back country and cross country are 2 different beasts. I do back country.... xc ski up hill , lock in and ski down. so its more like 30min on 2 min off for me lol

I ski fifty to sixty days a season. I don't do structured workouts. It's a way to keep volume up during winter and--something triathletes seem to have a hard time understanding--have fun. Find a long climb. How hard it will be depends a lot on the snow conditions, not just the grade. Less than suitable snow can require a lot of upper body work.

I only ski backcountry. There is no real flat. It's always up hill or down with the up being miles of climbing. The climbing makes getting a good workout easy. I like to do a mile hard, take it easy for a breather, and then do another mile hard when I feel like it. I rely on my phone to call out the pace.

Another option might be to rent a fat bike. Depending on what the snow it like, that can be a tough workout or it can be easy, any way it is different and fun. Same thing goes for snowshoes.

+1 to previous posters. There should be plenty of trails that have varying difficulty of hills on them, which provide the perfect way to get some intensity in, so structure in the workouts is not really needed. If going up the hills aren't giving you a sufficient workout, you can always go harder/faster up them.

I prefer cross country as opposed to backcountry since in my opinion, it is more approachable. A cleanly groom trail system is more like road biking, where back country is closer to mountain biking. Either way, always a good replacement or addition to the normal tri training in the winter as outlined in the article you linked to.

Experience: Lived a few years in the adirondacks (lake placid/saranac lake area), xc most weekends during the winter

We went for the first time this past March and loved it. I did a mike of the groomed trails and some back country across a frozen lake. We are heading to Garnet Hill Lodge. The kids loved it there...maybe a Christmas tradition is in the makings.

Just ski. Garnet Hill is great and hilly enough you'll get natural intervals.

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If XC skiing, your time on the trails would be better served working on technique, drills, improving those so you can become more economical. If you're not a XC skier or have little experience, just moving on skis will tire you out enough. Your HR will climb high enough just doing the trail system. It won't take much to shoot up to a HR zone 3 or 4 if you're a "freshy" skier.

What they ^^ said.

Assuming you don't have experience Nordic skiing, you are FAR better served learning correctly rather than waddling around on the trails. I am in decent shape (ie F 18-24 2:20 Oly and completely acclimatized) learning how to nordic (skate) ski and today was my 4th lesson. I did a whopping 10k on the skinny skis and was shot by the end. My quads were fine, but its the little stabilizing muscles that get wrecked, and I was just trying to move forward.

Also, I don't know how high you are going, but you will not reap a reward of going up to altitude for that short of time. More-so, you will feel okay on day 1, and shittier through day 4. Day 5 is when things generally start to gradually feel better (and then it took me ~2-3 months to not feel winded walking up a flight of stairs going from sea level to 6k).

Person number three checking in to agree. Just doing the work of skiing is hard enough. Intervals will be natural with terrain. For nordic skiing, there's a reason the racers all collapse at the end...you haul ass to get UP the hill, but descending on skinny skis ain't no picnic, either. Where I live (Minneapolis) is considered flat, but the best spot in town to skinny ski (Theo Wirth Park) has a 4km loop groomed, and each lap has 100m of elevation gain. Not bad for the midwest,

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"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5

 
Here is a real typical nordic interval set up.

Find a steady grade - not too steep but long and definately a climb. Something like 3-4% grade

Put a stick or marker at a starting point.

Ski uphill in low zone 4. Put a second stick marker at 2 minutes exactly up the trail.

Repeat 6 times, try to be at the stick at the 2 minute mark, it should be very hard to do by the 5th and 6th interval.

You can vary the time and distance, it is essentially the same as a track workout, shooting for a certain time per 400.

2:20 Oly for a female is darn good. You are approaching the level I see a lot of the Elite women doing. I am around 2:15 as a 34 year old male who beats half or more of the Elite females.

I was a hockey player for most of my life and the skiing/skating motion comes pretty naturally for me. We do get lessons included with our stay. I own so back country skiis but am considering taking my lessons on the nordics...which I like more.

Once you have the techniques down, it's not too bad to do various intervals, 1min, 5min, 10min, 20min, on skis. But keep in mind a recovery pace from those efforts will seem really slow.

If you are just going to ski for a Christmas vacation, forget the structured workouts.
Go have fun.

If you are not skiing regularly right now, you will be trashed if you add too much intensity.

No need for structured workouts, just ski and have fun.

what Nordicskier said. with your lack of skills (relative) the skiing at Mt Van Ho will be PLENTY challenging!!! Have fun.

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http://www.pbmcoaching.com
USA Triathlon Level 3 Elite Coach
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