Week 9 - "Cross Training Tuesday"

"You were not born a winner, and you were not born a loser. You are what you make yourself to be.”

0.09 seconds. That was the amount of time Bodie Miller was behind Didier Defago’s gold medal run in the Men’s Alpine Skiing yesterday.

The media and most people felt that Bodie Miller was not successful in his run yesterday in the Alpine Event. I see it differently. Bodie said it right when asked about him being inched out of the gold. Bodie stated, "That's what ski racing is about," he said. "It's always a mix. There definitely was light changing in the very beginning. It got progressively better, but definitely, when I went the middle part was dark. That's where Aksel pulled eight-tenths back on me. That's the way ski racing goes. But I was happy with the way I skied."

Bodie went out yesterday and skied the best run he could and now he is an Olympic medalist in the Men’s Alpine Downhill. I consider him a champion.

We are all competitive. Every one of you, who reads this blog, pushes themselves everyday to be your best. We strive for perfection and when we do not achieve it, we beat ourselves up more than anyone else does to us.

Olympians and professional athletes are the top of the pyramid with their elite status. Based on the population of the world of 6,706,993,152 the amount of athletes on this spinning mass of iron is only 1.5% of the total population. This includes elites and age group athletes which includes you. That means for whatever you do today; run, swim or even bike there are over 6.6 Billion people that are not doing a darn thing.

We strive for greatness everyday in everything we do. So, the next time you don’t hit your mark on a run, come in 4th in a race in your age group, bonk on a long ride or even hit a personal best, just remember that every day you are out there doing something you enjoy you are making the best of yourself and that is the only thing that will ever count.

Tuesday morning feels like Monday morning with having the day off yesterday to celebrate the 44 men who have served this great nation as our leader. This morning it felt like I had celebrated each president by hoisting a beer in their honor even though the bar tabs only showed 2 that were downed. This morning was not pretty. (That word is for you Mike)

The wake up was slow, the start was slow, the drive in to the gym was slow (Got hit by every light on the way) and my enthusiasm to jump into the cold pool was phlegmatic to say the least.
I sat on the cold, granite bench on the pool deck to size up what lane I was going to swimming in this morning. I was prepared to swim in Lane 3 with the B swimmers just for the reason that the A distance is not necessary at this point with the running ramping up the last 9 weeks before Boston.

As I observed the amount of lycra and polyester gathering by the lane lines, I knew my only choice was going to be Lane 1 this morning. The B Lane was filled with 6+ swimmers. In Lane 1, for this morning’s A workout we had: Jeff, Brian, Melissa, Evan and Jeremiah. Each lane on this cold Tuesday morning was filled with capacity.

Coach “Jean Shorts with a Pink Clip Board” Mike’s workout was:
150M swim
3 X 300M
100M Free
100M I.M.
100 Kick
12 X 100M’s on the 1:50
5 X 200M on the 3:15
50M RI after each 200M
4 X 200M on the 3:10
50M RI after each 200M
150M Form
200M Kick

The warm up was a little mind numbing. Back and forth, back and forth…Counting the lengths of the pool, wishing this was over. As we warmed up the water in the pool became turbulent due to the amount of swimmers stroking it out. I guess this morning I was not into a swim.

After the warm up we started into the 100M’s. To snap out of the funk I took the lead on all 12 and held a constant 1:31 pace on all 12 with the rest of the group in tow. I figured if I led out the rest would track me down keeping my mind on the workout. When the 100’s were over, I let the rest of the group lead the 200M’s. My thoughts were that all 5 of these swimmers are good, but sometimes they need a little push, so I tried to nestle behind the leader each time to push them to hit the times. On all 9-200’s we came in at the scheduled time or less. Well, except for one 200M. The leader on this 200 (you know who you are) swallowed half of the pool water and threw us off course. We ended up not hitting the mark and we all were messed up on the lap count as a result. However, you know what? “Who cares.” The swimmer had some distress and we stopped to insure that they were okay. None of us is that selfish that we cannot stop for fellow athlete who is in distress.

No matter what we are doing on the training field or in life, to be concerned with the well-being of individuals when help is needed is what makes you a winner.

Yesterday was spent on the legs while today’s lunchtime event will be spent on honing the upper body. I will not be any faster in the water than I am, but I surely do not want to lose what I have. Well, at least for a couple more seasons…