New York

I went to NYC this week for the annual U.S. Ski/Snowboard Team Ski Ball. It's the biggest of many fundraisers the USST throws every fall. The event was held in Gotham Hall, which is this magnificent building in mid-town Manhattan. The Ball was a great success except for the U2 cover band that was so loud you couldn't hear yourself think.

The day before the event a number of athletes, including myself, attended a Shaklee promotion at Chelsea Piers. Since we had to go straight from the airport to the event I had to lug my bags, including golf clubs, everywhere I went. You can imagine the distorted look on people's faces seeing me cross 36th street with a suit bag, a computer bag, and a set of golf clubs? I'll get to why I brought the clubs later. For now I want to focus on the conversation I had at the Shaklee event.

I have been under the impression for quite some time that the optimal way to train strength and cardio is to sleep at high altitude and then train at low altitude. But I have also heard that some endurance athletes actually sleep at lower altitude, or with more O2, and then train at high altitude. I talked with Liz Stephens who is on the U.S. Cross Country team and she said she sleeps up in Park City where she lives and then goes down to train hard in Salt Lake City, which is about 3000 feet less elevation. Then the next night Bill Demong backed up my belief by reiterating to the people at the Ski Ball that the U.S. Ski Team focus is to sleep high and train low. But Stacey Cook, who is on the Alpine Team, told us it's actually more difficult for her to train at low altitude and that there is less strain for her at higher elevations. That seemed a little whacky! Does anyone else have any thoughts on this subject? Is it better to sleep high and train low, or sleep low, and train high? Send me some feedback if you get the chance.

Now back to the golf game. I felt it was necessary to bring my golf clubs with me to NY because a) I hate using rental clubs and b) it was very important that I beat my agent, Lowell, on his home course for, if nothing else, bragging rights. So I lugged those things around the streets of Manhattan, and strange as it is, I seemed to be the only one doing so. I even went to an interview at the Associated Press building, golf clubs in tow. But finally we arrived on the course in Essex County, the clouds parted, and we had a great game. Marco Sullivan and I teamed up against Lowell and Jay Jalbert. With Marco's high handicap and clutch shots, and with my somewhat consistent play we managed to eek out a win over Lowell and Jay. We walked away with bragging rights...and a little cash. Was it worth it to bring my clubs with me? Hell yes.