HIgh Altitude Training in Mammoth Lakes, California

The first week of our training camp in Mammoth has gone by so fast.  The days were busy, filled with hard and/or long training sessions as well as lots of packing-up and moving.  We spent a night in Mammoth (high elevation), and night in Big Pine (a town at low elevation), two nights in Mammoth, and then two nights in Big Pine.  The back and forth/up and down effect that we got from these moves has been coined “yo-yoing.”  Physiology aside, if nothing else, the yo-yoing certainly made the first week fly by. 

Our experience in Big Pine was unexpectedly fabulous. When we rolled in to the Bristlecone Manor Motel, and set up in our doublewide trailer, we weren’t expecting to feel so fond of this little town with a population of 1,320 people.  Here’s a list of the highlights from our time in Big Pine:

• Mexican food from the best Mexican restaurant in town – the Chevron station
• The kind folks at the local bar EJ’s.  We followed the local tradition and stapled a signed dollar bill to the bar.
• The Bristlecone Forest, with the oldest trees in the world.  I’m not sure if we saw any of those trees, but it was really beautiful anyway ;)
• Amazing sunsets and incredible scenery.
• Millions of really little, pesky, annoying mosquitoes that would bite, but miraculously the bite would never itch.  I counted 13 on Chandra’s calf after a roller ski – lucky that these were Big Pine mosquitoes.
• Incredible roller skiing on all sorts of country roads.
• The owner of the video rental/tackle and sports store/visitor center/coffee shop who went above and beyond the call of duty and let us borrow his x-box so that we could watch Gray’s Anatomy.

Although it feels like we haven’t spent too much time here, our days in Mammoth have been great so far. 

• Really amazing hiking/bike riding and roller skiing.  Some of the nicest roads I’ve ever seen for roller skiing, and hardly any cars.
• The Looney bean coffee shop and their Wednesday special - buy 1 pastry get 1 free.
• Sprinting pointers from Sweden’s Peter Larsson.  He has been training with our team over the past week and we’re really lucky to have him!
• Natural hot springs out in the middle of the field by moonlight.  So relaxing!!
• The hot tub and cold swimming pool that hasn’t been drained yet.  We’re doing a lot of contrast bathing!

Things have been great so far and I’m looking forward to two more weeks of good training. 

Shayla