Feel the burn

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2006

At Torino the sport I am drawn most by is speedskating. That's because speedskating was my sport before taking up triathlon. If you have not speedskated, I doubt you will know how painful going all out with maximum lactate build-up feels. I have never achieved this level of non-injury hurt in running or tri. A 1500 in speedskating is all hurt, gutting it out, dying by each push. The skaters at Torino may not show it on their faces, but what they are doing is hard, hard, hard and it hurts, hurts, hurts! But it is so satisfying to give it your all (and not fall!).

The lesson for me has been that no matter how bad a maximal push to pass on the bike feels or a too-long end run sprint to the finish line feels, it's possible to feel even worse and you can sustain this level of hurt longer than you think.