Today I was in Hayward, WI for VO2 max testing. If you are not familiar with the process I’ll explain it briefly. You get a mask put on your face and breath air through a tube which is connected to a machine that measures how much oxygen you process and how much CO2 you exhale. You get on a treadmill and start running while your coach increases speed and grade until you give up or pass out from the effort. This is done in an attempt to measure aerobic proficiency and progress. Results: I am fitter than 2 months ago. My max is very very close to 80… for those of you that care. I don’t really like to read into this number too much because it is only one element of skiing fast… but, a high level of fitness is one element that cannot be missing if one wants to ski fast. The remaining elements include but are not limited to technique, nutrition, race wax, ski selection, base structure, recovery level, mentality, efficiency, and strength.

Here is one of my favorite pictures to explain how one feels after a properly executed V02 max test. This was taken shortly after the breathing tube was pulled out of Mr. Kris Freeman’s mouth (he is the #1 ranked distance skier in the US currently). Pic taken from TeamToday.org