LEWISTON – How fast can you run 300 yards?

How many times can you bench press your own weight?

How fast can you run six laps on a regulation track?

Each of the 49 players invited to the Lewiston Maineiacs’ training camp this season found out in a hurry.

On Day 1, while the first group of players was on the ice, the other half went through five stations, testing their core strength and recovery time.

“It gives us a better idea of who’s been working hard over the summer,” Maineiacs’ Head Coach and GM Ed Harding said. “To go through a full season at this level, you really do need to be in top physical shape, and when you’re coming in halfway there, it’s a lot better than coming in with a lot of work to do.”

The veterans come back knowing more about what to expect, and, theoretically, better prepared for the initial battery of tests.

Harding cited the need for those returning players to “lead by example.”

Still, Harding said, the rookies can make a big impression in their own right, in part because they don’t know what to expect and still some perform well.

As the players circled the track at Lewiston High School on Day 1 of camp, to some folks’ surprise, newly-appointed team captain Danick Paquette shaved nearly three minutes off his time from a year ago.

“I had to show that commitment,” Paquette said of returning as the team’s captain. “You need to lead by example.”

In the shuttle run, a 300-yard series of 50-yard sprints, rookie Michael Chaput was particularly impressive, clocking a time less than 47 seconds.

The goal of this drill is to measure recovery time.

“Players in shape usually have two to three seconds difference between their first run and their second run,” Harding said. “The bigger the gap, the worse the body is at recovering.”

Denis Reul, the team’s returning 19-year-old German defenseman, was king of the running events that day, registering both the fastest shuttle-run time and the fastest 6-lap effort on the track.