As Nick and I begin to look forward to the start of his indoor racing season, I am caused to reminisce on the last few months and consider how they have been such a well-needed rest for us. It is easy to forget how important this intermittent time is for us and eagerly fix our gaze forward on the next part of our year. Naturally, we are quite excited to begin Nick’s indoor—and down-under—racing season. But while still anticipating a new season, we have suddenly become aware of how quiet and precious this time is before we begin the next several series of races—each one complete with it’s own travel, hotel(s), preparation, and emotional ups and downs.
Yes, I am confident racing season will come soon enough. But as for this moment, and as for this season in our lives, we are taking a minute to pause, breathe, relax and soak up the peace of this moment in our lives.
The last few months have been relatively quiet ones for us. Nick has been very dedicated to his training and steadily working hard every day. Having achieved many of his greatest goals last year, and with his new title of “2008 Olympic Bronze Medalist”, and his end-of-year world ranking at fourth, he is excited to uphold his new reputation in this year’s upcoming season. At the same time, while looking forward to having a great season, I have often heard him say that he wants to be cautious not to allow the pressure of that expectation to tempt him to over-train and over-work himself early in the season. He did such an amazing job of timing his peak perfectly last year, and I know one of his goals this year is to be able to have the good judgment to do that again—even with the new exhilaration of obtaining an Olympic medal last year. One of the great things about Nick as an athlete is that he is a competitor who thrives off of high-pressure situations. Not only does he somehow manage to remain cool-headed and calm under public expectation, but he actually manages to produce his best-ever races under the weight of that pressure. So, with that in mind, I feel confident that his season this year is going to be a phenomenal one.
