Jet Lag & Pie
I awake suddenly, the moonlight streaming in through the window. I stretch my travel worn self, and think “wow, what a comfortable bed! What hotel is this? And WHOA!!, who is sleeping next to me!!!” it took me a few long fuzzy moments to realize, joyfully, that I was HOME!!! and it was Jessica.
Jet lag is not nearly as bad coming from Europe to the USA, as it is the other direction. Even so, I am staggering around, and I have a lot to catch up on; web design work, laundry, the pile of mail & papers on my desk (where I found this Chinese fortune from some long ago dinner!!). Also I did some catch up reading of blogs I enjoy. One of them had this sentence in it-
It’s like I keep winning pie eating contests, but the prize is more pie.
Now he is talking in his blog about being a smart guy, and the reward he found from school and work is that when he achieves, immediately the reward is another level of difficulty.
I could not help thinking that this applies to athletes as well. Is this why we describe athletes as “hungry”? Maybe this is why sometimes some athletes hit an internal wall, and have no ambition to subject themselves to the pain of training and the stress of competition anymore. They are full of “racing pie”. Sometimes the taste is bitter, sometimes sweet, sometimes it never digests properly, a lot depends on you.
When I was bicycle racing, I realized I had an unusual appetite for racing pie compared to most normal, well-adjusted human beings, even compared to the average maladjusted road racer I was odd. I raced my bike 450+ times over roughly 10 years. Still have both collarbones intact too. Even now, after all the intensity I have been through in the last couple of weeks, I still am hungry to accomplish certain things on my skates (a friggin mid-36 second 500m!! for one!!).
Will I ever be full? Or must I change my tastes? Bake a different pie? Certainly I am satisfied right now, completely happy with the last pie-eating contest, but somehow there is always more pie to eat, and appetite to eat it with.
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Many people dream about winning, some have the will to try and win, but does one really have the will to prepare to win? That is the really hard part. I find it hard, yet vitally important to do the things like making every rep as technically perfect as I can, refueling my body immediately after workouts, not partying to all hours-or even at all!, working obsessively on weaknesses, and today -waking up crazy early so the euro-time change is less of a shock to my body. 
In racing yesterday, I was paired with good guy & Milwaukee skater Kirk Olson. He is a former division I hockey player, and dragsters the first 100m of a 500m race in a world class 9.9. I had a good start, but Kirk just crushed me off the line, and was a loooong way ahead exiting the first turn, but in my backstretch (pictured here) I began to catch him, and my final inner turn was super solid.
One of the exceptionally cool things about this international discussion list, is that there is a Dutch fellow who transfers the Dutch TV coverage of the world cup races to realplayer format, and posts it online, he announces it on this yahoo list. 
Outdoor ice, Italian style. Now seeing this, I only have one question, why didn’t they schedule at least one short track event to be around this thing? Maybe the B relay final or something. Do it at night, big floodlights, half-drunk crowds jamming the streets & lining fire escapes & rooftops, snow lightly sifting down, and incredible athletes going blade to blade under the watchful eye of a bearded hero & his anguished horse. It would be epic.
I raced my finest 500m ever on Saturday: off the line like a relaxed rocket, great first corner, fantastic draft chasing my pair John Loquai down, I slammed through the final corner as cleanly as I am capable of, terror and lean like I was skating short track, and crossed the finish line in 37.1 seconds
After the 500’s were over, I looked at the scoreboard, and was 5th of the 42 skaters who raced that day, I finished in front of some really fast guys who I respect tremendously, and who have beaten me all year. Although this shot of the scoreboard only shows the top 8, there were 12 of us who finished all within 37.1 and 38.1. One misstep in this tough group… I have never finished in front of Donald Stewart before, ever, he says according to his most recent x-rays his foot is “still quite broken, and only hurts in the starts and turns, but it hurts a lot!”
Here is a sweet spot moment 250 meters into my 1k PB. It’s really difficult technically to drive that support leg forward aggressively and also keep the pushing leg’s blade pointed straight down the ice, but I am slowly and surely getting it.
Russian skater Daria sent me these cool pics from Chelyabinsk in the 2nd installment of the Speedskater International Photos (more installments later this week!).
