Recovered Sprinter

Several months ago I wrote about my journey from sprinting to endurance.

This past week in Beijing, I was outnumbered by sprinters. The USA athletes included Bobby and me (endurance)... Cristin, Liz, and Jimmy (sprint.) It was as if I was let out of my full-time rehab facility (National Team Pursuit Program) to test the rehab progress... like letting a someone in AA go to a bar. Will she slip back into old habits?

Two funny stories confirm I am no longer a sprinter.

In the San Francisco airport, my coach, Neal, bought a American super sized Snickers bar. He told me he was putting it in his bag until the end of the Omnium. If I were to get a top 10 result, he would split it with me. Fair enough! A little more inspiration.

The first night in Beijing, we had a full team meeting in the coach's room... endurance and sprinters together. The sprinter girls noticed a Snickers bar (not Neal's) and started talking about it. Jamie, the sprint coach, announced that if they got a top 10 in the Team Sprint, that he would buy them A DOZEN Snicker bars. Neal and I looked at each other and couldn't contain the laughter.

The inequity. Endurance girls get 1/2 a Snickers bar for a top 10. Sprint girls get 12 Snickers bars for a top 10.

I guess I passed the test back in SFO when I truly thought 1/2 a bar was good enough for inspiration. Endurance brain.... check. (And, yes, I did get that 1/2 a Snickers. And, yes, I did it eat it in one sitting.)

Neal and his Snickers.

The next was a conversation that Liz started when she asked what wild animal would be depict a sprinter... and then later a enduro. The conclusion- a sprinter is clearly a lion.

You see, sprinters are really good at laying around and sleeping most of the day. But, when they wake up, beware. They are hungry. They can go from sleeping to violent movements in .01 seconds. Once they satisfy that hunger, they can instantly go back to sleep mode.

Endurance athletes (omnium in this case) on the other hand are constantly busy. Antelopes best describe our state. Always grazing, always moving.

The analogy can be taken much further but you get the point. We laughed quite a bit about lions and antelopes.

See, I kind of stink at relaxing. It isn't something I am proud of and something I would like to get better at doing... but, it is rare that I can take a nap. There is always something to do... clean my room, send another email, stretch, fill a water bottle, eat an apple, play on iTunes, make my bed... you get the point. I am an antelope.

Seriously, those sprint girls were ALWAYS sleeping. They are true lions.