The Role of Tissue Trauma and Cytokines in Overtraining:

A friend asked me a few days ago, "How would it be possible to be overtrained more than once in your athletic career? Wouldn't an athlete have learned something the first time?" The best answer I have to this question is that even if you've been overtrained before, you can get overtrained again if you are feeling outside pressure to ignore the signals you are getting from your own body.

From some of the things I've heard lately, I am not convinced that all of the people around me know all there is to know about overtraining: How it comes about, how the signs manifest themselves, and how to prevent it from doing too much damage to one's season. Listen to the following quotes from various people who will remain nameless...

1. "It is impossible to get overtrained from doing workouts that only stress the muscles. The only way to get overtrained is by over-stressing the cardiovascular system."

2. "I've never heard of tiredness leading to an inability to focus on the ice."

3. "How can you be depressed if you're doing something you love?"

4. "It's a pleasure to watch you skate. I just don't like to look at your face."

After hearing enough of these misconceptions, I decided that some of the people I love dearly need a lesson in physiology. Fortunately, my teammate Lyle McDonald, a nutritionist and physiologist, was willing to provide me with some relevant scientific literature.

In this post, I will summarize what I learned from the following articles by Dr. Lucille Lakier Smith:

Cytokine hypothesis of overtraining: a physiological adaptation to excessive stress? Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 317-331, 2000.

Tissue Trauma: The Underlying Cause of Overtraining Syndrome? J. Strength Cond. Res. 18(1): 184-191. 2004


Overtraining syndrome (OTS) is a condition that occurs when an athlete trains intensely and under a heavy load, but performance deteriorates. Overtraining can be distinguished from "overreaching," which is a necessary training-induced stress given to the body in order to cause adaptation, by the duration of recovery. Whereas the overreached athlete recovers within a few days of rest, the overtrained athlete can take 6 weeks or more to recover.

Though there have been several different theories proposed to account for OTS, most of these only account for a few specific symptoms. For example, the glycogen hypothesis suggests that under a heavy training load, the athlete is unable to consume enough calories to maintain muscle glycogen stores, leading to feelings of "heavy legs" and fatigue. The glutamine hypothesis, on the other hand, suggests that the reduced level of blood glutamine observed in OTS leads to a suppression of the immune system.

An all encompassing hypothesis that could explain the origins of these and several other symptoms of OTS is proposed by Dr. Smith: "The present hypothesis proposes that trauma to the muscular, skeletal, and/or joint system, is frequently the initiator of OTS."

It is known that training causes microtrauma to the athlete's muscle and connective tissue. If the volume and intensity of training is too high, and the rest is not enough for the athlete to have an appropriate recovery, then it is possible for the athlete to develop a chronic, severe form of tissue trauma and inflammation. There seems to be a great deal of evidence pointing towards this tissue trauma as the driving force behind overtraining syndrome.

The theory is that local tissue damage to muscles (from training) leads to local acute inflammation, which can develop into chronic inflammation if the athlete is not given sufficient rest. This chronic local inflammation may lead to an activation of the body's systemic immune/inflammatory response. And this is where those cytokines come in.

"Cytokines may be defined as soluble hormone-like proteins." They are the molecules by which cells "communicate" with each other. They are activated by stimuli such as free radicals, tissue injury, and infectious agents (viruses, etc). Cytokines are involved in the inflammatory response.

It is proposed that chronic inflammation from the tissue damage caused by excessive training leads to elevated levels of circulating cytokines, which interact with various systems of the body in ways that explain several of the symptoms of OTS.

"One of the first signs of OTS is a change in mood and behavior. The athlete may be transformed from an outgoing, enthusiastic, sociable, highly competitive individual, to being constantly tired, depressed, and uninterested in training and competing, and possibly angry and hostile. Frequently, changes in mood and behavior are evident before the drop in performance..." (which can explain why "she is still skating well even though she has a miserable scowl on her face.")

A growing body of evidence suggests that an overtrained athlete's antisocial and depressed behavior may be induced by increased levels of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-1B, IL-6, and TNF-a. It is thought that these cytokines are meant to induce behavioral changes that are conducive to rest and recovery, as is illustrated by "Hart's description of how a sick or injured animal behaves in the wild, in order to increase its chance for recovery. The wounded animal becomes lethargic (akin to human depression), loses its appetite, has a reduced libido, and is less sociable. All these factors encourage rest and protect it from exposure to predators, thus increasing its factors of survival."

Cytokines have been shown to act on several areas of the brain, and have been particularly closely linked to depression and an inability to concentrate. In addition to their action on the brain, cytokines have also been shown to alter levels of circulating hormones, such as cortisol and testosterone.

Another process in which cytokines are involved is the synthesis of acute phase proteins. In a situation of chronic injury, cytokines act on the liver to induce the production of these "recovery proteins." This new protein synthesis leads to the uptake of amino acids from the blood (because amino acids are the building blocks of proteins.) This could account for the reduction of levels of certain amino acids in the blood, as well as mineral depletion (because minerals such as zinc and magnesium are enzyme cofactors used by the "molecule producing factories").

This leaves us with the question of immune suppression: Why is an overtrained athlete more likely to get sick?

There are two arms of the adaptive immune system: The cell-mediated system, which deals with intracellular invaders, such as bacteria and viruses; and the humoral system, which deals with the elimination of pathogens that exist outside the cells -- in the blood or other extracellular fluid media of the body.

The latest perspective on the function of adaptive immunity is that while one arm of the adaptive system is activated, the other branch is deliberately suppressed. Therefore, since the pro-inflammatory cytokines released during a condition of chronic inflammation are involved in humoral immunity, the overtrained athlete's cell-mediated immunity becomes suppressed, resulting in an increased susceptibility to bacterial and viral infection.

Now I will list several easily observable signs and symptoms associated with OTS (from Table 1 of the 2004 paper)

Performance parameters:
decreased performance
inability to meet previous standards
prolonged recovery
reduced toleration of loading
decreased muscular strength
decreased maximum work capacity

Psychological/behavioral:
constant fatigue
reduced appetite
change in sleep patterns
depression
general apathy
decreased self esteem
emotional instability
fear of competition
easily distracted
gives up when the going gets tough

Information processing:
loss of coordination
reappearance of previously corrected mistakes
difficulty in concentrating
decreased capacity to deal with large amounts of information
reduced capacity to correct technical faults

Immunological parameters:
constant fatigue
complaints of muscle and joint aches and pains
headaches
nausea
gastrointestinal disturbances
increased aches and pains
muscle soreness/tenderness
increased susceptibility to and severity of colds, allergies, etc.
bacterial infections
one-day colds
swelling of lymph glands


In light of all this new information, I'd make the following responses to the quotes with which I began this post:

1. "It is impossible to get overtrained from workouts that only stress the muscles. The only way to get overtrained is by stressing the cardiovascular system."

Not only is it possible to get overtrained from doing work that only stresses the muscles, but the most current, all-encompassing theory of overtraining is based on local muscle/tissue damage as the driving force for the inflammatory process that can result in all of the symptoms seen in overtraining.

2. "I've never heard of tiredness leading to an inability to focus on the ice."

This one can be answered by looking at the table of signs and symptoms, under the section entitled "information processing." There it is in black and white: One of the signs of overtraining is "difficulty in concentrating."

3. "How can you be depressed if you're doing something you love?"
If speedskating is "something you love" and you do too much of it, then it is biochemically possible to get depressed doing something you love. Once again, the cytokines released in overtrained athletes have been strongly linked to depression.


4. "It's a pleasure to watch you skate. I just don't like to look at your face."

Word-for-word, from the 2004 paper: "Frequently, changes in mood and behavior are evident before the drop in performance, but as long as the athlete is performing well, these factors may be ignored." Remember: BY THE TIME HER SKATING MATCHES THE LOOK ON HER FACE, IT MAY ALREADY BE TOO LATE.

Not Fitting In, Part 2:

In just about any group, a person can find others whose company they enjoy. Last winter's World Cup trip was much better for me than previous ones had been; it probably helped that I had more confidence in my own skating and therefore felt like I belonged on the circuit for the first time.

Some of the most fun times I had outside the rink involved going out for coffee in the afternoons with the rest of the sprinters.

I remember talking with Chris Witty about life after skating. She asked me some questions about college life. When she sounded concerned about what would happen after she retired from skating and had to finish school, as I had done, I replied, "Chris! What are you worried about? You have gold medals and a world record! I am in awe of you!!!" And she just laughed.

Joey Cheek is always fun to hang out with, as well. When Joey retires from skating, which will most likely be after this season, he plans to go to Harvard. Joey and I had some interesting conversations; I remember talking about why some guys don't find smart women attractive - a potentially touchy subject, but somehow that didn't matter.

I find that Joey is very curious and open-minded when it comes to individual differences between people, and this is one of the reasons why I think he will make a terrific politician some day. In a group, he likes to get people going on a controversial topic of discussion to see how they respond to tough questions...definitely, Joey has turned out to be one of the most fun and interesting members of Team USA.

What I have found in my interactions with my teammates is that, in the end, people's differences in background and perspective on life don't necessarily lead to conflict. What matters is how a person deals with these differences. I find that those who are not threatened by individuality are the most fun to be around.

In my day-to-day life as a speedskater in training, I'm glad to be a part of the High 5 Team. We're all a bunch of misfits, but the main thing we have in common is that we really love this sport. We support each other and we have fun together, both on and off the ice.

I'm still not very social with most of the speedskating community, and sometimes I feel like I may have missed out on some potential friendships with some of the "real people" in the sport. But then I think about what always ended up happening when I'd try to make myself go to a "National Team party:" Typically, I'd grab a bottle of Corona and go sit in a corner, smiling and nodding and pretending to be a part of the two conversations that were happening around me. I'd keep looking at my watch and waiting for an acceptable length of time to pass so that I could take my leave.

This blog probably makes things more difficult for me as well. In addition to being a speedskater, I've taken on this role of being a sort of "investigational journalist" for the speedskating community. Sometimes I give a voice to my fellow skaters, and other times, I am critical of some of them.

There are some things that need to change in this sport, and maybe some of those with whom I have had differences in the past will see that I can be useful to them because I'm willing to take a stand against unfairness without fear of tainting my image. I really do see any conflicts I have had with other skaters in the past as miscommunications, and nothing more.

Not Fitting In: How Much Does It Really Matter?

My first "team bonding activity" with the US National Allround Team back in the spring of 2003 was like one of those dreadfully humiliating experiences that most of us can recall from middle school. We all gathered in the Team USA locker room at the Oval one day for a meeting with our team psychologist. Upon arrival, he told us to go around the room telling each team member what color they remind us of, and why.

Thinking that the point of this drill was to build morale, I was careful to say something positive about each person. On the other hand, I wasn't too happy with what I heard about myself: "Black, black, gray, black, gray, gray... Don't understand the things she does; seems angry; doesn't talk much, etc."

But when it came to Kristine Holzer's turn, she said, "I don't understand YOU guys. With Eva, what you see is what you get." Chris Callis and Tom Cushman also managed to find good things to say, but that was pretty much it.

Upon completion of this exercise, our psychologist commented, "If you heard mostly good things about yourself from your teammates, then you are fine. If you heard mostly negative things, then MAYBE YOU NEED TO THINK ABOUT CHANGING SOME THINGS ABOUT YOURSELF."

At first, this didn't make me feel too happy, but then I began to think a bit more critically about the situation. Why did so many of these people take a negative view of me? On the other hand, who were those who said positive things, and do they differ in any way from the others?

When I brought the issue up with my own sports psychologist some time later, he suggested that maybe the differences in various team members' backgrounds and experiences led to miscommunication and conflict when we were thrown together.

In my life, I don't deal with people in terms of stereotypes. Every new person I meet starts out with an equal chance to impress or disappoint me. However, when I found myself running into problems with some of my teammates, I had to start looking at our differences in order to figure things out.

Many U.S. skaters have done nothing but skate for their whole lives. Some may have worked a job here or there, or taken a few college classes, but, for the most part, speedskating has been their main activity and goal. I, on the other hand, have finished college and 2 years of grad school. This isn't meant to be bragging - I am merely stating a fact, and I think it is significant that I get along so well with Kristine Holzer, who has also completed her education.

Never in a million years would I have thought that my "being an intellectual" would lead to conflict with my fellow athletes. I just thought I'd show up at the Oval like everyone else, train hard, and things would be fine. I guess I should have known better. Even in that cycling book I was reading - "The Crooked Path to Victory: Drugs and Cheating in Professional Bicycle Racing" - there was a brief passage about one cyclist that showed a similar difficulty with fitting in with the rest of the guys:

"(Erwann) Mentheour (was) an educated man, whose love of reading, ability with languages, and skill on the piano marked him out as an intellectual to be disliked by other riders..."

Why would this be worth mentioning if it weren't an issue? Apparently, it is.

I could probably have tried a little harder to be sociable on World Cup trips, but sometimes I just didn't have the ability to come up with more to say than "Hi" or "Bye." I didn't race well in my first few years on the circuit, and I was often quite depressed. Come dinner time, I didn't feel much like joining in to a conversation about "nutsacks and bodily functions" after I had just finished second-to-last in the B Group, again.

The concept of "team spirit" is different for everyone. An interesting story about the Norwegian team was related to me by my roommate, Jannicke. She said that, right before the 1994 Olympics, Johann Olav Koss was having major trouble with his racing because he was being affected by negative feedback from his team and/or coaches. He somehow managed to qualify for the Olympics anyway, and, as a solution to his problem at the Olympic Games, he put one of his friends on each turn to shout words of encouragement to him during his races. It worked, and he won 3 gold medals.

Considering the significance of "team spirit" in my own life and skating career: In this way I am not like Koss. The attitudes of those around me have not had a significant impact on my results. I've raced in front of people who really wanted me to win, and for whom I wanted to do well. I've raced in front of people who hate my guts and want to see me crash and burn. I've raced in front of people who don't know and don't care who I am. None of this has ever made one bit of difference in my ability to execute my race.

For me, the social/team environment is a non-issue. In the same way that it doesn't matter to me that my federation does not support me, it doesn't matter to me that I don't necessarily fit in with the national team. It doesn't matter because it can't matter, and I have been strong enough to make it so.

Speedskating is an individual sport, but not one that welcomes individuality. There does seem to be a certain image to uphold - perhaps one of the patriotic, white-bread, smiling, parade-riding Olympian - a sort of "protocol," if you will, for being a metric speedskater. I realize that my style and attitude would probably be more welcome in a sport like snowboarding. I also realize that someone who is trying to uphold the "Golden Boy image" might see me as a "sneering intellectual with a chip on her shoulder."

To some extent, my education and career background gives me the opportunity to thumb my nose at authority and public opinion, because I don't need to make money at speedskating. This alone could get me into conflict with someone who feels pressure to uphold the image of the Ideal Speedskater.

All of us speedskaters come into this sport with different motivations. There is more than one way to the top, and every great athlete's vision is strong in its own way. Maybe the vision that one of my teammates sees as the final destination point is the smiling faces of a hometown crowd when he rides by in a victory parade. And maybe what I see is skating a victory lap with my gold medal held up in the air like the severed head of a defeated enemy.

Our team shrink had told us that if we don't like what others say about us, then we should change ourselves. That's the first time in my life that I've heard such a load of crap. I found it extremely poor advice to give to athletes competing in what is ultimately an individual sport. Eventually, I came to the realization that if I bent over backwards to accommodate the demands of the team, then I would destroy everything inside of me that drives me towards victory on the ice. And that would do no one any good.

The Skater-Cloner Weighs In on Doping:


With the BALCO drug scandal, the drug problems in track and field and pro baseball, and the controversies surrounding the Tour de France, a lot has been said about drugs in sports lately. With my background in molecular biology and my experience as an internationally competitive speedskater, people might be interested in what I have to say on this topic.

Being an athlete and a scientist is a combination that could have some interesting implications. In fact, I do have both the connections and the ability that would theoretically enable me to obtain and/or make some types of performance-enhancing substances for myself or for my team.

A couple of years ago, there was a rumor going around the National Team that "Eva is making EPO for herself in her garage!" I think I must have started this rumor myself, just to be funny - I even printed a copy of the recombinant EPO plasmid from the Invitrogen catalog! (Honestly, if you've seen my absolutely pathetic VO2 Max test results or my hematocrit, you'll know that I'm not on EPO!!!)

A few days ago, just for fun, I tested myself to see if I could come up with a list of supplies I would need in order to make up a batch of recombinant EPO. Somewhere in my brain, out from under the layers of speedskating technique, sports politics crap, and the lyrics to my favorite songs, I managed to dig up a shopping list that was absolutely frightening in its detail and accuracy. It was then that I realized that, given the money, I could easily make recombinant EPO if I wanted to, BUT I DON'T WANT TO. I DON'T BELIEVE IN DOPING, AND I WILL TELL YOU WHY.

1. Doping is Cheating

I think most people will agree that the use of performance-enhancing drugs is a violation of fair play. Maybe I have an overdeveloped sense of justice, but I'm not going to apologize for feeling this way. I'm not going to cut these cheaters any slack.

From a scientific point of view, I know that these drugs work, and because I know for a fact that they work, the performance of any athlete who uses these drugs is of no interest to me. If I took drugs to improve my performance, then MY OWN performance would be of no interest to me! I am only interested in how far I can get on my own natural ability and the strength of my own will.

Clara Hughes, the great Canadian long distance skater, just wrote a very interesting post about pain tolerance in training and racing. Pushing the pain threshold in training is one way of improving performance without using drugs. People admire athletes for different reasons, and the athletes I have always admired the most are the ones who are not always the most gifted, but the ones who can take a great deal of pain.

Another method of out-performing the competition is by perfecting the technique of your sport. This is especially effective for a highly technical sport such as speedskating.

2. Doping is unhealthy and unsafe

The use of steroids can lead to several long-and short-term health consequences, ranging from "'roid rage" and changes in sex characteristics, to liver failure and cancer. Athletes have dropped dead from overuse of EPO that caused their blood to run as thick as molasses. The abuse of human growth hormone can cause a person's skull to actually change shape, even in adulthood. Also, my teammate Andrew Love recently made an interesting post about steroids and depression.

In the early days of drugs and sports (in the late 1800's), runners and cyclists used doses of strychnine (rat poison!!!) to increase muscle tension, and shots of brandy to dull the pain near the end of endurance events. Throughout the early to mid 1900's, various cocktails of speed and painkillers were used, especially in cycling. Sometimes, the consequences were deadly.

The anti-doping movement was a relatively recent development; it really got under way in the 1960's. One of the main stories that brought attention to the drug problem in sports was when a cyclist dropped dead on the top of Mt. Ventoux in the Tour de France, of an overdose of amphetamines.

Some people have a philosophy that doping can level the playing field among athletes who weren't born with the same physical gifts, or that doping is just a necessary part of being a professional or elite athlete. I've tried to understand this viewpoint. After all, how fair can it be, that one person is born with a huge set of lungs, or with an amazing capacity for building muscle mass? In this case, wouldn't drugs make things "more fair for everyone else?"

In the end, I concluded that the reason why I could never agree with this philosophy is because doping is so unsafe and unhealthy. It all comes down to the vision of the future of sport. Would anyone want their children to think that it is necessary to do drugs in order to compete?


I believe that the abuse of performance-enhancing substances is more prevalent in some sports than in others. I just finished reading a book called "The Crooked Path to Victory: Drugs and Cheating in Professional Bicycle Racing," by Les Woodland. The stories of the rampant drug abuse that has been a part of that sport since its beginning are horrifying. Things may be a bit cleaner in cycling in this modern era, but it was only in 1998 that the entire Festina team got busted, and sporadic positive tests still occur in the peloton all the time.

Many people feel that the Tour de France has been a great boost to the sport of cycling in recent years. I feel that being a fan of the Tour or not being a fan of the Tour is a matter of personal choice; you need to take the given information into account and draw your own conclusion as to whether the riders are, for the most part, worth admiring or not.

A Tour de France cyclist once said that, for him, the decision to use drugs was like deciding not to be the only one following the speed limit when everyone around him is driving much faster than the law allows. After all, he thought, why should he be the only one following the rules, when his options were either to use drugs to help him keep up with the peloton, or to go back to being a house painter?

I've tried so hard to be a fan of the Tour de France, but considering all of the available information, I'm just not able to be. Why, for example, should a cyclist have connections with some shady doctor with a dubious history? Why should a cyclist take the time to shake every last drop out of his water bottle onto the ground before throwing it aside? Is this the behavior of a person with nothing to hide?

In the sport of track and field, which has recently come under scrutiny, a lot of people suspect Marion Jones of using steroids from BALCO, considering her connections to various other athletes and trainers who have been implicated in this case. I'd say that another bit of evidence is purely biological. Can you guess what happens when you give your body a supply of hormones from the outside? It reduces its ability to produce these hormones on its own. As a result, athletic performance after going off steroids can be reduced to a level far below the person's natural potential. So, where's the data? Just look at the results from this summer's track and field Nationals.

If it turns out that Marion Jones was on steroids, then all I can say is that I feel really sorry for all the women who got silver medals to her gold ones. They sure lost a great deal of money on potential endorsements.


Now, let us turn our attention to my own sport of speedskating. There are a few drugs that would be helpful in improving a speedskater's performance. These are mainly "designer steroids" and human growth hormone. Surprisingly, after some reading and discussion on the topic, I have come to believe that EPO might not be all that helpful to a speedskater, since the main limiting factor on our performance seems to be more localized fatigue in the legs, rather than whole-body oxygen transport.

Positive doping tests have been rare in speedskating, but I suspect that our sport might not be as clean as we think. Just this summer, a competitor was caught by a surprise test, but the ISU has not yet issued an official statement on what is to be done about her test results.

Fortunately for me, I believe that it is possible to succeed in speedskating without the use of performance-enhancing drugs. If I didn't feel that this was possible, then I would quit! Look at Jennifer Rodriguez, who won the World Sprints last year and is almost always on the World Cup podium in the 1500 meters. I believe that she is clean, and that she wins because of superior technique, and because the endurance base that she developed from her years in inline skating and as an All-rounder enables her to hold speed throughout a 1000 or 1500-meter race.

As for the doping cheaters, I won't wait around for them to be found and taken out. I will just work harder to make myself the best skater I can be - without any artificial help - and trust that it will be enough.

I Hope Apolo Really Did That


(from an anonymous source)
Did you hear what Apolo supposedly did at the Qwest short track team photo shoot in Colorado Springs? Apparently, he came to practice in a plain black skinsuit, did his workout, and refused to be photographed with the rest of the US Team.

If this actually took place, I'd like to say, "Way to go, Apolo!" You know that of all those of us who were sold behind our backs by Andy Gabel, you were the one who had the most to lose.

Thanks for having the guts to use your talent to show everyone that poor leadership will not be tolerated.

"My Bad!" The O-Job Story Continues

It seems that Amy Sannes did, in fact, legitimately qualify for O-Job probabionary status with Home Depot for this year. Yes, she managed to sneak in there, just barely, but legitimately. I was not aware that World Sprint Championship results (in addition to overall World Cup standings) counted for O-Job selection criteria, but apparently they do, so I will apologize for not getting my information exactly straight.

Still, I am aware that O-Jobs are in scarce supply, and there is always a list of very highly qualified athletes on the waiting list. Athletes on probation don't always get to keep their O-Jobs for this reason, but the fact that winter Olympic hopefuls have priority leading up to 2006 probably helped as well.

As for me, I'm glad nobody is telling me how many hours per week I'm required to work right now. I'd rather peek at my dwindling bank account every once in a while, knowing that I'm pushing a non-sustainable existence, but realizing that an uncompromising approach to my own training this year is the only thing that will give me a shot at accomplishing my goals.

Kids and Sports in America: The Problems

A few months ago, I mentioned in a post that one of my objectives in putting myself through an Olympic-level training progam was so that I could speak from experience about "why the kids aren't alright." Apparently, other observers of American sports also see that there are serious problems with our system.

Last weekend, there was a very interesting article in the Parade magazine that comes with the Sunday paper, about problems with kids' sports programs in this country. These problems range from high pressure and early retirement, to the abuse of performance-enhancing drugs, to violence by parents of athletes. What are the root causes of these unpleasant symptoms of the American sports system? How did the activities that are supposed to be fun and healthy for kids turn out to be so destructive?

The role and purpose of sports in our society and how sports are portrayed has a lot to do with the ideas and attitudes that have developed around them. Not only is there tremendous competition for college scholarships, pro deals, or a shot at Olympic glory, but people are also beginning to realize the full, life-changing implications of being a great athlete. It has been shown that athletic success can literally vault a person over several levels of the American "caste system" by being a stepping stone to connections with people of wealth, power, and status. It can be a way out of poverty for kids who seem to have no other chance. Even in a sport like speedskating, where, as skater parent Don Nelson says, "There's no pot of gold at the end of this tunnel," people still know that an Olympic gold medal can change an athlete's life forever.

It is no surprise, then, that the high stakes of athletic success lead to a great deal of pressure. Child athletes are often pushed too hard by parents or coaches, and also put a great deal of pressure on themselves. So many sad stories come out of these situations - stories of mental burnout and overtraining, eating disorders, steroid abuse, parent/coach violence, or premature retirement. I also believe that the high-pressure environment of so many sports programs causes many kids to avoid sports altogether, which can lead to problems such as obesity and a general lack of fitness.

Here in America, we have a serious problem with obesity, as well as other conditions related to a lack of physical activity and poor nutrition, such as heart failure and diabetes. These problems have serious consequences for our entire society, mainly in terms of the ballooning cost of medical care. I really believe that if our sports culture could be changed so that children were introduced to sports in a more positive way, then they would be much more likely to see physical exercise as a fun activity that can be enjoyed for a lifetime.

Sadly, there seems to be no middle ground between those elite "mini-adults" and their parents who are focused on college scholarships or pro deals, and those kids who refuse to do any physical activity at all, but would rather sit around watching TV or playing video games. Of course, this is an oversimplification, but there really are too few opportunities in sports for kids who find out early on that they don't have Olympic-level potential.

In many ways, the Europeans have a much healthier view of sports participation. Taking speedskating as an example, I decided to ask my Norwegian roommate, Jannicke Mikkelsen, what she thought. I said to her, "With a sport like speedskating, here in this country, if you are not actually training for the Olympics, it is seen as totally uncool and a waste of time." I asked her if the perception is any different in Europe, and she replied that "In Norway, everybody skates, and only a few know that they have a chance at the Olympics."

Speedskating can be a fun, healthy sport that a person could enjoy for a lifetime. Isn't it sad that we have kids quitting because they know they'll never make it to the Olympics, or former elite athletes who have left the ice forever in disgust upon retiring, or adult skaters who feel the need to misrepresent their Olympic chances in order to justify participating in this sport? Why is it that it takes a rare kind of person with an unusual kind of interior strength to say, "I speedskate for the fun of it, and that's good enough for me?" This is the reality of the culture we have created in our own little world.

In the broader spectrum of American sports, it all comes down to the maintenance of a certain image. For example, the guy who lives down the street and spends $1000 a year on pro team apparel and football tickets doesn't want to know that when his favorite player was a kid, his mom used to feed him diuretics so he could make weight to play in a lower division so that he could be a star and get noticed by scouts. And the pro team owners, managers, and publicists don't want the guy down the street to know these things either, so that he will continue to buy jerseys and hats and tickets and beer.

I think the system of sport on the professional or elite amateur level will be very difficult to change as long as there are athletes willing to put themselves through hell in order to achieve a dream; as long as there is an audience willing to pay for their effort; and as long as there are managers who are more than willing to capitalize on the whole situation. But is the function of youth sports merely a means to this end, or can we make kids' sports a better experience overall?

If so, then the whole culture of youth sports needs to change. The Parade article suggests that concerned groups of parents, coaches, and community leaders should commit to providing the right kind of environment for kids in sports. We need to provide an environment that is lower in stress and free of violence. It might help, especially on the lower levels, to emphasize skill development over winning. We should emphasize positive feedback and provide positive role models, not the kind who promote a "win-at-all-cost" philosophy.

A major reason why we want kids to have fun in sports and to stay involved in sports is to learn that physical activity is fun, feels good, and is a necessary and healthy part of life. I believe that the problems we have with our kids' sports programs in this country play a role in turning kids off to physical activity, and that this has serious consequences down the road in terms of obesity and other unhealthy conditions. Promoting a culture where kids are introduced to sports in a positive way can be the first step to making physical exercise a lifelong choice.

Thoughts on the Desert Classic Race

My times weren't too great, but with all things considered, I wasn't too disappointed in my race results from this past weekend. Our team's scientific advisor was quite upset that we raced at all this early in the season.

Yes, I really did skate my races in the pretty purple-and-lilac suit of a Salt Lake City Olympic forerunner (or, as fellow 2002 forerunner Ron Macky prefers to call it - the "Foreskin!")

There wasn't too much to say about the 500; I had a couple of stumbles and got too stretched out on the first turn, but my transition from the start into skating was good. The final time of 40.61 was OK.

In the 3K, I met my goal of having a steady race, but unfortunately it ended up being 35's instead of 34's. My final time was 4:28. Ugh! No World Cup-level skater wants to see that kind of time next to her name, but now that I'm a sprinter, I've almost given up wondering why all the pain I put myself through adds up to a 4:28 instead of a 4:15, even after all these years. Still, I take some comfort in knowing that this race was my first set of intensive laps this season.

The Impressive Performance of the Day goes to Eriko Seo of Japan, who skated a 1500 in 2:02.6, and then, less than an hour later, lined up for the 3000, which she finished in 4:13. That's some tough skating!

The Desert Classic: Who Thinks I'm Ready to Race?

Racing is fun, but it's only August. I can't believe I signed up for the Desert Classic. This means that tomorrow morning, I will be racing the 500 and 3000 meters.

The fact that I'm already racing is especially funny because our team has yet to do any intensive laps or intervals. So far, we haven't done any sets of laps faster than 37 seconds, and we've only done one training session involving short tempos (the first tempo workout of the season is almost always a complete disaster, and mine was certainly no exception!)

My only goals for tomorrow involve proper execution of race strategy, pacing, and technique, as well as skating the track correctly. I should be pleased with about a 40.5 in the 500, and a 4:25 in the 3K, though I know that somewhere in my twisted mind I won't be happy unless I break 40 and 4:20 (both of which are completely unreasonable expectations at this point).

In the 3K, I hope to maintain steady lap times, with 34 being the magic number. After all these years, I still am not confident in my ability to skate a 3000-meter race correctly. If I'm on a bad one, I'll start with about a 33-second lap, but it will feel hard, and by the time I have 4-5 laps to go, I'll already be sure that it will be "one of THOSE races." If I'm on a good one, I'll start with a 31-second lap and it will feel easy, but then the monkey jumps on my back and the lap times slowly creep up after that.

In both of my best 3K races so far, I hit the wall with exactly one and three-quarters lap left to go in the race. I'd see the lap board showing me 2 laps to go, make it around the turn to the backstretch, and then, suddenly..."BOOM!" I'd enter the tunnel of pain: Besides the usual lead legs and arms, my peripheral vision darkened and I saw blue and yellow stars in front of my eyes. The worst part was knowing at that point that when I'd reach the finish line, I still had to go around one more time.

Who knows what will happen tomorrow? I just might totally embarrass myself! (How bad could it be? After all, I did skate a 4:54 a couple of seasons ago.) Who cares? It's only August. To add to the laughs, I intend to race the Desert Classic in my 2002 Olympic forerunner suit.

Revising my last post (which I just deleted):

I thought I might run into trouble with my last post because so many people have never experienced the side of Derek that I have experienced. Some people just rub each other the wrong way, and for some reason, Derek and I never got along. That's OK. We're not on the same training team any more.

I have had dual feelings about Derek, because I have always admired his hard work and achievements. However, I do feel that he has used his status as gold medalist to overstep his boundaries in terms of respecting other skaters, in a way that I have not seen other speedskating gold medalists do. I would like to share my feelings about this on my blog.

There was a time when I had kind of hoped that Derek would see that I also trained hard, and that I faced similar struggles of funding my skating career and of overcoming disrespect in this sport; that there were more similarities between us than differences. Instead, unfortunately, I found skating to be much less enjoyable when we were on the same team. Besides the incident at dinner on the World Cup trip, where he insisted that Bart make me talk to him (to the point, by the way, that I had to ask Bart if I could be excused and go to my room), there were others.

How would you like it if, every time you skated in a pace line, somebody yelled at you for throwing off their rhythm by taking an extra step? Or for making a small skid on the outer lane while stopping on the way to a lactate test? (When Tom watched this particular interaction taking place, he shook his head in disbelief, and asked me if I wanted him to say anything. I said no.)

I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who admire Derek's dedication and attention to detail. Of course, these things are admirable. But how far should a person be able to go in order to maintain the ideal environment for THEIR OWN training, at the expense of others? This is absolutely a valid question. Also, is there a hierarchy of achievement in the sport that forces us to put up with more from, for instance, gold medalists than from others?

Should I always be forced to leave the environment in order to maintain peace? Should I always have had to leave the pace line and finish my workout on my own, while the rest of the team skated together? Have I no right to state the limits of what I will tolerate, just because I've never even skated in the A Group?

A gold medal doesn't mean jack to me in terms of deciding how I'm going to treat someone. I treat people based on how they deserve to be treated; meaning, by how they treat me. In the same way, I wouldn't expect any gold medalist to treat me like I'm halfway human and either need to stay out of their way or be forced to go out of MY way to do nice things for them.

By the way, I am on very good terms with Olympic medalists Chris Witty, Casey Fitzrandolph, Joey Cheek, Kip Carpenter, and Jen Rodriguez. I see all of these athletes as examples of true sportsmanship. I don't see them using their status to set themselves up against other athletes, or as an excuse to overstep the rights of others. Therefore, I have several examples to use in comparison when something seems to be off.