I remember being glued to the TV during the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. In spite of a stellar career as a speed skater (7 World Cup Championships, 75 World Cup medals) an Olympic medal had somehow eluded Dan Jansen over the course of 4 Olympic games.

We all watched in horror as Dan slipped in the 500m event, costing him the gold. Dan’s last chance for Olympic glory was the 1000m event. We sat on the edge of our seats and watched in amazement as he not only won gold, but in world record time. I remember being impressed, not only with the athletic performance under such pressure, but with the apparent character of Dan Jansen - who dedicated his victory to his sister, who had recently passed away due to Leukemia.

While considering which sports and fitness celebrities I might interview for Healthy Times, I began to wonder what Dan Jansen has been up to. As the arrangements and actual interview progressed, I was delighted to discover that my suspicion about his good character was right on….

Healthy Times: So what are you up to these days?
Dan Jansen: Well, I do a lot of motivational speaking, and corporate speaking. My wife and I were able to pair up to form a company called Swing Blade Enterprises. We attend large corporate events, where companies may take, say their top 200 sales people. At these events I do keynote speeches. Karen (Karen Palacios-Jansen is a well-known professional golf instructor) will do a golf clinic and then we stay around and play a round of golf with them. It adds something extra to their event, and allows Karen and I to work together.

Healthy Times: Do you still operate the Dan Jansen foundation?
Dan Jansen: Yeah, we need to get going on some more fund raisers. But we are still distributing funds with our Family Aid program. We try to help families with members being treated for serious illnesses. We help other family members to travel to be with their loved ones in treatment. We help them with room and board so they can stay close to them – that kind of thing.

Healthy Times: Do you have any other projects in the works?
Dan Jansen: Well, we have the Olympics coming up in February. I’ll be doing commentary for NBC.

Healthy Times: What was a typical training day like when you were skating?
Dan Jansen: A typical training day really depended on the time of year. People have a misconception that as the big competitions get closer, we are training harder and more. In reality, as they get closer, we are cutting back so we can be rested and peak for the major competitions. The hardest part is actually the summer and fall when you are putting in your base work. Lots of hours and repetition.

Also, in the summer, all of our training was off the ice. Cross training, running, weights, cycling, plyometrics (a lot of explosive jumps and leaps for quickness and power).

Basically, we trained off ice from May - mid September - until the indoor tracks came along, then we did some two week on-ice training camps in July or so, but still, most of the summer we were off the ice. This has changed quite a bit as they skate more in the off season now.

Training was usually twice a day, six days a week. The number of hours is hard to specify because at that level, even the amount of rest you get, the food you eat, everything is a part of training. The physical part was usually anywhere from 4-6 hours a day. But very physical stuff!

Healthy Times: What do you do to stay in shape these days?
Dan Jansen: I’m very consistent in my exercise. I don’t necessarily follow a specific program - now I’m on the “life maintenance” program. I just find that if go more than 2 or 3 days without exercise, I just don’t feel right. I feel sluggish.

I usually switch off between cardio one day and calisthenics or high rep/low weight machine exercises. But I do a lot of body weight exercising – push ups, dips, etc…I’m not trying to build my strength as much as maintain it.

Healthy Times: So, it’s all about being consistent, huh?
Dan Jansen: Exactly. As far as diet goes, I do what I call “eating smart”. I do splurge a little bit with foods like pizza or “munchies” – I definitely have a spot for that, which I can afford because I know I’m working out and can burn that off. And I am conscious about not overdoing it on that kind of food. Otherwise I just eat smart – lots of fruits and vegetables and good, healthy food. I’m not an extremist by any means, in terms of diet. Definitely in terms of exercise I am.

But I am not a big believer is fad diets – “low carb” this or that. You know, we need a balanced diet to be healthy. You can’t be on a fad diet over the long haul – life lasts a long time, so you need to find a way to eat that you can make into a lifestyle you can live with.

Healthy Times: Let’s talk about adversity for a minute. Every one of us struggles with challenges – and certainly you’re no stranger to adversity. We all have issues that are very difficult to overcome. What would you say about how to deal with these things?
Dan Jansen: I think the most important thing is to realize that we’re in this for the long run. No one goes through life without going through these challenges, whatever they may be. I guess “perspective” is the word I’m looking for.

I have my parents to thank for that. I was the youngest of 9 kids- so of course we all had issues in our lives – and we all thought our own issues were “life and death issues” – when really they were never even close to that. My mom was always good at just taking life as it comes and moving forward from there. And my dad always had a great perspective too – whether it was with our sports or whatever, he just knew our trials are part of life, but not who we are. He wanted us to learn what was most important in life and in the long haul that would see us through the tough times.

Healthy Times: In terms of your Olympic experience, what do think were the major contributing factors to your success?
Dan Jansen: Well, I guess that also gets into perspective. You know I was certainly blessed with natural talent. Growing up, most sports came pretty naturally to me, skating probably least of all! Although I grew up with some success, I did have some years in my teens when I wasn’t even the top skater in the U.S.

But after I watched Eric Heiden in 1980, I decided that I would devote all my time to this sport. From that year on I had such a jump in success and I saw what could happen if I really worked at it. Then, it just became my life. You know there were a lot of days training in the rain, or in the heat of August when I’d think there were other things I could be doing…but also, when you love what you do, then you don’t look at it as a sacrifice.

I’d put speed skating, in terms training intensity, up against any other sport. And I never even looked at it as training. It was part of the competition, part of the life – and I loved it. I was lucky – I knew it was a great way to live - I never took it for granted, or had to “motivate” myself. I was so immersed in it that all the hard work was just doing what I loved.

Healthy Times: I hear a powerful principle in what you’re saying. You don’t have to be an Olympic athlete in order to find something to love and immerse yourself in it. It can be anything – hopefully we all do this in our own families – but there seems to be such power in loving what we are doing so much that it doesn’t seem like work.

Dan Jansen: You’ve got it exactly.

Mike Bundrant is the publisher of Healthy Times. Dan Jansen currently lives in North Carolina with his wife, Karen Palacios-Jansen, and his two daughters. You can find him on the web at www.dan-jansen.com.