Elite Yukon athletes will soon have access to a new tool to measure and track their training intensities.

Already making waves on the national and international sports scenes in the past few years, Yukoners will gain even more opportunity to enhance their performances, as blood lactate testing will be available for the first time in the territory next month.

Shelley Gellatly, an exercise physiologist and athletic therapist, currently works with Riverfront Physiotherapy. Gellatly has arranged for exercise physiology staff from the PEAK Centre for Human Performance in Ottawa to visit the territory April 21-24, offering the testing for local athletes.

Gellatly is excited to be able to offer another tool to Yukon athletes.

'When I was working in Canmore last year, we conducted blood lactate tests on the Canmore Eagles Junior Hockey team, as well as many elite cross-country skiers and mountain bike racers.

'It was astounding to see the progress these athletes made after changing their training regimes based on the blood lactate test information.'

The PEAK Centre has conducted thousands of blood lactate tests for over 25 years.

They have developed sport specific protocols aimed at measuring the specific fitness requirements for several sports including: running, cycling, hockey, speed skating, basketball, cross country skiing, triathlon and rowing.

'Lactate testing is an invaluable tool for both the young developing athlete, recreational athlete and the elite performer,' said Kevin Wilson, co-owner and exercise physiologist for the centre. 'Sport specific blood lactate testing is paramount in the development of improved sport performance.'

With the substantial progress in sport science over the past 20 years, lactate testing has emerged as one of the most important measurable variables in defining, prescribing and tracking training intensities.

Yukon cross-country skiers are already familiar with lactate testing, said head coach Alain Masson. The top local skiers train in Canmore during the offseason, where they take part in glacier camps with the nationals ski team.

'Most people use heart rate as the measure of intensity, but using blood lactate is more efficient,' explained Masson.

'When we train on glaciers in the summer, it's at a high altitude, so the athletes' effort is a lot greater. We do the testing to make sure we don't overdo it.'

Yukoner Graham Nishikawa, who is a member of the national cross-country skiing team, gets the tests done quite often, as he lives and trains in Canmore most of the year.

He said it's very useful in telling athletes how much they're exerting for their training pace. It's used so you know you're not training too hard or too fast, that you won't get burnt out.

'We do it every workout during training,' he stated. 'We want to be around a certain level, so if it's too high, we know to slow down. It's important to know you're training at a good pace.'

It can also be used to tell athletes whether they're designed for speed or endurance, he pointed out.

In cross-country skiing for instance, some athletes produce a higher level of lactate, which means they can go really fast for short periods of time ideal for the sprint races.

For those who are somewhat weary of needles, Nishikawa insisted there's no need to worry about lactate testing. The blood is taken by pricking the athlete's finger with a tiny needle, not drawing anywhere near a full vial. The sample is then dropped into a machine which releases all the data.

Nishikawa also undergoes a different kind of lactate testing twice a year, where the team members get on a treadmill and their lactic acid is measured to determine when they hit their threshold and their maximum, as well as how fast they release lactate on the way down.

'You can tell a lot more than (using) just straight heart rate. It's starting to get more frequent among high-level athletes.'

Nishikawa said bringing the testing to Whitehorse, even if it is only for a few days, would probably be very beneficial to local coaches and athletes, especially those in endurance sports.

'It will be good for the elite athletes to try it out, to see if they train at a proper pace. And then if (the officials doing the testing) keep coming up, the athletes will be able to see improvements.'

For more information on the lactate testing, or to book an appointment during the three days that PEAK officials will be in Whitehorse, you can contact Gellatly at 333-6027.

You can also email Gellatly at: sgellatly@shaw.ca.

'Yukon athletes are doing extremely well in many sports right now,' summed up Gellatly. 'It is a pleasure to be able to give the coaches and athletes another means to enhance their performances.'