We touched base with Carmichael Training System’s endurance coach Nick White and got 7 gems of wisdom that will turn you into a vertical speed machine. Emelie Forsberg pushing hard in the Andorra vertical skimo race. © ISMF Press Office Consistency and volume Having a solid aerobic fitness base is an important prerequisite to becoming faster on vertical ascents, so consistency and volume should remain central to any training programme. This base makes focused work on your lactate threshold and V02 max possible. Improve your V02 The goal here is to maximize how much oxygen your body can process and deliver to your working muscles. Doing short, high intensity interval workouts, some of them ascents, are the way we achieve this. Match each interval with an equal recovery time. Here are some ‘go-to’ workouts that should be done two to three times a week with a rest day between each session: 9x 2min at maximum effort/2min easy recovery 6x 3min at maximum effort/3min easy recovery 5x 4min at maximum effort/4min easy recover Easier option: 5x 30s at maximum effort/30s easy recovery Few athletes have a V02 max as high as Suunto ambassador Kilian Jornet. © ISMF Press Office Focusing on lactate threshold If it’s a trail race or a mountain run with big vertical ascents that you’re training for, then it’s also critical to focus on your lactate threshold. Do this through longer duration interval workouts done at a slightly lower intensity than the V02 training outlined above. The goal is to work consistently until you can't work at that intensity anymore. After rest and recovery, your body will become stronger. Intervals should be between 10 to 30 minutes in length, with half the recovery time, and a total training time of around 45 to 60 minutes. For example: 4-5x 12min intervals, with 6min rest between 3-4x 15min intervals, with 8min rest between 2-3x 20min intervals, with 10min rest between Both of the above interval types, V02 and lactate threshold, are necessary, whether you’re doing a vertical kilometer race or a longer mountain run. Each one is specific to a different aspect of vertical speed. Ryan Sandes training in his local hills in Cape Town. © Craig Kolesky/Red Bull Content Pool Match your gradient While it's a good general rule to match the gradients in your training to that of your event, it’s also important to mix it up so you're not hitting the same hill over and over again. Don’t overdo the hills! Not all of your interval workouts should be done on hills. Do them once or twice a week on hills and the other days train on rolling or flatter terrain. © ISMF Press Office Keep it specific At least some of your training should be on terrain that’s similar to what your race will be on. If at least some of your training is done on similar trails or hills, then you can be sure you’re developing the necessary muscular strength and technical skills as well. Watch your weight Body weight is obviously an important factor in the vertical ascent equation. A heavier runner will require a lot more energy and force to climb a hill at the same speed as a lighter runner. It really is a power-to-weight ratio issue at its core. You go uphill faster either by gaining more power, or becoming lighter, or both. So go easy on the cake! MAIN IMAGE: © ISMF Press Office

Understand there’s no magic solution Breathable, waterproof, windproof – remember there’s no magic gear solution that works for everything. It’s possible to go cross-country skiing in -15ºC in just a base layer and shell. Wear that while ice climbing and you’ll start turning blue pretty quickly. Equally, you may need all the layers you can wear in +5ºC if it’s wet and windy. Remember there are always compromises – and you’ll never get it totally right. Greg Hill pushes through an icy day. © Bruno Long Experiment with what works No two people are the same – a big guy with a lot of mass may be quite happy in little more than a t-shirt while if you have the figure of an ironman athlete, you may need an insulated jacket and mittens to enjoy the same level of warmth. Experiment between synthetic and wool base layers. If you’re a copious sweater, you may lean towards the former. If you need the warmth, go for wool. Bring spares - of everything! There’s nothing better after a strenuous hike to a summit peak than ripping off a sweat-soaked base layer and putting on a fresh one. OK, the stripping-off part is not so fun – especially if it’s windy! – but we promise it’s worth it. On longer days, taking your boots off and swopping socks will also make your smiles last longer. Change your gloves regularly, see below… © Bruno Long How many gloves is ok? How many pairs of heels is it ok for a girl to have – probably not as many as the number of gloves it’s ok for the winter sports athlete to have. Have a look in any winter climber’s closet and you will find dozens and dozens of pairs. Take two to three with you on the hill. Cheap fleece gloves are awesome for when you’re moving and in between technical sections. Switch gloves between stages, depending on your activity. Keep the spare pair inside your jacket to keep warm. Still have cold hands? See #6 & #7. Dress for 15 minutes into your activity Remember that overheating and sweat in particular is the #1 enemy. The best way to chill a bottle of white wine is to stick it in a bucket of iced water and let the breeze do the rest. Dress for how you’ll be in 15 minutes time not how you’ll start. Better to begin a bit chilled and then warm up, than start pouring with sweat after a few minutes and have to stop and shed layers. Put a hat (or anything) on Since scientists debunked the myth that 70% of your body heat is lost through your head, the old adage that ‘if you’ve got cold hands you should put a hat on’ seems out of date. But it’s still a valid reminder that you should think ‘big picture’ when it comes to cold hands. Hands and feet get cold because the rest of your body’s cold; so putting on a warm layer, wearing a hat and pulling up your hood is still a case of old school is best. Remember also there’s no magic pair of gloves out there. Cure your cold hands for good! Always get cold hands or feet? If you’ve suffered from a cold weather injury (such as frostnip) chances are you’ll battle cold hands the next time the mercury drops, but contrary to conventional wisdom, there is something you can do about it (provided it’s not something else like Raynaud’s disease, in which case check with your physician). Doctors at Britain’s Institute of Naval Medicine discovered that rewarming your hands or feet in a warm bath over a course of several weeks can completely reverse the effects of a cold weather injury. Fill a foot bath with water at 40ºC, have a slug of your favorite tipple (alcohol opens up the blood vessels) then soak your feet or hands for 20 minutes. Repeat every night for several weeks. MAIN IMAGE: © Bruno Long

Suunto is proud to work with many amazing athletes and adventurers from all over the world, including our global ambassadors. We caught up with some of them to ask about the highlights of 2015 and what’s happening for them in 2016. Speed alpinist Ueli Steck – the Swiss Machine Highlights: Retaking the speed record for climbing Eiger was one of Ueli’s most satisying moments in 2015. Climbing all 82 of the 4000 m mountains in the Alps in a couple of months was also a great and liberating experience for him. His goals for 2016: To climb a new route on 8027 m Shishapangma’s south face, to take on some ultra distance trail races over summer, to keep moving physically and to continue developing his skill set as an alpinist.In one word, Ueli feels: “Great!” © Ueli Steck Mountain athlete Kilian Jornet Highlight: Enjoying everyday, achieving great results and staying versatile in all distances and disciplines is what Kilian is most pleased with in 2015. His goals for 2016: First, it’s the ski mountaineering world cup. Then, the big project is attempting a world record speed ascent on Everest over summer as part of his Summits Of My Life project and, finally, some trail races. “To wake up, see a mountain every single day and go for it!” he says is his main motivation for 2016. In one word, Kilian is feeling: “Excited!” © Kilian Jornet Underwater explorer Jill Heinerth Highlight: Being a TED presenter at the annual TED Youth broadcast in New York City was one of Jill’s proudest moments in 2015. Her talk reached more than 100,000 young people worldwide. Her goals for 2016: To slow down a little and enjoy her second passion in life – cycling. Aside from riding trails in Ontario, Jill and her husband hope to make cycle trip across the US, from Florida to their home in Canada. Jill is also returning to Newfoundland to explore a flooded iron ore mine and also WW2 shipwrecks. One word, Jill is feeling: “Excited!” Triathlete Åsa Lundstrom Highlight: Receiving emails from fans telling her that she has been an inspiration to them is one of Asa’s most rewarding experiences in 2015. Her goals for 2016: To place in the top 10 of women at the Ironman World Championships 2016, plus smaller goals for each discipline, and to be on the podium at every race she competes in. In one word, Asa is feeling: “Fortunate.” © Orca Backcountry skier Greg Hill Highlight: For Greg, 2015 has been a year of rehabilitation after a serious injury in 2014. He turned 40 this year and is proud of where he’s at in life. “To be happily married, with two great kids, a cosy house and a reputation for being a solid mountain adventurer – it's all I could I'd ever ask for,” he says.His 2016 goals: To get as strong as he has ever been, some big 40,000 ft (12200 m) days in the mountains to celebrate his 40th, and speed traversing his local mountain range. The 200 km plus traverse normally requires two 10 day trips, but Greg aims to do it in two to three days. In one word, Greg is feeling: “Energized." Mountain athlete Emelie Forsberg Highlights: The fact that she still loves running, skiing and mountaineering as much as she does after years of it being her "work" is something Emelie is really happy about. Her four skyrunning victories and setting a new record at the Mount Marathon Race in Alaska were also satisfying achievements. Her goals for 2016: To become a faster and more all-round runner.In two words, Emelie is feeling: “Super excited!” © Selu Vega-Transvulcania MAIN IMAGE: © Jordi Saragossa

When the snow falls, you want to be ready. And fit! Nothing will kill the fun quicker than an early season injury, so we asked pro skier Greg Hill for his best advice. “It’s definitely time to start getting ready,” he says. Below, he outlines the exercises you need to be doing to be in good shape for the snow. STOP TALKING Obviously keeping up on our cardio is very important, biking, running, treadmill whatever we have time for. But it’s important to do at least three sessions of 20 minutes each week. This is to just keep our cardio at par, but to improve it we need to push ourselves a little harder. That means three longer runs or bike rides of an hour but then 10% of that should be in the pushing hard phase – pushing so hard you can't speak! Put another way: 90% of our exercise should be in the ‘able to talk’ phase and then 10% in the ‘unable to talk’ phase. GET DOWN! Run or walk downhill. Hiking down from alpine hikes, or running downhill is a great way to shock your muscles and get them ready for the endless downhill descents. This imitates the impact of hard turns and the repetition of the sport. HOLD THE WALL Too busy? Go for a ‘wall sit’ and start extending the times you can sit against a wall. Get your legs at 90º, with your back against the wall and hold it there. This replicates the constant quad stress and strength you will need to crush the big runs. It’s an isometric strength training. Nothing moves or flexes – it just holds. Try two minutes and build up. (NOTE: Greg has quads of steel. We tried this and failed so don’t feel bad starting at 1 minute and pushing from there.) JUMP! It’s the classic ski training exercise but that’s because it works on developing power. There are many different games to play but the main thing is exploding up as high as possible and then landing and absorbing the shock smoothly. Reps of 20 and three or four sets to start off. WEIGHTS All around strength is also a big factor – core strength being key to balance and good skiing. So if you can, an all around weight routine will help immensely. STAY UP LATE WATCHING YOUTUBE Lastly, get excited for the ski season! Watch ski videos, dream up adventures, fuel your desire as much as possible. It’s the mind that will drive your body so get it excited! Images by Bruno Long Photography

Here are the last two candidates in the Dream Traverse Video Contest final! Vote for your favorite to make its creator's dream come true. View all six videos and choose your winner at traversecollection Three Suunto Traverse outdoor watches will be raffled among all voters. SNOWBOARDING IN JAPAN Candidate number five is Tom Harrison from London, UK. Or actually the whole Harrison family has a dream of snowboarding in Japan. “As a family we enjoy adventure, and I helped my sons create the film for the competition about the familie's dream trip to Japan,” Tom says. “Whether it’s camping, climbing, hiking or skiing, we can’t get enough of new challenges. Leaving London for a new adventure, even if it’s for only a couple days, is always a thrill.” When asked what the outdoors mean to him, Tom turned to his 15-year-old son to get an answer. “The outdoors is something that he can’t even begin to comprehend; a place that breeds adventure. Living in the city he feels contained, boxed in, always looking out the classroom window into the unknown, and all he wants to do is explore it.” “Outdoors give you an overwhelming sense of achievement. Getting out of London and going on an adventure is an amazing feeling, and it’s addictive. You can really find yourself when you are lost in the outdoors.” The Harrison family’s dream is to snowboard in Niseko, Japan. “In Niseko both amateurs and professional shred the fresh snow of the mountain,” Tom explains. Tom would take his sons also to Tokyo and Kyoto to explore the culture and beauty of their dream destination. “I would love to see my boys’ faces as they watch the crowds at the famous Shibuya zebra crossing in Tokyo or marvel at the beauty of the bamboo forest in Kyoto. It would be an unforgettable experience.” TRAIL RUNNING EP.5 Finalist number six is Björn Hunger, 17, from Windischgarsten, Austria. Björn enjoys trail running, mountain biking, ski mountaineering and shooting videos. “For me outdoors mean freedom. It's the best thing in the world to be out in the mountains with my friends and family!” Björn says. Björn’s dream traverse destination is Iceland. “To go to Iceland is one of my biggest dreams and it would be so cool to realize this dream!” “I would like to go to Iceland because the whole nature and the mountains there are so awesome.“ Get to know the other candidates: DREAM TRAVERSE VIDEO CONTEST FINALISTS: KINGDOM TRAVERSE AND PATAGONIA DREAMING DREAM TRAVERSE VIDEO CONTEST FINALISTS: DO THINGS ALWAYS AND WINTRY CHINA DREAM Go to traversecollection, watch the videos and vote for your favorite. Three Suunto Traverse outdoor watches will be raffled among all voters.

We all know proper recovery is an essential part of any training regime, but what exactly happens in our bodies while we rest, how does it impact our performance and how can new recovery features released to Ambit3 watches support our recovery? To get the answers on the science of recovery, we talked with Tero Myllymäki, who leads the physiological analytics development at Firstbeat Technologies. Tero, can you talk us through how recovery impacts our performance? The role of recovery is not only crucial to an athlete’s development, but to overall health and wellness; without sufficient recovery, it is impossible to build one’s endurance and stamina. In sports, the whole exercise philosophy is based on the fact that while exercising, body balance, so called homeostasis, is placed in a state of imbalance which lowers our body’s performance level. By taking the time to rest (referred to as “recovery”), this performance level is gained back, and, thanks to this recovery process, it is possible to gain a higher performance level. What about the role of a good night’s sleep? A really important fact in recovery is the need for a good night’s sleep. Sleeping well at night is really crucial to recovery, since it is a repetitive, long period of time, during which all body functions can relax. If recovery is successful, all the stress caused by strenuous exercising, along with other factors in your daily life, is reset at night (while you rest), and the body’s resources are replenished. Body stress and recovery can be compared to batteries: you can only use them or charge them once in a while. Suunto Ambit3 watch offers two tests for measuring my recovery level, but what are the tests measuring in practise? Recovery is analyzed by measuring the body’s autonomic regulation balance through heart rate variance. At night, one would expect the parasympathetic (so-called relaxing body function) to be powerful and thorough enough to activate the body’s recovery processes. Recovery measurement tests determine how calm a person’s body is during sleep. How does this information benefit an athlete? Monitoring this recovery can make the time used in exercising more efficient, because it is good to know when you can exercise on full speed, and when you should take it more slowly and simply let your body recover. Recovery measurement tests will also tell you when you are training too hard, or when you should work harder, so that an athlete can measure the risk of exercising too hard, or not exercising at all. Recovery monitoring is a learning process for you; it enables an athlete to reflect on how he/she is feeling. What about muscle pain or flue, will the recovery test recognize these? Even though the autonomic regulation has regained normal levels, intense or abnormal exercises done by an athlete might cause muscle damage, as well as risk to the overall body energy levels. These situations cannot be monitored via autonomic regulation tests. Weakened muscle level recovery can be seen during the exercise, although you wouldn’t be able to see it in the recovery tests. Instead, the effect of diseases such as fever which affect the overall body regulation system, can be seen in the autonomic regulation activity, and, consequently, from the recovery test data. Can I analyze my sleep quality with the test? Sleeping badly, and/or waking up during the night can be regarded as a side-effect of the body refusing to slow down, and the heart’s autonomic regulation and/or parasympathetic regulations are weak. This also lowers the recovery levels. The quality of your sleep is influenced by many different factors, and sometimes it may indicate how a person feels about his/her sleep; other times, it may be a direct result of the electrical impulses in the brain which measure sleep phases. Recovery measurements won’t directly measure these sleep phases, but it can reflect on it by measuring autonomic regulation (how relaxed the body is).   Read more about the features: Tutorial Tuesday: Learn how to use Ambit3's recovery features   Tero Myllymäki, M.Sc., Physiology Research, Firstbeat TechnologiesMr. Myllymäki is responsible for physiological analytics development and research collaboration at Firstbeat. He possesses an academic background, and previously worked as a researcher in several multidisciplinary expert teams, combining physiology, psychology, and technology. His goal is to seek innovative solutions for providing meaningful and actionable feedback on well-being, lifestyle, and performance in daily life. Mr. Myllymäki has a Master’s Degree in exercise physiology from the University of Jyväskylä.   Get to know your recovery status with Ambit3 watchSuunto Ambit3 watch offers two ways to follow your recovery. The quick recovery test and the sleep recovery test both measure your heart rate variability to give you an indication of your recovery status in percent. The higher the percentage, the more recovered you are. The tests require a Bluetooth Smart compatible heart rate sensor that measures heart rate variability (R-R interval), such as Suunto Smart Sensor.   The quick recovery test is performed by wearing the Smart Sensor belt for three minutes and then checking the recovery percentage from the Suunto Ambit3 watch. Alternatively, you can run the sleep recovery test which measures your heart rate variability through the night to give you an accurate indication of your recovery status in the morning when you wake up.