HOW TO PLAN THE BEST TRAINING

Welcome to the new weekly column about athletic preparation, technique, equipment, health nutrition and more. Today we are talking to Andrea Zattoni, technician of the Fiamme Gialle Ski Team. 
Have a good reading!
 

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Skiing, together with other form of assistance as the sledge, is the one of the first locomotion invention, dated more than 7000 years ago.
This form of transportation permitted people to move across snow-covered terrain for hunting, moving on the battlefields or exploring new lands.
Cross-country skiing evolved from a utilitarian means of transportation to a world-wide recreational activity and sport discipline, which branched out into other forms of skiing starting in the mid-1800s in Scandinavia.

The cross-country skiing is an endurance sport with and important technical component. This means that to get good results, especially in a long distance competition like Marcialonga, the athletic preparation should be concentrated on the endurance element and the technical movement. This improves the aerobic capacity, which is the maximal amount of physiological work that an individual can do as measured by oxygen consumption, and the energy substrates, in other words the nutrients for the muscles.
Let us move on now to the technical component: the more a technical movement is specific and automatic, the less will be our energy expenditure, allowing a better performance.

This introduction is important to understand how the cross-country ski lovers are lucky, because in the period between summer and autumn they can do many sports to improve the aerobic capacity: cycling, skirolling, running or walking with poles.
And, lastly, it must define the principles governing the training sessions in which they are to be organised. There are three types of activities: general, special and specific.
The general activities are the sports without any connection with the cross-country skiing: running, road cycling and more. The special sports are in some way connected with our discipline: skirolling, walking with poles, alpine skiing. Lastly, there are the specific activities, that are on the skis.
Furthermore, we cannot forget the activities to improve the strength, but we will talk shortly about it.

The question is: how to choose the right training for the cross-country skiing?
During the time until the Marcialonga race, it is important to choose the best activity according to their type. In the first part of the preparation, the spring and the summertime, you should prefer the general activities. Going forward to the late summer and autumn time you have to continue with the special activities, which are skirolling and walking with poles, starting at the earliest opportunity with the cross-country skiing.
Not by chance, being registered in Marcialonga skiing offers the opportunity to test during the year different sport discipline like cycling and running.

Good training!

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PILATES, AN EXCELLENT TRAINING FOR XC SKIING 

THE SECRET FOR PREPARING FOR A LONG DISTANCE RACE 

THE MOTIVATION IN THE ENDURANCE SPORTS 

ANTONELLA CONFORTOLA: EXPERIENCE AND ADVICE ON MARCIALONGA