Crossing from the bright summer sun into what is basically a warehouse, I feel like I’ve just stepped into a room of da Vinci muses: cut muscles and intense, palpable focus. I don’t know it yet, but I am about to be educated. Immediately.

Rob Schaul, owner of Mountain Athlete, a unique gym in Jackson Hole, WY is yelling at me to drop my bike bag, change my shoes, grab a bar, hold it to my chin and start doing squats. “We start on time here!” he calls across the gym. I have come to train with Max Hammer, a former US Ski Team alpine racer headed, hopefully, back to the team this year. He’s already well into his set of squats.

I do as I am told, finish a set, and look at Rob. “Go outside, catch Max!” he yells before turning his attention back to the other athletes in the room. Confused, I run outside in time to see Max sprinting up the hill. It looks like I’m hitting the pavement. This is round 1, of circuit 1, about a minute in, and I’ve got an hour to go…