Endurance training is simply the effort level at which your body can remove as much lactate (a byproduct of carbohydrate burning) as it produces. Your body’s lactate removal is at the same level as its lactate production, which means your muscles won’t experience the dreaded stiffness caused by lactate buildup just yet.

According to Maastohiihto.com, endurance training and race pace are different. The key difference is that during full competition, your body surpasses this aforementioned threshold, and fatigue sets in quite quickly. However, during endurance training sessions, you can maintain a consistent pace for at least 20-30 minutes, preferably much longer. It may not feel comfortable, but you’ll be skiing or running slower than your normal race pace. If you train by heart rate, this falls into Zone 4, which is 85-90% of your maximum heart rate. Many Zone 3 workouts may also fall into this category, especially as your speed increases towards the end of the session.

Running coach Jack Daniels describes an endurance run – also known as an anaerobic threshold or lactate threshold run – as a pace that’s about 25-30 seconds per mile slower than your normal 5 km race pace. For us Europeans accustomed to the metric system, this means about 15-20 seconds slower per kilometre. It’s important to note Daniels speaks specifically about running, which doesn’t perfectly correspond to skiing, but his statement serves as a good comparison point for skiers as well.

So why should we do endurance training and who really benefits from these workouts? Naturally, all long-distance athletes must regularly do these workouts. Exercise scientist and coach Pete Pfitzinger says runners aiming for success in distances over 15 kilometres benefit the most, and as we know in cross-country skiing, most distances are longer than this.

“For athletes competing in events over 15 km, the physiological adaptations of training are most specific to the demands of these races. Improvements in lactate threshold are only a minor benefit in a 5 km race, as it is clearly run well above the lactate threshold. However, on longer distances, your performance is primarily determined by your lactate threshold pace. So, endurance runs provide a direct benefit on longer distances for both beginners and elite athletes.”

Based on this statement and various studies, endurance training is extremely important for all Ski Classics professionals, elite skiers, and serious endurance athletes. However, it may not be easy to determine the type of training each individual should do to achieve their best results. Of course, the duration, load, and pace of endurance training depend on the athlete’s performance and overall capacity. Many professional athletes can maintain an effective endurance pace for up to 60-90 minutes.

Regardless of the duration of endurance training, it’s important to warm up and cool down properly before and after the main workout. Alternatively, start the workout much slower and increase the intensity after about 20-30 minutes of skiing, running, or roller skiing. Many running sites recommend a typical 20-minute warm-up, 20-minute endurance workout, and 20-minute cool-down. Beginners should exercise caution when starting endurance training. To achieve an endurance level, you must of course do a lot of basic endurance training, so that the athlete’s aerobic base is strong enough for this demanding level.

Here’s a more detailed example of a good endurance workout for beginners. You can warm up for about 20 minutes, which means you go at your normal long-distance pace. Then start the endurance training about 30 seconds slower per kilometre than your so-called race pace and continue for about 10 minutes, the next 10 minutes you can go 25 seconds slower than your race pace and the remaining 10 about 20 seconds slower than your race pace. Basically, you increase your pace every 10 minutes, but only the last 10 minutes are in the endurance training speed as defined above (a mix of zones 3 and 4). If you feel that you have enough energy at the end of the workout, you can go for a short period at race pace or a little slower (zone 4).

Another good example of endurance training is the so-called “cruise intervals”. Instead of focusing on a specific pace for a certain period of time, you can do endurance training with intervals with a short 30-60 second recovery. This formula reduces the mental difficulty of training while maintaining aerobic benefits, allowing for a greater amount and may help prevent excessive speed, which can lead to overload or fatigue. This method has been used by Ski Classics skier Morten Eide Pedersen, for example.

Today, experienced and fit long-distance skiers do long endurance training exercises, which are rhythmically tailored. This so-called Vasalopp-pass training is usually a 3–5-hour exercise skiing or roller skiing, with various intervals, speed runs and endurance parts during the trip. Different Pro Teams have their own exercises, with power units varying according to skiers’ habits and fitness.

For example, Team Ragde Charge did a roller ski training session at their Mallorca camp, where they first skied for two hours at Vasaloppet competition speed or even a little harder and continued with a rough pull exercise. Intervals started at 10 minutes and shortened every minute until the last shot was a minute long. Recovery between hits was one minute. Lager 157 Ski Team often makes a similar move with more and more varied training intervals, but the cross-country ski in between is standard endurance speed.

Finally, how often should you then do endurance exercises? This is a good question and, once again, it depends on the athlete’s performance, capacity, and stage of training. A good rule of thumb is to do endurance training at least once a week or even twice, but the aerobic base must be strong enough for efficient endurance training. Adequate recovery from these demanding exercises is extremely important and exercises should not be performed tired or in a poor state of mind. Targeted endurance training is a good way for fitness skiers to increase speed and capacity, leading to more demanding training or traction and oxygen uptake training. Before so-called VO2max training, the athlete must have both a strong aerobic base and the ability to achieve endurance training.

Are you interested in training for long-distance and traditional cross-country skiing? Click HERE and read more about it.