Testing

Last week we went to Park City for a day of testing and our last jumps on plastic for the season.  This was my second time testing at the Ski Team's Center of Excellence.  This spring it was a lot of new stuff, but now we have some data to compare to.  We tested on the rollerski treadmill in the morning and afternoon, with one testing measuring VO2 max and the other test to measure and establish training zones.  

The V02 max test is only ten minutes, but with the oxygen tube attached to your mouth and the ever increasing incline, it's about as hard as it gets.  This time the test was different than last in that we were breathing in as much oxygen from the tube as we would at sea level.   This way, you can see how individual's respond to O2, and virtually everyone has  a higher VO2 max at sea level compared to altitude.  

I couldn't tell you exactly why, but my VO2 score jumped up almost 28% from this spring when we tested without the oxygen.  Obviously training is an important factor, but I might also have some lucky genes that respond well to high altitude training and low altitude racing.  Anyways, VO2 max isn't all determining, but it's awesome to know that with time, the potential is there.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to do any jump/force testing this time, but when we get our results back formally I'll also be able to see hemoglobin levels and a couple other respiratory and lactate measures that they took during both the tests.

The Center of Excellence.