s2 e28: Why the Same Training Doesn't Work for Everyone

What separates a good junior skier from a great collegiate athlete? This week on the Race Ready Podcast, Andy Newell and Brian Halligan sit down with Adam St. Pierre, head coach of the Montana State University Nordic Ski Team and Cross Country Sport Coordinator for U.S. Ski & Snowboard, to explore the challenges of developing the next generation of elite cross-country skiers. Drawing on his experience coaching juniors, collegiate athletes, and endurance competitors, Adam shares his perspective on identifying talent, evaluating potential, and building successful athletes both on and off the racecourse.The conversation dives into the science and philosophy behind effective endurance training, including why more training isn't always better, the importance of consistency, and how athletes can develop speed without sacrificing efficiency. Adam explains how Montana State uses physiological testing, biomechanics, and individualized technique work to help athletes improve. The group also explores an interesting recruiting dilemma: Would you rather coach an athlete training 700 hours per year or one achieving similar results on just 300 hours? It's a fascinating discussion about training history, untapped potential, and what really determines an athlete's long-term success.Beyond training, Adam takes us behind the scenes of NCAA skiing, discussing the changing landscape of college athletics, new eligibility rules, NIL opportunities, scholarships, and the challenges of building a competitive collegiate program. From what college coaches look for in recruits to the importance of team culture and preparing athletes for professional skiing, this episode offers valuable insights for junior athletes, college-bound skiers, coaches, and anyone interested in long-term athlete development.

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% aerobic30 seconds: 75% anaerobic, 25% aerobic60 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 sourceAnaerobic 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.