Vegetarian Frustrations and Sleep Restoration!

Wa-HOO!! 

I'm sleeping again!  It's not always the best sleep in the world but I'll take it when I get it. Thanks to all of you who emailed me with your concerns and with your well-wishes and suggestions. Being sleepless was really hard and I now can empathize effectively with all of the insomniacs out there in the world. 

I got some really great advice from a brother of mine from my college days and it helped a ton. Thanks again Govinda!  My teammate Helen is a chronic insom

niac, so I did take some medication that she had one night, but I actually didn't sleep 

the whole night through even with that. 

Unfortunately, the drought of sleep left my body's immune system a bit vulnerable and the first morning after I got any real sleep I started to come down with  a nasty bug that has been going around. Ugh!  So, I have been sneezing, coughing and walking around with a congested head for the last few days. On the up side, I have found that Ny-Quil is a GREAT sleep inducer! :-)

Even though Igls, is one of the most beautiful spots that we get to come to on tour, there is one significant downside: The food.

Now, being a vegetarian is a lifestyle that can be challenging at times. Being a vegetarian athlete usually means I find myself in an even more challenging sit

uation. Being a vegetarian athlete in Austria when your hotplate has broken so you can't fend for yourself is downright exasperating!

 This Austrian hotel manager is very proud of the food the hotel s

erves and is notoriously stubborn about the food the hotel serves...and Austrian cuisine is - well, let's just say it's interesting and leave it at that. YIKES!   

So, even though our team manager and coaches told her in advance of the vegetarians on the team she viewed it as though I were a bratty child who, faced with having to eat their vegetables defiantly stomps their feet and says "I HATE Brocc

oli!"

The first night I was able to have a cup of the  first course - soup. And I ate some bread. That's it.

The second day she breezed in to the room after our tomato and

 cheese salad with a plate balanced on her hand perched high above my head.  "De Vegetarianisch meal?"

My teammates pointed to me and I raised my hand, happily an

ticipating my meatless meal.

"Ok, for you," she said and plunked down in front of me - and I"m not kidding - a HUGE plate of french fries.  That's it. Just fries.  I was stunned.  

"You eat zee fries, no?" she asked,  "Um, yeah....I eat the fries, but

..."  I mumbled, still astonished at the sight I was beholding.

I wish I had taken a picture so I could show you exactly what I'm talking about.  It's a far cry from a meal of champions that's for sure!  All I could do was laugh!  

I laughed all the way to my room where I promptly mixed the biggest and most satisfying  hemp protein shake I have ever had in my life!

p.s.  I forgot that I promised to send a picture of the new red speedsuits ( which Jay tells me is really not that bad).  So, here are a few!