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Why can two athletes follow the exact same training plan and get completely different results? In this episode of the Race Ready Podcast, Andy Newell and Brian Halligan reflect on 30 weeks of training, recent races at Soldier Hollow, and some of the biggest lessons they've learned from working with elite athletes and interviewing world-class coaches and sports scientists. From managing training load to understanding individual responses, they explore why the best training plan isn't necessarily the hardest one, but the one that works for you. The conversation dives into the importance of listening to your body, tracking training responses, and making adjustments when things aren't going according to plan. Andy and Brian discuss why some athletes thrive under heavy training loads while others need additional recovery, how to approach disappointing race performances, and why small changes to intensity and volume can make a significant difference. They also revisit lessons from guests like Stephen Seiler, Gus Schumacher, and Will Koch, exploring how elite athletes develop the knowledge and confidence to take ownership of their training. Finally, Andy and Brian tackle listener questions about heart rate zones, Garmin training metrics, and interval pacing, while sharing practical advice for getting the most out of every workout. They also discuss the mental side of performance, including building confidence, managing race-day nerves, and focusing on daily progress rather than obsessing over long-term results. Whether you're a competitive skier, masters athlete, or endurance coach, this episode is packed with actionable insights to help you train smarter, recover better, and arrive at the starting line ready to perform.

In this episode of the Race Ready Podcast, Andy Newell and Brian Halligan sit down with Will Koch, former U.S. Ski Team member, accomplished international cross-country skier, and son of Olympic medalist Bill Koch. After years of success in the traditional U.S. cross-country skiing development pipeline, Will is taking on a new challenge: biathlon. He shares what motivated his transition, how he's approaching the steep learning curve of shooting, and why he's found renewed excitement in learning an entirely new skill. The conversation also explores growing up in one of America's most influential skiing families, the lessons he learned from his father, and why making the Olympics isn't necessarily the ultimate measure of a successful athletic career. The conversation dives deep into Will's training philosophy and the habits that helped him become one of the country's top young skiers. From keeping a detailed training log for 12 consecutive years to gradually building toward 800–900 annual training hours, Will explains why he's shifted his focus away from chasing volume and toward maximizing the quality and intention behind every workout. Andy and Brian explore the importance of athlete ownership, understanding the purpose behind training, and learning to become your own coach. Will also shares how his transition to biathlon has challenged his approach to skill development, including spending more than 100 hours practicing shooting without ammunition and learning to perform under pressure. Beyond the training science and technical discussions, this episode explores the mindset required to pursue elite performance. Will explains why genuinely believing in your potential changes the way you train, the effort you're willing to invest, and how you approach setbacks. The guys discuss confidence, deliberate practice, long-term athlete development, and finding fulfillment beyond race results. Whether you're a competitive skier, biathlete, coach, or endurance athlete looking to get more out of your training, this conversation offers a thoughtful perspective on what it really takes to improve, compete at a high level, and build a sustainable life in sport.

What does it actually take to become a faster endurance athlete? This week on Race Ready, Andy Newell and Brian Halligan sit down with one of the most influential minds in endurance sports science, Dr. Stephen Seiler. Internationally recognized for his pioneering research on polarized training and training intensity distribution, Dr. Seiler has helped reshape how athletes and coaches understand endurance performance. From his early experiences studying Norwegian cross-country skiers to decades of research into the physiology of adaptation, Seiler shares the discoveries that challenged conventional training wisdom and changed the way we think about getting faster. The conversation dives deep into the science of endurance training, including VO₂ max development, polarized training, intensity zones, and the relationship between training stress and adaptation. Dr. Seiler explains why low-intensity training is so effective, how the body develops its aerobic capacity, and why the physiological cost of a workout can be just as important as the adaptations it produces. The discussion also explores the obsession with finding the perfect interval session, the rise of double-threshold training, and why copying the workouts of Olympic champions isn't necessarily the best approach for developing athletes. Beyond the science, Dr. Seiler offers a fascinating perspective on what separates successful endurance athletes and training programs from the rest. Andy and Brian explore the unique physiological demands of cross-country skiing, the importance of perceived exertion, and how coaches can balance scientific research with the realities of training in the field. Whether you're an elite skier, a masters athlete, or a coach looking to better understand the principles behind effective training, this episode challenges you to think critically about how you train, why you train, and what really drives long-term improvement.

Are you getting the most out of your high-intensity intervals, or are you going too hard? In this episode of Race Ready, Andy Newell and Brian Halligan dive into the science and execution of L4 training, VO₂ max development, and the fine line between productive intensity and unnecessary fatigue. They break down why harder isn't always better, how to pace intervals to maximize time at the right intensity, and why finishing a workout completely exhausted doesn't necessarily mean you've made the biggest training gains. The conversation explores different approaches to interval training, including hard-start intervals, steady pacing, recovery periods, and the challenges of translating laboratory research into real-world skiing. Andy and Brian discuss how terrain, workout duration, and intensity distribution influence the effectiveness of a session. They also examine lessons from elite athletes like Gus Schumacher, including the importance of managing training volume, maintaining technical quality, and recognizing when additional training may be doing more harm than good. Beyond interval training, the episode tackles some of the toughest decisions endurance athletes face: when to push through fatigue, when to back off, and how to approach training during and after illness. Andy and Brian also answer listener questions about recovery between intervals, training with limited time, and preparing for major events like the Birkie. Whether you're an elite skier, a masters athlete, or a coach looking to make every session count, this episode offers practical insights into training with greater purpose and getting faster without simply training harder.

Olympic silver medalist Gus Schumacher joins Race Ready to break down the training, racing, and lessons that have shaped his progression into one of the best cross-country skiers in the world. Gus takes us inside his preparation for the 2026 Olympics, including altitude training, managing the long taper into the Games, and the strategy behind his team sprint silver medal with Ben Ogden. He also explains why one of his biggest focuses is learning to ski fast with less effort and how efficiency under fatigue can be the difference when a race comes down to the final kilometer. We also dive into one of the biggest lessons of Gus’s career: more training isn’t always better. After years of chasing 1,000-hour training seasons, huge volume weeks, and the feeling that being tired meant he was getting faster, Gus began to realize he was chronically carrying too much fatigue. Cutting his training dramatically gave him more energy, higher-quality intensity, and room to actually absorb the work. We talk about the warning signs of overtraining, finding the right sustainable load, and why athletes can become “addicted to being tired.” Finally, Gus shares how his relationship with training has evolved as he’s gotten older and taken more ownership of his career. We discuss athlete-coach collaboration, understanding the “why” behind a training plan, using technique as a gauge of fatigue, building race-specific intensity, and developing confidence from years of successful training and racing. It’s a wide-ranging conversation about what high-performance training really looks like when the goal isn’t simply to do more but to arrive at the start line capable of doing more.

What does it actually take to develop the next generation of American cross-country skiers? U.S. Ski Team Development Coach Lizzie Larkins joins Andy to break down the current development system, from junior clubs and REG camps to the National Development Group and eventually the U.S. Ski Team. Lizzie shares what she has learned traveling around the country working with developing athletes and why the pathway to the highest levels of the sport is rarely as linear as it appears. The conversation dives into the training itself, including where American juniors are improving and where there is still work to be done. Lizzie discusses the importance of technique, why young athletes need to make smart and gradual increases in training load, and why simply doing more isn't always the answer. Drawing on her background in nutrition and food science, she also explains why developing athletes likely need to eat more than they think, the importance of building a strong nutritional foundation before worrying about supplements, and her simple philosophy: “rocket ships need rocket fuel.” Finally, Lizzie challenges the idea of an athlete development “pipeline” and offers a different way to think about long-term development. From missing team selections and navigating college skiing to finding different routes through the sport, she explains why camps and teams should be viewed as opportunities rather than endpoints. It’s a conversation about training, coaching, community, and creating an environment where athletes can stay in the sport long enough to discover just how good they can become.

Dani Aravich’s path to becoming a three-time Paralympian is anything but conventional. After walking away from Division I running, Dani built a career in professional sports before a conversation about the Paralympics completely changed her trajectory. She eventually found cross-country skiing and biathlon, learning an entirely new sport as an adult and working her way onto the international stage in both the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games. Dani joins us to talk about the realities of building an aerobic engine later in life, learning the technical demands of cross-country skiing, balancing biathlon and skiing, and figuring out how much training her body can actually absorb. We also dig into burnout, overtraining, the value of patience in endurance development, and an idea that might seem counterintuitive: being happier outside of sport may actually give you a greater capacity to suffer when racing gets hard. But this conversation goes well beyond Dani’s own athletic career. We discuss the future of para Nordic sport, why para athletes benefit from being fully integrated into clubs and national-team environments, and what Olympic and Paralympic athletes can learn from one another. Dani makes the case for seeing para sport not as a separate world, but as an integral part of the high-performance community: where athletes bring the same commitment, sacrifice, pride, and pursuit of excellence to their sport. Learn more about Culxtured at https://culxtured.com/

As race season gets closer, speed training needs to evolve. But going harder isn’t always the answer. In this episode, Brian and Andy break down the difference between true sprinting and training efficiency at speed. They discuss why 30–60 second efforts shouldn’t always be all-out, how staying relaxed can actually make you faster, and why maintaining good technique under speed is one of the most important skills to develop heading into winter. They also dive into the physiology behind short efforts, including how the aerobic and anaerobic systems contribute at 10, 30, 60, and 90 seconds. The conversation explores why even elite sprint skiers need massive aerobic engines, how speed should fit alongside endurance and strength throughout an athlete’s development, and why you shouldn’t wait until an athlete is “fit enough” before teaching them to move fast. Brian and Andy also share practical examples for incorporating short sprints, 30-second speed work, threshold intervals, and pace-project sessions into fall training. Finally, they answer a listener question about scheduling intensity for junior ski clubs, including whether Tuesday/Thursday intensity sessions are too close together, how recovery needs change with age, and how coaches can make the most of limited team training days. Whether you’re a skier trying to sharpen up for winter or a coach building your fall training plan, this episode offers a practical framework for developing speed without simply adding more intensity. Energy System Usage: 10 seconds: 91% anaerobic, 9% aerobic (phosphagen system dominates) 20 seconds: 82% anaerobic, 18% aerobic 30 seconds: 75% anaerobic, 25% aerobic 60 seconds: 58% anaerobic, 42% aerobic (glycolysis peaks then dips) 78.6 seconds: 50% anaerobic, 50% aerobic (the equal-split tipping point) Over 90 seconds: Aerobic oxidation takes over as the primary energy source Anaerobic and Aerobic Energy System Contribution During Maximal Exercise: A Systematic Review

As summer training gives way to fall, the focus begins to shift from building volume to adding more race-specific intensity. Getting that transition right can be tricky. In this episode, Brian and Andy break down how to introduce more L4 work without sacrificing the aerobic fitness built all summer. They discuss why adding intensity doesn’t necessarily mean dramatically cutting volume, which parts of the training week may need to change, and why the fall can be one of the easiest times of year for athletes to overreach. They also dig into the bigger picture of managing training stress. Hard intervals aren’t the only thing your body has to recover from: school, work, travel, poor sleep, and everyday life all contribute to the total load. Brian and Andy discuss fueling harder training blocks, keeping easy sessions truly easy, monitoring fatigue, and why experienced athletes are often the ones most willing to modify a workout when their body is telling them something different than the training plan. Finally, they tackle listener questions covering rucking for endurance athletes, structuring training for high school cross-country ski teams, balancing technique, intensity, distance, and strength, and how strength training should count toward total annual training hours. It’s a wide-ranging conversation about making smarter training decisions as race season gets closer. The goal isn’t simply to complete the plan, but to absorb the training and get faster.

David Norris has spent more than two decades figuring out what it takes to go fast. A former World Championship skier, two-time American Birkebeiner champion, seven-time Mount Marathon winner, and now elite trail and ultrarunner, David joins us to talk about how his approach to endurance training has evolved across skiing and running. We dig into the durability that comes from years of high-volume ski training, the challenge of pacing long races, and what he has learned while transitioning from World Cup skiing to racing some of the biggest mountain ultras in the world. David also breaks down some of the biggest training lessons he has learned along the way. We discuss why the workouts that make you the most tired aren't necessarily the workouts that make you faster, the differences between threshold training for skiing and running, and why improving running economy forced him to move away from some of his favorite ski-style workouts. We also get into his approach to preparing for a 50K ski race, balancing L3 and L4 intensity, training at altitude, strength and plyometrics, and how skiers should approach the transition back onto snow. Beyond the workouts, David shares a valuable perspective on longevity in endurance sport. We talk about coming painfully close to the Olympics, learning that a single result doesn't define you as an athlete, balancing full-time work with high-level training, and why he no longer stresses about cutting a workout short or missing a few miles. It's a wide-ranging conversation about training smarter, developing durability, finding the adaptations that actually matter, and building a relationship with endurance sport that can last for decades.

This week on Race Ready, Andy checks in from one of the most unique training environments in North America: the Haig Glacier in Alberta. With athletes hiking nearly an hour just to reach the snow and training above 8,000 feet, the conversation dives into how to structure a productive volume camp without turning it into a survival contest. Andy and Brian break down how much to increase training volume, why consistency matters more than one massive week, and how to keep easy training truly easy. From there, the episode becomes a deep dive into altitude training. They discuss what happens to the body during the first 24–48 hours at altitude, why the first two days should usually be kept easy, how long it takes to create meaningful altitude adaptations, and how athletes should approach racing at elevation when they can't arrive weeks in advance. The conversation also covers how intensity should change at altitude and why the goal is often to let the physiological adaptation do the work rather than forcing hard sessions. Andy and Brian also take on the Zone 2 training debate, using Johannes Klæbo's training philosophy as a jumping-off point to discuss why more moderate-intensity work is not always better for high-volume endurance athletes. They finish with practical lessons on technique, fueling, hydration, recovery, and why getting hungry during a long training session may already mean you've waited too long to fuel. It's an episode packed with useful takeaways for any endurance athlete trying to train more, recover better, and make big training blocks actually count.

In this episode of Race Ready, we sit down with SMS T2 head coach Colin Rodgers to talk about what it actually takes to develop great cross-country skiers. Colin shares lessons from his own career as an elite athlete and his transition into coaching, from working with junior athletes at Green Mountain Valley School to now coaching some of the best skiers in the country at SMS T2. Along the way, we discuss the differences between developing young athletes and supporting established World Cup competitors. Colin takes us inside the training environment at T2 and explains why elite performance often comes down to consistency, individualization, and executing the most important sessions extremely well. We talk about building trust between athletes and coaches, why great coaches don't need to have all the answers, and how athletes with very different needs can successfully train within the same team. Colin also shares his philosophy on creating a training culture that makes athletes want to work hard, embrace the process, and stay in the sport for the long haul. We finish with a bigger conversation about the future of American skiing: what the U.S. is doing well, where the development system can improve, and why collaboration, access to snow, better competition opportunities, and strong local ski communities all matter. Colin also makes the case for keeping young athletes well-rounded through cross-training, adventures, and other sports rather than pushing specialization too early. It's a wide-ranging conversation about coaching, athlete development, training culture, and what it will take to keep moving American skiing forward.

How should endurance athletes actually build a training block?How do you know when more training is helping versus simply adding fatigue? In this episode of Race Ready, Brian and Andy break down the logic behind structuring late-summer training, including how to balance volume and intensity, where to place key sessions, and why the purpose of the week should drive the plan. They also discuss the danger of becoming a “professional exerciser”: someone who is great at accumulating training but struggles to perform when it’s time to go fast. The conversation then turns to overdistance training and the question every endurance athlete eventually asks: how long is too long? Brian and Andy discuss the physiological and mental value of massive training days, when those sessions become counterproductive, and how athletes can use different modalities to make long sessions more manageable. They also explore how flexibility becomes increasingly important as athletes progress, and why the best training plans are often the ones that can adapt to fatigue, travel, camps, weather, and changing priorities. The episode finishes with listener questions covering junior ski technique, games and drills, pole-height rules, and fueling for training. Brian and Andy discuss why fueling isn’t just about avoiding a bonk, but also about improving training quality, recovery, and the ability to stack productive sessions day after day. Whether you’re building your own plan or trying to better understand the “why” behind your coach’s decisions, this episode is packed with practical ideas for training with more purpose.

In this episode of the Race Ready Podcast, Andy Newell and Brian Halligan sit down with University of Utah Director of Skiing Fredrik Landstedt, one of the most accomplished coaches in collegiate Nordic skiing. With more than three decades of coaching experience and six NCAA team championships to his name, Fredrik shares the journey that brought him from growing up and racing in Sweden to building one of the premier ski programs in the United States. Along the way, he reflects on how collegiate skiing has evolved into one of the strongest development pathways for future World Cup and Olympic athletes. The conversation dives deep into what separates great programs from great athletes. Fredrik explains why individualized coaching, long-term athlete development, and building a strong training culture matter far more than simply logging more hours. He discusses how his team uses treadmill testing to monitor fatigue, why sometimes the best decision is to skip races in favor of training, and how balancing academics, recovery, and performance is essential for sustained success. From altitude training and double-threshold sessions to managing freshman expectations and preventing burnout, this episode is packed with practical coaching insights for athletes at every level. Perhaps the biggest takeaway is Fredrik's philosophy that "training is the easy part." The real difference between good athletes and champions comes from everything surrounding the workout: sleep, nutrition, recovery, communication, and making smart decisions every single day. Whether you're a cross-country skier, biathlete, coach, or endurance athlete looking to maximize your potential, this conversation offers a masterclass in building not just faster athletes, but better long-term performers.

This week on the Race Ready Podcast, we're answering some of the biggest questions sent in by listeners and tackling topics that every endurance athlete and coach eventually has to face. From training safely during periods of poor air quality to developing young athletes, we dive into the practical coaching decisions that can have a lasting impact on performance. We also explore why movement quality, athleticism, and having fun may be more important than obsessing over training zones during an athlete's early years. The conversation then shifts to one of the most sensitive and misunderstood topics in endurance sport: race weight and body composition. We discuss the relationship between fueling, performance, RED-S, and long-term athlete health, while breaking down why chasing a number on the scale is rarely the right goal. Instead, we explore how athletes can think strategically about nutrition, recovery, strength training, and sustainable performance without compromising their health or training adaptations. Finally, we answer a listener question about classic ski pole length and revisit one of cross-country skiing's biggest equipment rule changes, discussing how pole length affects technique, efficiency, and racing strategy. Whether you're an athlete, coach, or dedicated Nordic fan, this episode is packed with practical advice, coaching philosophy, and thoughtful discussion designed to help you train smarter and perform at your best. Link to USOPC smoke guidelines: https://canva.link/mdb7ehy8agxhvuw