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The toughest possible road Posted: Wednesday January 16, 2002 2:21 PM
Figure skater Michael Weiss is a two-time U.S. national champion. In 1999, he became the first skater to land a quadruple toe loop in world championship competition. Now, the 24-year-old Fairfax, Va. native is training to compete at the 2002 Olympic Games. Check out Weiss' diary on CNNSI.com as he prepares for Salt Lake. January 16, 2002 The best way to describe my week at the National Figure Skating Championships in Los Angeles would be success. Success that is taking the toughest possible road to making the Olympic team. My week of practice went very well. I was hitting my quadruple toe/ triple toe loop combination very consistently. So when I competed in the short program, it came as a huge shock to me when I fell on that same jump in competition, leaving me in an unexpected -- and unwelcome -- fifth place. Irony has it that I have never felt more confident of skating a "clean" program than on that night of competition. I was so well prepared, and in such great shape -- it didn't make any sense to me that I could have fallen, when all of the preparation was so right. All I could think was "This is wrong, this is so wrong! This isn't the way it was supposed to happen. I was supposed to be skating for the title. Not sitting in fifth place!" Following my mistake in the short program, I tried to analyze what went wrong. After many frustrating attempts to come up with a logical answer, I came to the conclusion that I couldn't waste my energy trying to come up with a reason for the mistake. I needed to change my focus to making the Olympic team with my long program. And that's just what I did. I was so angry at putting myself in this position; I took my anger out on the ice. The next morning in practice I landed the quad/triple and everything else in my long program practice run-through. The next two days were the most stressful of my life. Thank goodness I had my whole support team with me in L.A. My wife Lisa, my two children, my coach Audrey Weisiger, parents, in-laws, sister and brother-in-law, and my best friend were all doing their part. They provided me with all of the love and support I needed to face the uphill battle of pulling up to third to make the Olympic team. Everyone knew his and her role. My parents and Lisa's parents took care of the children, allowing me to focus during practice and competition. When I needed a break from it all, Annie Mae (3) and Christopher (2) were right down the hall to remind me of my off-ice blessings. Audrey was confident in my ability to comeback. My best friend, Johnnie (also a skater), was encouraging. Lisa was there to keep my mind focused and help eliminate any distractions. The day of my long program was unbearable. My hands were shaking in anticipation most of the day. I had one practice at 11 a.m. and I didn't compete until 6:45 p.m. I tried to distract myself all day, but my mind would constantly jump back to skating. I had a lot riding on the next four minutes of my long program: my entire career, a career for which I've trained these past 17 years. I would soon know whether I still had a career in skating or whether I needed to find a new job. My day consisted of playing Madden football on Play Station 2, playing with the kids for about half an hour, and watching part of the movie Rocky IV. I was too nervous to eat. I tend to drink a lot of water when I get nervous (two gallons on this particular day). On the bus ride to the arena I listened to Right Now by Van Halen, on my Discman. I warmed my body up pretty quickly in the six-minute warm-up because I knew I was the first to skate. Every time I skated by Audrey, she let me know how many minutes remained in the warm up. With about 1 minute left, I began to rest a bit to bring my heart rate back down before I was to compete. They announced my name and my up hill quest for the Olympic team began. As in the short program, I fell on my quad toe loop. This made me mad. I knew everyone in the building and the country thought it was over for me. As soon as I fell, I made up my mind to completely change the program that I had practiced for the last 11 months. Without hesitation, I tried the quad again. This time I landed it in combination with a triple toe loop, making this the first time in my life that I attempted a second quad in my long program (not even in practice). Not a perfect quad-triple but one that gave me enough adrenaline to still pull it off. I landed the next two triples as planned. But because I added a second quad to my program, I had to now make room for the triple axel that I took out. That meant replacing an easier jump later in the program with a much more difficult one. So many things flashed through my mind ... should I add the second triple axel? Should I do it in combination? Should I take out some of my choreography and add a triple flip before my triple lutz? In other words, mass confusion and many decisions to make with very little time to execute them. When I hit the second triple axel, I thought I just might pull this off. As I finished the program, I was hoping that the quad-triple, two triple axels and three other triples would be enough. It was now in the hands of the nine judges.
Warning: Don't try this at your Olympic trialsI waited for what seemed like a week. Five other skaters had to compete before I got the final word on whether I made the Olympic team. Either way, I was proud of myself for having the guts to try the second quad on live national television, with an Olympic team riding on my performance. If things didn't turn out right, I could say I gave it my all. Things did turn out right. I pulled up from fifth place to claim the bronze medal, and become one of three men to make the U.S. Olympic Team. Along with Todd Eldredge and Tim Goebel, I'm heading next month to Salt Lake City. There is only one word to describe it ... relief! A typical dayI mentioned that going into the U.S. Nationals this year I felt that I was in the best shape of my life -- I had also lost 15 pounds in the two months leading up to the competition, and felt that this had raised my overall fitness level. With that in mind, let me run you through my typical day. Now that I've made the 2002 Olympic team, I'm home and back into my daily training regimen.I get up about 8 a.m., eat my cereal, get my skating stuff ready, and watch the news. I'm at Fairfax Ice Arena by 9 a.m., where I stretch for about 15 minutes. I skate until 11:15 a.m., usually doing "moves" first, spins second, and then skills. I usually do a short program and parts of my long program to the music. After the morning skate, I can be found at an exercise studio doing Pilates to improve coordination and posture. Then I head home to see Lisa and our children, Annie Mae and Christopher. I'm back at the rink from 1:45 to 3:45 doing freestyles -- I concentrate on triples, quads and my long program. I do the "pole" with Nick Perna, practicing quads of all kinds. Afterward, I go to the gym to do weights (bench presses up to 300 pounds, leg presses up to 1,000 pounds), cardio and jazz or choreography. Our evening meal is late, but now with children, we go to bed earlier. I like to do all kinds of activities mixed in with my weight training and skating. I enjoy mountain biking, beach volleyball, and tennis. I played ice hockey competitively until the age of 18, but now just enjoy roller hockey. Also, I am currently attempting to play golf. With the number of jumps I do in my routine, I am constantly working on strengthening my vertical jump. I do plyometrics and work on a track hurdle, doing 10 to 20 repetitions and then resting and repeating it again.
-- Mike
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