What have we been up to recently? A couple weekends ago, we did a max treadmill test - fun stuff! We've done treadmill tests in the past as part of fitness testing or determining max heart rates, but this test was a bit different - this was intended as a mental exercise. Anyone who's done a max treadmill test can tell you that it's a huge mental game - you can stop any time, and as the stages get tougher and tougher, the temptation to quit gets higher and higher. Hard uphill running on a treadmill can be pretty unpleasant - I've done a lot of treadmill workouts and tests, and I haven't found anything that hurts quite as much. There's something about the way the machine sets the speed and you just have to keep up that makes it really easy to ramp up your heart rate, fill up your muscles with lactate, and generally just inflict a lot of pain on yourself. I am not a fan of the tough guy language that surrounds endurance sports - I don't think that ski racing is all about pain and suffering and toughness, and I think that we're missing the point if we get hung up on this stuff. But even I have to admit that treadmill tests really hurt, and they require tremendous willpower and focus. So the point of this test was to put our skiers in a situation where they could reach what they thought was their limit and then try to continue right through it. I'm happy to say that our skiers rose to the occasion - everyone gave a fantastic effort. It was a huge learning experience for everyone. Some of them definitely emptied the tank - we had a few people flying off the back of the treadmill into the arms of our vigilant spotters - while others felt that they'd perhaps chipped away at the wall but hadn't completely broken through. In any case, it was a huge learning experience, and my hope is that everyone will be able to approach future max efforts (in races or otherwise) with a little more knowledge and confidence - once you've reached that barrier and perhaps gone through it, it's easier to get back there next time.
As it happened, it was Family Weekend when we did our treadmill test, so we celebrated with our traditional brunch with a bunch of ski team family members. It was great
This past weekend was full of Maine coast adventures. On Saturday we did sand skiing intervals at Morse Mountain - our usual routine of running over the mountain with ski gear in hand and then VO2max intervals on the beach. It's always a fun change of pace and a good chance to work on technique as well as fitness. A few of the more hard-core skiers jumped into the ocean after the workout, of course, and we finished the morning with some delicious Frosty's donuts courtesy of the Cork family, visiting from Minnesota.
Sunday was the 9th Annual Lobster Roll - a small but hardy crew took the ferry over to North Haven for the traditional rollerski race against the other Maine schools and some MWSC athletes. It was a beautiful sunny day with the usual stiff breeze coming off the ocean. Competition was equally stiff - the other teams look pretty sharp right now - but we held our own. H. Marshall and Sean were our top finishers. After the race, we enjoyed a fine pasta feed at a local restaurant and watched the Patriots game on a big screen in the town hall theater before a nice recovery jog and a ferry ride back to the mainland. Overall, a fun day and a good chance to get into race mode. Thanks to Andy Shepard and MWSC for keeping this event going!
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