GREETINGS FROM TUCSON, ARIZONA!
You’d think after racing four World Cup races within the past five weeks, two of which were in Europe, there would be a well-deserved break from training. No such luck when there is only 60 days until my first race in the Olympics in Italy. As tired as I am after a 24-hour, four-flight epic trip from Italy to Arizona, I remind myself each day of the dwindling amount of time there is to make everything perfect for the Games.
With the passing weeks, my focus has narrowed, and at this point I eat, sleep, breathe and dream of one thing and one thing only: my races in Torino. It is a special process to be a part of, and I cannot imagine another place or mind-space I would rather be in than the here and the now.
I came to Arizona for a four-day training camp to rejuvenate my endurance stores that have been severely exhausted after over a month of racing. As gruelling as racing is, it is a sad reality that one actually loses fitness in the process of tapering and performing maximum efforts over and over again. It’s not possible to get these efforts without being relatively fresh, so the volume of training goes down. So that’s why I am here, riding my bike four hours a day, to gain back the endurance I need to finish a super-human effort like that of the 5000m. I’m just grateful to ride outdoors in the sunshine, rather than being in a winter climate and forced to ride the indoor trainer 3 hours at a time!
I left Europe satisfied and motivated by the results, especially with the 5000m race in Holland. Being a speed skater in Holland is like being a pro-hockey player in Canada. The Dutch are nuts about the sport and the rink where we skate has a capacity of 13,000. It was packed full of orange-clad fans with painted faces singing and drinking beer all day long. They love a good race and when I got in to the last few laps of the 12 1/2 lap race I couldn’t hear myself breathe it was so loud. The energy of the crowd gave me super-human strength and with a sprint to the finish I managed my first world cup win of the year.
And now, it’s time to head out for training session number two of the day. All I want to do is sleep but I know there are a handful of female speed skaters out there working their tails off to try and win the Olympics. If I want a chance to even try to do this, it’s off to work I go. This opportunity is something I would never waste.
Clara Hughes
