Baby steps.

A quick clip of my VO2 test yesterday taken by Coach Wes Ng. Numbers were a little improved from my last test but nothing drastic. I will never be unhappy about improving, no matter the margin, but given how tired I have been feeling since the weekend's winter triathlon, I know I am capable of having a better test.  We will have another one in the first week in March, so we will get a good idea of where we are leading into our Clemson camp before NSR 1.  We do these tests twice a year and while they aren't always at the same time of year, it's a great objective measure for us to see how we are developing over the year and also over the years. First of all, it is difficult to improve these numbers when you are a highly trained athlete. You are looking for small percentage improvements over a long period of time that will one day add up to something great. This takes very consistent good training and healthy living. These tests continue to show that we, as a group, are trending in the right direction and are actually now pushing into some pretty cool territory. Pepa, our ski coach and physiologist, has been testing me since I first came to Craftsbury in 2009, my junior year of college. I don't want to disclose any specific numbers, but since my first test as a heavyweight in 2013, my absolute value( or total amount of oxygen I can process) has increased by about .7 liters. Ben's has improved about .6 L  and Peter has improved .4 L in just the last year. Cool to see that type of improvement especially from an old man like Peter! I remember testing before going to Worlds in 2013 with Ben in the double and Pepa was telling us how impressed she was that we were going fast without even being fit. As we laughed, she told us that one day when we grow up and our  absolute values are ____, we would be able to process as much oxygen as everyone else in our race and might  have a lot of fun at World Champs.  It is pretty awesome to see us getting close to hitting those #'s. Baby steps. 

2013 Chungju.