Our Winter Olympic Heros Are Runners Too!

The hot topic these days for water cooler talk is definitely the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.  Fleet Feet Mahwah is no exception even though we don't have a water cooler! I will say however, that when our customers talk about the Olympics as runner's, their sights usually focus on the Summer Olympics with the many track & field events. We often fail to recognize that our winter Olympians run as much or in some cases quite a bit more than we do!
With the media focus on "up close and personal" stories regarding today's winter athletes, you don't have to look too far too realize that running, is a major component in winter athletes training, how much, depending of course, on what event they compete in. 

The sports of  XC skiing, Alpine skiing, ski jumping, bobsledding, hockey and speed skating all use running in one form or another as a major part of the cross training for their respective sports. In fact, short track speed skating sensation, Apolo Ohno openly declares himself a "runner." In a recent Runners World interview, he is unabashed in emphasizing just how important running is, and has been, to his success as a short track skater.

As a college hockey player, I ran for lower body strength as well as to build up endurance. Todays hockey players, who are on the ice for short shifts lasting less than a minute, train by running many short intervals, to simulate the burst of speed they use on the ice.

Speaking of hockey, we all have to be proud of the USA hockey team for their victory over team Canada last night. Many pundits were comparing it to the USA upset over the Soviet Union, and gold medal performance that the 1980 USA hockey team will be forever known for.

Well, yes, hockey is Canada's national sport but, today's Olympic squads are not what the 1980 USA hockey team was. The 1980 USA team was made up of true amateurs. Most were very skilled college athletes, many of who went on to successful NHL careers.

The Olympic teams of today, are comprised of NHL players who join the roster of the team of the country they are from. NHL teammates become opponents for two weeks or, NHL oponents become teammates while at the Olympics!

So, in my opinion, yesterdays USA win over Canada was not an upset that can even remotely be compared to the USA's winning the gold medal in 1980!

In any event, running IS part of the Winter Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London are just around the corner and we'll get our track & field in droves.

I hope you're enjoying the games so far as much as I am. What's been your favorite so far?