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A Peek at Peak Performance

Read the entire account of Mike’s experience: part one, part two, part three, and part four.

Because of my amazing celebrity connections, I got an opportunity this week to try out the peak performance package at the Canyon Ranch health resort in Tucson, Arizona.

I will be spending four days being tested, poked, prodded, analyzed and examined like an alien abductee while expert exercise physiologists, sports physicians and nutritionists try to figure out why I’m so damned slow. Oh, and a behavioral specialist will determine if it’s because I am a generally warped human being.

I’m not the first person to go through this program. Kathryn Bertine tried it out for ESPN.com last year. This is especially daunting for me, because not only is Kathryn a former ice skater and professional triathlete, but she’s a helluva lot better writer than I am.

But while many elite athletes have completed this kind of program and gone on to do great things in the wide world of sports, I will be the first middle-aged, middle-of-the-pack distance runner to undergo the trials and tribulations of body scans and a VO2 max test in order to discover that I’m a middle-aged, middle-of-the-pack distance runner.

In the weeks to come, I’ll provide all the gory details, so stay tuned to this space at the Complete Running Network to find out what happens when an average Joe gets the elite athlete treatment… if I live.

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7 Responses to “A Peek at Peak Performance”

  1. Blaine Moore (Run to Win) on August 31st, 2007 6:57 am

    Looking forward to your thoughts on it! Very cool.

  2. 21stCenturyMom on August 31st, 2007 11:00 pm

    I’ll bet you are not the first middle of the pack middle aged athlete to go for the big analytic guns. I am so jealous – I’d love to have someone validate my my inability to get fast. Alas… all I can do is make excuses.

    Can’t wait to hear the results.

    visit my profile page
  3. My Legs Are Eccentric » Complete Running Network on September 7th, 2007 6:01 am

    [...] peak performance package at Canyon Ranch in Tucson, Arizona, began almost immediately after arrival with a trip to the nurse to check my [...]

  4. Inflaming Opinions » Complete Running Network on September 14th, 2007 6:01 am

    [...] can’t say my second day in Canyon Ranch’s peak performance program started the way I like. After a 12-hour fast I had a 7:30 a.m. appointment for a blood [...]

  5. Them Dry Bones » Complete Running Network on September 21st, 2007 6:01 am

    [...] next stop for Canyon Ranch’s peak performance program was to the dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan machine. As I understood it, the machine [...]

  6. Torquemada’s Treadmill » Complete Running Network on September 28th, 2007 6:00 am

    [...] the entire account of Mike’s experience: part one, part two, part three, part four, and part [...]

  7. I’m Full of Wind » Complete Running Network on October 5th, 2007 6:00 am

    [...] the entire account of Mike’s experience: part one, part two, part three, part four, and part [...]





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