Week two

So this is the end of week number two. Lessons with Nat (my coach) are going really well. I feel like I am making a lot of progress in learning new fencing tricks. It's interesting, I have been fencing for twenty years but I can learn something new everyday.

I also had a Russian language lesson today. Ira, or as it turns out her name is actually Galina, was full of laughs. She and I had a short lesson with her rattling off in Russian and pausing every once in a while to see if I was still listening. I would say "da" (yes) or "panyatna" (I understand) and she would keep going. Let's just say I'm not so sure about her teaching methods.

I'm renting a car tomorrow and going to Penn State University for a week. The coach there asked me help out with their summer camp. I'm excited to have a chance to coach young fencers but I'm also really excited to have a car to myself. I've been sharing the car with my Mom since I got back-it's kind of interesting having my Mom drop me off and pick me up from fencing practice. I'm fifteen again.

By the way, Floyd Landis has been doing some amazing things at the Tour de France. Apparently after having worn the yellow jersey for several days on the tour he ran out of gas and ended up eight minutes behind the leader. For most people this type of finish so late in the game would put him out of contention to win but, since this is Landis we are talking about, he didn't give up. He got on his bike the next day and left his opponents in the dust, making up seven and a half minutes and ended up in third place. Landis still has the time trial left to make up the rest of the time. Go Floyd Landis! This story is amazing-hope you get a chance to watch.

Have a great weekend!

An Inspiration

Bikers are never at a lack for melodrama. From Lance to this guy, Floyd Landis, it seems like these athletes can endure just about anything.

An article in this week's New York Times Magazine told the story of Floyd Landis, the successful biker, a man touted as the next Lance Armstrong, and oh yeah, an athlete with a hip that causes him to walk with a limp and reconsider his pain tolerance.

A few years ago Landis was in a car accident that fractured his hip which could have ruined his biking career. He has fought past it only to find the joint slowly degenerating into something resembling a cauliflower shaped mass.

The following photos are x-rays of his hip.



The first one is after after his car crash, the second is with pins holding the joint together, and the third is of his hip now where you can hardly see any of the bone.

Despite his constant pain and lack of hip bone Landis has been very successful at his sport. In fact just a few days ago on July 13th he donned the infamous yellow jersey after winning one of the stages of the tour.

Landis has promised his doctors and his wife that he is going to get his hip replaced after the Tour. The problem is no one knows how well the surgery and recovery will go-the bottom line is that he won't be the same man. But for now, he's Floyd Landis, champion biker and medal contender in the Tour de France.

If you want to read the New York Times Magazine article click here. You can also read about he's endured enough pain to try and grind a groove in his cartilidge so the degenerated hip joint has some mobility. Sounds like fun!

You can also keep track of how he's doing in the Tour de France by clicking here.

So, why did I choose to highlight Landis on this blog?

I read this article after a weekend of trying to deal with knee and hip problems. Actually, it's more like eight years of trying to deal with knee and hip problems.

In 1998 I had two surgeries on my left knee to get rid of torn cartilidge on the outside portion of the meniscus. In 2004 I had another surgery on my right knee-same surgery, same problem. Since then I have had pain in both knees and problems with my right hip and back because of compensation issues.

Some athletes recover very quickly from these surgeries because they seem minor. The surgery itself is considered ambulatory so I never even spent the night in the hospital. The problem is-fencing is a high impact sport that puts the knees and back in strange and unnatural positions. Not to mention that fencing creates assymetrical imbalances in the musculature-i.e. the lead leg is bigger than the trailing leg, one arm is bigger, one side of the back is stronger, one side of the abs is stronger, etc.

During each practice it takes about 30-45 minutes for the pain in my knees and hips to go away. Even though everything hurts I continue the warm up so that at the end of that 45 minutes the pain is tolerable and the adrenaline kicks in. I have often joked that I take advil just to warm-up for the warm-up. In the back of my mind I am waiting for and dreading the next tear, the next surgery, the next sharp pain.

BUT, my story and Landis' story aren't unique. Athletes push through pain each day, each practice, and each competition. I think that people worship athletes for just these reasons-even physical pain is no match for the feeling of that win, that chance to get that medal or that jersey, or the chance to hear your national anthem over the loud speakers. Sometimes I think we are all borderline crazy, but at the core of every athlete is an understanding that the will to win is stronger than the pain.



"Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill."

--Muhammed Ali