Newsgroup: it.sport.ciclismo
Titolo: Amber Neben - Pain

http://www.amberneben.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=161&Itemid=50
What do you think of when you see this word?  If you are in France,
perhaps you think of fresh baked bread.  If you are an English speaker,
maybe the word is less ‘tasteful.’  However, if you are a bike racer,
“pain” covers 90% of life!!  Le Pain is for breakfast, lunch, pre race,
post race, and dinner.  Then, of course, there is the race and training
pain. 
Eating and suffering. Let’s start with eating.  The idea of consuming
large amounts of food day after day during a multi day cycling race might
sound pleasurable, but le ‘pain’ eventually becomes a pain.  It literally
becomes a chore to eat.  
During a stage race, my calorie intake must account for both my effort on
the bike and my increased metabolic rate.  This means that I have to eat a
huge amount of food, 4000-5000 calories a day…easy.  (In other words, it
could be more.)  When you think about that number, please keep in mind
that I am a little pip squeak!!  I often wonder how it is possible for
people so small to eat and need to eat the largest quantity of food.  For
example, I probably eat 1500-2000kcal before the race, 400-1200kcal during
the race, 300-1000kcal after, and then I have dinner.  And I
confess…probably some snacks before and after.  Here’s another one.  At
the 10 day Tour de l’Aude stage race, my 6 girls plowed through 8 large
containers of honey.  I’m just talking honey.  Not the jam, pesto, loaves
of bread, eggs, cereal or anything else!  I think it might take a normal
person a year or two to eat that much honey. Aaaahhhh… but actually, as
the race goes on, it becomes very difficult to eat.  By the end, the
thought of NOT eating is very appealing.  In fact, after the final stage,
I often think I will never need to eat again…ever… for the rest of my
life!  The funny thing, though, is that I ALWAYS wake up starving about 3
or 4 in the morning only a few hours later.    
Then, there is the pain on the bike.  This is an entirely different story.
 I love it.  I love to suffer: to take my body to the limits, to challenge
my head, and to see how far I can push myself.   What can I do with my God
given ability?  How high can I raise my own bar?
I believe that I am not unique in this sense.  I think that most
professional cyclists have this gene or some variation of it. At least the
ones who like to time trial, climb, and go hard for extended periods of
time do.  It is entirely possible that the sprinters have a different one
that allows them to fight for life, liberty and crossing the finish line
first while going elbow to elbow at 60k/hr.  However, since I am the type
that must suffer (due to possessing a significant amount of slow twitch
and a very insignificant amount of fast twitch,) I cannot honestly say
whether or not the sprinters enjoy their suffering like the others.  But
in general, I think suffering is a part of the sport.  Everybody must do
it… in some way or another.  Personally, I enjoy the challenge and the
hard work required to get to the point where suffering is a good thing.  
The trick to it all is making sure there is some recovery time built in so
that the body and the head continue to enjoy all of the necessary… the
pain and le pain.  
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 pain and le pain.
On a hard climb, it used to pain me sometimes just to get water down, and
certainly no food. I had a rare metabolism which allowed me to climb all day
with hardly any food. I just used sports drinks and at most a energy bar.
But I used to enjoy the pain and suffering as well on the Sierra Climbs, so
I can understand why she is such a great talent. Its in her blood, and that
is a great motivater! The diet part is understandable, with such a high
matabolism, a eating machine! I used to lose ten pounds on a ride, then I
could eat my way back overnight like a camel! Of course a lot of that was
fluid loss, but I also burned what little fat I had very efficiently as
fuel.
GBMT