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| Ben and his friend Peder Arneson skiing at Maplelag |
VO2Max – the maximum amount of oxygen that you take in and
transport throughout your body – the basis for endurance strength. As a
life-long competitive runner, endurance strength is what I work to improve, to
get fitter and faster. This is not only a benefit for local road races, but for
general quality of life: improved sleeping, improved energy, improved mental
clarity, improved calmness and well-being.
I have asked and received a lot from running. And those
gifts are never more vitally important than during the deep freeze of Fargo
winters when general mood and quality of life can be difficult to maintain, and
getting out for runs (or motivating to run on an indoor hamster wheel) can be
even more difficult to maintain. So how do I manage to not only maintain but
continue improving, living to the ‘max’?
Cross country skiers have the highest reported VO2Max of all
endurance athletes—higher than Phelps, higher than Bolt, higher than Kipchoge,
higher even than a doped-up Armstrong. Nordic skiers, by virtue of their
full-body demanding activity, have the best heart, lungs, and endurance
strength of them all.
When running gets hard, the skiing gets exciting and invigorating,
lifting one right out of seasonal affective disorder. When the Fargo winter
threatens to lower one’s fitness and quality of life, get out skiing. Lindenwood
Park, Edgewood Golf Course, Viking Ship Park, or the short drive out to
Maplelag or Spidahl’s resorts—Fargo has a lot to offer the runner turned skier
when the summer turns winter.
I now find myself looking forward to winter, snow, and (to a
degree) cold. Now it is an opportunity to improve my running, my fitness, and
my quality of life. When spring road race season returns, I am ready: mentally
and physically at my ‘max’. -Ben Melby
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| Ben out skiing at Maplelag Resort |
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