Alaska swimming elevation training blog No. 6

The training trip will last from Dec. 28 until Jan. 12 when the Nanooks will fly to Vancouver to compete in a tri-meet against Simon Fraser and University of Puget Sound in Burnaby, B.C.

Today, in the sixth and final edition of the team’s blog, sophomore Gabi Summers (Cheyenne, Wyo./Wildlife Biology and Conservation) wraps up how the trip has gone heading into the rest of the season. Here is her account of the trip:

“And cue the last full day of long course altitude training! These past two weeks have been pretty full of — shocker, swimming! But make no mistake; it has been more than worth it. I can feel that I have acclimated to the altitude and that is a nice feeling to have. For example, at the beginning, we were doing some sets that focused on kicking underwater for twelve and a half meters and it was pretty challenging. Recently, we have been doing sets focused on kicking a full twenty five meters underwater and it was just about as challenging as the twelve and a half meters last week.

Progress! At this rate, going back to Fairbanks and thereby, sea level, we will be able to kick underwater forever! Just kidding coach, don’t get any ideas!

Today, we have a lactate set where we get to compete against another team that is also up here to train at altitude. Although it is a lactate set, it’s a little bit different since we have some new competition and I am looking forward to it. I think this is a great way to end our time here—we have a meet in Canada this weekend and maybe this can serve as a little preview of what to expect.

 The time of altitude training has reached its end. We have had some fun times while we were all here together. While this trip is first and foremost, a training trip, it has also been full of adventures and loads of laughs! All in all, I wouldn’t have it any other way!”