Koos in Oberstdorf.

Seiser Alm – Venue of Final Preparations

By Torin Koos

“If you ski too hard, bank too many kilometers, don’t listen to what your body is tells you, might as well flush it all away. Four years of work and sweat and dreams and aspirations, might as well flush it right down the toilet, right now – snap – just like that.”  So began Pete Vordenberg’s pre-emptive verbal lashing at the twelve-day Pre-Olympic altitude training camp in Seiser Alm, Italy.  Just three weeks separate today from the day heading out of the start gate in Torino. (Could it really be?)  Time sure has a way of catching up on you.

Before Torino, though, back to the here and now.  For the initiated, Seiser Alm sits in the heart of the Italian Dolomites, a range of alpine peaks in the Sudtirol region of Europe. The type of mountain that immediately juts out from rolling, sun-kissed valleys, to towering spires of granite thousands of feet tall, reaching heavenward. 

Pete’s words winding up from there with gusto, getting real good, before a final, climatic, rant. “Don’t think for one second Wicked Pete’s been put to pasture. If I catch you hammering when you shouldn’t, just know I’ll tear into you with Samuel L. Jackson, Pulp Fictionesque rage.” Something tells me Pete isn’t joking either. Nor should he.  A personal conversation echoed in public presentation.

The view outside is more than scenic.  Seiser Alm, more than a place to take postcard pictures to show friends and family.  Ski trails meander with the contours of the Alpe di Suise valley for mile upon mile.  The air, untouched by Munich or Milan’s industrial-economic byproducts.  The Val Gardena downhill course one of literally hundreds of interconnected alpine lifts and runs.  Then there’s the real reason – the oxygen depleted air found only at 7500 feet.  This is my last altitude camp, the final of four this calendar year. If in good condition with a body ready to adapt, two weeks at 7500 feet causes the natural EPO release, the body boosting its production of oxygen-carrying red blood cells and haemoglobin values.         

According to U.S.S.T. sport scientist Sue Robson, a positive athlete response to altitude improves aerobic capacity 5% for up to a month.  However, if in questionable form, illness, fatigue and de-training often await an altitude-trained athlete’s future.  A choice with a trade-off, like much of life.

The trade-off, though, one my Olympic competitors also undertake.  The Americans share the Plaza Hotel with Czechs, Slovak, Polish and Swedish athletes with Olympic credentials.  We also share the ski trails with Norwegians, Germans and Torino-bound Japanese - pretty much a who’s-who in the world of cross-country skiing.  It’s impossible to ski fifteen minutes and not see a World Cup or Olympic champion.  Not too bad for a village with literally little more than guest lodges and ski lifts.

The days until Torino continue to countdown.  So long as the sun keeps coming out, long-legged bella domma baristas don’t mind serving cappuccinos past noon, and I get in solid training, life is good.  Who has more fun than people? 

Torin Koos - Oberstdorf.

Coach Vordenberg relaxing on the beach.

Kidding.

(Vordenberg Images)