Thoughts On My Time Trials

October 13th was the first round of time trials for me this year while Nancy and Brian decided not to race. I skated the 500 meters and 3,000 meters (the sprint and a mid/long distance race). This time trial I trained right through, doing a hard morning skate and afternoon lift the day before. Like most everyones' year beginning races, mine stunk and it gets you down for a while but then you got to put that behind you. What I can't deny is that my training is heads and tails better than last year so when i actually begin to taper and prepare for more important races, I think the times will come.

"You're never as good as you think you are or bad as you think you are"

One day you're at the top, the next in the ditch. When competitions go poorly athletes tend to think the worst...I'm overtrained, or I need to train harder, how did this guy skate faster when my technique is way better than his? When things go well you feel pretty untouchable until the next day when your body decides to take the day off. The truth is, in sports where results depend on so many variables and subtle preparations that can each make a substantial difference, it's a safe bet to say that you're abilities lie somewhere in between your high's and low's.

But that's not to say you can't take those high's and ride them out as long as possible.

A Close Call...but,

Photo Credit: Hilary Barreto

Pain. 

It is what drives and pushes us athletes to work harder. But it can also stop us. When you're young, you tend to push through pain. As you grow older, you learn your body's thresholds and treat it like an expensive machine. 

I am one of those crazy hard workers. Too hard sometimes. My work ethic can be my downfall if I don't control it right, thus the importance of a coach (my mom). Injuries from working too hard have challenged my skating career the last 7 years. From over training and anemic issues (low iron levels), to tearing a hamstring in three spots and stress fractures in my leg...trials have become common in my life, but they haven't prevented me from achieving goals I have set before me. No, they have made me stronger. I have truly learned to embrace trials as being those great learning periods of time when I realize I can't do anything on my own. Instead I always turn to Bible verses:  Philippians 4:13 "I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me." & Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."

With that said, it was a week ago that another blow came my way. My brother, Jeffrey, advised I blog about this incident, but I also felt like telling you will let you in on some of the craziness athletes go through and that training full-time for the Olympics never goes the way you plan, you are always sidetracked somewhere down the road. :) It happened last Sunday (over a week ago). I was rolling my legs/back like any other Sunday, a day off. I am someone who loves to self adjust and crack my back on the roller so when my back was feeling extra stiff, I placed it mid-low back and just fully relaxed...right away I tightened up and let out a gasp. My back slightly hurt as a result, but it was not that bad so I didn't think to ice or tend to it in any way. Waking up the next morning I felt some stiffness, but again, it wasn't alarming, so I continued my routine and drove to TCBoost for my Monday morning speed/agility workout. It was after that workout, though, that I began to feel more intense pain setting in while I cooled down. But I had to get to Milwaukee for skating that afternoon, so I continued on through the increasing pain. It was when I got out of the car (over an hour of driving) and tried to stand up straight, but failed, that I knew I was in trouble. I made the obvious decision not to skate that night and rehabbed it with ice and heat while laying down. Trying to diagnose myself was weird because I just didn't think such an action of rolling my back could really do such a destruction.

part of my MRI: Lumbar spine

Fast forwarding the story, after a couple of days of continuing pain, though slowly getting better, and after getting dry-needling, cupping (which felt SO good and released a ton of pressure in my lower back), x-rays and then finally an MRI, we came to a conclusion: my injury was only muscular. The great news is that nothing I did in the last week caused structural damage to my spine and the recovery was going to be fast along with daily exercises and deep tissue massage. It was the MRI, though, that brought about the frustrating discovery: I have the back of a 55 year old. The picture to the right shows my lumbar spine. You can see between L2,L3,L4, my disks are close to being bone on bone...that's not including 3 other disks that are fairly worn down for my age. So our analysis concluded that while rolling, the dramatic curvature of the roller let a disk get pinched by a vertebrae or a bone touched bone and my lower back muscles tightened up and spasmed for days. 

an overall view

So what's my current status? Well, I am back training...actually just had my first ice workout in over 10 days tonight at the Pettit, and felt great! My coach noted that I almost am starting up where I left off, and possibly stronger from all the rest. The future, though, holds a lot of deep tissue massage in my back and plenty of continual therapy to slow down the process of degeneration in my disks. But like most athletes, injury is part of the process to becoming great; our bodies are not invincible. Along with injuries, though, we also learn a ton about ourselves and grow through the process. It never a loss cause unless you make it out to be that way. For me, I gained knowledge on my back and continue to be more in tune with how my body functions. Most importantly, though, I was brought to realize, again, how the Lord has to show us He is always in control. He gives us the gift of life, He can take it away. He gave me the gift of speedskating so I can carry out His purposes, but he can quickly take that away if I fail to trust in Him. And if the latter was the only life lesson that I had to learn from this crazy ordeal, then I guess it was all worth it... :)


God Bless,
Nancy Jr.

T-minus...

...just a little bit until the first round of time trial races and then the Fall World Cup Trials in early November. The first competitions of the season are unique in that Nancy and I get to see how much we've improved over the previous spring and summer's brutal training. Whatever expectations in our head are either confirmed or blown to shreds.

My boots arrived right after my last post so I've been on them for over 2 weeks now. They're incredible! basically, I have a much greater ability to control my skates, just like when a certain car or bicycle has way better handling than another. As a result, my technique has developed a sense of fullness and greater ease that has helped me focus on other issues such as power and skating a better track line. The boots are also the sickest looking ones ever. I do find it funny how a good boot can make such a difference and sometimes skaters never find the perfect fit. Maybe there is a better boot than this one and I don't know it! But I guess part of sport is figuring out which equipment fits you best and hopefully you win that part of the game. Yeah, sports aren't fair.

Analyzing

Just got the package from UPS!

As of last Wednesday, our two Japanese skaters left for Japan because they have their own national races coming up and we wish them the best! They said they were sad to leave but who knows! Maybe they were just being polite and not telling coach how are hard she trained them. In all, they trained with us for a month and it was a blast teaching them about our culture, how to speak speak English and playing cards with them for hours on hours. It was also great how they pushed us and we pushed them through tough practice after tough practice. Sayanara.

Here's a look at a warm-up accel I did on Teusday. You can't tell but I wish you could have seen the difference between how I skated on the old boots compared with this short clip. I definitely have a lot more work to do but this is a really encouraging step foward.

It's aBOOT time for another pair.

It’s been 7 years since I got my first and only pair of custom made boots. Some consider them the best speedskating boots the world has to offer. They are handmade by one person, a pioneer of custom boots, who has too many of the worlds top skaters using them to count. But 7 years of wear does a lot to a nicely stitched pair of leather boots-they’re under constant barrage from sweat, sharp blades, tweaking hot spots, repairs, torque and so on. Now, the leather has been worn so much that each practice has me retightening them up to 5 times and they still aren’t able to hold it’s tightness around my foot. So in the spring, it was apparent that to be as good as I possibly can in speedskating I would have to get my feet casted for a new boot. Last week, after a long delay, I was finally notified that the boots were finished and to be shipped out by yesterday! I can’t wait. I really liked the casting process and think these new boots might give me more control on the ice. Here’s some pics of them.

How are they made? 

First, my feet are duct taped in certain areas to compress unwanted spaces and gaps, mostly between my toes. Then a wetted molding sock is put on my foot that hardens within a minute and the bootmaker vigorously smooths out the sock over my foot while I bend my knee and apply 90% weight on an angled foam platform. The boot is cut off and then a cast is poured into the mold that hardens for 3 days. Finally, the carbon fiber & leather boot is made over that. Very few people in the world can do this and do it well, so thanks Kip Carpenter.

My casts after 3 days of hardening

Here are my old boots. I love ‘em and hate ‘em. I also had painted them white and over that tribally painted an unfinished quote. “No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory, no cross, no crown.” -William Penn

London 2012 -a LONG recap of our experience

London was Unforgettable... 

Outside our plane to London...having
some fun :)

Leaving from Inzell, Germany on time and getting all 5 of us and our ridiculously large luggage to the airport and checked-in was a feat in itself, but we made it. After 4.5 weeks of hard training in Germany, our bodies were ready for some rest and the next 4 days were to serve as that recuperating time, clearing the mind of training while giving it stimulation from the Olympic spirit. As we walked outside to the airplane, it began to sink in, we were heading to see some London 2012 Olympics. Pumped to go support some TeamUSA and since the boarding line was long, we couldn't resist posing for a pic outside the plane (though poor Pim, the DUtch speedskater training with us for 6 weeks, was outnumbered being Dutch)...I'm sure we were of great entertainment to those passengers already on board!

This probably saved my life a couple
of times!

That first afternoon was spent getting to know the amazing couple who opened up their home for us to stay in while we were in London. Shout out and cannot thank Dave & Lynn enough for their hospitality and generosity n letting us crash at their apartment for 4 days. After a wonderful home-cooked meal Lynn made, Jeffrey and I still explored London, even though we didn't see much, and familiarized ourselves with the transportation, the layout of the city and where the sponsor houses we were going to visit were located. Meanwhile, Brian and Pim were staying with relatives (of Brian) not too far from us, but communication and meeting up proved a huge challenge when we had to rely on direct twitter messages (Brian hadn't set up iMessage yet).

Olympic TT Road Cycling

Day 2, Wednesday...the plan was to see some TT (time trial) Road Cycling. We weren't successful in meeting up with Brian and Pim, so Jeffrey and I headed out west in shoulder-to-shoulder-packed trains to watch some Olympic action. The crowds were decked-out (especially the Dutch, always faithful in their orange!) and amazing as they were fully involved in chants. Below is a clip from when Wiggins past us...the British sure love their Wiggins!

BUT I was particularly proud of my fellow Americans...for Kristen Armstrong, Gold was her color that day, owning that TT and defending her champion title from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Taylor Phinney was also a stud, taking his second 4th of the London Olympics, and he is only 22. When America typically praises just the medalists, 4th place is hard to swallow, but coming from personal experience and taking 4th myself in Vancouver, it is such an honor of which to be proud. Medals are and will always be fleeting...what lasts is how you walk away from your accomplishments, using them to build character, integrity, and sharing that with those around you; faith & friendships/relationships are what lasts in this world today.

Oakley house with Megan, Steve and the awesome Staff!

As soon as the time trials finished, we literally inched our way onto the overcrowded train back to downtown London. The Oakley Safehouse (now it is called 'safehouse' because it is a place where sponsored athletes, coaches, etc., are able to escape media and the craziness of the Olympics and chill for however long they want) was our next stop to see our amazing reps Steve Blick and Megan Pura-Porteous and catch-up, since we've not seen them personally for almost two years. But instead of just meeting these two, the entire staff at the Oakley Safehouse including the catering staff, were wonderful to get to know in the few hours we spent there. Their hospitality went above and beyond professionalism; you felt like you were best buds with everyone there. To be honest, I'd say that the Oakley Safehouse was the best sponsor house in London (a great article was written about it here). Superb service, food was to die-for and the friendships made will last. Jeffrey and I cannot thank y'all [Oakley] enough, we had a blast hanging out there and are already looking forward to your house in Sochi, Russia in 2014!

Jeffrey and I at the USA house

Kristen Armstrong and Steve Blick

That night we took the train with Steve Blick and Kit Karzan (a stud cyclist himself and who also worked at the London Oakley safehouse) to the USA house with a small detour to a Lululemon party where we ran into the amazing Clara Hughes, a Canadian speedskater and friend, who returned to Olympic cycling after the Vancouver Olympics to make her third Summer Olympic team! Now for those of you unfamiliar with the term 'houses', basically at every Olympics, there are sponsors and country's Olympic committees who rent out buildings to set up as a place to eat, hang-out, celebrate, meet people/socialize, watch the Olympics, etc. Some require serious accreditation, some you just need a Visa (the Visa house!). The craziest of them all, I hear, is the Heineken house (shout out to the Dutch again, ha). 

Pim, Brian, Sarah & Emily Hughes, myself, Taylor Hughes and Jeffrey

Once at the USA house, we met up with Kristen Armstrong, the Gold TT road cycling medalist form earlier that day, along with a ton of other fellow Olympians including Sarah , Emily and Taylor Hughes. It was also a joy giving Jeffrey a piece Olympic spirit, introducing him to other Olympians/staff I knew, but also it was fun observing as he went out and developed his own connections. The night flew by after about 4 hours of chatting/meetings amazing people; it was already into the wee hours of the morning and time for bed.

Days 3 & 4 were spent at the P&G house and again, the Oakley/USA houses. Like in Vancouver, P&G went above and beyond giving the Olympians and their families a place to relax and be pampered. From a complete salon and a 'mancave' to a kids-care; from live Olympic coverage and a BBQ/food service around the clock to a full-service laundry, you could easily loose track of time just hanging out in there all day.

Guy East, myself, Jeffrey, Trisha & Dan Price at the USA House

But probably one of the best part of the trip was running into familiar faces and people from or connected to Wheaton...the world is surely small. On Thursday, Jennifer Luedtke, a Wheaton College graduate and friend, took the train into London and we met up at the Oakley house before sightseeing along the Thames River. Later, both Jeffrey and I ran into Dan (who was a former Wheaton Football player) & Trisha Price and their baby on the way, Sarah Burd (a former speedskater from Milwaukee who's parents live in Wheaton), and Guy East (brother played Wheaton College football, coached by my dad). Both Sarah and Guy were in London with Athletes in Action, serving the Lord by sharing their faith in Christ amongst other ministry...loved what they were doing! Read up on their mission and ministry here.

Looking back on this trip, what an honor it was to be amongst such a celebrated gathering of athletes; current London Olympians and past Olympians. For myself, I was just in awe that I was there enjoying the USA, P&G and Oakley houses without being a competing athlete and then feeling the energy that will help fuel me as I gear towards Sochi 2014!


God Bless, Nancy Jr.

1 Corinthians 9:25

More pictures from London are below...

Our last night at the USA house hanging with Todd Henriksen, Guy East,
Shawn Johnson, Krizia, Sarah Burd, Jeffrey and Brian

Oh, just hanging-out with Jennifer Luedtke in London at
the Oakley House!

Joey Cheek (also a Speedskating Olympian and Gold
Medal Champion) at the USA house 

Olympic Women's Triathlon on our last day

Jeffrey and I with Maya Moore, a
USA Basketball player!

My patriotic nails done at the P&G house

"Thank you Mom" wall at the P&G house, signed it!

The view we had from dinner at the Oakley house, just
stunning. View of the Thames and Tower Bridge.

Having fun showing Megan speedskating technique, she
definitely has the legs... :)