A view from camp
PERSPECTIVE
Perspective is sometimes difficult to gain and often easy to lose. I’ve learned this time and again. Last weekend, I had a good dose of reality sent my way after cutting my foot badly in a training accident that was all my fault. The payback for a little pain and suffering has been valuable perspective. Of course, I knew how fortunate I was not to have cut my tendon or nerve when slicing into the bottom of my foot, but when this really registered was two or so days later when a teammate of mine had a similar accident, and was not so lucky.
His fall led to a cut into the achilles tendon, resulting in 2-3 months of rehab before thinking of skating again.
After a week of hard training, and my first race of the year, it would be easy to sit and sulk at how aweful I’ve felt. Instead, I feel happy. Happy that I am not enduring forced bed rest. Happy that I only have a cut in my foot and not my precious tendons. Happy that I am still a speed skater.
Even after skating a miserable 3000m race on Friday, finishing a massive 15 seconds slower than my best time, I feel happy that I can already think of doing better next time, and that the next time is only a week away.
One of my younger teammates was dissapointed with her race on Friday. She said ‘after a summer of good training, I guess I thought that break-through race would just happen’. Well, sport, like life, simply does not work that way. And the moment you think everything is ‘just going to happen’, is the moment that momentum begins to go in reverse instead of ahead.
Another, more experienced teammate of mine responded perfectly, saying ‘if that was the case, we’d be breaking world records every weekend!’.
The most important thing is to keep that perspective. It’s the most valuable lesson to learn, time and time and time again.
