For an “in between athlete”, I totally agree that balance is key. As you mentioned, the difficulty is in finding that balance. What are your thoughts on muscle fiber conversion from fast to slow and what precautions can be taken to minimize it?

Kenny: I’m American. Rugby makes as much sense to me as cricket (a game somehow involving a ball). But thanks for the clarification. For skiing, there’s as much strength as overall work capacity involved, you always hear horror stories about folks who go without any training, get tired (which can be as much lower body strength as anything) and then get hurt to ’squeeze another run in’. I’d be of the opinion that cycling would be a bit more specific in terms of body position and muscles used to skiing, moreso than running. So lower body strength work including some stability/one-legged work with cycling would probably be my best recommendation. Certainly the endurance component isn’t massive, most runs are only a few minutes or so, I could see some shorter intervals being used (simply for specificities sake). But it’s more about getting through the day without tiring and running into ‘last run syndrome’. And being smart enough to get off the hill when your brain is telling you to stop.

First, a rugby match is 80 minutes long consisting of two 40 minute halves. Thought you might like to know.

Second, now that winter is here, the question comes up as to what is the best way to train for skiing (think heavy powder, freeride). My usual list of suspects consists of (1) focus on squats with some cardio, (2) running, and (3) cycling. Of course, all of the above is a legitimate response, but where would you recommend spending the bulk of one’s time?

The problem is one of specificity in terms of the muscles used and how. In general, you don’t see massive carryover between events (e.g. someone who cycles will test poorly on a treadmill VO2 max test and vice versa; it’s also why Lance despite being a dominant cyclist ‘only’ ran a three hour marathon, far from elite pace).

So running for a cyclist won’t do them much good. Runners often cross train to limit joint stress but from a performance standpoint, it’s debatable how much good it really does them. But the further apart events get biomechanically, the less carryover you tend to see.