Changing Anaerobic Threshold

I'm trying to be honest with myself about the training I need. To be physically ready for the challenges that I'll meet in Mongolia, I'll need to improve my endurance and ability to breath while moving up mountains. Luckily, I live at roughly 8,233 feet above sea level and ski at about 12,000 f. elevation. Elevation affects how well I breath, and in Mongolia, over 14,000 f., I will need to breath easily. I will also need speed.

There are several ways of measuring fitness. Speed and endurance are two types of fitness I am working to increase. Crossfit, a training system I've started practising, has a philosophy I like. The exercises help you find your weaknesses, then change them.

For aerobic exercise, I'm skate skiing three days a week at the Eldora Nordic Center (Wed., Sat. and Sun.). After two months of practise, I'm finally moving more efficiently and needing fewer breaks on the uphill.

At least once a week, I also put on tele/randonée ski boots and "earn my turns." For me, this is a muscle work out, and a chance to feel good. There is nothing that burns my tushy muscles more. (Ok, this is not all physiological science, tushy being an approximation of "glutes.") I have skins (grippy fabric attached to the base of the skis) that make my skis like giant snowshoes. With every stride I concentrate on pushing my hips forward, to maintain grip on the slippery snow, especially pushing up the steeper inclines.

Working at the Eldora Nordic Center has given me access to some great Nordic ski instructors. I see the many styles of skiing: Telemark, classic touring, skate, and alpine, start to overlap as the technique in each movement is refined. Each style is a graceful, efficient... gliding on snow. Sometimes I'm resisting gravity, other times I'm being carried by it.

But it's not all skiing. More on the pull-ups, squats, and push-ups later. Tonight, a bath in epsom salts. Tomorrow, my first day as an Eldora Alpine Ski Instructor.

Pizza and fries?