This trip to St. Petersburg, Russia, was one I will never forget. Even before heading overseas, I was experiencing sights, tastes, sounds, and smells that were all new to me, New York City. Aside from the wonderful experience with the great people who attended our OKC workshop in Central Park, the pre-Russia weekend in the Big Apple was unforgettable. The architecture, the pizza, landmarks, nightlife, old bars, the accents, the Nathan’s dogs at the Yankee game, all simply awesome! A big thanks to John and Nazo for showing me the ropes in the City. Also a thanks to Heidi for letting us stay at her spot while she was training with Mahler in Vegas.

John, Nazo and I first flew from New York to London (a big thanks to the Iceland volcano for not forcing us to turn back). We spent our layover in a great English sports pub with delicious food and then grabbed a couple hours of rest at the hotel.

The morning of the flight to Russia I was on my feet just seconds after the alarm went off, not the norm for me . Like a child on Christmas morning, I was excited and couldn’t wait for the day to begin. A quick shower, brushed teeth, grab bags, grab a coffee, off to Heathrow! During the short three-hour flight, I tried to cycle through my stack of Russian/English flash cards as many times as possible. As the plane was descending, I began to see the golden domes of the beautiful cathedrals and the lush greenery surrounding the city. The butterflies in my stomach were neutralized by the grin on my face, “it is happening,” I thought to myself. The iron game had brought me to Russia, “home of the kettle.” We stepped off the plane and on to the tarmac–hungry students in a land with the answers. The OKC has landed.

We were greeted at the airport by Aleksandr Khasin, Sergey Rachinskiy, Rachinskiy’s friend, Sasha, and Tom Corrigan. I ended up in Sasha’s car with John and Nazo. Sasha was very kind and did his best to point out the landmarks in English on the way to our hotel. Sasha also did his best to keep up with the car ahead of us, driven by Mr. Rachinskiy, whom I’m pretty sure is somehow to related to Jeff Gordon .

After about 20 minutes of driving and tolerating me reading every Russian billboard out loud, sounding like an excited six year old in the Toys R Us book section, Sasha had delivered us to our destination.
Our hotel was called Amaranta Admiralteyskaya. It was a beautiful old building with no elevator, dark wood flooring, and we were on the fifth floor, good times for the legs . The hotel had a great little restaurant with good food and great beer in which our group spent quite a bit of time relaxing and telling stories. A woman named Yulia who worked at the front desk was very kind, spoke English, and was extremely helpful to our group during our stay.

The day before our first day of class was spent adjusting to the time difference, wandering
about the residential neighborhood, shooting Russian rifles, and touring St. Petersburg by bus
. What an amazing first day, and we hadn’t even started the seminar! Forgetting about the “White Nights” when the sun doesn’t set until about midnight, we all ended up getting to bed much later than planned. It didn’t matter, everyone was up and ready for the 7 a.m. bus ride to the training location. “What a great group of students on this bus,” I thought to myself. The group of students included Kevin Jodrey, Nocona Jodrey, Andrew Durniat, Jeff Martone, Tom Corrigan, Nazo, John Wild Buckley, and Ari Kaikkonen. All of them hungry for information, all of them with empty cups, all of them feeling honored and ready to learn from the best of the best. We pulled up to Alex Fitness, a beautiful athletic club, and our training spot for the rest of the week.

One by one we passed through the door and up the stairs towards our training room. I did my best to communicate with my extremely limited Russian when greeted by friendly faces as we made our way through the gym. Upon entering the room of “the Kettle,” we were warmly welcomed by Sergey Rachinskiy, Sergey Rudnev, Dennis Vaseliev, Igor Morozov, and “the Great Mishin” just to name a few. I immediately dropped my gym bag and pulled out my R/E dictionary to search for how to express how honored I was to be there, to meet them, and to listen to their teachings. Just a few minutes later, I noticed some commotion to my right–a couple of guys, one on a ladder, some signage, no big deal. Well, no big deal until I took a second look. They were hanging up huge flags to represent each of the student’s respective country—Finland, Japan, United States, and Russia. I was caught by surprise, and caught with a tear in my eye. That moment was definitely the most emotional of the trip for me. I nudged Buckley to point it out, and I don’t think his response was much different than mine.

All five days of the IKSFA class/training camp were superb. All coaches and assistants were so humble and helpful. There were no egos in the room battling for stage supremacy. The instruction and program design were brilliant. The one-on-one time they gave each student seemed endless. My technique flaws along with my body’s weaknesses were quickly exposed and addressed. My breathing was corrected and my transitional timing was altered within just the first few minutes spent with the coaches. All instructors were excellent, yet I think Sergey Rudnev’s brain was constructed in some secret GS Mensa lab in Siberia, the man can see and fix everything!

There were four translators on sight during each training day to ensure maximum absorption. Aleksandr Khasin, IKSFA cofounder, was our main translator and was excellent in the rapid relay of the instruction due to his rich understanding of the sport. Aleksandr was also able to pleasantly express the sense of humor within each of the coaches delivery. The other gentleman who was also an excellent translator was Vitale Poboudilin. He was also a friend of Sergey Rachinskiy and his English was excellent. I frequently sat with Vitale at lunch to pick his brain about Russian culture and to better my Russian vocabulary. Vitale also bought me a children’s book in Russian so I can prctice my reading. Thanks Vitale! My thanks to the other two translators who helped out tremendously.

After the first day of class, the IKSFA took us to visit the Museum of Strength and Athleticism in St. Petersburg. This Museum is amazing and is worth a visit if ever in the city. We were honored to be taken there. Once inside, our group was greeted by some local school children who volunteer time and assist the Museum in welcoming and guiding visitors through the building. These kids were so professional, spoke to us in English, were perfectly mannered, and clearly displayed how proud they were to be a part of it all.

The building contained all kinds of photos, new and old, tons of awards, Olympic medals, and equipment donated by Russian athletes of the present and of yesteryear. Aleksandr Khasin donated an old participant medal from the 1947 olympic weightlifting world championships. Sergey Rudnev donated his gold medal that he had won in the long cycle at the European championships just one week earlier. Sergey Rachinskiy presented the Museum with both donations. Respect!

As we were leaving the Museum, Mr. Rachinskiy informed us that there was a boat tour of the canals of St. Petersburg scheduled for us at midnight. The water tour would finish at 2 a.m. and we knew we would end up with just two or three hours of sleep. We didn’t care, we were in Russia. Mr. Rachinskiy told us that we were in St. Petersburg and seeing the bridges open for the passing ships was not something to miss. He then made us all laugh by saying, “You guys can get your sleep after you fly home!” He was absolutely right, the boat tour through the canals of St. Petersburg was breathtaking. We all learned so much about the city’s history during the two-hour excursion.

After the second day of training, we had a free evening to choose what we wanted to do. Most of us were fairly tired and just enjoyed the great food and Baltica 7 beer in our hotel’s restaurant. After the dining, laughing and drinking, we headed to bed a bit earlier than usual.

The third day of training was followed by a guided tour through the amazing Hermitage Museum. The building seemed to just exponentially become larger and larger as we approached it. It was light green with a trim of white and gold and seemed to stretch for city blocks in all directions. Inside the Hermitage, there were miles and miles of gorgeous sculptures, beautiful paintings and artifacts. The place was a palace of art and grandeur like I had never laid eyes on before. It was so surreal to be walking through the Hermitage with the “great Mishin,” 20-time heavyweight champion of Russia and greatest Russian in GS history. At that moment, I remember tapping Kevin, Nocona and Buckley to say, “Yea, this is happening right now.”

We had walked for at least two hours through the Museum’s hallways and our tour guide, Nataly, told us we would have to walk for a long, long time to cover all of it’s grounds. It is said that it may take a visitor eleven years to examine every one of the Hermitage’s exhibits. Six points out of six! What an amazing place. I have seen mind-blowing museums in Copenhagen, but the Hermitage may now be my favorite.

(See part 2 to continue reading)