Facilities and Terrain

For PCC athletes training in Victoria a variety of facilities and training options are available to our athletes including several weight centres, physiological testing, an outdoor track built for the Commonwealth Games, and some of the best cycling roads in all of Canada.

Testing

Thorough physiological benchmarking is a very important part of assessing both your short and long term goals. Knowing your physiological makeup, like threshold wattage and heart rate response, helps us to determine your goals and if it is realistic for you to podium at certain events. More importantly, it helps us determine what sort of training will produce the biggest gains for you. Just remember that the numbers don’t tell the whole story. As the old adage says, “if it was all about numbers we’d just put everyone on a trainer at the start line to determine the winner.” However, the numbers are a very important part of the puzzle and we leave nothing to chance.

Physiological testing and analysis is coordinated through the Canadian Sports Centre Pacific (CSCP) physiologists at PISE. These highly trained specialists work with Olympians and Canadian National Champions from all disciplines. PCC athletes would undergo some or all of the following tests, after discussion with the PCC Head Coach.

• MAP test (maximal aerobic power) with lactates and/or VO2 - 3 min step test with increasing watts until max
• Anthropometric (body composition and thigh volume)
• Sprint testing (this would vary depending on the athlete and the Head Coach)
• Heat adaptation and sweat testing – this is used for specific events

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