July Level 4

When it comes to hard intensity in the summertime I prefer to log these hours within a time-trial or race setting. As a general rule, during the months of June and July I like to touch on Level 4 about once every two weeks. If I can schedule this by doing a local running race, uphill TT, double pole test, or some other kind of race I think it can be more beneficial and more fun. 

However there comes a time when we do need to schedule specific L4 intervals into the training plan. For some this will come in July, others might push their first structured L4 session all the way to August depending on how much extra curricular summer racing they are doing. 

When we do execute our first L4 interval sessions it can take some focus and structure to make sure we log this on-time the right way. 

4 - 6 x 4 - 5 minuets with equal recovery 

Can be done in any mode: roller skiing, running, bounding ( I think it's more productive in an all body mode) 

3 x 20 second accelerations 

Perform on rolling but trending uphill terrain with equal recovery. You should be able to repeat each interval on the same section of road/trail. 

Start with a 'warm up' interval. I will have athletes split up and do the first warm up interval on their own, within their own L3 pace. Keep the pace within an L3 heart rate range and mark the side of the road/trail to record how far you go during your interval. Our goal is to ski a little further down the road each interval. 

Next perform 4-5 x 4-5 minutes but not all out at first. We simply want to increase the intensity a tiny bit each pass. This means increasing your heart rate (approximately) 2 beats each interval. This means the first interval should just be a heart beat or two above L3 pace. 

This time of year a short recovery is not a priority, take as long as you need to get back to the starting point for the intervals and go again. 

This workout is designed to help us maximize on-time within a manageable L4 pace. Many of the studies coming out from physiologist these days indicate that it is not the maximal intensity of the L4 intervals that matters, instead how much time you can log comfortably in that zone. For most athletes this is around a 90% of max heart rate zone. 

I designed this workout to help manage that pace. Doing a controlled L3 interval to stat and simply trying to go slightly further each interval will help log quality L4 time instead of going too hard on the 2nd or 3rd interval and actually reducing the amount of L4 you can log. The pace should feel hard by the last intervals but with a full recovery between intervals we should be able to recover well and keep the quality of each interval high.