Last year, I did Whistler Blackcomb’s Peak to Valley ski race for the first time ever.  It had been 10 years since my retirement from the Canadian Alpine Ski Team and I had skied about 3 days per year on average over that time.  I was asked to join a team about 4-6 week before the race, and I knew I had to do something to both remind myself how to ski GS again and to prepare my legs to be able to race for 5-7 minutes straight!  Lucky for me my spouse didn’t want me to embarrass myself, so I was able to take 2 hours ever Sunday from my family time to prepare myself.  So, I invented Power Sundays!

Every Sunday for the month of January 2011, I went up on the hill early in the morning and applied what I knew from exercise science to build myself a last-minute fitness routine that I could perform on the ski hill.  The best way to improve your aerobic power quickly is to do sets of 3-8 minutes of intense exercise intervals, so I did my best to design an interval workout that could be done while skiing.   The strategy worked – I skied fast and our team won fastest time last year.  I managed to squeeze every possible bit of energy out of my skinny legs and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my Power Sundays workouts.

This year, Power Sundays will start in January, and I decided to share the routine with anyone else who wants to try it.  Use it at your own risk and be safe – ski within your limits and be respectful to other skiers.  Keep checking back to the website because I will make small changes to the program as we go we along each week.  I hope it helps you and see you in February!

Dr. Ryan Oughtred

Naturopathic Physician

Power Sundays Schedule

 - January 1

             - LD Broken, OM, UF, PV Broken X 2

- January 8   

             - LD Broken X 2, OM, UF, PV Broken X 3

- January 15             

            - LD Broken, OM + UF, PV, PV Broken

- January 22             

            - LD, OM + UF, PV, PV Broken

- January 29 

            – LD, OM + UF, PV

Key:

- OM = Old Man

- UF = Upper Franz’s (From top of Redline Chair)

- LF = Lower Franz’s (After resting at bottom of UF)

- PV = Peak to Valley (Top of Saddle to Bottom of Creekside Gondola)

- LD = Lower Dave

- ‘+’ sign designates two runs that you should add together into one run.

- ‘,’ commas designate a full rest.  Minimum 3 minutes.

- Broken = Do the run as assigned, but break it into chunks 60 seconds chunks as prescribed below:

- January 1                 60 seconds (Ski Hard) : 60 seconds (Stop and Rest)

- January 8                 60 seconds (Ski Hard) : 45 seconds (Stop and Rest)

- January 15              60 seconds (Ski Hard) : 30 seconds (Stop and Rest)

- January 22              60 seconds (Ski Hard) : 15 seconds (Stop and Rest)

- January 29              No Rest – do entire run without rest breaks..

How to Break your sets for full length, Peak to Valley Runs.  Suggested stop points:

- Stop 1 – End of flat 2/3 of the way down the Saddle.

- Stop 2 – Top of Upper Franz’s

- Stop 3 – Bottom of Upper Franz’s

- Stop 4 – Top of last pitch before Franz’s becomes flat (just above crossroads branch to Lower Dave run)

- Stop 5 – Anywhere 1/2 of the way through the bottom flat section of Franz’s (it is really long!)

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