So what actually happens during a test at the COCC Exercise Physiology Lab?

After checking my body weight on their scale, all my vital stats such as height, weight, and age are entered in the computer and the rest of the equipment calibrated for accuracy.

As I climb onto the treadmill for the ski-pole test, COCC lab assistant Jenny Cruickshank explains the test to me, fits me with a heart rate monitor and a clear, rubber face mask that covers my nose and my mouth – as well as parts of my eyes – and adjusts the straps to make sure no air leaks out the sides once the nozzle is attached. That ensures accurate VO2 max values. Then, I get my finger pricked for a pre-test lactic acid value and grab the ski poles. Let the fun begin.

COCC Exercise Physiology Lab Director Julie Downing, PhD, is in charge of the machinery and increases the speed and incline of the treadmill every three minutes, at which intervals a new blood sample is collected for updated lactate values, heart rate recorded, and perceived exertion assessed.

Luckily for a needle-whimp like me, Cruickshank announces that I am a good bleeder. She doesn’t have to prick me again, but can re-use the previous ”wound” that’s still bleeding.

At each 3-minute interval, I point to a poster to indicate the level of perceived effort. The numbers range from 6 (very easy) to 20 (extremely hard).

At 15 minutes, I’m certainly breathing hard. At 18 minutes, what started out as a nice hike with ski poles has turned into a challenging ski-bounding exercise at race pace.

The race-pace effort even rewards me loud cheering from the lab staff.

”Good job, Inge!”

”Keep it up, Inge!”

”Looking great, Inge!”

And looking good is more important than feeling good, although, in a strange way, it kind of feels good to hurt. The loud thump of the ski poles hitting the treadmill band is just distant noise to my brain, which is working in its own world entirely.

At 20 minutes, it is all over. I grab onto the bar in front of the treadmill as it stops. Cruickshank gets my max heart rate measured at 196 beats per minute and a blood sample for the lactate. She turns the treadmill on at a slow speed and lets me stroll for about four minutes before she comes back for a recovery lactic acid and heart rate value. This is less than previous max heart rates, and I wonder if I am becoming weaker rather than stronger from all the training. But sometimes, there is too much of a good thing, also known as overtraining. My head spins.

After a 10-minute cool-down jog on the track, Downing is ready to give me the low-down on the numbers.

My summer efforts, mostly consisting of longer mountain-biking, running, hiking, kayaking and roller-skiing sessions performed at a ”conversation pace,” have yielded me a solid base – my Zone 1. In this heart rate zone, known as ”basic endurance” to the educated crew, I feel that I can go what seems like forever – it’s just a matter of available time.

The next zone is the speed endurance zone, which is where a lot of early season intervals and pace workouts take place. It’s the area below the aerobic threshold, that magic point at which your body starts to make your muscles feel like logs. Technically, what happens is the body produces lactic acid faster than it can clear it. That forces you to drop the intensity and reduce the speed in order to flush the toxins out of the body. The goal is to raise this threshold heart rate as high as possible. That allows you to race faster without getting the muscle-ick. With a higher lactate threshold heart rate, I should theoretically be able to ski at a faster speed without collecting too much lactic acid in my muscles, and thereby finish the race faster.

So, having spent some time this summer with lots of long, easy training plus some structured, high-intensity intervals and ski-specific intensity, I was able to raise my threshold, or Zone 3, considerably over the summer, compared to the same time last fall.

But while I felt that I could have stayed on the treadmill maybe a minute longer – I always feel that way after stopping – the graphs show that I have indeed improved over the summer, and I am gearing up nicely for the race season.

Now I just have to keep Downing’s advice in mind: back off to avoid overtraining. Not having reached my true max heart rate is an early sign of possible overtraining, a mixture of physiological processes that lead to decreased performance.