USA Archery Olympic Trials- June 1-3, Colorado Springs, Colorado
So what’s the difference between a twenty something Olympic Athlete (say… Apolo Ohno) and an AARP card carrying fairly fit recreational athlete? On the “Incline Test” it was an off the charts gap!
The Incline is an old cable car route that goes straight up a mountain in Manitou, west of Colorado Springs. Just short of a mile, the elevation gain is over 2,000 feet, topping out at about 8,585 feet. The average grade is about 40% and the steepest, 68%. The trail consists of dilapidated railroad ties, approximately 3,000 steps to the top.
If you’re an athlete training at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, the challenge is inevitably issued, “You want to do The Incline?” No self-respecting aspiring Olympian turns down the challenge. I heard winter Olympian Katie Uhlander did it the day before. So in the spirit of our Olympic trip it seemed only fitting that we should run up this little hike before heading to the training day for the archery trials.
My goal as we started was to keep a continuous pace all the way to the top, no stopping. As I moved up the mountain, I adjusted the goal a little, 100 steps without resting. OK, 50 steps is good. 40? 20? 5? OK, stay on your feet, no sitting down. Make it to the top without hurling your breakfast eggs all over the trail.
As I hiked, it came to me what a perfect metaphor this hike was for an Olympians journey. I started at the beginning with energy, hope and enthusiasm. The farther I went, the harder the climb. The harder the climb, the slower the progress. I got tired. I felt the pressure to keep up when someone passed me. I began to question if I had what it took to make it to the top.
But I knew what a great feeling of accomplishment it would be once I got there. And I knew the only way to make it was one step at a time, so I kept going. And I made it to the top…eventually. As I looked over the city far below, I couldn’t help but feel I’d been given a mini-insight into the path of an Olympic hopeful.Or maybe it was just a strange oxygen deprived hallucination!
So back to the question at the beginning. Multi medal winning speed skater Apolo Ohno trained regularly on The Incline while living at the Training Center. His best time was 17 minutes, 15 seconds. The record is held by triathlete Mark Fretta, 16:42. I held my arms up in victory at one hour and seventeen minutes! Jim finished quite a bit ahead of me and was actually able to “run” some of the less steep sections. But even he was amazed at the difficulty and how long it took.
I always knew Olympic athletes were made of something very different from us ordinary mortals. But I gained a new respect and appreciation for just how very special they are.
In Celebration of Sport!
