, and the snow is still falling in the Pyrenees in April. So far, I’ve done 52 sessions for 135,000m (442,300 ft) of elevation gain—an average of 2,600m per session. Beyond the numbers, I did relatively little on-piste climbing. In my fourth year of skimo, I now feel competent enough to spend most of my time outside the resort.

Skimo weekly gain

Nutrition

I was a savage but not a slob. I am done mindlessly eating and have worked (with varying levels of adherence) to fuel my body better. This meant eating more at breakfast, more during training, but cleaner and leaner, outside of training.

Bigger Picture

The accumulated 305h / 170,000m+ over the past three months means nothing unless it leads to results. Volume for volume’s sake can be foolish, but we also know high-volume training is a key performance indicator.

My overall goal was to build on previous winters and establish a higher physiological and psychological baseline for the season. Part of training is having faith in the work—trusting that at some future moment, it will pay off. For now, I can try to let go of my obsession with beaucoup and focus on preparing the body for the first race of the season: Transvulcania 70km.