Many of the winners of the Nordic events had been ill Ultra Omega Burn Review or injured earlier in the season. And references were made in the figure skating events about some skaters peaking at their national competition and over training leading to injuries or fatigue. Legendary skating coach Frank Carroll has reported that he has to remind Evan Lysacek to STOP training, because he can work too hard... one of the things he attributes to missing a medal in the 2006 Olympics.
Those two things combine remind me that the trail we are blazing is not a race, ours is a path of endurance that will last for years. As such, we must ensure that we set a pace that we can keep up. Like the racer who starts out in front, we can burn out and wind up out of the medals if we push ourselves too hard, if we are too strict in our routine. Instead, we can settle back a little bit and set our own pace so that we cross the finish line a winner!
We don't want to have illness or injury take us out...even though some of the winners did suffer these setbacks, I don't believe it was the illness or injury itself that allowed for the win. Instead it was the break from the routine. It is possible to train so hard and be so focused that we wear ourselves out, whether we are going for Olympic gold or our best health. To ensure that we can keep going and get the results we want it is important to take some breaks and have some fun while we are at it.