4 days at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs

I was recently honored by an invitation to a women’s cycling development camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. The camp is designed, according to the official invitation, to “identify the next quadrennial pool of potential athletes and begin a consistent relationship in order to assist with further athletic development.” When I got the chance to race in France earlier this summer with the US National Team, I was told that committing to attend this camp was a condition of traveling to France. “That’s a funny way to put it,” I thought. “Who would NOT want to go to camp at the OTC??”

Of course, this is a tough time of year for many bike racers. I’ve certainly raced more this year than ever before, and the last couple months I’ve felt less than snappy. The very tough course at road nationals was only the most recent leg-breaking effort in a string of hard races. However, I arrived here in Colorado with enthusiasm, determined to enjoy every moment of the experience. Even if my legs didn’t feel as peppy as I’d like when facing a battery of cycling aptitude tests, I was sure Jim Miller and the rest of the USA Cycling Women’s Endurance Program people would understand.

I arrived at the OTC quite late on Monday evening, so the only impression I got before collapsing in bed was of the reception center and dorm building. In the morning, I met some of the other camp participants (9 women total) and headed to breakfast at the dining hall. Walking outdoors, we were met by blue sky and the stunning bulk of Pikes Peak rising to the west. Even the scenery here is inspiring.

@##=#<2,L>@##=#I had been told by Lipton TEAmmates who attended a similar camp here last year that the food was incredible, but nothing prepared me for the bonanza – nay, the cornucopia – of edibles awaiting us. Since no one will be reading this to find out what I ate for 4 days, I will limit my description of the feeding frenzy, except to say this: When I was a young girl, I had an Australian children’s book called The Magic Pudding. It was about a pudding dish (i.e. a bowl in Aussie parlance) which was alive, and had the magic property of being able to fill up with whatever food the person carrying the pudding wished for. The story line revolved around the adventures of the Magic Pudding and his companions, who used the Pudding’s powers both to get into scrapes and get out of them.

In the OTC dining hall, I discovered my very own Magic Pudding. It was an all-you-can-eat, enter-as-many-times-as-you-like, 2-different-types-of-soft-serve-ice-cream heaven. Or hell, depending on one’s point of view/metabolism.

However, I digress: let me drag myself back to the less delicious but more crucial particulars of the camp. After a decent post-breakfast interval, each camp participant had a lactate threshold test in the lab of the sports science center. Then we were on our own for recovery rides. I left the OTC complex for a short spin around town. A thunderstorm was brewing, and lightning filled the sky behind Pikes Peak for a scene of drama and beauty.

Day Two was set aside for field testing with SRMs. USA Cycling mechanics had spent many hours the night before installing SRMs on each rider’s bike. We rode to the east of town, where the terrain is relatively flat, and did several maximal output tests (of 10 second, 1 minute, and 5 minute intervals). After lunch and a brief nap, we met again in the afternoon and rode to the west for a 20 minute maximal effort up Cheyenne Mountain. On the way back down after a very painful 20 minutes, I was better able to enjoy the gorgeous scenery.

I had enough energy in the afternoon to walk around the OTC campus and check everything out. It is an amazing place: chock full of impressively new-looking and state-of-the-art buildings housing gyms, pools, dorms, sports medicine centers, and labs. Athletes are everywhere, and it is fun to try and pick their sport based on appearance. Those impossibly tall boys down the hall must be volleyball players. And the short ones with tiny necks and misshapen ears have to be wrestlers. The girls with ice packs strapped to their knees? Maybe gymnasts. Speaking of gymnasts, I happened upon a men’s gymnastics practice while searching for the ice baths in the sports medicine center. It was so cool to watch these awesome athletes at the top of their sport. My dad was a gymnast in college and I made a mental note to tell him what I’d seen.

In the evening we had a discussion with a USADA educational officer, which was instructive and interesting. This was followed by a presentation on sports psychology. The sports psych segment was of particular fascination to me, especially since I’ve spent a lot of time this year observing my own and my teammates’ personalities and considering how these differences inform our approach to the sport (see my journal entry on www.teamlipton.com regarding A-types).

@##=#<3,R>@##=#Day Three was our intro to the track. The women’s cycling endurance program encompasses both road and endurance track events, and the track was a major focus of the camp. I was nervous and excited to try it out for the first time. Luckily, I’ve been on a fixed gear before, so the no-coasting, no-brakes part was familiar. Riding on the banking (which isn’t even very steep, since it’s a 333 1/3 meter track) was a trip the first few minutes, but I got the hang of it and started having fun. We rode pacelines and did some flying 200s. I was surprised how winded I got very quickly in the intense environment of the track. The heat (near 100F) and extreme dryness probably contributed to the burning throats and lungs we all experienced.

Thursday nights are race nights at the Colorado Springs velodrome, so we returned in the evening to try out our new skills in some low-key races. A few of the girls at the camp had raced on the track before, and they went with the B men. The rest of us got our own “women’s development” races. We did a chariot (standing start) 1-lap race, and 2 scratch events (10 and 15 laps). It was scary but thrilling to try attacking and chasing with only the pitch of the track to control speed.

On Day Four of the camp we returned to the track to try the 2 kilometer time standard that USA Cycling uses to identify riders for international competition. We started by doing a flying 500 (the first 500M of the 2K standard must be completed in 34 seconds or less). Then we attempted the 2K (which must be 2:34 or less). Luckily, we were told beforehand that we weren’t expected by any means to make the standard in this practice attempt. Wind, heat, altitude, etc. all have a deleterious effect on conditions, which is why the time standard is tested only on the indoor track in L.A. I did my very best (even giving my legs a pep talk – “Yes, you ARE track legs – don’t let them tell you otherwise!”) but was pretty far long of the standard. I really enjoyed the new challenge, though, and would like to try out some racing on my home track (Kissena velodrome in Queens, NY).

@##=#<4,L>@##=#The camp will be rounded out by a one-on-one discussion with Jim Miller, the director of the women’s endurance program for USA Cycling. My appointment is in an hour, and I’m looking forward to getting a peek at my numbers from the lab and field tests and talking about what those numbers mean. In the interim, though, the dining hall calls. I hear there’s apple pie on the dessert menu today, and I’m not missing out.