October 02, 2011 (Park City, UT) – What makes two 11-hour days at the Center of Excellence so awesome? Maybe it’s the hug you get after you fall off the treadmill. Maybe it’s learning new strength moves. A big part of it is meeting the athletes that train there and learning more about other sports. Either way, although I was mentally exhausted it was a good couple of days. We did a “near-max” test in both classic and skate, and a max test in classic. And with the classic tests, we got to breathe sea-level oxygen, so the balloons in the picture are filled with oxygen.

Coolest part? The balloons hanging off the bar... © Erik

Here’s the video of the tests…and the crashes…it’s pretty epic. Thanks to Matt and Pete for being great cameramen and getting the footage for everyone.

For video click HERE.

I don’t actually remember the last 20 seconds of my max test, but it looks like it really hurt! I also have this freakout after I fall because I thought the harness was choking me. It wasn’t, but I couldn’t really breathe anyways. So that’s embarrassing!

Erik took it to the max © Jessie Diggins

The guys pushed really hard on their tests – again, check out the video to see some sweet crashes.

THE BIRD warming up on the other treadmill © Jessie Diggins

The coaches at the Center of Excellence are totally AWESOME. They’re enthusiastic, smart and encouraging. So I never know if I should be dreading a treadmill test or not, because although it hurts a lot, you get a ton of people cheering for you as you suffer. Hmmm.

Adam and Michael...our "testing dudes". Excellent at pricking fingers and drawing blood...among their many talents. © Jessie Diggins

Kikkan showed us how it’s done by keeping her technique together even as the speed increased! It gets really tough to think about anything when you’re in the final minutes of a VO2 test, so you know you’ve been working on it a lot when your technique stays with you.

Keeping it smooth with good technique © Jessie Diggins

I’m not known for being a power skier. Or being good at strength. Or lifting heavy objects for fun. But I really wanted to learn how to do a power clean, so yesterday Michael (one of the strength coaches at the COE) taught me how! I’ve still got a ways to go in technique and adding weight onto the bar, but I can do a hang clean. WHoo! Then we did strength, and I got to use the upside-down boots during core. You hook your boots on a bar, hang upside down and then do sit ups. It was really, really tough but fun!

Really, really tough but fun... ! © Kikkan Randall

In between tests, I joined the alpine girls watching some crazy kids practicing on the trampolines. They got really high up, and made a LOT of rotations before hitting the mat, the trampoline, or the foam pitt. So fun to watch!

The flying wonder-kid. Pretty impressive. © Jessie Diggins