Training for a marathon requires endurance and consistency, perhaps even more than what’s required on race day. I’m facing that challenge now. Keeping up requires unwavering dedication to your regimen, even devoting time to recovery on rest days. The iliotibial band syndrome affecting my right knee is finally improving, and I’ve been able to do some light treadmill workouts in the past week, in between some long road rides. But now I’m facing another obstacle which will demand some creativity on my part to maintain my fitness. This week I’m with the U.S. Ski Team at their training camp in the Chilean Andes. As one of their team physicians, I will be providing medical coverage for any of the athletes in the event of an injury. With fresh snow falling here last week, the winter conditions are not ideal for me to keep making progress with my running workouts.

I would have loved to bring along my Nordic skis, but there are no cross-country trails here at El Colorado. I did bring along snowshoes, but I’m still in search of the good areas for that. The only road in or out of the ski area goes straight down from here, with about 15 miles of switchbacks to the valley near Santiago, the Chilean capital. Running on that with ITB syndrome would be a recipe for disaster, not to mention the risks of sharing the road with the local bus drivers. So for now I’m fortunate enough to have access to the makeshift gym that the team has set up in one of the hotel rooms—there are several spin bikes, weights, and a variety of accessories for core strengthening. The downhill skiing offers a bit of a leg workout as well, so for now my regimen is as follows: mornings on the mountain with the team, early afternoons making turns on the hill on my own, taking a few long runs to work my quads & hamstrings to exhaustion, then late afternoons on the bike for at least an hour, followed by my overnight performance-enhancing ritual of sleeping at 9,000 feet. Once I find some good snowshoeing territory, I’ll try to work that into the mornings before skiing, since I’m not needed on the mountain until about 11.