Camp - Week II

Today wrapped up the second week of a pretty intense camp with the National A Team and all of the coaching staff. We've been going non-stop now for nearly two weeks and it's time for a few days of rest. This week was a little lower in hours than last week, but the workload was still very high. Perhaps the most interesting and definitely the most painful workout was a max VO2 test on the treadmill.

During the test.

A VO2 max test, for those of you who aren't familiar with this terminology, is fairly simple. A lab technician hooks you up to a head apparatus that has a mouthpiece not unlike that of a snorkel and your nose is plugged so you can only breathe out of your mouth. With this setup the physiologist is able to analyze the air that is exhaled during exercise for oxygen content. This information along with other data collected at the same time can then be used to provide important information about how training is progressing and what, if anything, needs to be changed in order to maximize the potential for performing well later in the season. For the athlete, the max test is pretty simple - go until you can't go anymore. The speed on the treadmill is increased at regular intervals and at some point your muscles give out and you either get spit off the back of the treadmill or you grab the bar that's at the front of the treadmill. Check out the pictures for a little better idea of what the setup looks like.

Trying to breath right after the test.

Last week featured one of the toughest interval workouts I've ever done. I didn't have pictures or video for my last post, but you can check out a video by clicking on the link below. In this particular video I'm the skier at the front of the line.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ru8hWIOl53E

This weekend Sara and I are driving over to the Dartmouth Outing Club's Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, a rustic lodge and cabins situated on the side of Mt. Moosilauke in the mountains of New Hampshire. Friends of ours from college are getting married so we're looking forward to getting away from the Training Center for a couple of days and helping our friends celebrate a special day. Next week is a much needed easy week so I'll spend a fair amount of time resting and will also get some hours in working on the traps at the golf course. Should be a blast.