Au revoir Paris!

Au revoir Paris!

We’re on to the next stage of our journey: Budapest.  We spent a few quality days in Paris at INSEP, France’s version of the Olympic Training Center.  It was an incredible complex with state-of-the-art facilities.  The wrestling room boasts six full-sized mats.  The wrestling area was close to 120’x80’ with a 3-tiered cement bleacher that was the length of the room.  Along one side of the room, on the second floor, was a glass wall.  Behind the windows housed the national team coaching staff.  The locker rooms were each fully equipped with a 12-man hot tub Jacuzzi and a sauna.  The same building had equally impressive accommodations for gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and weight lifting.  In an adjacent building, eight judo mats filled the largest judo room I’ve ever seen.  They also had a table tennis hall, indoor track, velodrome and much, much more.  They house full-time resident-athletes and have a university on location as well as a minor’s hall for teenagers.  We stayed in visiting dorms. 

The workouts were very light as we are now in a tapper mode of our final training cycle.  Attention to detail and timing is still important, however, the workout load is light and intensity remains high.  We’ll knock down the intensity now going into Budapest and the athletes will begin focusing on their mission to perform the best they can at the 2013 Senior World Championships.  #Budapest2013

With down time in our training at INSEP, we took the opportunity to go into the city for a little site seeing and power shopping.  Most of the athletes hit the main attractions – Eiffel Tour, l’Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysee, Louvre, Notre Dame and Sacre de Coeur.  I ate at a quaint little fondue restaurant in the Latin Quarter the night before we left.  

Most of the athletes have been in Paris for a very short and concentrated duration without time for site seeing.  Leaving the City of Light (La Ville Lumière), many of them are eager to return to spend more time exploring their favorite spots.  After a few days in a city like Paris, you get to know the city and feel a connection to the culture.  There are endless exploration opportunities in one of the world's best cities.  By the time you leave, you finally understand the subway (Metro) and the layout of the city and cannot wait to go again.  I had been to Paris before, so I was able to quickly navigate our group around the city.  Moments like these I'm fortunate to have a history degree.

On the Budapest.  Go USA!