Checking in from the Olympics

This Tuesday, my teammates and I made the roughly three hour drive from Seefeld, Austria to Predazzo, Italy, the Olympic “cluster” for cross country skiing, nordic combined, and ski jumping. We checked into our hotel, not the Olympic village (US Ski and Snowboard shelled out for us to stay outside of the village and hopefully reduce the risk of illness), and were awaited by more Nike, Ralph Lauren, Skims gear than I could possibly imagine. I had a blast opening up duffle bag after duffle bag, but I couldn’t help but feel a little bit weird about the whole experience: the amount of gear that Team USA athletes are given is borderline obscene.

Delivery!

But! This post is not about the nauseating amount of apparel I opened on Tuesday, nor is it about life in our hotel. I find myself in the same predicament as I was last week. I am at the Olympics preparing for a race that I will most likely not start. I am officially the first alternate for the classic sprint on Tuesday, February 10th, and the plan of course is to still target that race like I have a guaranteed start. Last week did not go according to schedule due to the stomach illness I went down with last Tuesday; I was only able to complete a speed session and a light L3 session instead of the harder, sprint specific, workout I had scheduled. However, this week being a new week, I still had some work to do to prepare for the sprint on the 10th. With the less than ideal week I had prior to coming to Italy, the interval session I had planned for Wednesday on the Olympic course became more important. 

Carbon plated!

Under the assumption that I am racing this coming Tuesday, an L5 classic workout where I can work on specific, technical parts of the sprint course under serious load was my best shot at finding some qualifying speed. Losing out on a key session last week due to sickness added to the pressure I was feeling to really nail this workout. Adding in that the design of this workout is to hurt, a lot, by Tuesday night, I was starting to feel nervous–I would even go as far as to say I was dreading it. I was also not stoked on the weather forecast for the day which called for well above freezing and a rain/snow mix: my least favorite classic conditions. All of this is to say that I was back to being the guest of honor at the pity party I’ve been throwing off and on for the past week or so. I was asking myself questions like: why do this workout that I know is going to suck if I’m not going to race anyway? I answered this by reminding myself of the commitment to being as prepared as possible for this race no matter how unlikely it is that I start. Also, as a bonus, I remembered that I did this workout in early November in the preparation phase for world cup racing. This helped because it reminded me that workouts like this are not only productive for the race they are targeting; they are also great workouts to prepare for sprint races weeks in advance. 

Always need cribbage

Fast forward to Wednesday morning, I had mostly convinced myself that I was excited for the workout, but once I arrived at the venue, I finally believed it. I mean, I’m at the Olympics for christ’s sake, surely I can lock in for one hard workout! Even if I didn’t have a chance to race, which I do, it’s still an incredible opportunity just to be here training at the Olympics. With this in mind, I started to plan out how I would attack this session. The plan was to split the course in half and do two reps of the first half and two reps of the second half, all with more than 5 minutes of rest in between. I would then do some drop-in finishes at the end for good measure. 

Olympic Tripoints and a Kappa hat with a questionable fit

I only wanted to think about a few things during the intervals so as not to be overwhelmed. For this first and second intervals (the flatter, rolling start) all I wanted to do was relax while double polling and find some glide on the gradual striding. I wanted to find the flow of a well paced qualifier and learn my lesson from my poorly paced effort during the Tour de Ski. Don’t chase the pain, but accept it once it comes. 

Coffee!

To my delight, I had one of those days where pushing deeper actually felt good. I wanted to dig, and the conditions ended up being fun to ski in. Sure, it was slow, but I had kick and felt like I could power up the hills in a way that I’ve been lacking in classic qualifiers this year. All in all, the workout went perfectly. I evenly split the two sections, and I was happy with how I looked when I reviewed the video. I’m not sure what I was so anxious about before, but Wednesday was a good reminder that I actually do like those longer, hard sprint sessions. I just think sometimes if I’m stressed about other things, I can make those types of workouts out to be scarier than they are. It’s always nice to get a reminder to approach this sport with gratitude. I didn’t have to do any of this; I had the privilege to do it. That small shift in mentality can make a huge difference. 

nice afternoon to arrive to. 

What now? On Saturday, I will have done 6x30”, a workout I like to do three days out from a sprint. This one is always a confidence booster: it’s long enough to get  breathing hard but short enough that it’s very easy to go a little faster than the qualifier pace. After that, I have a day off on Sunday, race prep on Monday, and on Tuesday? I’ll just have to wait and see. Regardless of what happens, at this point, I think I have accomplished my goal of doing everything in my power to be prepared in the case I get the call up. Worst case-scenario, I’m stoked to watch my teammates compete for some hardware!

Embracing Nike insisting on providing baggy clothes