CSIA Fitness Testing

That is me on the bike getting ready for misery.  This was a VO2 MAX test.  Unlike a regular ride when there is a goal, the top of the hill, in this test the imaginary hill just gets harder and harder until you fail.  Breathing into the tube seemed to be a limiting factor for me.  It was an interesting experience.  The test (evaluation) was conducted by CSIA member Jill Sagan's company TCR Sports Lab.

The idea of this evaluation was to determine a baseline fitness recommendation for CSIA members training for upper level certifications.  I think this is a good start for Instructors who are going for their Level 4.  Training for the level 4 requires a huge amount of skiing mileage and thus a high standard of physical fitness.  As an Examiner of this certification, fitness is definitely and aspect that in some cases I have seen make or break a candidates success.

My recommendation for fitness training as it relates to Level 4 certification is to interval train at a rate that simulates the performance required.  For example the bump run in a Level 4 exam is an intense 40-60 seconds so it makes sense to do exercises in 40-60 second intervals.  This might be running stairs, box jumps, sprints etc.  After a proper warm up go as hard as you can for this short amount of time.  If you really push you will be exhausted after 50 seconds, the same way you might feel after a 50 second bump run where you have put in a 100% effort. 

I recommend this for on snow training for the Level 4 as well, of course get your quantity training in, but everyday that you are on snow take one run where you charge100%.  Take a moment at the top of this run, tell yourself "this is the one run that counts" (just like on the exam) and then perform.  In dry-land training or on the Level 4 ski off there is no better feeling than knowing you showed your absolute best.