Back to the Grindstone

I have gotten a lot of emails asking what is next and what has happened since Pan Ams. The season is not yet over, in fact we head out in about 10 days for World Championships in Europe. I'll be posting a blog from over there as frequently as I can, but here is what has gone on the last couple days.

After the run in the competition, I was grabbed by a competition official who had a doping control form for me to sign. Then he had to stay with me while I put on the award uniform, received my medal, and conducted a press conference. We did not even have time to warm down from the running, which made for a good deal of soreness over the next few days.

Doping control was run by the Brazilian doping agency. WADA, the World Anti Doping Agency, was on hand to observe. Furthermore, the USOC policy is to have a US medical staff observer represent the athlete as well to make sure that all rules are followed. Stakes are very high with drug testing, and it is important to make sure you are very careful to follow all the rules. As an athlete, it is a bit nerve wracking because you start going back over the past few days in your head and wondering if you ever left your sports drink bottle unattended or if anyone could have tainted something you ate. Furthermore, the US Anti Doping Agency is constantly telling us that many supplements and products on the market are tainted and will test positive for substances not listed on the label. (I only use Shaklee products which I am very confident of their purity). You still think about all the possible ways in which something tainted could have entered your system through food or sabotage. And while I dont believe most of the stories from athletes who have tested positive and claimed tainted food/supplements or sabotage was to blame, you have to believe that it has and does happen.

After doping control was over, it took several hours to get back to the village. The bus made several stops along the way to pick up athletes at other venues. This turned out to be a very good thing for myself and Josh, the Canadian athlete who won the Bronze. In doping control, you drink a ton of fluid so that you can supply a sample. The problem is that you have to drink so much that for the next couple hours you are earning frequent flier miles going to and from the bathroom.

Back in the village, I quickly changed and met up with the rest of the team and our media guy for a team diner. We went to a Brazilian meat restaurant where they had an all you can eat setup of the best beef, pork, chicken, and sushi I have ever had. Honestly, I think I had more food that night than I have had in a single sitting in the last year. (I cant eat during competitions so I had worked up a bit of an appetite).

The next day, Dennis and I went to a media event on Sugarloaf Mountain, one of two very famous mountains in Rio. The views were spectacular and we had a good media write up afterward: http://www.cnw.ca/fr/releases/archive/July2007/27/c2057.html

After coming back from Sugarloaf, we started our marathon trek home. A 2pm bus took us the 20 minute drive to the airport. Our flight was at 6:30pm (not sure why the USOC wanted us there 2 hours before United even opened the ticket counters), so we bummed around the airport and got some dinner. We flew Rio to Sao Paolo which is about 45 minutes. In Sao Paolo, we got into the Red Carpet Club and waited the 2 hours for the next flight, a 10 hour ride up to Washington Dulles. Fortunately I slept most of the way to Washington which left me wide awake for our 6 hour layover in Washington (during which time, Dennis and I discussed ways we could torment our travel office as much as they torment us:)). Then it was about a 4 hour flight to Denver and about an hour and a half to get back to the Springs. Added all up, it was about 30 hours door to door.

So back in Colorado, it is now training as usual. World Championships begin on the 16th of August in Berlin. We are going to go to Poland for a week ahead of time to acclimate to the time zone change so I am only at home for 12 days. Worlds is expected to be the largest and most difficult competition since the last Olympics, so we have no down time before leaving next week.

Once Worlds is over, I'll probably be able to take some time off of pentathlon training. You never really want to lose your fitness, so I'll probably spend a couple weeks biking and lifting to change up my routine and heal up some of my season's injuries.

Thanks for all the support everyone has been giving. It has been great to get so many emails through the website, and I am happy to have so many of you following my athletic endeavours.