Facilitated by Team Physiologist Justin Carlstrom and Jim Walker, Ph.D, of The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital (TOSH) in Salt Lake City, athletes underwent lactate tests, traditionally used to map the relationship between heart rate, speed and lactate in order to find the most effective zones for an individual athlete to receive the most efficient training and VO2, which measures the volume of oxygen an athlete can consume while exercising at their maximum capacity.

"We tested last summer with Sports Science and I classified it as a learning experience for our team," said Head Coach Jon Kreamelmeyer. "We did two tests again this spring and now we're in data collection mode. If we're on a staircase, we're on stair two or three. We'll take this data and my hope is to solidify a training protocol that outlines what is best for each of our athletes."

The camp, attended by sit-skiers Chris Klebl (Heber City, Utah), Andy Soule (Sun Valley, Idaho), Sean Halsted (Gig Harbor, Wash.), Greg Mallory (Portland, Ore.) and Bob Balk (Long Beach, Calif.), placed athletes on an oversized treadmill. They would then ski for a specified period of time, while being monitored for data recovery.

"What this does is create a historical account for our athletes," added Kreamelmeyer. "Justin and Jim did a great job working with our team. We'll take what we learn here, rethink and retool, then we'll test again in the fall."

Kreamelmeyer said the team performed well and learned quite a bit from the experience, but singled out Halsted and Soule as testing well. "Jim [Walker] handed me Halsted's graph after his lactate test and said, ‘this is textbook,' so that was a positive and while Andy was on the treadmill, Jim looked at me and said, ‘this guy is in shape.' Overall I'm really pleased with how this went and will be excited to see how this data relates the next time we test."

The next dryland camp for the U.S. Disabled Cross Country squad is scheduled for July in Frisco, Calif.