Aliyah Snyder

Progress in the Athlete Brain

2011-09-14T19:28:00.003-04:00

To round out my story, here's an update coming up on my two year anniversary of my last concussion:

I'd like to let you all know about a website that I have started in order to facilitate communication in the athletic community about sports concussion. I believe that sharing experiences is important for public health and also for the individual, and we hope to make the Athlete Brain website an open forum for anyone who would like to talk about their unique story - I know it helped me.

I am now a first year Ph.D. student at University of Florida studying clinical neuropsychology. I can't tell you how happy I am to be here, not only because less than a year ago I couldn't fathom functioning this close to normal again, but also because my research will center on sports concussions. Please help me on my new mission to further our knowledge about sports concussion and traumatic brain injury in general by participating in the Athlete Brain project, and thank you, again, for your time.

Fin

2010-06-29T20:32:00.003-04:00

I've decided to officially end this blog, but keep it online and available to those who might find it useful. I'm about 9 months out from the concussion that ended it all, and still struggling - although on a much smaller scale than before.

One of the more difficult parts of this whole recovery process has been the explanation part of it. When I meet new people, and they ask me, 'what do you do?' I find myself tongue-tied and confused about what to say. Inevitably, the injury comes up, and inevitably, the questions about how it happened. I haven't found a graceful way of dealing with them yet, probably because I have not really moved on in my career yet. I don't want it to define me, and I don't want people to think I am a reckless person for participating in skeleton and getting the short end of the stick. I often feel very self-conscious and embarrassed about not recovering quicker.

Most people have very little understanding of traumatic brain injuries, and, therefore, almost no way of relating to me. I often feel judged about the situation I am in, but I put myself here. In sports its very easy to be blinded by determination and optimism, and reality often takes a back seat. However, that is usually how top athletes achieve their goals, without considering the consequences. That being said, I do not regret this experience, I just wish I didn't still have so many headaches and I truly miss the physical aspect of training.

Thank you to everyone who has read this blog and offered their support or just their attention. It was a rewarding experience, and I'm glad I will be able to remember through my own words this very strange, exhilarating time in my life. Good luck to all of you who pursue skeleton or any other dream, and I hope you make it.

Recovery

2010-01-30T12:47:00.002-05:00

The past 4-5 months have been very trying, but things are definitely getting better. It's been tough to reconcile the loss of what has been my Olympic dream, but perspective and friends always make things easier. I would like to take this experience and move on. Unfortunately, head injuries make the moving on part much more difficult. Exercise and attention have been my biggest obstacles. Exercising gives me pretty bad headaches, so I have been lying low and avoiding over-exertion. I hate the way this makes me feels, but I know its necessary to come out of this sooner rather than later. I have been unable to have a job, because I have to take frequent breaks and by the end of the day, I have splitting headaches.

I have decided that I would like to go back to graduate school for sure and study neuropsychology and specialize in concussion and testing. I have not taken many steps to make this happen, but as I continue to feel better, I foresee tackling selection of a school and admissions much more seriously. I am unsure about where I will be after my invalid period is over in Florida, but I am cautiously optimistic. The one thing I have accomplished is that I've set up a small-business specializing in glass rowing pendants. I have devoted my energies into learning about glass art, and I wanted to have an outlet and distraction. You can see the result at www.RowGlass.com. This is currently my only source of income and I use the rest of my time to help out around the house. I am hopeful that I will find better things in the future, but for now I'm taking it one step at a time.

Its Over?

2009-11-17T00:21:00.002-05:00

I have been dreading writing this entry for awhile now. I'm not sure how to begin this other than my skeleton career has come to an unexpected, extremely frustrating, and premature end. Its hard to accept failure, especially in the absence of a fight. In my case, there will be none. I could usually take pride in my ability to keep pushing, but now, its not even an option.

Starting from the beginning of this nightmare. . .

My last day sliding was not really any different than any of the previous days. No big catastrophe, no crash, nothing memorable, except my fastest time of the season on my borrowed steel pan sled. I took two runs, the first of which I can't remember very well, but it wasn't particularly good. I was pretty mad as I entered the finish dock, and was talking heatedly with Faisal about how I knew I could put together a much cleaner run. I must have gotten a little jostled on the track, but that's nothing new. My second run was good, and I felt happy at the bottom of the track. I didn't think much about the bump to my chin that I vaguely remembered occuring somewhere on the exit of 14 until I noticed that my chin was bleeding. I then thought back to what happened, and although I was really happy with my run, the ice was bumpy as it usually is out of 14, and I wasn't ready for it and let my chin get forced down quickly on the ice for a second. After the adrenaline wore off on the truck ride back to the top, my head felt a little funny and I was getting a little dizzy, so I decided to call it a day and ended my session.

That night I start zoning out a little bit, or what the doctors call 'fog,' and I figured I was slightly concussed. The next day I went out in the morning to the push track and pushed by myself, but I was having tremendous difficulty keeping up the sprint after the decline in the track. I felt off balance and awkward, but I didn't connect the two. Basically, everything went really really downhill after that. I started experiencing the severity of symptoms from my first concussion, and this one has lasted longer. A month and change later, I still don't feel normal, and I am very restricted in my activities.

I decided to take this head injury seriously and finally went to the doctors,. Honestly, it scared me terribly to be so out of it over something so very small I barely remembered it. The gist of the doctors' opinion is that I have now become so very susceptible to concussions that it would be a huge mistake to keep sliding. They told me that if I continue my career, I will likely spend the entirety of it recovering from concussions. I will never be able to train the way I need to because I cannot sustain any impact from the track anymore. I am not cleared to continue sliding. There is something about the structure of my head and brain that makes me particularly concussion-prone and it won't get better. Simply sliding on the track and pulling those G-forces is now enough to cause significant trauma. I am supposed to follow up with a neurologist to find out exactly why I am so much more prone to this injury than anyone else, but essentially, the doctors told me that my career has ended. Even when I do recover, there is no option to continue skeleton. If this were any other injury - a broken bone, anything - I would be able to recover eventually and keep going, but this is my brain. The struggle has been rather horrifying at times to function normally. Even now, I can't drive at night or visit a grocery store without getting overwhelmed and confused. I feel like a third grader. To know that if I continue sliding, I will only get worse, its something I cannot and will not fight. Its an impossible wall.

So that's the end of this story. I am very disappointed to say the least. I am sad that the wonderful people who have supported me will never see me compete and I will never have the option of qualifying for the Olympics. It is, however, the opportunity to start over again. I am in the process of returning home to Florida where I will continue my recovery into the new year and then hopefully figure out what I am going to do with my life. Thank you for following my journey. I wish there was more to write.

Hey you know what sucks?

2009-10-20T15:55:00.000-04:00

Concussions.

I have another one. More on this later.

Back on the ice

2009-10-15T21:28:00.004-04:00

The start house on Tuesday covered in snow

The past week has proven to be quite chaotic, and unfortunately, my blog has suffered. On monday, I arrived at the track intending to start my first session back on the ice, but after seeing the sled I was intended to use, those plans changed. Don Hass has been extremely kind, and on very short notice, brought a basic steel pan sled for me to use. Some extra pieces needed to be added to the end of the saddle so I wouldn't be sliding like a chicken with my elbows bent out, so it was decided my first day of sliding would take place on Tuesday, and I'd watch lines with Don for the Monday session. As always, listening to people who know the sport like Don helped me feel more comfortable and ready, so it was definitely a productive visit to the track even if I didn't slide.

Tuesday arrived and I took three runs. The anticipation building up to the first run of the season is almost unbearable for me. Its so particularly aggravating because I know in my mind that I have nothing to be scared of, and that I've been down this track enough times to know what's going to happen. Despite all the rationalization and reason, I still feel nauseous the entire day leading up to that run. As I had told myself, I had nothing to fear. Don warned me that the steel pan sled (as opposed to fiberglass pan) would be about a second and a half slower than any other sled, and I sure turned out a slow run. Because it was so slow, I was able to pretty much glide down the track with no problems except out of 10. For the first week of sliding, I should not be concerned at all with my times and focus instead on relearning the track and all the basics. However, I find it hard to not look at the clock and want it to read a faster time. I took two more runs, which each got faster and a little bumpier, but I was really happy to find that I didn't experience any of the helmet or head issues that plagued me at the start of last season. I came to Lake Placid in better shape than I had in previous trips, and its definitely paid off. My neck is strong enough to deal with the pressures, and my face is staying off the ice (possibly a little too high off the ice at times).

Wednesday was a little rockier. The ice got faster because they prepared it for the US team trials that happened earlier that day. I took two runs, both of which were not particularly clean. I was having trouble getting situated on my sled, and the saddle was too wide, so my body was moving around too much in and out of the corners, which translates to loss of control in skeleton. Something needed to change with my saddle, and Don gave me the go ahead to take a mallet to the handles to bend it in to help the fit. I spent some time watching the US team trials and examining lines since most of those sliders know this track the best. I left right before the bobsled competition, and as I was eating lunch, Andy sent me a text from the track. Ethan had crashed out of 18 and later on in the day, we would learn he had broken his collarbone. Ethan knows this track well, and its a reminder that these sports are inherently dangerous. Even someone with lots of experience down the track can crash and do damage.

Thursday is when even more of the international community showed up, and the starthouse was pretty packed. We only got 2 runs, which was probably a good thing. I annihilated the top portion of the track on my first run, but surprisingly had the best bottom section so far this year. I didn't even look at times, since they have been depressing me, and everyone has been telling me to focus on my sliding and not the times. My second run was delayed for awhile because there was an 81 on the track. 81 is code for crash, and one of the Italian men became separated from his sled somewhere on the track. I don't know if he was hurt, but I don't think so. I got pretty beat up on my second run, and i know its because i'm breaking form and not staying relaxed. I tried to bend the handles on the saddle in some yesterday, but it obviously wasn't enough, so I'm going to try again today.

Living in Lake Placid has been pretty stressful so far. Any time I move to a new place, its a real adjustment, but the mountains are so far removed from anything I am used to. It is absolutely beautiful up here though. I am trying to find a job doing pretty much anything, but the job market is pretty tough as its in the off season. I'm still adjusting and I miss my family and friends pretty badly, but I just have to keep reminding myself that I am living the dream, even if that dream means I'm poor, lonely, and bruised sometimes.

Swimming in October

2009-10-11T20:27:00.003-04:00

Over the past few days, I've been at the push track working on my starts and climbing around the bobtrack watching the US skeleton team trials and some bobsled here and there. I seem to like my new method of taking a turn a day for observation at the track. I have the luxury of taking things slow instead of walking the entire track and trying to memorize it all at once. Yesterday I watched lines from 17 to 18 and 18 to 19. There was no pressure, and I liked analyzing the lines on my own. Today I took the section from 10 through 12, which is a notoriously tricky part on this track, nicknamed the Labyrinth. Sliding starts tomorrow for me and the rest of the international group coming in, so I feel like I have had somewhat of an advantage studying the track this week.

My shins have started to ache pretty fiercely from the training I've been doing, and I may be approaching shin splint territory. In an effort to prevent this, I've finally decided to embrace a long standing phobia of mine - cold tubbing. After training, its of huge benefit to ice your muscles, and the quickest, most effective way to do that is immersing them in a cold bath. The town of Lake Placid happens to have some natural cold baths sitting around in its lakes. On my first day here, Ethan mentioned that he and his bobteam were going to Mirror Lake to cool their muscles, and I thought, "how awful does that sound?" After letting that stew for a day or two, I realized that if I am going to embrace training the way I need to, I have to face my fears. After my second day of training I decided to brave the lake. I took my phone with me and immediately called my boyfriend so he could listen to me howl as I waded in. I wanted to distract myself, but found it was difficult to talk on the phone while shaking and submerged up to my hips. About 2 minutes went by, and my body started to acclimate to the shock. I was definitely getting some weird looks from the Lake Placid tourists as they walked by all bundled up. Unfortunately I picked one of the busier weekends in the town for my cold-water-idiot exhibition. After 4 minutes I called my mom and told her what ridiculousness I was currently engaged in to which she replied, "well. . . . .I'm eating chocolate and its 90 degrees." What awesome moral support.

Tomorrow is a big day as it will be my first day of sliding for the season. Don Hass is bringing me a sled to use, so I will thankfully have something to train with.

Lake Placid: Day 1 and counting

2009-10-09T11:47:00.006-04:00

Lake Placid's new rubberized track next to the Olympic torch from the 1980 Winter Games

After a short and wonderful visit to beautiful and scenic Worcester, MA (slight sarcasm), I have arrived at my final destination for the winter. Our federation president, Andy, has been so very kind as to provide me with a place to stay and has helped me get settled in. What I was hoping to be a smooth transition into the skeleton season has proven to be everything but. The sled drama has not been resolved and UPS still has no idea what they've done with it. I am getting to the boiling point with all parties involved and this is a much bigger headache than I had anticipated.

Onto the positives. I am already feeling the benefits of relocating here from a training standpoint. I am excited and motivated about improving here with all the unique facilities close by. Yesterday, I went out to the newly built rubberized track less than two miles away from the house and did a sprint workout. Ethan and Andy came out to watch and help with my technique. Having someone critique you is truly invaluable, and Ethan's observations and suggestions were incredibly helpful. Thank you Ethan for being awesome. I managed to get myself invited into the coaching launch for Northwood's rowing practice in the afternoon. They are a private school that's mostly concentrated on fostering elite hockey athletes. I really enjoyed seeing their practice, and its encouraging to know that there's a program nearby because I already miss Gonzaga more than words. After the rowing practice, I made my way up to the bobtrack to watch the US team skeleton sliding session. I wandered around the track, and did most of my observations from 14 into the chicane, since most of the track was covered. I talked to some of the athletes at the top, and they said the track was pretty rough this early in the season because of the rain and the high temperatures (relatively, meaning in the 40s).

Today I went to the push track and started working on starts by myself. I'm extremely thankful no one was out there to see me because the first attempt was a complete horrorshow. By the 4th push, I was starting to get back into the groove, and I know with repeated training I'll excel beyond my times last year. There's a lot of work to be done, but I'm definitely in the right place to do it.

Summer Recap

2009-10-05T12:02:00.004-04:00

This summer was pretty eventful with all the traveling I ended up doing during the first half for crew and then for my Israeli citizenship. I feel like I made some good athletic progress during the almost two months I was home in Florida, but I still am not satisfied. I know that being in an area where I am surrounded by people who understand my goals is going to be an important step in training. I spent the summer trying to teach myself how to sprint better, but I'm not sure how successful that was. I have rather limited knowledge except for what I have heard from friends. I can say that I do believe my technique has improved to some degree. I have a longer stride now, but I'm not sure if its anywhere near adequate. I'll find out soon.

The past week has been challenging with all the driving, and I will arrive in Lake Placid tomorrow. On Saturday morning before I left Florida, I went to the annual Fight Gone Bad fundraiser for Crossfit Emerald Coast at Body Dynamics in Niceville where I participated in the workout. It was great to see everyone, and I usually feel like roadkill after the Crossfit workouts, but I never started feeling better. I remained dizzy and weak. I started off to Atlanta the next day and felt pretty exhausted after packing. I saw my best friend which was awesome, but I was beginning to have trouble eating. Although most of my strength has returned, for the rest of the week, I get nauseous at the thought of eating and then feel really sick and weak after I do. Its weird. Yesterday was the first day I was able to eat and not feel sick afterwards, so I think I'm on the mend. I've been in Worcester for the past 5 days visiting my boyfriend here, and its been a wonderful time. Its felt like a real vacation aside from feeling sick.

Now onto the ridiculous, I-can't-believe-this-happened-part of my blog. UPS LOST MY SLED. Yes, LOST. It was being shipped from the manufacturers in Calgary to Lake Placid and it should have been there by the end of September. When it didn't show up, and I hadn't been contacted about any problem, I tracked the shipment and according to the website, they had lost the package. I called UPS and they told me that the sled had become separated from its packaging (which was duct-taped on, so I have no idea) and they have no idea where it is. They also said that they would only be contacting the shipper from then on, so I had to call my friend at S1 to find out what's going on. UPS had failed to notify the shipper of any problem, and when he called, they told him the same thing. No idea what happened to it. So UPS has lost my $4000 sled and has pretty much nothing to say for themselves about it. I have to make some more calls today and figured out exactly what's going to happen, but that's the big drama from the past month.

Beach sprinting

IBSF Shirts Now Available for Online Ordering!

2009-09-14T11:07:00.013-04:00

So we have finally set up a Paypal account for online ordering. If you are interested in purchasing one of our shirts, please add your size to the shopping cart and become a proud supporter of the IBSF and me. If you think your friends or family would be interested, please send the information along, because we need all the help we can get. Cost online is $20 plus shipping. Thanks so much!

Some Things Only Happen to Me

2009-08-28T16:16:00.002-04:00

I have a talent for attracting bizarre people or strange things. Last week I just happened to be at the back of the restaurant/bar that I work at that is adjacent to another bar just in time to witness the fattest lady in the entire club flash the whole place. I was having a terrible night at work, and was pretty convinced God hated me at that point. I should be in grad school or working some important job, but here is probably my greatest sacrifice for the sport of skeleton - another summer of waitressing. Hate hate hate hate hate. Anyway, after the 300 lb. flasher, my week has gotten progressively better, until today.

It started off great - I got up and went out to the beach to do some sprinting on the sand and in the water. I went to the Air Force beach where I knew it would be pretty secluded. The water was perfect and I was having a downright enjoyable workout. I had walked my happy little self as far to the left of the walkover as possible to avoid the other three people on the beach that day, and was pleased that I could get my work done without any weird looks or intrusions. It was to be short lived.

About halfway through my beach sprints, this middle aged guy treks all the way out to where I am and puts his stuff down about 20 yards from where mine is. He then walks up to me as I'm breathing hard in between sprints and asks if I need a towel so I can lay out. I explain to him that, thank you, but I have a towel, and I'm not planning on laying out. I finish my sprints and he goes back to his umbrella and is obviously watching me the entire time. Then I go into the water and continue doing some water running. After doing my water work I glance back at the beach just in time to see the guy crouching butt-naked. I reel around in horror and then after about 2 minutes of deciding what to do about the naked man on the beach, I decide its time to go and turn around again. Apparently the man was changing, because now he is standing in the water about 30 ft. away from me in a light blue thong. Awkward. I gather up my stuff and walk back down the beach where I proceed to enjoy the rest of my afternoon out of sight of the Thonged Wonder.

Anyway, despite that little episode, I really liked working out on the beach, and I think I'm going to continue and add at least one sprint workout there from now on. After my workout, I saw some dolphins just offshore playing. There was a baby and a mother, and the baby kept raising its tail out of the water and slapping it down. A few more showed up for a total of four, and I spent a good half hour just watching them in the water. It reminded me how much I adore this place, and I wanted to drink it in as much as possible so when I'm freezing my ass off in Lake Placid, I remember where I came from. Destin is comforting to me, and I will miss it, but there are adventures to be had in life so full steam ahead.

Is it August already?

2009-08-23T01:00:00.003-04:00

The summer seems to have flown by with all the traveling that went on. I've been trying to get into a schedule here in Florida, but it keeps getting interrupted. I'm lifting at a local gym in Niceville called Body Dynamics and doing sprint workouts on the Niceville HS track, but there are no rubberized tracks anywhere in the area. The plan for the fall is to get up to Lake Placid by the beginning of October and get push training in until I'm allowed to train on the ice. I should be taking runs consistently and I'll be staying with our federation president in Placid at least for the fall until the America's cup races start on November 30th. I have been unable to find a sprint coach here, as no one I have contacted has returned correspondence. I know in Lake Placid, there will be people around to help, so I will probably get more accomplished by going up there than staying down here.

I love Florida more than any other place I have lived, and this place is truly home, but I am realizing that for training I will not be able to be here next summer. I am going to have to look at my options, but it seems that from now on, Florida will only be a place to visit my family. I need to be stepping my training up, and its too hard to be here by myself with no one to train with or answer to. I am seriously thinking about relocating permanently to Utah for the next sliding season. I am starting to get excited for the upcoming season, one and a half months to go before the ice.

T-Shirts Are Here!

2009-07-27T13:08:00.002-04:00

The long-awaited IBSF T-shirts are here! We have them in S, M, L, and XL, they are fitted shirts and pretty awesome.

We are selling them for $20 each, and all proceeds go directly to helping us with equipment, race registration, travel, and training expenses.

If you would like to purchase one, email me at aliyahsnyder@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Ricky at Rockstar Custom for making this possible.

Going Full Time

2009-07-27T12:49:00.003-04:00

My career in rowing has ended for now. I accompanied the Gonzaga crew team to the Henley Royal Regatta in England at the beginning of July. We had a pretty incredible (although rather high-stress) experience there, and I'm so very happy that I was able to end my rowing history with this very prestigious race. It's always been a dream of mine to go to Henley, and to be able to help coach a crew there was really a dream come true. I cried like a baby when the boys lost on the second day, but not because I was disappointed, more because I was very sad to see it all done. I have never enjoyed rowing as much as I did this year, and I will remember the dedication and hard work that the boys gave for the rest of my life as it was truly inspiring. I already miss them. I am truly grateful for what my involvement in crew has taught me, and know that if I use the lessons that I have learned through rowing, they can help me become successful in skeleton as well.

After Henley, I made my own Aliyah to Israel where I stayed with wonderful new-found family and fell in love with the country (but not the bureaucracy). My citizenship has been more or less finalized and I can now say that I represent Israel both as an athlete and a citizen. I am very proud of this, and I look forward to going back to Israel as often as possible in the future as training permits. Right now, I'm back in Florida getting back the lost training time from all the overseas travel. My full time job is now getting into shape for skeleton and training. Although this leaves me, as always, on the poorer side of things, I am thankful that my family is very supportive. I am tentatively planning on going up to Lake Placid at the beginning of October and staying for the majority of the season to train everyday on the ice, as this what will truly help me improve the most. I will be competing in the America's Cup Races and hopefully establishing myself as a member of this small winter community, but for now its running and lifting.

Gonzaga at Henley

Spring Ending

2009-05-02T13:52:00.004-04:00

Since I've been back from Lake Placid, life has sprinted ahead and I'm left trying to play catch up while my lungs explode. April and May always seem like this for me, but this year especially, the drama doesn't stop. I'm back into lifting, but concerned because my meniscus tears are starting to aggravate me again. If my leg is bent and I try to push up, like when I'm climbing stairs, I experience shooting pains. It comes and goes, but squatting, which needs to be the bread and butter of my training, was pretty difficult last week. The past few days have been a respite, and I'm just hoping it holds out.

Onto better things: We will have official IBSF t-shirts printed hopefully in the next three weeks. This is what they will look like.

We haven't determined a price for them yet, but all proceeds will go directly to helping Omri and I afford training/equipment/competition expenses for next year. They are our main fundraising opportunity right now, aside from sponsors which we still haven't begun pursuing. I will post when we get them printed and put an email address that you can contact if anyone who reads this blog is interested in buying one.

Special thanks to Luke Sedmak for designing the shirts for us.

Go Eagles

2009-04-25T14:54:00.005-04:00

Congratulations to all Gonzaga crews for today's strong showing at the Foley Cup. I'm really proud of all of you.

That's for you Weider and Johannes.

Race 2 and the Return

2009-04-10T15:32:00.002-04:00

My last day of racing/sliding for the season ended on a bittersweet note. I was proud of myself that I had a relatively good first showing at the America's Cup, but disappointed that I didn't slide as well as I had envisioned. It's all part of the process though. Not every race can be an inspiring performance. My first run was rocky and poorly connected. I tapped almost every single wall on the track and felt very uncomfortable on my sled. After I'd calmed down, I thought back to what had happened and what I was feeling. I was able to understand that the swelling and bruising underneath my arms from my disaster run on Wednesday and from general sliding in the race yesterday had become very painful in the exact place that my saddle sits underneath my arms. I have to slide pretty far back on my sled to get my balance point which shoves the metal up and into my arms. By the end of the two weeks, just lying on my saddle had become painful. The natural tendency for humans when in pain is to tense up which is the exact opposite of good skeleton technique. I was tensing up on my sled the entire way down the track, prohibiting good control and form. I made the decision for my second run to suck it up and force as much form and relaxation I could despite being really uncomfortable. I struggled with this down the track, but managed to salvage my second run. I was fairly clean through the chicane and the bottom section of the track. I could tell that when I made myself melt into the sled against the pain I was much more effective and in control. It was a constant battle on that run, but at least my last one of the season wasn't a total bust. I PR'd by 1/100th of a second on my start and pushed a 5.82. My goal for next season is to be pushing into the 5.6s, so I've got a lot of work to do over the summer.

After the race, I drove myself to my uncle's house in Long Island and enjoyed a very brief visit until the early morning when I woke up and continued the drive to DC, so I could get back in time for a scrimmage with the High School rowers. The next morning (Sunday), I woke up early again and the entire team took the bus to Philadelphia where we raced on the Schuylkill river. Good racing and good results there, so I was very glad I made the crazy drive back to be there. Lake Placid is the last track in the world to stay open, so when it closes at the end of April the season will most definitely be done. Next year I hope to be on a track as much as possible and participate in the full America's Cup racing tour. Most of this depends on sponsors and finances. Right now, I'm in Florida visiting my mom and some friends and I'm going to enjoy the beach tremendously after being in the cold. I feel good about my year, but I'm looking forward to an even more productive one starting August.

Start of the second race

After the FIBT driver's school race

me

First Race

2009-04-02T19:06:00.004-04:00

Regardless of the actual result, today was a big step for me. I competed in the final America's Cup race of the 2008-09 season. This was my first real race sanctioned by the FIBT and I received international points. I had a decent performance for my first race. I pushed a 5.85 and 5.86 respectively on runs 1 and 2, and ultimately finished 10th against some pretty good sliders. My second run was far inferior to my first, and I'm losing a lot of time through turns 11-14. I'm going to try to clean this up for tomorrow as its my last day of sliding for not only this trip, but the entire season.

Managing my nerves up to the race was a crazy battle and my stomach seemed to have a mind of its own. I was relatively pleased with how I handled my nervousness as it could have gone horribly wrong by stiffening up on the sled and breaking form. I won't be as nervous for tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to the final race. I am starting to get sick again which is completely pathetic, and I'm pretty banged up from the past two weeks, but I really want to improve tomorrow to end on a high note.

Me looking really really cool. Not.

At the start.

Almost 81

2009-04-01T17:28:00.004-04:00

Today was both extremely encouraging and really painful. I had three personal bests today - run 1 push, run 1 downtime, run 2 push. Unfortunately the actual second run was miserably bad and probably the worst run I have ever had here. I was 12th in line for the start of training and I tried drinking some coffee this morning which helped me wake up. I went on a track walk with Brian and sliders from Australia and Brazil, and I felt good after the walk. We went over curves 5 - 11 and I got some valuable insight about curves 7 and 8 and how to better handle curve 11. I was feeling good as I got to the line and pushed decently. My push was a 5.93, and I was happy to see that I am starting to consistently push below 6 seconds. The downtime was 59.70, and I felt really good about my run. I had some places to clean up, but I was looking forward to the next run to fix them.

I'm not exactly sure where it went to hell in the second run but it did. If I could fully express the frustration about the second run it would be a paragraph of expletives, but out of respect and decency to my family who I think are the only ones who read this, I will just say it was a tornado of suck. My push time was a full tenth faster than my previous best on the run before, clocking in at 5.83. However that was the only good part. I loaded too far forward and instead of fixing this in the curves, I did it in the straightaway out of 1, which sent me into a skid. I was messy through 2 and went in 2 feet late into corner 3 which is pretty much a death wish. I knew it was bad, but I kind of just freaked out instead of dropping my toe and grinding left for all I was worth. I slammed really hard into the short wall out of three and was rattled by the impact since I almost fell off my sled. I entered the devils highway out of sorts and broke form the whole way down. Into 11 I was unacceptably late and rose so high out of 12 that I went airborne and almost flipped my sled right there. The chicane was a tunnel of pain and skidding, but I finally made it through the bottom section. My time was a full 3 seconds slower than the one before and I was raging mad. I knew I could do better than that and there was no reason to have had such a bad run.

I was pretty upset and hurt and bleeding at the finish dock, but Rindy was nice enough to help me calm down and try to look at the situation more objectively. She mentioned that because my push was so much faster than what I had been doing before, it completely changes the speed of the track. I just need to say that I got the crap run out of my system and now I'm ready for the race tomorrow. It's not a great confidence booster having my skeleton rattled (HA), but I really don't think I can have a worse run than that during the next two days. My biggest challenge will be trying to deal with some of the injury that I sustained during my big flop down the track.

After the horrorshow of training, we got lunch and then returned to the track to watch the bobsled America's Cup race. The bobsledders started their racing today and it was fun to see everyone in race mode. I especially enjoyed Brazil's men's team screaming before their run. I lent Brazil's womens' team my skeleton spikes because their brakeman didn't have hers, so I am desperately hoping they remember to give them back to me. Also, an 81 is the code for a crash on the track. If someone, usually in a bobsled, goes over and crashes, an 81 will be announced over the loudspeaker and a hold will be placed on the track for however long it takes to get the sliders out.

April Snows

2009-03-30T22:02:00.004-04:00

The past few days have been super busy and kind of crazy. On Thursday, my head was not feeling better, so I leveled with one of the coaches and she suggested taking the day off. I hated missing the ice time, but I had to be honest with myself and learn from the dangerously familiar situation last April that ended in a month-long concussion. I agreed with her, and instead of sliding, used the time to watch lines in curves 10 and 14. After watching a few sliders with one of the coaches, I realized that I had been making an unnecessary downsteer at the beginning of curve which was killing my height through 10 and screwing up my exit resulting in a hit into the right wall before 11. In curve 14 which funnels in the chicane, I spent a lot of time sitting on the catwalk right as the curve exits and watching the lines. Although I was disappointed about not sliding, I definitely benefitted from taking the time to observe the track during the practice.

Friday was a mock race day for the skeleton school. We spent Thursday night doing sled prep - sanding runners and some last minute padding adjustments. The coaches ran the race like a real FIBT event, so we could get used to the set up. After my first run, I was surprised to see that I was in first place for the girls. There were only 6 of us, but all of them had more sliding experience than I have. I had a pretty good run, but I let myself get psyched out for the second one and tensed up too much on my sled resulting in skidding into 3 and through the chicane. Overall, I finished 3rd in the race and they even gave me a medal, which I thought was pretty funny. My head was still a little achy but not nearly as bad as the day before. Saturday and Sunday were both days off, but Omri and I went down the push track to get some work on our starts done. It turned out to be a beautiful day, and I feel like I made a lot of progress with my technique with all the coaching I received on it. I'm looking forward to coming back up here and getting a good block of time training the push.

Sunday was a relaxation day and we spent most of the time driving around looking for a pool unsuccessfully. Rindy, Omri, and I also moved into a condo closer to downtown Lake Placid. The USBSF had a sponsored party at Wiseguys for the bob/skeleton school with free food and drinks that turned out to be pretty fun. Today was the first day of the America's Cup Race training. It started snowing overnight and continued all day. We were taking a track walk this morning before the training started, but we had to get out of the track because we were over the allotted time for walks. We exited at turn 9 where there's a beginner's start, but there was no truck to take us back to the top. Sliding was due to start in 20 minutes, so I was starting to get anxious. It soon became apparent that no trucks were going to pick us up in time, and I refused to ruin my super expensive skeleton spikes, so I made an executive decision and took them off. I walked most of the way up the track in just my socks through the mud and snow with spikes in hand. It was pretty gross, but one of the coaches picked me up around turn 2 and I made it back in time for the start of training. There are a total of 39 sliders, both male and female, so waiting for the actual run takes a good hour. Its kind of a drag with all that downtime and we are only allowed to take two runs, so it was a long morning. My first run was pretty much garbage, but my second one was better. Tomorrow is another day of training and hopefully the snow will stop.

Oh also. Today Omri and I were both interviewed by a Brazilian Television crew at the track after our runs. Hilarious.

Ping Pong

2009-03-26T10:18:00.002-04:00

Had my ups and then went back down. Yesterday was just short of miserable. We went to push training in the morning, and I felt so worn out just from the warm-up. The actual pushes didn't go that great, and I don't have the power to load correctly. I also woke up with a pretty wicked headache from the day before. A few of the American sliders have been commenting on how rough the ice is. After we came back to the OTC and took a short nap, Omri and I packed up our stuff and headed out to the track. Luckily it was a really nice day and the temperatures were around 50 and sunny. This meant the track slowed down a little bit, but not all that bad. My first run was decent and still in the minute range, but my body was doing a poor job of resisting pressures. Turns 10, 14, and 19 really hit me hard, and my neck just couldn't hold my head off the ice. My second run saw me nail the short wall out of turn 3 and actually sent sparks flying. I took a couple more hits especially out of 19, but the bottom section of the track was not as bad as I thought. My biggest obstacle is still my start because I was not getting out fast at all and loading poorly and also entering turn 1 really late which I hadn't been having a problem with previously.

The headache from the day before intensified after those two runs, and I felt a little dizzy getting out of the track after the second run. I felt ok while we were waiting for the truck to take us to the top, but the bumpy truck ride up made me feel downright nauseous. I talked to the coach at the start dock, and he made the call for me not to take a third run, which was probably a good move. I hate missing ice time especially when there's coaching, but if I took a third run yesterday, I might not be taking any today. I decided to skip the optional push training this morning to try and rest up for the track later. I feel like I am playing catch up with my body and I am not in a strong position at all. Right now I'm resting and hoping this headache subsides a little bit or at least that it doesn't get worse. Otherwise, there's a distinct possibility I'm heading to concussion city, population me. Sorry mom.

Last night was fun though. I was feeling pretty bummed after the video review session because I did not slide as well as I wanted to, and I was just frustrated about my head. Omri and I grabbed Faisal and went to play pool in the common room. Faisal and I played a ridiculously long game because I couldn't hit anything in and Faisal kept giving me pity shots. The bobsledders from Liechtenstein were also there, and I ended up playing ping pong with him for a really long time. They were awfully good natured guys and were really funny, so I enjoyed getting to know them even if their pilot beat me three games in a row. He told me he was bad at ping pong, but this was certainly not the case. After that, I caught up with Ethan who had just come back from Park City and is back living at the OTC. It was nice to talk with him, but he did give me a hard time about my push being slow. We'll see what happens today.

Getting Better

2009-03-24T22:14:00.003-04:00

Day two has been a success. I can finally breathe/talk/walk/function again now that I am on constant medication, so my mood has improved and consequently, my sliding. We started the day at the push track at the Olympic Equine Center. They have a sled on tracks built into a hill that we can practice our pushes on. I was feeling pretty bad this morning and really didn't want to go, but I figured this was invaluable coaching, so I couldn't miss out. I struggled through the warm-up, and by the time we got to actually pushing, the Dayquil had kicked in and I was feeling a little more confident. I don't have any real power for the push, but my mechanics are coming along ok. I really like the combination and style of coaching at this camp, and I feel like I have a better push after three runs with feedback. I need to work on my load and hitting the sled with chest first instead of my legs, which is what I was doing previously. I have a lot of speed to gain over the summer, and after the push session today, I have a good idea of the kinds of routines I will be doing to improve my push.

I took a much needed nap after push training, and we headed out for a track walk at 3pm. We reviewed the bottom section of the track, which I definitely needed and then headed up to start 1 for the start of the session. The weather was a HUGE improvement from yesterday, and I was feeling almost tropical at 45 degrees. When its above the 30s I can take my time getting to the start line instead of waiting until the slider before me has hit the heart (bottom turns) and sprinting to grab my sled and shiver at the line. I set myself up for the push, and I had one of the coaches up there giving me reminders. The load was ok, not great, but I had made up my mind to definitely have better runs than yesterday. I relaxed and remembered that sliding is never as bad as you think at the top of the track. I managed to get my helmet positioning right, and was able to see about 4 feet in front of me. I still struggle with turn 3 and turns 10,11,12, but it was a smoother run, and I felt good about it at the bottom.

I decided to slide without padding today, which was a risky move. In some ways, I had the idea that leaving the padding out would force me to have a better run, so my shoulders didn't turn into hamburger meat. I will be racing without padding, so I decided to go ahead and make that step today. I think it paid off. My new sled minimizes physical damage on impacts and I am relaxing on the impact so that I don't fly off the sled into the walls. Anyway, Run 2 was similar to run 1, but I dragged my head a little more through the turns than I would have liked. I got out of the track with a headache, but I don't think it was very serious. For my last run, Don, the coach helping me with my push, told me that if I don't load correctly he would make me run 100 laps in the gym after training. The threat worked, and I had a good run and hit chest first with feet in the air on the sled. Run 3 saw me fix a few spots that I had been struggling with. I held my downsteer in turn 7 longer and escaped the hit on the exit. I increased the intensity of my counter steer on the exit of 14 to shoot me straight into the chicane without playing pinball. Although my entry into 17 was screwy because I keep skidding after the high point in the chicane, I still managed to execute the middle and exit steers to shoot me clean into 18. I ended on a high note, and I'm looking forward to sliding tomorrow and continuing to work on my problems areas. Before my second run, I was talking to Rachelle, one of the US sliders, about my helmet issues, and she has the same helmet. She suggested adding padding to the back of the helmet to prevent it from falling down, which I did and I CAN SEE CONSISTENTLY. Thank you Rachelle.

Omri had to miss the first few days of sliding, but he is back now and trying to pad his sled. So far he has had input on padding/taping his sled from Korea, Iraq, The Netherlands, Australia, and the US. Most of the people here are experienced sliders with no experience on the Placid track. Everyone went from the top today, and I am sliding in the top half of the pack. This may change, but its nice to not always be finishing last. Tomorrow we're going to the push track at 9am and then more sliding.

Back in LP One Year Later

2009-03-23T17:52:00.002-04:00

I am currently at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid and day one of the FIBT skeleton driver's school has been completed. It's been a frustrating week getting here. On Monday I started getting sick, and its only gotten worse as I got closer to my departure date. I have run the gamut of symptoms including fever, sore throat, nausea, and sinus mess. I started driving up to Placid on Saturday after a 5am wake up for Gonzaga's scrimmage with Yorktown on the Anacostia. I finally left the boathouse around noon and made it to our fearless leader, Andy's, house by 10pm where Omri was waiting for me. Sunday was check in day and we both moved into the Olympic Training Center where I am rooming with my friend Rindy, who usually slides skeleton for Jamaica, but is trying her hand at driving bobsleds this week.

Last night was pretty stressful because our new S1 sleds that Omri picked up at World Championships earlier this month were not padded or ready for sliding. Padding and prepping that sled while being sick and tired was painfully slow and tedious. I didn't get to bed until almost midnight. There was further drama when we found out my practice runners won't fit my sled, so I'm using my race runners for training this week. I am going to have to grind down my practice runners eventually so they will fit in the sled.

We had a track walk at 11am this morning led by one of the coaches, a current Intercontinental Cup slider for the US, Rebecca. I was honestly having trouble focusing on anything besides standing upright and staying awake. I was nervous before the track this morning, but not as nervous as I usually am, probably because I didn't have the energy to be. I didn't feel my stomach twisting, which was a welcome relief from previous pre-track physical jitters. I asked Rebecca to help me balance my sled before my runs, which I wish I had a chance to do last night. The new sled definitely feels different, and its going to take some getting used to. It feels more massive than the other school sleds I've been using, but its currently a minimum weight sled and lighter.

I elected to take my first runs directly from the top today. About half the sliders went from start 3 as they had never been to this track before, but I thought I should just go from start 1 since I was here not all that long ago. I was 4th in line after Faisal, my Iraqi friend, and I stepped up to the line not sure what to expect. I jogged it off the top one-handed and tried to sink into the metal and 'become one with the sled.' The sled was fine, but my old nemesis - my helmet came back to haunt me. I was basically blind after turn 3 and I took a few hits, but nothing earth-shattering. Faisal told me that the first thing I would notice about the new sled is the dampening in the vibrations from the track. I did notice this and it is a beautiful thing. Those steel sleds feel like you are riding on a high-powered washing machine with rocks inside of it. The run itself was not poetry by any stretch of the imagination and I skidded in to 4, hit out of 12, and smashed out of 19. Its so hard to anticipate the corners when I can't see them. Hopefully it will get better tomorrow when I am more comfortable on my sled. On a positive note, it was my fastest time on the Placid track at a 1:00.04. Slowly coming along.

Unfortunately, as soon as my first run was over I tried to tell Faisal how it went at the finish dock and found out I lost my voice almost completely. Run 2 was very similar to run 1 except I pushed off the top a little harder. I had the same helmet problem and pretty much drug my face the entire run. I had been training and weightlifting pretty hard for the past few months and I was starting to feel really strong and really excited about sliding with some power. The last week of illness has completely robbed me of any of that strength I built. I haven't been able to lift, and walking makes me feel tired. My neck especially feels weak, and I'm sure that is why I've regressed to face-dragging. I'm just praying I get better/stronger as the week goes on. My second run felt faster, but turned out to be slower. I made some of the same mistakes as the first run, and finished with a 1:00.22. I'm going to go have dinner and take massive amounts of medicine. For the past four days I have been thinking that I'm at the worst of this sickness, and then the next day another symptom appears. I hope it changes for the better.

Visa

2009-03-16T12:37:00.002-04:00

I just received a phone call informing me that my new Israeli visa will be shipped to me in 3 business days. Now, Omri and I just need to go to Israel in July and I can finish my paperwork and it will be officially official. Good news.

I am still completely broke though. Not good news.

Spring Training

2009-03-08T18:48:00.002-04:00

Things have returned to somewhat of a routine in DC as I have joined a local gym much closer to my house. I'm amazed at how difficult it is to find a good free weight gym, but the Dale City Rec Center has a pretty decent set up. Now that I have access to it, I've gained muscle back and I feel more confident about my physical shape as I approach my final two weeks of training for the season.

Things are trucking along nicely on the Israel train. My application for citizenship was approved, and I recently submitted my papers to get my Israeli visa. Omri and I are planning on going to Israel in the beginning of July, and once that happens I will be official. This is really happening. Also, the IBSF (Israeli skeleton federation) has submitted the paperwork to the international skeleton governing body to register me as a member of the team. Here is a link to my very short and inaccurate profile on the website. I'm pretty stoked to even be on it.

Preparations are under way for Omri and I's upcoming two week stint in Lake Placid. We are attending the FIBT International Driver's school for the first week and staying at the Olympic Training Center. We are also entered in what will be our first race, and America's Cup competition taking place the following week. I finally have a new speedsuit that doesn't look like Mardi Gras threw up on me, so this is good news as I won't embarrass the Israelis at our first race. Our Slovak friend came through with our sleds and they are now in Omri's possession in Boston awaiting their debut in a few weeks. It will either be carnage or success, well, maybe both. I feel like everything is in place from an equipment standpoint for us to progress steadily at this point. When you are switching sleds every training trip, its difficult to learn what works and what doesn't. With our own sleds, we will be able to learn and make adjustments without the variable of equipment changing on us. The biggest issue right now is money, and I foresee it remaining a big issue for awhile. The downturn in the economy has made it incredibly hard for me to find reliable part time work and I am just squeaking by. I'm hoping I will find a job this summer so I can finally save instead of burning through my savings. More updates to come as we get closer to go time.

Fencing and Presidents

2009-01-24T13:21:00.003-05:00

I'm back in DC trying to get into some sort of routine. My weightlifting and overall fitness have severely suffered from my constant traveling since Thanksgiving. I stopped by Capitol Hill Bikes to talk to my friend Charlotte, and she noticed that I had visibly lost weight. That was a kick in the pants, and I'm determined to gain back much of the weight and strength that have been slipping away before March.

On our way back from Lake Placid, I spent the night in Waltham at an old friend's house. This friend, Damien, and I used to fence in high school and he has continued during college. We went over to the Brandeis gym and fenced a few bouts for old time's sake. That was a crazy trip down memory lane, but it was some of the most fun I've had in a gym in a long time. I was surprisingly not as rusty as I thought I'd be, and managed to score some solid touches (points) against Damien. He also could have been taking it easy on me, but regardless, I had a blast. It was nice to revisit a sport that I had been so competitive in and enjoy it, because I failed to towards the end of my fencing career. In high school, I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform, and eventually collapsed under it. I forgot why I started fencing in the first place. This is also one of my greatest hurdles in my beginning skeleton career - never losing sight of the fact that I'm just sliding down a glorified, frozen water slide. I am going to make reality a huge part of my skeleton experience, because I will choke myself if I don't take the time to breathe.

On an unrelated note, I went to the inauguration of Barack Obama in DC when I got back from Boston. Originally, I was just going to watch it on tv, but I realized the night before that I would regret missing such an historical event. I met my friends in the city and after around 3 hours of walking and traveling, we stood next to the Washington monument and heard Obama's speech on the National Mall. Hearing his voice live for the first time as our president is something I will remember for the rest of my life.

Pictures

2009-01-18T16:06:00.004-05:00

The Coldest Place in the World

2009-01-17T01:12:00.002-05:00

I am currently in Waltham, MA staying at an old friend's house until my train back to DC tomorrow night. I hope I do not get waylaid or have trouble because of the incoming inauguration rush. We woke up this morning, and the pipes had frozen at Andy's house. After that was fixed, Omri and I headed out to the track. Omri ate something bad last night, which I suspect was and entire bag of pepperoni, and was feeling too sick to slide. We drove out to the sled shed, dropped his school sled back in the building and caught a truck to start 1. Today was once again colder than -10, so I asked Andy's wife if I could borrow her hairdryer and copied the bobsledders' warming trick. It worked wonderfully. I ended up taking three runs today, and although being outside in spandex in that cold wasn't a cake walk, it wasn't impossible since I was able to warm my feet and hands in between runs.

My first run was ok, but I hit hard out of 3 and was kind of clumsy the rest of the way down. I think it was 1:01.80 or something. The second run, I botched the start and loaded with the all the grace of a rhinoceros, but managed a quicker downtime of 1:01.18. I hit out of turn 3 again, but much lighter than the first run. I talked to Omri about it, and figured out that I was downsteering out of 3 when I should probably stay neutral. I think I need to work on the entrance of that turn a little more. I came out of 10 messily and knocked lightly through the labyrinth. After my second run, I learned why its so important to be nice to the track workers.

The track workers are the people who shape and maintain the ice as well as everything else that goes into maintaining a track (which is a lot). They are really hard working people and usually really friendly. When you finish your run, they help you get your sled back to the finish house, so I always make sure I thank them profusely. They are tougher than I am to be out there in the negatives all day. I have seen some athletes take them for granted and even treat them with less respect than they deserve. However, these guys are at the track day in day out and have a unique perspective on the track. Anyway, one of the workers that I previously had talked to at the finish came into the house and sat with us at the finish house after our runs. He was very friendly, and let me know that he had seen me through curve 10 and it looked like I was rising too much on the exit of the curve instead of steering down with it. This was a really valuable observation, because I had been holding what I thought was a slight up-steer in 10, but I now realized that I had placed that up-steer too late in the curve and that's why I struggled through the labyrinth. On my third run, I attempted to fix this problem, and had a better result with a time of 1:00.80. Thank you Josh.

I was the only skeleton slider to take a third run, so by the time I got back up to the start house, all the bobsledders had left with the trucks. Omri and I were left up at the top of the track with no way of getting back down. We saw one of the bobsled coaches standing outside with a pile of things so we asked him if any trucks were coming back up. As we asked him this, the rest of the bobsled coaches pulled up with their own truck, loaded his things and with a response of, "nope we don't know, good luck," drove off down the hill leaving us with no transportation. Luckily we noticed that the luge athletes were still at start 3, so we both awkwardly and terrifyingly carried the sled down to that start hoping to catch a ride with them. Thankfully, one of the EMS workers drove us back to the sled shed where I returned my sled, and Omri and I began the drive home. Overall, I am happy with the result of this training week. It was much different from my previous training because I was without any type of coaching. Omri and I had to rely on ourselves and try different things on our own to see what worked. This is can be frightening, because if it doesn't work, the immediate consequence is pain or slow times. Both suck. I am lucky to have the teammate that I do, because we get along well and are very much in support of each other. and I think we will both progress steadily from this point.

Dude, I'm stuck

2009-01-15T20:41:00.002-05:00

Bobsled/Skeleton sliding was canceled today in order to give the track workers a break because they work round the clock in miserably cold weather. This was unfortunate for us, but Omri and I decided to take a track walk instead. I hope this will be the coldest track walk I will ever have to do as it was in -18 (at the bottom of the track). The international luge session was going on when we arrived so we hopped into the track and watched them going through 13 and 14. The session ended, we took our walk, and the track was virtually deserted. We started at the bottom and walked to the top, and the ice walkers we had on were horribly ineffective. The ice was super hard, and we had to try to kick into the ice to get any kind of grip, and when we hit turn 7, kicking into the ice was totally not happening. We spent about 20 minutes crawling and struggling to get up the grade, only to fail in the end and walk around seven. I had a realization today that the reason we are probably skidding so much is not simply bad body positioning because we have checked our balance plenty of times. Instead, I think we are skidding because the runners are likely too wide to bite into ice this hard. Typically, sliders will have a pair of runners that are for cold/hard ice (and this week is about as cold/hard as it gets), with a thinner spine.

After our track walk, we drove over to the ski jumps to watch the World Cup Aerials practice for an international competition this Sunday. I think that sport is way crazier than ours, but I really enjoyed seeing their practice. Eventually our toes and fingers stopped working so we drove back. We had a nice dinner this evening and tomorrow is our last day of training, so hopefully we get some good runs and end on a good note.

-15 and I survived

2009-01-14T12:50:00.002-05:00

The past two days we have started from the top. Oddly enough, I have found the past two days to have gone smoother from start 1 than the first day from start 3. This may have to do with nerves, but either way its encouraging. Yesterday we slid at 2pm and my first run was decent, but my second run I spent a lot of time skidding. I decided to take my sled home and recheck my balance instead of taking a third run, and we both called it a day. I put some extra padding in the chin guard section of my helmet and that helped immensely, so the bruising on my face is starting to heal instead of getting worse. I had a hard time going to sleep last night because of the strain in my neck and back. I can trace a line of soreness from the bottom of my cranium all the way down my lower back. My starts yesterday were kind of abysmal, but I wasn't trying to push hard. I let go of some of my basics and my head is looking forward far too much on the run, so its making me feel awkward.

This morning we woke up to negative temperatures. Ethan was kind enough to drive us to the track today, and I watched his temperature gauge in the truck plummet as we ascended the hill. It stopped at -16. Every time I went outside, I'd say to myself as I stepped out the door, "this isn't that bad" but it really sets in about 2 minutes after you leave the warmth of the start house and then you start to lose feeling. Andy likes to tell us that we are being pathetic if we complain about the cold, but my hands have never hurt so bad in my life and that INCLUDES my idiot bike accident from October.

Today at the start house was interesting because I saw a whole new set of rituals from the bobsledders due to the decreased temperature which all slowly began to make sense as I experienced sliding in the negatives. There were hairdryers everywhere and the athletes were holding their helmets, shoes, and body parts ups to them before going outside. I realized why this is a good idea after I went blind halfway down my first run due to ice on the outside of my helmet. However, that first run wasn't so bad. I knew the track was going to be fast, since it was terrifyingly cold, so I was hoping to drop my times from yesterday which weren't anything at all to write home about. I was most worried about skidding, which after I started, was a problem from turn 2 into 3. The rest of the run was ok, but my exit in 14 was definitely into the right wall of the chicane at which point I only knew from counting the turn and not seeing because the facemask was white. My second run I ran the top a little deeper and longer, but looking at photos of myself from that start, I am not pushing off my toes enough. I skidded again from 2 into 3, but by the time I hit the labyrinth, I felt like I was flying. This second run was noticeably faster than the first run, and for once I felt really excited by the increased physical sensation of speed. I felt good through turn 12 when I came out skidding and maybe a little late, but by turn 14 I was back on track through the chicane and didn't hit. Now that I hold up through the exit of turn 19 I am finishing my run with decent momentum. I finished the first run at 1:01.4 and my second at 1:00.90. I was pleased with my progress, but nobody is going to give me any pats on the back about it (except Omri).

I'm starting to feel a lot more pressure about my sliding. It's not just me that I need to work for anymore, I am representing a country and that prospect is daunting for me. People up here are not going to coddle you or even pretend to be nice. I am not used to some of the gruff and in-your-face attitudes of those who have been around the track for a long time. I hope I am tough enough to hold up and pull through. I know I am a hard worker, but I second-guess myself a lot and when others doubt me I can get too wrapped up in that. It's also difficult to wade through the different opinions that are out there in sliding. On one hand, I have people/coaches telling and recommending taking two runs per session, but on the other hand I have those who think I am wimping out by taking two runs. I'm not sure what's right and either way I will get criticized, so I hope I learn to brush it off and make the best decision for my individual progress.

Decorating My Face With Bruises

2009-01-12T20:01:00.002-05:00

First day done. We had a lot of time to sit around and get prepared for the track today, but it didn't seem to help either Omri and I get over our nerves. Sliding wasn't until 6pm this evening, and although very beautiful at night, the track gets damn cold (but fast). Omri wanted to go from start 3 today which is lower down the track entering at turn 4 and therefore not hitting top speeds. I'm glad he wanted to do this, because Lake Placid is formidable for both of us at this point, and I am not quite confident in my memorization in the track, so easing into this week helps build that confidence. Its hard to swallow your pride sometimes and make safer choices, but in a sport that is already this nuts, its good to give yourself a reality check and say, "going 60mph instead of 70mph doesn't exactly make me a pansy. Its ok if I want to slide from start 3."

Anyway, I am trying out this new helmet that Omri had. He recently got the brand new and expensive Uvex skeleton helmet, and his other Czech skeleton helmet doesn't fit. I was really excited about trying out this new helmet because its lighter and has a really low profile on the front chinguard. Its also all seamless, in that the chinguard is part of the helmet and not a separate piece to be adjusted backwards or forwards. Unfortunately! It didn't make much of a difference. By turn 7 in my first run, the helmet had moved down and I couldn't see. When this happens, I generally optimistically say, "screw it," put my head down, try to relax, and get ready for the pain. Luckily, I felt very little pain, as I made it through the bottom turns relatively unscathed. There's really not a lot I can do on these sleds anyway, as they are steel-pan sleds and extremely rigid. No real ability to steer, which is both good and bad at this point. Its good because on a crappy run, if you tense up, the consequences aren't as dire, but also you are not going to get fast on these sleds or really get a feel for the fast lines on the track. My second run was a little better and my helmet didn't slip down until turn 14, bumped my way through the chicane (the not-exactly-straight away) and made it to the finish dock.

The third run was even better, but by no means super clean. I am hitting the most after the actual run is finished out of turn 19 into turn 20 which is technically not a timed part of the run. I am expecting 12 into 13 to be much more rapid, which they likely will be once we take off from the top tomorrow, but today at slower speeds, I was anticipating 13 too early even though I should just be relaxing. As a result from my helmet issues, and the lack of padding in the front chin area, I have some really (not) cool bruises on my chin already. Ethan was up at the start house and had a good time pointing my new colors out to me. Tomorrow is off the top, and we are both a little wary, but hopefully my helmet will cooperate and I'll get fast.

Arrival

2009-01-12T15:03:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, I left from DC at 3am on a train to Boston where Omri picked me up at 11am and we arrived in Lake Placid by 6:30pm. Next time we are definitely taking the Subaru and not his Honda. The Forester is a snow monster. Anyway, we are staying with the President of the IBSF (Isrealie Bobsled/Skeleton Federation) at his lovely home very close to the OTC. We slide tonight at 6pm, and unfortunately we will be using the school sleds at the track instead of our own, which are being held up by the fiberglass guy and are not expected arrive until February. Both Omri and I are nervous - I am nervous because last time I was here, I got a pretty bad concussion. He is nervous because last time he was on a track, he flew out of it. I am confident though that we will both have better luck this time. We have a lot more support from people around us, and at least a base knowledge of what's going on.

Happy 2009

2009-01-10T20:02:00.003-05:00

Quick Update:

Still in DC, just returned back from a ridiculous amount of holiday travel to Montreal, South Florida, North Florida, and Atlanta. Getting back into the swing of things at work and trying to find another job. I am leaving tonight (well, tomorrow morning) at 3:00am to take a train to Boston where Omri and I will drive up to Lake Placid and start a week-long training trip. I was just informed that the high on Wednesday is supposed to be 1F and the low is -27F. That blows my mind. Here's to keeping all my digits intact.

Start Squared

2008-12-10T23:20:00.002-05:00

I felt like garbage today. My stomach has been bothering me, so I stayed home from the ICC training sessions since Brian hadn't called about any open forerunning spots. I went to the night session again and took two runs. I thought I was going to throw up before the first run, and I found out that people have done that in their helmets on the way down the track more often than you would think. According to some of the local sliders, if you are sick or drunk on the track turn 6 kinda sucks it out of you. That's completely gross and I'm sorry mom, but funny. Luckily, this didn't happen to me. My first run was another personal best with a downtime of 53.64. I took one more run where I screwed up the bottom section of the track royally and rolled in somewhere in the 54 second range. I decided to call it quits then to make sure I really didn't get sick.

Part of the reason I like the night sessions so much is the truck ride back to the top. After the run, everyone piles into the back of a covered truck that's open at the back and you're driven back up the mountain to the start. At night, the track is startling white compared to the purple black of the mountain which looms up around the track on all sides. The entire view out of the back is of the massive mountainside which is streaked with snow and scattered lights, and you can follow the track twisting its way down. Its still surreal to me, looking at the track, that I am actually participating in this sport. When I was a kid, I played soccer, softball/baseball, and basketball. In high school I transitioned to elite competition in fencing and that was my life. I would have never imagined myself trying to compete again in a sport like rowing much less skeleton. Life is funny.

Minimal Wall Contact

2008-12-09T23:51:00.003-05:00

I had fun today. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and dread going to the track because I am nervous and still so awkward at this new sport. Today, I woke up and was still nervous, but I performed better than I have to date. I was called in again to forerun for the ICC training session. I was late in all the big turns on my first steers (4,6,and 11), but I finally made it through low point, which is the straight away between turns 14 and 15, cleanly. Once again, there were no times posted for the forerunners, so I am not sure how fast I was going. After my run, I helped out Russ, the coach for the Kiwis, who is also helping the small nations sliders that I'm staying with. I videotaped the exit of 4 for the ICC first training run, then turn 6 for the second training run. As a result of my videotaping session, I have ruled out any possibility of ever being a skeleton coach. Its bad enough sliding down in sub freezing temperatures in spandex, but having to stand outside for a prolonged amount of time watching the track is not fun for my extremities. At least when you're sliding you can hide out in the start house until your run, hurry to the line, take your run, and book it to the heated finish house, but the cold and snow is not quite so beautiful and fun when you're stuck in it for almost 2 hours. I'm glad I got to observe the other sliders though. It made me feel better about some of my steering, but more importantly, it showed me what good lines are supposed to look like.

Since I only got one run as a forerunner, I came back this evening for the night club sliding session. Its an interesting contrast between the ICC training sessions and the club sliding ones because its so much more laid back (obviously). I had been hesitant about sliding at night because its that much colder, and I haven't really done any sport that took place at night aside from fencing training in high school. However, I truly enjoyed the night session. Juan and Matt came with me, and worked with me on my start. According to Matt, I need to keep my head down, make sure I don't cross my arm over my body when I'm running, and keep my body squared on the starting block. There are so many things to think about as I'm trying to get down the one-handed push start, but slowly its coming together. I haven't eaten ice anytime soon so that's great. Here is a video of my start today. The actual load is way awkward, but you get the idea.

Aside from my start, I had two of the best runs I've ever taken tonight. The first run, I pushed in the left groove which has been funky all week. It pushed me straight into the wall before turn one so the run started off iffy, but by the time I reached turn three I was feeling good about my entrance into big turn 4. I nailed the steers, and Pat Brown told me over the radio at the end of the run, that my exit in 4 and entrance in 5 were perfect. It felt perfect which makes it that much easier to relax into the higher speeds. Turn 6 is still my sticking point, because I am not steering early enough into the first pressure. Instead I am steering down too late in the curve which exaggerates the oscillations and inevitably sending me into the wall before turn 7. I did much the same thing in turn 11, but to less of a degree than I had been, so I was able to retain some of my speed into lowpoint and through the finish line. On my second run, I pushed n the right groove which gave me a perfect entrance into 1, and my top section of the track felt like butter. It's incredible the speed I picked up in such a quick span of time when I'm not pinballing off the walls at the top. I nailed 4 and 5 again, but screwed up the same steer in 6. However, it was closer than the last run. I finished with a downtime of 53.85 seconds. While two seconds off the international sliders' training times, it was a personal best for me by half a second, so I came away with a big smile on my face. The run was far from perfect, but I am getting faster.

Small Accomplishments

2008-12-08T20:32:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I made progress in overcoming one of my bigger fears in life - walking downhill on ice. I have mentioned before that ice makes me nervous (ironic as that makes my new choice of sports), but I walked from turn 3 all the way to the bottom with my boots on and no spikes. Matt and I went to the track to look at a few turns and ended up jumping in on one of the track walks going to the bottom. The walk helped me remember the track objectively and think through the turns one step at a time instead of getting caught up in the speed and adrenaline. One of the more amusing points of the track is that they play music over the loudspeaker. Sometimes you wonder who chooses the station, but whoever it is really really loves reggae music. I also got to hear Mele Kalikimaka and various other Christmas music, but mostly reggae as I'm putting on my speed suit and getting ready to slide.

Today was really interesting because it was the start of official training for the intercontinental cup. There are sliders here from Germany, Switzerland, Iraq, Great Britain, Canada, Slovakia, Jamaica, Austria, Italy, France, and New Zealand. Typically, the training sessions allow each slider two runs, but before the field of athletes start sliding, they send down forerunners who are essentially testing the track and the grooves to make sure everything is fine. Originally, they already had enough forerunners for the race, but a few dropped out, so I got called in to slide. I switched sleds this morning and found one that balanced better, but is still a steel pan sled that's difficult to steer. I'm beginning to realize what a huge difference good equipment makes in the final downtimes on the track.

My two runs today were smoother than Friday and Saturday, but that may have been because the track was a lot slower. It snowed like crazy all day, but even though it was slower, the ice was nicer due to all the shaping and track work being done for the race this weekend. I still get really nervous as I get ready for my runs, and my least favorite part about this sport is the anticipation. I'm trying to find a way to turn this anxiety I get into a facilitative emotion, because I hate feeling sick before the run. Either way, by the time I get down, I almost always think, "that wasn't so bad." On both of my runs, I missed the first steers in turns 4, 6, and 11, which makes my transitions into the following turns kind of violent. However, I am anticipating the hit, which is making it worse because I tense up which causes skidding. Its all in the mentality, and I feel much of my progress is going to be dictated by simple experience and track time. Here are some pictures:

Curve 6

Curve 4

Aerial Training Pool

The Track

2 Steps Forward 1 Step Back

2008-12-06T20:53:00.002-05:00

The past two days have been rough. The ice has become a lot faster, and small mistakes and equipment are beginning to cost me big time. That being said, today was my fastest time on the track so far even though it was brutal. Yesterday I took 2 runs. The ice got a lot faster yesterday because they are starting to shape it and spray in preparation for the Intercontinental Cup Race that's being held this coming week. My balance on my sled is off, which means that I'm not distributing my weight evenly on the sled, and the runners aren't biting into the ice causing me to skid into turns and walls. No fun. When the track was slower, the ice is softer, and the runners bite more easily. so earlier this week, even though my balance was probably still off, I wasn't skidding.

Brian suggested I check my balance on the sled which is done by putting a broom stick under the runners and teetering back and forth and adjusting the body's positioning by sliding forwards or backwards on the saddle. When I tried that, I had to move my body so far back on the saddle that my head was almost on the front of the sled, and my hands were past the handles on the saddle. It is pretty much impossible to slide like this, so inevitably, on the next run, my body was too far forward on the sled again and I was off skidding my way to bruises and pain through the walls out of 14. I was anticipating the skidding and getting way too tense on my sled which only amplified my problems. I decided to stop at two runs because I didn't want to get too beat up for the next week of sliding.

Today, we did a club race. However, some of the top sliders in the US showed up for the club development race because they were already in town for the Intercontinental Cup. The track was even faster than yesterday, and my skidding was even worse. I finished pretty much at the bottom, but I also had the least experience of anyone there. After talking with Brian and some of the other sliders, we decided that I definitely needed to switch sleds or adjust the weighting in the sled I was already using. I tried not to take my poor runs to heart, but its hard not to be disappointed. I am still learning this sport though and its very mentally challenging. If you second guess yourself - you're in a wall; if you tense up - you're in a wall; if you forget where you are - you're in a wall; sometimes for no reason - you're in a wall. I'm looking forward to getting my own sled that fits my body. I should have my sled by January, and Omri and I are planning on sliding the second week in Lake Placid. I have two days off because the track is closed tomorrow and there are only Intercontinental Cup sliding sessions on Monday, but I'll be at the track videotaping and observing. Hope everyone enjoys their weekend.

Snow, Snow, and More Snow

2008-12-04T23:15:00.002-05:00

I didn't update yesterday because I went out to eat with some of the coaches and athletes and we got back really late. I took three runs yesterday, and although I am steadily and slowly improving, I struggled with the top of the track more than I ever have before. The top of the track being turns 1, 2, and 3. I was scraping my way through all three of those turns which ended up placing me awkwardly into the big turn 4, but after I got through 4, the rest of the track wasn't bad. I asked Brian, the coach I'm staying with, why I was struggling so much compared to October when I didn't have any problems, and he told me that they have cut the ice differently making the transitions much more challenging. In addition to weather conditions, the track becomes more difficult because of the way they cut and shape the ice. They do this on purpose for the international races to increase the difficulty and probably get a better spread on the down times since they are usually only separated by hundredths of seconds.

Today, I took 4 runs. The top of the track went a lot better, but the track was significantly slower. Its been snowing pretty non-stop, and today was almost a constant veil of snow. In the outrun, the section after the finish timing eye, there was a solid build up of snow. When I finished my run, coming through turn 15, I hit the snow and slowed down so quickly. I got a pretty good workout running the sled up the outrun through the snow. Not something I ever imagined myself having to deal with.

The challenging sections of the track today were turns 4 and 6. I am missing the initial down steer at the entrance of the curve which makes the oscillations in 6 really large. When watching from the outside of the track, it looks crazy. You see the slider swooping up towards the roof, then plummeting down to the bottom and then being sucked back up again. You would swear that he or she is going to hit the roof or the floor, but somehow it doesn't happen. When you're sliding, it doesn't feel that dramatic, but you miss the opportunity to gain a lot of speed. I decided to take a 4th run because I wanted to hit that first down steer, but instead, the fatigue I was beginning to feel made the run completely unproductive. I am going to stick to three runs from now on, which is what Brian suggested.

I was lucky today to receive some coaching help on my start by Jimmy Shea, who won a gold medal for the US in skeleton. He is a very enthusiastic man, and really helped me out a lot today. He had me try starting with two hands on the sled to give it an initial strong push, then once the sled got moving, start the sprint with one hand. Looking at the times afterwards, I dropped 3/10ths of a second on the start from the first two runs where I was starting with just one hand on the sled, to the third run, when Jimmy suggested the alternate push. This sport is so small, and everyone knows everyone, so I have been lucky to meet some of the more prominent athletes in the sport in my short involvement. However, after talking to some of the other athletes, it turns out that the small circle of the sport breeds some cut-throat and backstabbing behavior among the athletes, so it will be interesting to see when and if that starts to show up. Tomorrow I will take three runs, and then the rest of the small nations contingent that I stayed with in October will be here!

Park City Take 2

2008-12-02T20:28:00.002-05:00

After a ridiculously long two days of travel (which resulted in $400 in vouchers for delta flights so I can't really complain), I have arrived back in Park City. I am staying with the skeleton coach out here which is amazing because he is a well of information and anytime I have a question I can just ask and he's there to answer. I have spent the last two weeks getting spontaneous anxiety about the start of the track. Its the place where the most drama happens - the build up. Its like a storm rolling in and the anticipation, the heaviness that precedes it, but when it hits all you do is react. I took a track walk with Brian, the coach I'm staying with and I was the only one who elected to do it, so it was really personalized and extremely helpful. The walk helped me feel more comfortable about being back on the track and decreased the suspense of it all.

I missed the first few runs of the session to walk the track and watch the sliders from the bottom of the track. Once I got back up to the top to start sliding, I put on my new (and really ugly - blue and orange) speedsuit, I was immediately asked to take a run. I didn't feel completely ready, but whatever, I went to just get the first run over with. It wasn't pretty, but it wasn't bad at all. I came out of it completely unscathed and looking forward to the next run. My form was a lot sloppier than it had been, but I decided to give myself some leeway because it was my first run starting from the top of the track in over a month, and I was using a school sled that I'd never slid on before. I ran both of my runs off the top with one hand and loaded fine. No ridiculous tripping, so I felt good about that. Now I can start increasing the speed and distance that I'm running at the top to get better start times. My second run was decidedly better than the first in that my entrances/exits were much cleaner over the majority of the track. However, I'm losing a lot of time at the top of the track in 1,2 into 3 and also through the labyrinth exiting from turn 7 and sliding through 8 and 9. I'm looking forward to cleaning that up and gaining more speed. It started snowing pretty hard in between my first and second run, and the track slowed down significantly. Its amazing how much the weather conditions affect the times of the runs.

They closed the session just as I was about to take my third run, so I was sad I didn't get to take another one. However, Pat Brown, the bobsled coach in PC, was running a 4 man sled for some gravity testing and they needed another body to ride in the sled, so I volunteered. I sat in the second position, and in the fourth there was a dummy hooked up with sensors and a camera on Pat Brown's head pointing back at me and the three man. I felt like I was in an episode of MythBusters. I enjoyed riding down the track with someone who is really experienced, and I could tell the difference between my lines and his. Riding in a bobsled is a lot more stressful on your body from a gravity perspective. I could feel the forces pulling straight down through my head because I was sitting upright as opposed to lying down with the forces distributed relatively equally.

There is a slider from Iraq who I met last year at my tryout camp who was sliding today. He is a very friendly guy and helped out Omri when he was getting the Israeli Bobsled/Skeleton Federation back up and running. I told him I was going to be sliding for Israel and he though that it was great. We were talking about how unique it is that in sports an Iraqi and and Israeli can be friends and help support each other. I really value this opportunity to connect with people from different nations and that is part of the reason I love sports so much. More runs tomorrow!

Plans

2008-11-10T10:23:00.002-05:00

As of now, I am definitely pursuing my Israeli dual-citizenship. I have been talking with the Israeli bobsled and skeleton federation and they are supporting my decision to do so. It's really a small group of people, but I am excited to join. I had a phone meeting with the shaliach (the person who coordinates Jewish immigration into Israel) for the greater Washington DC area last week, and we are going to have a sit down meeting at the Jewish Federation tomorrow morning where I can explain more fully what I am trying to do. I'm hoping that my goals are well-received and that he decides to support my application. If he does, I will begin my application and start making plans to visit Israel this summer.

I just got plane tickets to fly back out to Park City on Dec. 1st. I will be participating in a club race there and hopefully forerunning for the Intercontinental Cup Races that will be held the second week in December. Forerunning is kind of like an exhibition race; you are not officially competing in the race, but you are sliding right before the competitors to make sure the track is ok. You get to slide for free, and its good exposure to the racing environment so I will be forerunning for some of the official training sessions and I think the actual race as well. I'll be leaving on the 12th of Dec.

Right now my biggest concern is no longer the track and getting the hang of skeleton because I'm confident that I'll be able to do that now. My biggest concern is funding. I'm taking a huge risk in doing this sport because there is really no financial support from the US (if I were to try to compete for them) or Israel. Most sliders shoulder the entire financial burden of their training and this is one of the most expensive sports I have encountered. The equipment, track fees, and coaching fees are all extremely high. I am struggling to find extra work that I can fit into my schedule in order to supplement coaching. Omri and I are working on a logo for the Israeli federation so we can start making shirts and finding sponsors, but until then I'm hunting through the craigslist gig ads trying to make ends meet.

Rest

2008-10-28T12:49:00.003-04:00

I am writing this update from DC. I flew into Philadelphia at 1am on Sunday and stayed with a friend in East Falls. On Sunday morning after, just a few hours of sleep, another friend, Jessie, picked me up and we drove to Princeton where my college rowing team was racing at the Princeton Chase. They had a good showing, and it was fun to be around rowing again especially since five members of the varsity 8 rowed with me while I was in college. I caught a ride home to DC with my friend who rows here, which was a lucky break since I didn’t have to take a train.

Looking back at this week, I feel really optimistic about skeleton. I learned a lot about the sport both in the sense of driving and technique, but also about the logistical and political side from the other sliders that I met. Like all sports, skeleton will have its fair share of controversy and frustration, but I am looking forward to the experience of competing and improving. The runs on the last few days of the camp really built my confidence about getting better, so I am eager to keep training and stick with it.

Aside from the actual camp, there are two big developments that happened while I was there. The first one is that I am looking into sliding for a country other than the United States – Israel. This is something that I had never really considered before, but after talking with Omri, the Israeli, I think this may be an exciting and rewarding opportunity. One of the main drawbacks of sliding for the US is the long process towards international competition. As I understand it, the foreign sliders that were at the camp are able to compete in the America’s Cup circuits directly despite their experience level. Since I am American, I have to go through the US system and qualify for the national team before I am able to slide in those competitions. This requires competing in club races this spring to qualify for regionals to qualify for the US team trials to then qualify for a competition circuit and THEN start competing internationally. If I slide for Israel, I would be able to skip that process and potentially compete in races beginning in spring 2009. Not only would this be a good move from a competition standpoint, it is exciting from a cultural standpoint. I have always wanted to visit Israel and become involved with the country somehow, but never really had a way aside from the Birthright trips given to Jewish youth. Representing Israel as an athlete is a wonderful opportunity to explore and connect with my heritage. Plus, I would have a reason to become bilingual. Becoming an Israeli citizen is another obstacle, but one that can be realistically conquered with patience and determination. More to come on this later as I become better informed.

The second development is that I'm getting a sled! Matt from Slovakia works for a company, S1, who make sleds, but only 5 or 6 a year. He talked to them for me, and they have agreed to make me a sled for this season. Its going to cost around $3700, but using a higher quality sled is definitely worth it. When times come down to hundredths of a second, equipment really matters. He took my measurements while I was in Park City, and I just need to send in a down payment and they will start production. I need to find sponsors I think.

I am resting hardcore for the next few days, I am so tired from everything, and I am getting sick because all the traveling and late nights are catching up to me. Anyway - Pictures:

Matt standing on the railing at the top of the track
The Mexican Bobsled's ride. Driven to Utah all the way from Mexico.

Juan's new skeleton sled
My skeleton spikes.
Park City Track

No Concussion + No Hospital = I love skeleton

2008-10-26T01:29:00.002-04:00

I didn’t update yesterday because it was a non-stop busy day. We started at 8am in the morning with a track walk. Matt from Slovakia and I were the only ones from the condo who were willing to get up to do it. We were so tired, but I needed to re-examine the transition from 11 to 12 and also go over the bottom turns again. The main difference between the Lake Placid and Park City tracks is in the big turns. In Park City, they have what are called double pressure turns. They are long sweeping corners, which pull you up at the beginning, push you down in the middle and then pull you back up at the end. The goal is to keep a straight line through the turns and avoid these natural oscillations from the pressures to gain speed through the turns. If you don’t steer correctly, the oscillations become exaggerated, and it slows you down and/or spits you out into a wall. I noticed that the transition from 11 into 12 is a lot quicker than I had previously thought, so I prepared myself to make the steering adjustment quicker for the later runs.

Matt and I went for coffee after the track walk and then picked up everyone else from the condo. By the time we got to the track, I felt really nauseated (there you go Omri) and sick. I wasn’t sure if I was concussed, I ate something bad, or just nervous, but whatever it was, I didn’t know if I could take a run feeling that awful. Luckily, or rather, unluckily, the bobsledders kept crashing, so their session, which preceded ours, ran late. This gave me time to try to make peace with my body. Juan from Mexico helped me relax and I managed to take a little nap at the start house.

Our session finally started, and I was last in the lineup again. Matt decided to skip his first run and help me with my start. The experienced sliders in the camp all decided for me that I needed to abandon the two handed start, which is typical of beginning sliders, and just go for the one handed push. The Canadians brought the one-handed start into the sport a few years ago, and it is generally accepted that it is much faster, but trickier to keep your balance. Despite my acrobatic performance on ice the day before, I decided to listen to them, and Matt walked me through the technique. I wasn’t running full speed, but I did find that the one handed approach was easier for me, because my body wasn’t twisted across the sled like it would be with two hands. While my loads weren’t beautiful, they sufficed and I didn’t fall on my face on any of the push starts.

I still felt sick as they called my name to approach the start, but I was more confident about sliding than I had ever been before. I tried to stop thinking about throwing up and more about the steers I’d need to do in the big turns. First run was fine, a little messy into the labyrinth (turns 7,8,9,10) and I felt a little panicky into the big turns where I missed some steering, but I was starting to be able to hold my head off the ice a little better through the pressures. Its been a huge relief to know that I am coming closer and closer to getting my head positioning set, and that I’m not doomed to a career of face-dragging.
The next two runs were similar to the first, but just a little bit faster. Again, iffy through the labyrinth and the big turns, but I felt really good about the top of the track. On the last run through the bottom turns I made a discovery. With every trip, my awareness is becoming sharper, and I am more able to focus through the speed, so I noticed that during the big turns I was steering with the wrong knee. Big mistake because instead of holding the oscillations quiet, I was exaggerating them by steering in their same direction.

I came away from the track yesterday feeling good. I didn’t take any hard hits, and when I did scrape the wall, it didn’t bother me because I could correct for the next turn from memory. I was looking into the entrances and exits of turns, and I felt really positive about my last day of sliding. Before, it felt like I was going down the track blind, and in some instances I actually was. Now, I know where I am, and I know how to see where I’m going.

The rest of the day was really fun. I went to the Mexican bobsled and skeleton fundraiser party at a Latin club in Salt Lake City with the rest of the group that I’m staying with in the condos. We all got dressed up and enjoyed a nice dinner, dancing, and, regrettably, tequila. Today, we got up after our night out and headed to the track at 11am. The bobsledders took their sweet time on the track and our session didn’t start until noon. My flight was scheduled to leave at 2:50, so I only got one run in. It felt amazing. Before my run, I talked with Brian about steering in the big corners again. He drew me a diagram that really helped me conceptualize the placement and order of the steers. Today, I almost nailed all of my steers on the bottom turns. I was flying and incredibly happy to have made that breakthrough. However, when I looked up at my time it was really slow. I was very unhappy about that, but we found out what the problem was – the rock in my runners was completely flat which can add about 2-3 seconds onto your run time. This means that the runners lie on the ice for their full length, which eats up speed. Ideally, you don’t want to use your whole runners, but just part of them, which is why the runners are slightly bowed.

I learned a tremendous amount from this camp, and it helped having experienced sliders there with me. I have made great friends on this trip, and I am excited about competing in the future. I don’t feel so alone in the sport, and the small nations sliders were so much fun. I have some other news regarding my future in skeleton, but I will wait until tomorrow to post since I have written a novel about the past two days while I’ve been on my four hour flight into Philly and, seriously, who reads this far?

Skeleton is Not Feet First

2008-10-23T22:19:00.002-04:00

Today we went off the top. I spent last night rehearsing the turns in my head for much too long after my bedtime. It felt like my old fencing days when I couldn't stop imagining bouts in my head before I fell asleep, or when I silently coxed the finals of Dad Vails over and over every night before bed leading up to the race. I knew that if I could expect the turns and memorize the steers, that despite what happened pain-wise during the run, I would at least feel like I knew where I was on the track. My biggest struggle in skeleton is feeling like I am out of control on the track, and when you're hurtling 70mph face first, its all you can do to stop from panicking when you can't catch up with your senses.

Finally, finally, finally, I am achieve some semblance of control at Park City. I felt nauseous this morning when we all left for the track, and instead of fighting the nervousness (which only make me focus on it more), I decided to give into it. I tried to reduce what I was perceiving as anxiety to something more simple - feeling and bodily sensation. Once I disconnect the words of nervousness and anxiety away from the actual feelings, its easier to move past. Thank you to Dr. Zakriski and my graduate school presentation on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for this technique.

Anyway, my first run off the top went fine. It wasn't extremely fast, but I knew exactly where I was on the track, and anticipated the top half of the track pretty well. I still have trouble with the big pressure turns in the bottom section of the track, but every run, I come closer to getting the right lines. Brian told me that my form looked good, and that my lines into 4 and 5 were perfect, so that was good encouragement. As far as critiques go, I am still not looking forward enough on the track to find the entrances to the next turns. I have been fighting through the pressure, and am coming closer to keeping my head forward consistently and resisting the G-forces on the track in order to flow through the turns and not hit walls. The second run was also good in that I made progress with my head and am slowly building my confidence on the track through (relatively) clean runs. My times weren't that fast compared to the other sliders, but many of them have years of experience, and are also skilled at the push start. I am just starting to figure out the start, and its going to be awhile before I am confident running bent over on ice, so I'm trying to be patient with myself.

Unfortunately, my difficulty with the push start turned into a horrorshow on the third and final run. I decided I was going to try and run quickly off the top for the last run. However, as I was running it over the crest and attempting to load, I crossed over and stepped on the back of the sled, tripping myself up and sending my face into the ice. Somehow I managed to still plant myself on the sled, but was skidding sideways into turn 1. I kept sliding around until I was going down feet first. All I can remember thinking is, "Oh hell no, this is not going to happen." I didn't want to bail out, so I tucked my feet up, and spun a 180 in the middle of curve 1 and lined myself up head first for turn 2. Surprisingly enough, this ridiculousness at the beginning of the run didn't completely screw me over, and I made it down safely albeit slowly because I killed my top end speed.

I had fun today, and I was even able to laugh off my third start. I am ready for tomorrow, and even though I have tons of room for improvement, I feel good about the progress that I'm making.

Learning Day

2008-10-22T21:26:00.002-04:00

Today had its ups and hard downs into the walls of turns 12, 13, and 14, but all in all it was a huge improvement over yesterday. My first run was miserable, much like the second one from yesterday. I was a mess through the bottom part of the track and I got pretty beat up. My ankles are really swollen, and when I took off my helmet, everyone looked really concerned and kept asking if I was ok. I was kind of surprised everyone was so attentive, but I realized why when I figured out about 20 minutes later that my face was bleeding. I guess it looked pretty bad, but nobody told me, so I didn't know my jaw was bleeding until I kept finding blood on my spandex and finally asked somebody where it was coming from.

Anyway, after the first run I was pretty shaken up, but due to my new and improved helmet, my head was fine. I sat down for about 5 minutes and collected myself, and then made the decision to go for my next run. As long as it was just my body getting hurt and not my head, I could deal with it. Brian told me that I was missing all of my steering on the track, which surprised me. This track is a lot different from Lake Placid, and the subtlety that Lake Placid requires is not applicable here. This critique helped me tremendously, because for the second run, I finally had a plan. As bad as the first run was, it wasn't as bad as the last run yesterday so any improvement helped me keep my spirits up. The second run I kept my head forward and although I scraped through 11 and 12, I slid just fine through 13,14, and 15. It was a good run, and a fairly fast run and enough to get me stoked on the third and final run. I finally made a breakthrough - I steered hard into the big double pressure turns and made the transitions smoothly between most of them. I was able to keep my head looking forward enough to see the entrances to the turns, which helped my lines tremendously. The third run was similar to the 2nd in that I didn't wreck myself and made progress on my track awareness.

After sliding, I took a nap, and then we all went over to watch the US team slide. We stood watching at turn 6, and talking with Matt from Slovakia, and Brian, I made another realization that I wasn't steering hard enough into 7 and that the transition from 6 to 7 is much quicker than I was preparing for on my runs. This will be something to pay attention to tomorrow, and hopefully will help my progression through the labyrinth (turns 7,8,9, and 10) and ultimately my early entrance to 11 which was my major sticking point on runs 2 and 3 today.

I saw Ethan at the start, and it was really nice seeing him again. He told me that Ryan, the guy who had been helping me with rides got crashed earlier today after our skeleton session. Apparently he is in the hospital with a separated shoulder and a concussion. Crazy. Tomorrow we are sliding from the top as opposed to the Lady's start at the top of turn 3. Speeds should go up from here, and hopefully, I can change my timing and apply my steers quickly enough. I feel ready for it, but nervous. My head is fine, but my body is pretty beat up. Oh well, go big or go home right?

The Flying Israeli

2008-10-21T23:09:00.002-04:00

Today was one of the most painful/bizarre days I hope to ever have on a track - and I'm not just talking about myself. Today, Omri, the Israeli, flew out of the track. Yes, literally flew out of the track. No, he's not dead or terribly injured.

We did a track walk from turns 3 through 14, and started from the top of turn 3 also known as the lady's start. I think this is where the women's luge typically starts. I was 3rd in the lineup today and my first run sucked. The chin piece of my helmet keeps getting pushed down or up or sideways and the visor slams into my nose on the big turns, so 11,12,14, and 15 killed me. I was a little shaken, but figured I'd improve on the next run. I was wrong. The second run was hands down the worst I've had so far in my short skeleton career. It felt like my helmet was completely sideways on my face and I completely lost count of the turns. I was hurtling down with no control or awareness other than I slammed into walls like a pinball on the bottom half of the track. It felt like hell. I was really shaken up at the bottom of the track and having a hard time keeping control of myself. Matt, from Slovakia, and Rindy, from Jamaica were really nice to me, and helped calm me down after the run. We decided that I probably shouldn't take the third run because of the possibility of concussion. However, it turns out that I wouldn't even have the option of a third run.

We were hanging out at the finish dock, when they announced over the loudspeaker that the session had been canceled because on Omri's run, they found the sled, but no slider. In fact, Omri had flown out of the track to the left, and his sled flew out to the right. They took him to the hospital, but they told us he was conscious and making jokes. I moved into a condo with the Mexican, Jamaican, and Slovak. We hung out and waited for word from Omri and the hospital. Around 8pm we got a call from the ER to come and pick him up. After we got him from the ER, we got to hear the first hand account of this extremely rare occurrence. Omri said he had a great run through the bottom, but after he finished the last turn, he was on the straightaway to the finish (which is uphill) when out of nowhere he was doing a somersault over the track. We have yet to see the track video, but something must have been in the track that caused his sled to launch itself and him into the air. Brian, the coach, said that he has never in his life seen something like that happen, and that we will never ever see that again.

I talked to Brian about my helmet after the session, and he said that my head issues really shouldn't be happening, so he is modifying a uvex helmet with a shorter chin guard to help me out tomorrow. I'm praying that this helps me because my face is already swelling. Sorry Mom.

No Lost Skin

2008-10-20T20:04:00.006-04:00

First day down. Its amazing how every anxiety and nervous thought melts away after the first run. It turns into business as I touch the ice, and that's when I start enjoying myself. That's when I have a trajectory and a plan and a purpose.

The Track

Woke up early and Ryan picked me up at my hotel. I met the skeleton coach at the finish dock of the track, a guy named Brian McDonald. The first thing I noticed about Brian is I really liked his energy. He reminded me of some of the old basketball and soccer coaches I've had growing up. He assigned me a sled, which is like 10000989089038290483904 times better than the school sleds we were using at Lake Placid. The skeleton group is relatively small, and I am the only American there. The other countries include Korea, New Zealand, Israel, Mexico, Jamaica, and Slovakia. We started off the day with a track walk from turn 16 through turn 6 which is where we started our sliding from today. Its called the Junior Start, and the speeds hit around 50-60mph at the highest. Brian talked a lot more about steering and curve theory during the track walk than the coaches at Lake Placid did. I really appreciated his enthusiasm, and I feel like I'm going to learn a lot from him. We slid 3 times from the Junior Start, and although I had butterflies going into the first run, as soon as I started the descent, they disappeared. There's not much to be nervous about when you can't slow down, you just get over it. I was the last person in the lineup this time, as opposed to first, and I have to say I enjoyed watching everybody else go ahead of me. Going last also meant that I didn't have to wait at the finish dock and freeze my butt off in minimal spandex.

The first run was great. I didn't hit a single wall, and I was expecting to at least brush going through turn 11 into 12, but not so. My hand is finally starting to legitimately recover and although putting on my gloves was difficult and painful, the actual sliding wasn't a big deal at all to my extreme relief. I am still having issues with my helmet though. I am sliding with a helmet that fits better, but is still a little bit too big and the chin section gets pushed up when I pull Gs and drag my head on the ice. The visor section presses down onto my nose, and its already painful. I'm hoping against hope that it doesn't get worse because I have a sneaking suspicion that I will end up with another concussion if I don't figure my head positioning out. I already have a headache. . .

In other news, it looks like I am going to be rooming with the Israeli and the Kiwi starting tomorrow night, so it will save me money and be less lonely. Here are pictures:

Arrival

2008-10-19T20:48:00.002-04:00

I am now in Park City. I left Baltimore at 5:30 this morning and boarded my plane at BWI. It turns out that my flight was also the same flight that at least 20 bobsledders and skeleton athletes were on. I recognized a few people from Lake Placid in April. They were on their way from Lake Placid to Park City for the second half of national team trials, and they will be sliding in the evenings after my camp sessions.

My friend Ryan picked me up from the airport. I met him at the tryout in April, and he is hoping to learn to become a bobsled driver. We had a nice day driving to Park City and seeing the track. I missed the initial meeting this morning, but the camp directors said that I can come tomorrow early and get my sled assignment and information. After talking with Ryan, it looks like we may be two of three Americans at the whole camp. We're still not sure if there are even any other female skeleton athletes there. He also told me that there will be no physical testing for skeleton and female bobsledders. On one level, this is a disappointment, because I was hoping to show the coaches an improved level of fitness, but on a more realistic level, this is a blessing. I am still far from 100% athletic functioning, and because the USBSF is gearing up to hold the World Championships in Lake Placid and also the Olympics for 2010, the development team is hardly a top priority. In other words, it really doesn't matter what I do at this camp except for myself in the long run for experience.

I am finally excited about sliding, and the weather is fantastic. The trees are still changing color, and its like being in another country when comparing the landscape to the East Coast. I'll post pictures soon.

Pre-Camp Doubt

2008-10-18T21:59:00.004-04:00

I am in a terrible mood as I write this update. Perhaps expressing it can serve as some sort of catharsis allowing me to leave all this negativity and self-doubt behind as I approach my departure.

While I can't blame all of these mixed emotions on the accident, it has served as a major source of anxiety over the past week. I am very nervous about the very real possibility of head and other injury. I know that if I worry about it going into the camp and especially as I take off on my runs, it will only serve to increase the chances of it happening, so I'm going to worry about it now and then stop as soon as I get off the plane.

I got very little sleep last night as I was packing and procrastinating the whole time, so this morning when I woke up at 5am for practice at Gonzaga, I felt awful. Practice was kind of crazy and involved us having to help out an overturned sculler who got trapped against the I-295 bridge. I haven't been taking it easy with my hands, and I haven't been taking my pain medication because I need to be able to drive my coach's boat as safely as possible when I have two or more boats to look after at practice. By the end of rowing, I felt drained and it was only 10am. From DC, I needed to travel to Baltimore because my flight is leaving from BWI and I'm staying at a friend's house for the night.

Traveling has been the most painful experience thus far. Hauling my bags through the metro and union station sucked the life out of me, and I finally gave in and took my Vicodin. I hate the way it makes me feel disconnected from the world. I don't completely trust my senses and thoughts while I'm on that kind of medication, but today it was completely necessary. It's just a dumb hand injury, but my body felt like it was going to give out and collapse at any time during the trip. The hardest part has been my inability to workout. I would have been tapering this week anyway, but I can't even hold a 5 lb. dumbbell in my left hand effectively. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not going to lose everything I worked for over the past 6 months in the span of one week, but it still haunts me that I haven't been able to run or lift.

As soon as I got to Baltimore and was picked up from Penn Station, I crashed hard at my friends house. I am fixing to go right back to sleep now after eating dinner, and, hopefully, this sinking feeling I am experiencing now will be replaced by excitement in the morning. If not, I'm going to live by the awesome advice that a great fencing coach gave me once when I was training:

"Fake it till you make it"

Amen.

Countdown to Park City

2008-10-17T13:10:00.002-04:00

I leave for Park City this Sunday for an FIBT-run skeleton camp. I'm, unfortunately, heading to this camp in sub-par shape. I have been training all summer, and I am definitely 100% fitter than I was at the beginning of summer, but due to some poor decisions made last Saturday night, I got myself into a bicycle wreck. I was riding in Northeast DC at night and going much too fast for the corner that I attempted to take, when my wheels slid out dumping me on my left side sliding into a fence. I was riding over 25mph downhill, so I'm incredibly lucky that the only damage I sustained was road rash to my shoulder, and some deep scrapes on both my hands. My left hand was scraped almost to the bone, and began to swell immediately. I didn't think my hand was broken because I could still flex it (albeit painfully) at the time of the accident, however, the swelling and pain continued to get worse over the next few days until I finally went to the the ER. They took X-rays and thankfully, nothing was broken, just on its way to a gnarly infection. I'm taking antibiotics, and bought myself some really good downhill mountain bike gloves with hard knuckles to better protect my hands this time.

Bicycle Fail

When I first moved up to DC, I was looking for a place to continue my training. I had intended on continuing with CrossFit, because I really enjoyed my summer working out with CrossFit Emerald Coast, but Ethan told me about a gym run by a man, John Philbin, who has worked as the strength and conditioning coach at the Lake Placid Olympic Center as well as with the Redskins. He owns a gym in Gaithersburg, MD called Philbin's Family Fitness. Its about an hour away from my dad's house in Manassas, but I made the trek up there and met with Coach Philbin who showed me his fantastic facility. They have an indoor sprint set up and a wide variety of lifting equipment including Cybex, Nautilus, and free weights. Coach is letting me workout there for free as part of a barter system since I am training for skeleton. When you walk in the door of the gym, one of the first things you'll notice is the large sign that reads "USBSF Bobsled and Skeleton Training Site" Seriously, I don't think I could find any other gym that understands what I'm training for so specifically, so I consider myself really lucky to be there. Coach Philbin has also written a book called High Intensity Training, which is my guidebook for weight lifting. It emphasizes the negative aspect of a lift, and I really like the results so far - even if it means driving an hour to Maryland three times a week. I'm also trying to workout at the track at Gonzaga HS two times a week, but that's proven to be a little difficult. I'm not allowed to use spikes there, so we'll see how my run times turn out at the Park City testing on Tuesday. I haven't been able to workout all this week because of my hands, which really throws me off, but I'm going to interpret it as extreme tapering.

I'm not really sure what to expect from the camp in Park City. I have an itinerary, but not much other information. I'm hoping they have a (good) helmet there that I can use, because I haven't been able to find one so far. Not many ski shops in the South that supply downhill ski helmets with jaw protection. As far as other equipment goes - I'll be using one of the sleds that they provide at the track, but I have ordered bob spikes that were delivered to Lake Placid from Europe. Ethan is going to be at Park City training for what I think is an America's Cup Race that will be held there after the training camp is over, so he's agreed to graciously bring me my spikes from NY. I have those gloves that I mentioned earlier, and mouth guard, but I need to find some more padding for my shoulders. I will be staying at a hotel that is separate from the Olympic Park, because they don't have an integrated training center in Park City like they do in Lake Placid. This trip is going to be a lot more expensive with airfare and hotels and transportation, but I'm excited to be on a new track. I'm going in with an open mind because I expect the FIBT (the international governing body of the skeleton and bobsled) camp to be different than the USBSF one. Also, there may not be very many Americans there either since the original purpose of this camp was to help athletes from nationals without domestic tracks to learn and train. I plan on updating everyday now that I almost have full use of my fingers and now that things are getting more interesting, so more to come once I get to Utah.

October Update

2008-10-03T12:35:00.004-04:00

More to come, but here is the recap of the past few months:

- Moved to Manassas, working in DC at Gonzaga
- Love coaching High School
- Dad had a heartattack
- Dad recovered from heartattack
- Started training at Philbin's Gym in Gaithersburg, MD.
- Can't fit into pants I originally bought because my legs were getting too big.
- Got a job at a bike shop ( I start this weekend )
- Got invited to FIBT skeleton school on October 19th - 25th STOKED.
- Rockin out.

Maxing Out

2008-08-14T20:19:00.002-04:00

Yesterday the surf was Victory at Sea, so I didn't go out. 20-25 mph winds wreak havoc on wave form so its not even worth the washing machine. I did go to crossfit and we were finding our max reps on different exercises.

We did max:

Handstand Pushups
Pull ups
Tabata sit ups
Strict push ups
Static back extension held for time
Tabata squats

Tabata sit ups/ squats consist of 8 rounds of 20 seconds on with 10 seconds rest. The goal is to get as many reps in during the 20 seconds, but be able to consistently hit the same number of reps each time. The max is based off of the lowest number of reps you get in any given round.

I did:

0 Handstand Pushups - this is a major hurdle for me, and aggravated my shoulder more than anything
20 Pull ups
14 Tabata sit ups
20 strict push ups (there are two counts to these push ups - down one, up two. Your chest has to touch the ground, but you can't bounce off the ground)
1:48 back extension
16 Tabata squats

This morning, the winds had shifted offshore, and when I got out to Pompano's at 8am it was glassy and rolling in lines. One of the most beautiful breaks I have seen on the gulfcoast in awhile. While I wish there had been a bit more size, I had a fantastic time surfing for 2 hours. It was just myself and one other guy for most of the morning. However, my shoulder didn't appreciate any of that. I was pretty wiped out, so I slept for 2 hours after I got home. I felt like I could have slept the entire day away. I decided I should probably go to Crossfit, so I went to the 4pm session.

We were doing push jerk for 3 rep max x 7. 3-3-3-3-3-3-3

I warmed up and my shoulder was touchy, but not bad enough to abandon the workout. I started my reps and I did 75-85-95 before I felt my shoulder give out on me. I finished up the rest of the work out doing 5 rep front squats for form. 95-95-100-100. Those were tough after the tabata squats from yesterday.

Tomorrow my mom, walt and I are going canoeing on Holmes Creek. I am going to rest my shoulder and make them paddle me around the whole day. Just kidding.

Picture from yesterday's workout:

Joel and I doing Tabata Squats

Surfed Out

2008-08-13T14:12:00.002-04:00

While practicing pistols last week (one legged squats), I managed to hurt my left knee. It started as a small sharp pain somewhere around Monday or Tuesday, but slowly increased to a significant sharp pain when we practiced the snatch lift on Friday. I was so frustrated, because I think snatch is an important lift for me to start working on, and the knee pain completely wrecked my confidence in my ability to execute. During the snatch session, the pain was at its very worst at the bottom of the squat position after I caught the bar over my head. Mike suggested that I do a snatch without the squat, and I finished the workout somewhat succesfully. The next day, Saturday, I was having trouble with basic movements, such as walking up the stairs, so I just relaxed the entire day. Sunday, it felt a little better. By Monday, walking around and air squatting wasn't as much of a big deal, but I didn't want to push it so I took Monday off from working out as well.

I was supposed to go back to crossfit on Tuesday, but it happened to be one of the best days I've had surfing in awhile, so I ended up staying out for 4 1/2 hours. This was a huge mistake. When you're out in the lineup, its like you're invincible. There's a disconnection between what your body needs (water, food, rest) and what your brain actually processes. The thrill of catching a wave completely trumps any sort of exhaustion, and I always end up pushing it way too far. First off, I forgot to put on sunscreen when I paddled out at noon. The wind was pushing east so there was a lot of paddling to be done to prevent being swept to panama city. The waves were good if not a little choppy and all breaking right, which is my backside. I am weakest riding backside, but today was my day to suck it up and go. I caught some of my best rides ever between noon and 2pm yesterday. There were only 3 surfers out there. My friend, Justin paddled out around 2pm as I was beginning to get really tired from having been in the water for 2 hours straight. I caught a wave in and walked toward the lifeguard stand where I had left my keys. The lifeguards had kept an eye on them for me and even gave me a whole slice of watermelon as I walked up. Awesome. I talked with the lifeguards for awhile, who I usually see out at Pompano's riding their huge rescue boards in the waves. I decided I better put on some sunblock, so I walked up to my car, slapped some on, and then paddled back out. I immediately caught a few good rights, and drifted back to where Justin was surfing on his retro 5'10" fish. What a cool board. 2 hours later we decided to call it quits since he had to be at work and I could barely lift my arms to paddle anymore.

When I got to the car, I realized that both of my arms were in serious pain. Not muscle stiffness, but actual pain. I then remembered my jaw where the tip of my surfboard had slammed into it during a wipe out earlier that day, and also how the back of my head had been hit with the surfboard nose during another wipe out. I could barely drive home after all the physical realities of the day hit me. I hadn't been surfing for more than 2 hours at a time the entire summer, so I definitely pushed my limits. Its just so damn fun. Needless to say, I didn't make it to crossfit, I figured I had gotten a pretty good workout anyway. I got home at 5:30 and pretty much passed out until 7pm. I watched my friend's fencing bout from the Beijing Olympics on the internet and then went to sleep again. Today, thank god, I can move my arms, and they really aren't as sore as I'd thought they'd be. I'm crossfitting at 4, and then going back out to surf the rest of the swell afterwards. Here's to hoping I don't get bit by a bullshark.

here are some of the workouts that I've done in the past two weeks:

8/1/08 Fri.
Gymnastics Day - we worked on various gymnastic exercises (like the pistol, muscle-ups, pull-ups, etc.). I chose to work on my box jumps and my handstand push-ups. I wanted to see what my max box jump is, and I managed to pull off a 38" jump. Handstand pushups were less successful. I can barely do one. Then we did 10 min of an exercise of your choosing to see how many you can do. I chose to do the exercise I am the worst at - knees to elbows. You hang from the pull up bar and bring your knees to your elbows. In 10 min I could only get 62. Somewhere to work from I guess.

8/4/08 Mon.
Front Squat
5-5-5-5-5 (max 5 reps)
I lifted: 95-105-110-115-115x3 +2
Front squat is way harder than backsquat in my opinion. I tend to get stuck at the bottom of the squat instead of bouncing out of it and pushing up with my elbows.

8/6/08 Wed.
Dead Lift
1-1-1-1-1-1-1 (max for 1 rep)
I lifted: 205Fail-195-200Fail-195-200-205Fail-205
My previous PR was 185lbs. on deadlift.

8/7/08 Thurs.
7 Rounds of:
7 wall ball shots @ 14lbs.
7 kettlebell swings @ 1.25 pood
hill run

8/12/08
Major Surfage.

Hotter Than Hell

2008-08-08T10:42:00.005-04:00

Yesterday was a very challenging workout made even more so by the fact that the power went out in Valparaiso making the crossfit gym a sauna. Florida in August is no joke. The workout of the day (WOD) was:

7 Rounds of:
7 wall ball tosses w/14# ball
7 kettlebell swings w/ 1.25 pood
hilltop run

The workout was for time of course. My finishing time was around 19.26 minutes. Running is my kryptonite. I will never be a long distance runner and long distance to me is anything over 200 meters. I really like sprinting, even though my everyone keeps telling me how bad my form is. The hilltop run was extremely difficult, but I was proud of myself for finishing all of them. I felt like I was able to work through the pain better than I have on previous workouts. I would have bet $100 easy that I was either going to pass out or throw up by the end of that workout because I was starting to get tunnel vision, and I could feel my stomach wanting to squeeze everything out of it from the stress. However, I made it through and with a pretty decent time. Just for funsies, here are some pictures that Mike takes at the gym that are posted on the website. Some of them are pretty ridiculous looking.

This is a pistol squat. Basically one leg all the way down and all the way up. The rubber band is for slight stabilization

I look like Gumby in this one, but I held the medium slosh pipe over my head for 4:02 min. They took this picture somewhere in the 3" mark and I was struggling.

Dumb bell hang cleans

This is me walking down the hill with a slosh pipe for the first time.

28" box jump during a workout

New Job

2008-08-06T19:23:00.002-04:00

I have exciting news. I have been hired as the Assistant Varsity Rowing Coach at Gonzaga H.S. in Washington DC. The head coach is the man who taught me to row as well as someone I deeply respect as a person and coach. I am truly looking forward to working with a new group of athletes and learning from Marc. Best of all, Marc is aware of my personal goals as an athlete and is willing to support me as I train and make trips to the Olympic Training Center this fall. I can't wait to start.

Today's workout was 1 rep deadlifts x 7. I PR'd so that was good, but I am never happy with the weight. I know I can do more, I just have to really nail my technique. When Kim, one of the crossfit trainers, is standing over me checking my positioning and reminding me how to complete the lift correctly, I can lift more weight. However, when I am on my own telling myself the exact same things she does, I sometimes falter. Practice and maturity are the answers. Anyway, here's what I did (in lbs.). Fail means I couldn't complete the lift, but that's the weight I was trying for. The max that I successfully lifted was 205 lbs.

205 fail
195
200 fail
195
200
205 fail
205

When Will My Body Stop Hurting?

2008-08-05T23:38:00.002-04:00

Answer:

Never.

This is the lesson I have been trying to learn this summer. If nothing else, my experiences with rowing have taught me that your body can always take more than your mind thinks it can. Knowing this fact and putting it into practice are two completely different things. I have come a long way this summer, but its still a baby step in the big picture. Building my strength is like I've started a construction project that will take years to complete. I get stronger everyday but understanding how to make pain and fatigue a part of everyday life has been challenging. I think this, like anything else, will take practice and time to master. I recognize that the only thing ever stopping my progress is myself. Recognition is a step, but making the conscious decision to press through doesn't always happen.

I have been cross-fitting approximately 4 days a week. For a month, mainly during July, I was having a very hard time staying on top of working out because of extreme fatigue. My work schedule put me coming home at midnight or later and then getting up at 6am to make it out to the gym by 7am. The lack of sleep definitely took its toll, and I got sick at the beginning of July. I felt sub-par for 3 weeks straight before I decided to quit my job, and I think that was the best decision I have ever made. I hate waiting tables. There's no nice way to say that. I am a lot happier now and I am working for my mom helping her out around the house instead.

Besides working out, the biggest change I have made this summer has been in my diet. After slight persuasion from the CrossFit trainers, I decided to try out the zone diet. Now I am not following it very closely at all except in content. I haven't been measuring my meals like they prescribe, but I have begun altering my basic eating habits. This means I have had to learn how to cook, which is always a good thing. I'm starting to get the hang of it too and I enjoy cooking meals for my family. I am consuming what they call a 'paleolithic diet' where I eat meats, vegetables, fruits, and nuts with basically no bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, or other complex carbohydrates. I was skeptical at first, but after experimenting and doing my best to adhere, I am starting to identify the benefits of the diet in my athletic performance, mood, and overall energy level. I think this new eating philosophy is here to stay, and in the future I will move towards cutting out all sugar/candy and hopefully start following the balancing portion of the zone diet much more closely.

Still no word on the sliding schedules for the upcoming season, and it is awfully nerve-racking not to have a plan. I have ordered skeleton spikes which cost me over $300. Lame. However, I am still gung-ho about returning to the OTC over the next year to continue with this sport. I am moving up to Washington DC at the end of August where I will be living with my dad, so I will at least be closer to the training center than Florida.

CrossFit

2008-06-13T16:01:00.003-04:00

I haven't been slacking on my training this summer, just slacking on my blog updating. I have joined a CrossFit gym in Niceville. Holy hell this stuff is serious. CrossFit is a fitness approach that has been gaining a lot of momentum lately. It started in the 90s in California, and its still kind of underground, but its a really interesting and intense program to getting super fit. The idea behind CrossFit is to promote a high level of general fitness through dynamic body movements at a high volume in short periods of time. Something like that. The workouts are very difficult, but I've been seeing direct results in how my body looks and feels. I can honestly say that I am in the best shape of my life. Although this is not specialized training for skeleton, it will get me a very strong base to return to the training center in the fall and test well. I am really fascinated by CrossFit, and I encourage anybody who is interested in any level of fitness to try it out. Here is the website for the gym I go to: . One of the owners, Michael McLeish is really good about updating the workouts everyday and posting pictures. The website for CrossFit in general is here . I wish I had known more about it while I was coaching, because I would have liked to adapt some of the training for my team.

Currently, I am working out 4 times a week on Mon, Wed, Fri, and Sat mornings at 0700 at the CrossFit gym. In the next few weeks, I plan on adding track workouts and hill sprints on Tues and Thurs to start improving my ground speed. I was going to update the site with what the workouts at the gym had been for the past few weeks, but I think I'll just start with today's workout.

Today was sets of 21, 15, 9 power cleans with 21, 15, 9 sets of ring dips. I haven't done power cleans in awhile; not since I left New London, so I was a little wary going in. Its so important to nail the technique on cleans because there is a lot of room for error, and the differential between correct and incorrect body positioning yields so much more power. At the OTC, the weight trainers pointed out that I am not using my hips to drive the bar up from the hang clean position after I've deadlifted the bar off the floor. A power clean starts off in a dead lift position (bar is on the floor) and then you pick it up into a hang clean position (bar is about halfway down your thighs), from there you lift the bar up and snap your elbows forward bringing the bar to your collarbones. At the same time, you catch the bar with your legs, so you are back in a squat position. This is a terrible explanation, but I didn't want to use terms without some kind of picture of what I'm talking about.

ANYWAY. Today, I worked on snapping the bar up by shrugging from the hang clean position instead of halfway up my shins, which is what I had been doing previously. Those sets were pretty tough, and I was cleaning 65#s, so by the end my snaps were not very powerful, but I got through the workout in less than 13 minutes. (In CrossFit, you are always racing the clock) On the ring dips, I was able to use a box to support my weight as I lowered myself down, so they weren't too bad, but one day I am going to be able to do a dip using just those stupid rings and no box. Tomorrow I am going to the Itchnetucknee River near Tallahassee to go canoeing, so I am taking a day off working out, but I'll get back to it on Monday.

summer slummin 2008

2008-06-02T14:14:00.003-04:00

I am back from the Great White North, and happily settled back down in panhandle Florida. I have been severely slacking on my updating, but now that I am back in the swing of training, I plan to improve upon this.

Let's start with a story illustrating the great fun that is the state of Florida. This has nothing to do with training, but I want to record this little incident so that I never forget.

One of my favorite places in the entire world is a Morrison Springs, a large spring in the middle of nowhere about an hour from my house. You have to know exactly where this place is in order to get there because there are no signs, and I doubt anybody has heard of the town its located near, Red Bay, Florida (with good reason). Morrison springs is absolutely beautiful, and a magnitude 1 freshwater spring, which means its outflow is extremely high. The water around the springs is completely clear, and for several yards down the river, it remains just as transparent. With water so clear and the sun shining brightly, the water reflects light and rainbows that can be seen with the naked eye just by looking into the water. The spring is pretty cold and very deep, but I love free-diving around the mouth of it. Every time I go, I challenge myself to dive about 30ft+ down and under a log that stretches over the entrance to the spring. My family and I cherish our trips to the spring, and since Ethan was down visiting for a week, we decided to take him so he could enjoy the beauty and also, experience the awesomeness that is the Walton County Redneck Show that assembles at the spring everyday.

Anyway, when we arrived at Morrison, the park was closed because they are doing some construction there on boardwalks, so we had to find a place upriver to put in our canoe and paddle down to the spring. After some incredible off-roading in the subaru, we found a place and all four of us, my mom, Walt, Ethan, and I, got into the canoe and started our trek to the springs. The journey there was pretty difficult with four people in the canoe and the river pushing against us the entire way. At one point, the river narrowed, and in order to pass from the Choctaw River into the side river leading to Morrison, we had to squeeze our canoe through a gap dotted with trees growing out of the water, and a very fast current. The trees had root systems raised above the water level that were like mini-islands. We paddled as fast as we could through the gap, but the rushing water was too strong, and ended up pushing us against one of the small tree-islands. As our canoe sped sideways towards the tree, I noticed a snake coiled in the roots perched two feet above the water. I tried to yelled something like, "watch out for the snake" but it just came out as grunting and sure enough, we broad-sided the tree and the snake was shaken loose. At this point, everyone else noticed it, and Walt, who was in the stern tried to swat it with his paddle back into the tree. Sadly, this did not work, and only served to help the snake directly into the bottom of the canoe.

Now thankfully, this was not a large snake, probably about 2 to 3 feet total in length, but it had a suspicious head shape and my gut reaction went something like, "holy ****, that's a water moccasin," because it was a dull to dark brown color and was probably a water snake if it was that close to the river. The poor thing frantically slithered under the seat cushion I was sitting on and everybody was pretty freaked out. I decided I was going to try to flip the snake out of the boat with my paddle, so I instructed my mom to move to the bow so I would have room to move. She agreed very quickly and was climbing over Ethan to go sit on the bow before I could finish my sentence. I didn't think this through as well as I should have, and when I lifted the seat to get my paddle under the snake, it wriggled in the air to avoid the paddle and shot back to stern towards Walt. The snake was now nestled under the bag located directly under Walt's seat. Our next solution was to paddle crazily to the closest shore and dump it out of the canoe. I don't think anybody has paddled a battleship of a canoe that fast, but we made it to shore where everyone ejected themselves from the canoe and Walt and Ethan flipped it upside down. It took two tries, but the poor snake eventually fell into the water and swam off.

Snake-less we paddled the rest of the way to Morrison and had a nice day playing in the water and swimming around. Later that night, my mom told us that before they went to bed, Walt disappeared for awhile. When he came back, my mom was almost asleep until he said, "yep... it was a cottonmouth."

Welcome to Florida.

Looking back through foggy glasses

2008-04-22T21:09:00.007-04:00

I am back in New London now, and its been about 4 days since I left Lake Placid. Friday did not turn out as wonderfully as I had planned when I woke up and posted that morning. I went back in to see the trainer at the OTC, and while I was waiting to be seen, I saw Alana with a doctor from the hospital next door checking out her forearm. She looked like she was in a lot of pain but luckily avoided surgery. As I was talking to her, the trainer came out of the examination room and Tyler was following behind him. Tyler had also been diagnosed with a trauma headache the day before, and he had just finished the follow-up evaluation that I was waiting to have performed. He told me that they weren't going to let him slide, and I was amazed. I really didn't think the head pain was bad enough to prevent us from sliding, and I was mortified that I would lose this valuable opportunity to improve. I went through the evaluation with the trainer and tried to minimize my symptoms, but when he asked me to stand on one leg with my eyes closed, I immediately failed. He told me that I had a low-grade concussion, and that in order to avoid the risk of second-impact injuries, I wouldn't be allowed to slide. Instead, I spent the track session watching the other sliders and climbing around in the track observing lines and learning more about the track.

Honestly, as much as I hated being kept off the track, that was probably one of the smartest calls the trainer made. The symptoms of concussion can take awhile to fully manifest, and I was not prepared for this. As the day progressed, I began to feel even more foggy and confused. I was becoming extremely sensitive to light and sound, and the worst of it all was when I was trying to drive back to New London, and I realized I hadn't eaten in awhile. I was feeling nauseous and dizzy, so I pulled off the highway and decided to go into a grocery store. I walked into the store and was immediately overwhelmed. I couldn't figure out what I wanted to eat, and I was confused about the organization of the store. I was lost in a place that should be very familiar. Then I started crying, but for the life of me, I can't explain to you why I was crying. I looked like a battered wife wandering around teary-eyed with these huge bruises covering my exposed arms. Not good. Its been difficult since then, and really the only way to recover from a concussion is to rest. Now that I've been actually resting, I have been actually getting better. Moral of the story: Listen to trainers and don't drive with concussions.

Now to the fun part. Pictures.

If anyone is interested in what it looks like to go down the track, here is a video clip of a bobsled run at Lake Placid. Track video (wait for the video to load in the middle of the page).

Members of the April 08 skeleton camp.

Walking the track with Jody

The LP track as viewed from Start 1

The walls of the track. They get higher and steeper than this.

The Chicane. The straight section towards the bottom of the track. You either wreck yourself here, or think, "Thanks God, I"m almost done."

Marc Mandel's Skeleton Concussion Crew

Ethan and one of the guys from the bobsled camp. This is Ethan's sled which I have nicknamed the Duct Tape Monster. He does not approve.

Push-start from Start 1. I am trying to get over my intense fear of ice. No lie, I am really scared of running on ice.

Off the top

The pink screamers

This is Diego and his gnarly bruises.

This is how we get transported from the bottom to the top of the track. They break down sometimes.

Post concussion

Bonfire.

It was a tough/awesome week.

I will keep updating this as the summer progresses with training. I'll be taking the next week off of any physical activity while I am still trying to fully recover from the concussion. I fully intend on returning in October for sliding, and I'm very excited to continue with this incredible sport.

Concussion no. Trauma headache yes.

2008-04-18T07:15:00.003-04:00

I didn't get a chance to update yesterday because we were so busy. We started sliding at 9am at start 1 again. My first two runs were downright brutal. I was struggling with my helmet situation again. I switched to the smallest helmet they had hoping that it might stay on my face better. The smaller helmet was definitely an improvement, but I couldn't get the hang of the head positioning, so my face was basically dragging on the ice the entire time. This caused the helmet to bump against my face and my nose to swell up and turn colors afterwards. I had a screaming headache after these two runs because once again, I kept hitting the wall after turn 12 into 13, and up towards the top out of turn 3 into 4. My headache was getting to the point where I was feeling pretty dizzy, and standing up at the finish of the track was a huge challenge. I can only describe my feelings after the first two runs from the top yesterday as pure frustration. However, my times were still pretty fast. I was clocked around 1:01.something for both runs, which was the second fastest out of the group. Apparently, everybody had assumed that I wasn't hitting anything on the way down which was why my times were so consistently good, but when I showed them my bloody gloves and bruised arms, the rest of my group was pretty surprised. Honestly, I have no idea why my times have been faster than theirs, because I am definitely taking a beating as well. Next post will have pictures, and you can see just how bad some of the injuries have gotten. Alana, one of the other girls has such severe swelling in her forearm after today, that the doctor almost had to operate, and is concerned she may have compartment syndrome.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel though. My third and final run of the day was a godsend. I was convinced that my problems were all mental at this point. I knew that my head positioning was causing my body to tense up and hit walls, and that if I could just overcome the fear, I would be better off. So I got more determined, and decided that I was going to enjoy this run if it killed me (ha ha). My push-start felt ok, and I was a little rough at the top section of the track through turns 2, 3, and 4, but I nailed the bottom sections. I knew exactly where I was starting at the devil's highway and counted each turn correctly on the way down. For the first time, I was able to anticipate Shady II, and know that turns 12 and 13 were coming up, so that I could prepare myself to drive through them. Sure enough, I came through 11 right into 12 and dropped my right toe just a little to turn my sled to the right and take a good angle into 13 with no wall contact. Into the heart, I was stoked that I had nailed 12 and 13, so I just rode on through and finished strong through 19. Unfortunately, I looked at my time as I went by, and I was almost a second slower than my first two runs, which I found very ironic. My best-feeling run was my worst time. I think I lost the majority of my speed at the top section of the track, because its critical to get through those turns smoothly in order to keep building at the bottom. So today, I am excited to hit the track again because I feel more confident in my head positioning, and it felt like a breakthrough yesterday. I am really eager to build on that.

After sliding I was hurting pretty badly. My head was throbbing and loud noises were aggravating me. I felt slightly dizzy and nauseous out at the track, but that could have been a result of the heat and all the clothing I was wearing. After lunch, Ethan noticed that I had been acting a little spacy, and I agree that it was difficult for me to concentrate on anything because my head was hurting so bad. He made me go to the trainer, and I got checked out to make sure I didn't have a concussion. The trainer determined that I was suffering from a 'traumatic headache' which is the same kind of thing you'll get if somebody punches you in the head really hard, but its not quite a concussion. All I could think about was the research that Dr. Webbe does over at Florida Tech about soccer players and subconcussive impact that causes brain damage. Dr. Webbe, this is the exact same kind of impact except a little worse. Bobsledders and skeleton athletes would be great for that study. Anyway, he told me not to take any medication in case the ibuprofen I'd taken earlier was masking any symptoms. After the trainer, we watched video with Jody, and I learned that I am not staying on the curve long enough in turn 1 which is cutting my speed at the top. I'm anxious to try to fix that today. I took a nap because my head was still killing me, then we had dinner. At around 8pm we all went to a bonfire at one of the bobsledder's house which is right next to the track, and it was a good time. The rest of the people participating in the camp are very friendly, and there's a real camaraderie that has formed. Probably due to the fact we are all experiencing the same kind of injuries and fear together. The camp so far has been a really eye-opening experience, and I'm definitely going to come back next year to get better.

Speaking of - I found out what the progression is after you take the basic driver's school yesterday. We have all been invited back to continue sliding as part of the Eastern Regional Sliding Development program. From here, if I do well next winter, I may be invited to join the National Development Team and from there, I can qualify to try out for the National Teams. So that's the direction I'm heading. Last day of sliding. We'll probably take 3 more runs from the top, then I'll be on my way back to New London.

Aliyah: 1 Skeleton: 9

2008-04-16T18:38:00.002-04:00

This is hands down the nuttiest thing I have ever done. Today we went off the top and it felt like I was descending into the jaws of the devil himself. 70 mph is no joke.

Day 3 has been the most difficult day so far. My body has withstood a very strong beating for the past two days, but today was drastically more terrifying and painful than anything that has happened so far. We started at 9am this morning when we left from the OTC for the track. We took one more trip from start 3, and I don't remember much about that trip other than my glove was newly-bloodied by the time I finished. It seemed to be a shaky day for everyone since we are all about in the same boat as far as bruises and blood go. Jody, the skeleton camp director, told us that after this run down start 3, we had the option of sliding from the top of the track at start 1. I had heard some of the guys talking about how they were definitely going to go, so I knew there was no way I was going to let them get ahead of me on experience. As soon as I got off the truck that drives us from the finish to start 3, I told Jody that I wanted to go up to the big boy run.

About 5 of us went directly from start 3 to start 1 after our first run of the day, and the truck ride up there was awfully quiet. Like the previous days, I was first in the sliding order. Start 1 has the groove so that you can sprint with your sled at the beginning of your run. We jogged with the sleds and then hopped on in order to get a feel for what it will be like without worrying too much about speed. I did fine with that and loading the sled, but I was definitely a little more freaked out for what lay ahead of me once I'd loaded and was heading down. I think the memory of hitting the walls so hard yesterday and earlier that day made me tense up, and out of start 3, I exited early and hit the wall hard which managed to knock me off my sled. This is what I was so scared of - sliding down with no sled at the top of the track. I barely had time to think about what happened, instead, instinct took over and I immediately reached out for the sled and put myself back on it. The rest of the ride was rocky and when I flew through turn 20 at the bottom and threw out my legs to break, I realized I had caught my lip in between my bottom teeth and my mouthguard. I was shaking when I stood up to exit the track, and saw blood on the inside of my visor. I took off my helmet, and touched my bottom lip, which was still bleeding and tasted like iron. At least I was down alive. Not the best run for sure. The time on that one was 1:06.something.

Its funny how fried you feel after the end of your run while you are assessing your injuries and remembering the feel of the walls as you slam into them. What's even funnier is how quickly you forget the trauma that you just experienced, and talk yourself into repeating that insanity. About 5 minutes after every run I was able to think, "that wasn't so bad. I could do it again."

My second run from the top was definitely faster, but no less painful. I am having the biggest problem with my helmet at this point. I can't see anything, because my helmet keeps scraping the ice and pulling itself down. This causes my head to bounce up on impact, which takes my control of the sled away. Very frustrating. We only have two medium helmets and one small. I have been using the medium, but tomorrow, I am going to make a strong push to share one of the smalls. Its incredibly disorienting when you can't see anything on the track, and this has been my greatest struggle. I can keep track of where I am in the track as long as I can see the beginning and ending of the turns. After talking to some of the experienced skeleton athletes, I learned that its ok to just let your helmet drag on the ice if you are having difficulty. So basically, my entire second run my face was on the ice. The g-forces are so strong and unpredictable, that it yanks your head down. I did go faster because I was able to focus more on relaxing and staying in good position on the sled, but that mess is subconcussive impact the whole way down. Also, the force of the helmet on the ice slammed the bottom of it into my mouth the whole way down, so that area is swollen and purple.

After the sliding session, we did testing at Saranac Lake High School's outdoor track. The weather has been gorgeous here by the way. In the high 60s and completely clear skies. This is the very end of the bobsled/skeleton season, and the ice will be gone by next week due to the temperatures. Anyway, testing includes a 15m and 30m sprint (although we were scheduled to do a flying 30m sprint but the timing equipment wasn't working right). We did a medicine ball toss and a vertical leap. My sprinting sucks. Ethan was out there helping, and he said its because the beginning step of my sprint is not explosive at all. Must work on this over the summer. My medicine ball toss was mediocre and my vertical leap was average. I did not feel like I was ready to do testing today quite possibly because of the sliding this morning, but i have also lost almost 10 lbs. since last month. I have been very stressed with rowing and this camp, and I just haven't been able to keep weight on. Hopefully, at the next camp this coming winter, I will post significantly better numbers, I just need to train more consistently. Its almost 10pm and I'm exhausted. We're sliding from start 1 again tomorrow, so hopefully I will stay on my sled from now on.

First Blood

2008-04-15T21:22:00.003-04:00

So instead of me owning the skeleton, today, the skeleton owned me. Hard.

First thing we did once we got out to Mt. Van Hovenberg was take a track walk. We literally walked in the track all the way down from start 4 to the finish. We were wearing track spikes, but it was still really really hard to get a grip on the ice. The noise was ridiculous as all 12 of us were tramping around cracking the ice with our shoes. We sounded like a miniature army. Walking in the track gave me a strong appreciation for just how fast we are going on this thing. For example, Shady II, a long turn looks like a virtually vertical wall of ice while you are standing at the bottom of the track. It's hard to fathom how a slider could possibly stay on his/her sled and be 10 ft. high in the air. The speeds that we are traveling are more than adequate to keep a driver pinned to the skeleton. At the top of the turn, which looked at least 20 ft. high, I saw streaks of color, which I figured out were where the bobsleds had hit taking a high line the top of the turn. Ridiculous.

There is a HUGE difference from going 50mph to 60+mph. We took a total of 4 runs today. We began the day at start 4 to get comfortable with sliding. My first run felt great - I was able to follow exactly where I was at all times during my run. Counting the turns is extremely important in skeleton. You need to know where you are, so that you can analyze your lines afterwards and make changes on how you enter and exit the turns. So yeah, the first run was awesome and Ethan was there to watch me through turns 12 and 13 and then the finish. My second run was not as wonderful. We took two steps and then loaded the sled, meaning nobody was pushing us off the start this time. Ordinarily, there are two grooves in the ice where the bobsleds sit at the start. These grooves give the runners on the bottom of the sled a place to sit while you are sprinting with it. Skeleton sleds sit one pair of runners in one of the grooves. The only grooves are located at start 1, so neither start 4 or 3 was very stable as we took our two baby steps and then tried to position ourselves on the sled. My start on the second run was awful. I skidded into the wall and bounced off and down into turn 9 of the track. I got my first taste of how painful hitting the wall at high speeds can be. I came out of yesterday relatively unscathed, but my wrist got hit pretty good around turn 14.

Next on the agenda was sliding from start 3. Beginning from this point in the track, you will reach speeds of up to about 65 mph. Start 3 puts you into turn 4 which is the turn before a section called the Devil's Highway, so named because of the rapid changes in direction. Turns 5, 6, and 7 come at you ridiculously fast, and there is a significant drop in height from start 3 to start 4, so you pick up more speed. I was not prepared for what an additional 10 mph feels like. Going down the track this fast is kind of like getting punched over and over again. The turns feel like hits, but you don't really process that it happened until you feel the shock of the next one making contact. It was truly terrifying, and I know that its only going to get worse when we go from the top tomorrow. Nevertheless, it was really thrilling. I could barely keep track of where I was on the run, but I am beginning to recognize sections such as the end of the Devil's Highway and Shady II, and the Chicane. The Chicane counts as turns 15 and 16, but its actually a straight section in the track. It lights up as you go through, and there are no G-forces pulling your head down. My favorite part of the track is the Chicane because its easy to recognize, and that means I have almost made it down alive again.

The runs from start 3 were really rocky, and I couldn't keep myself from hitting the walls in turns 12 and 13 and turns 14 and 15. A big problem I had was with my helmet. We are wearing these shoddy looking skydiving helmets or something, and to be honest, they completely suck. None of them fit well, so you end up slamming the chin of your helmet into the ice which causes you to tighten up (the exact opposite of what you want to be doing on the sled) which throws off your steering and puts you into a wall. No fun. I tried to relax, but it was a lot more difficult at higher speeds and with the strong g-forces around the big turns. All the progress I thought I had made on start 4 was definitely thrown straight out the window, but I have hope for tomorrow that I will be able to better recognize my positions on the track and hopefully hit the wall less. Ethan watched me take a high line on turn 12 and then exit late which shot me down into the wall before turn 13. He said I took it like a champ. Honestly, I don't remember it, but I think that's when my hand started bleeding. We were all kind of in shock after our runs from start 3, but I am still excited to be out here and going down that track, even if it ends up being pure pain afterwards. A lot of the guys seem to be a little overwhelmed with the reality of skeleton, and I can definitely understand why. They have crashed harder and more often into walls than I have. One of them fell off of his sled into turn 10. The sled ended up spinning around in front of him, and he managed to get back on, but unfortunately his sled was backwards. He said he pinballed all the way down the track, and I can't even imagine how much that must have hurt.

Despite the bumps and bruises and blood, my time sheet made it all worth it. I clocked the fastest times for all four runs again today. So far, nobody has taken a faster run than I have. I was extremely surprised, because I thought some of those runs were pretty bad. I'm going to try not to think about the times tomorrow, because I don't want to stress about keeping this record. I do feel pretty good about being faster than everyone else though. My first run was 48.45 seconds at 81.10 km/h. Second was 49.13 seconds at 80.76 km/h. The next two were from start 3. Run 3 was 50.17 seconds at 98.15 km/h. The fourth run was 50.00 seconds at 98.80 km/h. On my last run, I was almost a full second faster than anyone else.

Tomorrow we are supposedly beginning our session at start 3 and then for whoever wants to, we have the option of taking a trip from the top. I'm totally going to the top tomorrow, and I'm scared out of my mind and excited to know what it feels like to hit 70mph. Go big or go home right? We'll see tomorrow.

First Slide

2008-04-14T22:20:00.003-04:00

It's the end of the first day of sliding.

After some ridiculous drama and unfortunate circumstances prior to the beginning of the camp, I made it to the track and got to take my first runs down the track on a skeleton sled. Something about the whole experience completely clicked with me. The way I've felt about trying this sport out has been really strange. I have been completely confident going into the actual sliding part of this whole camp. The sprinting, the weightlifting, and the organization are very daunting to me, but I had a feeling that as soon as I got on the sled I would be ok. Thankfully I was right.

There were 12 athletes who came to the camp ranging in ages from 21-mid 40s. Everybody looks to be in really good shape, and there are three women including myself. We took three runs today starting at 3:30pm and ending at 6:00pm. I clocked the fastest times for all three runs.

They pushed us off from start 4, which is at curve 9 in the track (halfway down). They told me that I was going to be the first one to go down, and I was slightly nervous, but I've been thinking about this for so long that I felt mentally prepared no matter what. As soon as I laid down on the sled, my heart started pounding, and no breathing techniques would slow it down. I knew the key to a good run was to relax. Although I was mentally prepared, the shock of the speed is always unexpected. The ride is very rocky, and you just keep going faster and faster and faster. Its crazy to think I was only going around 50 mph. I couldn't see at all the first run. The G-forces pull your head down towards the ice, and your face is literally inches from the track. I was focusing on staying on the sled and relaxing myself at the same time for my first run, and it worked because I came up through turn 19 and was still alive and kicking. As soon as I got off the track at the finish line, I started laughing. I couldn't help it. I made it down and all I could do was pace at the finish platform and laugh while everybody else came down after me. I was glad I was the first one, but as the rest of the camp slid into the finish, I realized that not everyone else's ride had gone as smoothly as mine.

I was wearing padding on the outside of my upper arm and women's lacrosse gloves for protection as well as a mouth guard, but that was about it. I skidded against the wall briefly a few times during my first run, and I wouldn't exactly call any of it smooth sailing, but the guys who came up after me were bleeding and looking very unhappy. Hitting the wall is no small deal, and it feels like a cheese grater against your skin even with clothing and padding. My right forearm is noticeably bruised, but the other guys were very beaten up to the point where some of them weren't sure if they wanted to take anymore runs. One of them didn't even make it to the finish slope and ended up stopping somewhere further down the track.

My second run was better than my first, and I was able to see a little bit more of what was going on. I managed to see the track for about half of the run, then I hit the chin of my helmet against the ice, and it knocked the visor down. Skeleton is so fast that its more about speed and knowing the track then actually seeing it. I tried turning my head in the direction of the turns in order to facilitate steering, and I did alright with that. On my third run, I was able to count the turns and have a vague understanding of where I was on the track. This is really important, because then you can start to anticipate, and drive through the turns more to get faster. However, true driving is a much more advanced skill and I will have to wait until next winter to really start learning it.

So basically, I loved it. Skeleton is exactly what I thought it was going to be, and I feel like I'm very well-suited for this sport. Although skeleton is so far removed from rowing, fencing, and surfing, I feel like my experiences in all sports has combined to prepare me for this. The movement through the track makes sense to me. The way you gain speed and deal with pressure on the track is very similar to surfing in that you build pressure and then drive through it in order to go faster. I am excited to explore this feeling as the week progresses. I don't want to be too confident, because I know it will definitely be harder as we move higher up the track, but I really feel ready to meet this challenge.

I told my freshman rowing coach, Marc Mandel, who now coaches at Georgetown that I was going up for this camp, and he told me that one of his rowers was on the national development team. Sure enough, this guy, named Austin, has been sliding up at Lake Placid, and Ethan knows him. Today, I was riding in the van to the track with the rest of the camp, and I noticed a guy wearing Georgetown crew sweatpants. His name was Tyler Spencer, and he also rowed for Marc Mandel at Georgetown. Tomorrow we are learning about the parts of the sled and doing some more sliding, but this time from Start 3.

Onward and Upward

2008-04-14T09:52:00.002-04:00

I arrived in Lake Placid Saturday evening after a long (and thankfully warm) day of racing. I managed to get sunburned and now am sporting a pretty gnarly tank top tan. I spent all of yesterday relaxing, which was definitely needed. Now I feel full of energy and am ready to go down some ice chutes.

Today is the start of the camp. We meet at 1:30pm for an orientation, then we go to the track and start sliding immediately. We'll be going from start 4, which is the lowest start on the track. The speed shouldn't reach higher than 50mph today. Whatever though, that's still fast.

The Olympic Training Center is an interesting place, reminiscent of college dormitories. All the rooms house at least two athletes, and all amenities are located within the building. The cafeteria, weight room, gym, trainer, and skeleton/bobsled federation offices are all in the same building, so you don't really have to even leave the facility except to go to the track. The track is located at Mt. Van Hovenberg, about 4 miles down the mountain. The snow has all just about melted here, but it snowed yesterday and its supposed to be in the low 30s for the next day or two. I am slightly concerned about the lack of clothing I will be wearing on the track. If I had my way, I'd be going sliding in one of the orange mustang suits we wear on the water for rowing, not spandex. Its curious that just about all of the sports I've been involved with lately require spandex. I'm struggling with what to do with myself for three and a half hours until the camp starts. I think I"m gonna go steal Ethan's Bill Bryson book.

So it goes

2008-04-11T23:39:00.002-04:00

It's been a non-stop past few days, and I'm completely worn out. I leave tomorrow at 5:30am for the race at Lake Quinsigamond against WPI. After that, I'm driving up to Lake Placid.

Camp on Monday.

Stoked but I feel completely drained. I hope I recover over the weekend.

The basement stairs are my enemy

2008-04-08T19:48:00.002-04:00

T-minus 6 days until Skeleton camp.

We raced in Worcester this weekend at Lake Quinsigamond. On Sunday the WPI (Worcester Polytechnic Institute.. yeah I'd never heard of it either) coaches asked me to come up to see their practice and talk to their coxswains about my experiences coxing a men's team as a female. I really really enjoyed sitting in on the WPI practice because it reminded me a lot of the team back at Florida Tech. Their coxswains were extremely appreciative and attentive while I was talking, and it was great to feel like I was making a real impact on them and their team. Maybe my rowing coach days aren't over for good, because I came off the water stoked about rowing again.

I had a terrible lift on Friday. I felt sluggish and unmotivated, but I got through it anyway. I was in the gym alone with the lacrosse players in the gym for two hours until almost 10pm. I wish I had someone to workout with me. Since I'm at the gym so often these days, I've been able to notice some interesting trends there. I am the ONLY female who lifts weights for the main portion of her workout. The rest of the girls that come into the gym spend all their time on the spin bikes, elliptical, or tread mill. I have not seen one girl even touch the free weights for squats or any kind of powerlifting besides Tessa, the track assistant or a select few of the female athletes (but only when they are in season). It seems like there is an underlying fear of bulking up held by the girls at this school. I have overheard them remark that they don't want to lift weights because they don't want to look fat. I find this disturbing and kind of sad, because I really enjoy the sense of control and confidence that weightlifting has given me. Especially now that I know what the contrast is like - being too skinny sucks. No energy and paranoia about gaining weight. I like that now I have the power to control my environment and not worry about how I look all the time.

Anyway, the lift yesterday went alright except I felt a twinge under my left kneecap during the warm-up sets of hang cleans, and it didn't go away as fast as I'd have liked it to and haunted me today during sprinting. I'm sure its nothing, but in case it isn't, I want to remember when and how it happened. Part of my wonderful intern duties includes cleaning the weightlifting machines we put down in the tanks. I stood up without thinking about where my head was going and hit the back of my head on a metal part hard enough for my vision to go all white for a second. I have had a pretty sizeable headache since then, and the lift was tough because of that. I did squats (165lbs.), push press (75lbs.), bench press (75lbs.), and triceps (67.5 lbs) which was the same weight as last week.

Today was a sprint day and it was finally warm enough outside for me to wear a tank top and shorts. It felt really good except for the part where my knee hurt the entire time. I have figured out how to push through the pain, but walking around afterwards (especially up and down the basement steps) completely sucks. I did 12 x 60m sprints at different intensities and 3 x 120m accelerates. I have a difficult time identifying what percent intensity I am at because I tend to just try to sprint as fast and hard as possible each time. I think that the more I do them, the more awareness I will develop. I still feel uncomfortable with my technique, and I really want to be coached on it. I love being coached - I get a little neurotic when I don't have anyone to critique me. I'm sure I'll manage to get some good feedback next week.

Spring is supposed to mean warm right?

2008-04-03T17:45:00.002-04:00

I am stuck inside writing a paper for my Advanced Clinical Psych. class. I need to be outside sprinting, but it doesn't look like its going to happen today. I lifted yesterday and managed to keep my power cleans and hang cleans at 85 lbs. It felt really good doing them, and I can definitely take the weight up to 90 or 95lbs. by next week. However, I am unsure if I should try to taper my training for the camp coming up. I haven't been incredibly consistent, so I'm not sure if it would be more beneficial to just keep training or to try to cut down the intensity for next week.

On a good note, my knee has been bothering me very little recently (probably due to the fact that I have not been sprinting very much in the past 5 days). After looking at the itinerary and talking with Ethan, I have realized that this camp is not really about physical prowess, but rather about driving ability. Since nobody has ever driven before, we are all starting out on the same foot. I am not going to get stressed out about not being strong enough since it looks like there is only one day where they will be looking at that. We are all there to try to learn a new skill set, and the best I can hope for is that I am quick to pick up on it. Also, we will probably not be push-starting the sleds for the beginning camp. The push-start (the big sprint before you get on the sled) from my understanding, is more of a next-level skill. Plus, it involves the purchase of bob-spikes which are fairly expensive. Ethan is driving in the America's Cup Bobsled race today at Lake Placid, so good luck to him! I think this is one of his first races as a driver. He used to be a brakeman, but he has started over as a driver. He said his runs have been going pretty well recently, so I hope everything goes well and there is no crashing.

Pictures

2008-03-31T19:53:00.003-04:00

From this weekend's trip to Placid

This is at Turn 11

Ethan looking at the bobsled's line out of Turn 10

Ethan at start 1

Ethan demonstrating the skeleton start. He didn't know I took this.

After our picnic in the snow.

Placid Visit

2008-03-31T15:19:00.003-04:00

I just drove back from hanging out at Lake Placid this weekend. I desperately needed an escape from New London, so I drove up after practice to see Ethan and spend a relaxing few days up in the mountains. Everytime I take the exit off the highway and being the 40 min drive up the mountain I fall in love with that place all over again. I feel like I could stop every five minutes along that road and find a trail, rockformation, waterfall, or creek to explore.

I stayed at the Olympic Training Center with Ethan, and as he was giving me a mini-tour of the building we passed the lounge where some bobsledders were hanging out. HOWEVER these weren't just any bobsledders, Ethan told me they were the JAMAICAN BOBSLED TEAM. Yes, they really do have a team. Apparently, it is considered poor form to talk about the film Cool Runnings around bobsledders. I have observed the forced half-smile of some of the bobsledders as non-athletes (upon hearing what sport he/she is training for) begin the chant of, "Feel the rhythm! feel the ride! Come on boys. . . " I'm not gonna lie though, I think its hilarious.

Sunday night Ethan took me to the bobsled/skeleton sliding practice. They are all preparing for a big international race coming up this weekend in Placid. The track has nicknames for different sections or sequences of turns. The Placid track has 19/20? turns in it, and according to Ethan, its one of the most technically challenging tracks in the world. We began watching the practices just after 'Shady' which is a long turn in the middle of the track. We were standing right up on the iced lip of the track, and as the sleds came by they sounded like tractor trailers driving 80mph over rock gravel. The bobsleds passed about 4 ft. away from us, and I was more than slightly startled when the first one came by. They go by so fast that you can barely focus on them. The skeleton athletes were much quieter, but equally as fast. Ethan gave me a an analysis of each sled's trajectory around the turn and how the timing of the entry and exit of the turn affects the set up for the next one. I have no idea how I am going to be able to distinguish between turns because it all seems like a total blur, but Ethan assured me that after your first few runs, things begin to slow down.

Next, we went to join the 'vultures' at Turn 18. The vultures consisted of other bobsled/skeleton athletes and coaches who were watching at a particularly difficult section of the track, where the newer drivers are most likely to crash. Sure enough, we saw one a bobsled sliding upside down and making even more noise than I thought possible. There is a distinct difference in the sound of an upright sled versus a crashed sled, and you can tell how its coming down for a good 10 seconds before you actually see the sled. I was definitely concerned seeing this, but everybody else seemed to regard the crash with amusement if anything. The driver of the downed sled radioed back to say that everyone was fine, so apparently it wasn't a big deal at all. The majority of crashes in the sliding sports are generally not as bad as they look, and the incidence of serious injury is surprisingly low.

Driving back from the Adirondacks was complete hell because it snowed violently almost the entire way until I got to Connecticut when it turned into freezing rain. However, I am back in New London and even more excited/anxious to slide down that track in two weeks.

Camp Attendees and Itinerary

2008-03-28T14:07:00.006-04:00

I received an email from Jody, the director of the skeleton/bobsled camp today.

It looks like there will be about 9 athletes attending including myself. I believe only two of us are female and the rest are male. I'm not sure of the skeleton/bobsled breakdown though since people interested in bobsled will also be attending this driver's school

Itinerary:

Skeleton Schedule April 14-18 (Skeleton School)

Monday, April 14

1:30pm Meet at Olympic Training Center for welcome meeting and tour- Skylight Room

2:15pm Depart for Olympic Sports Complex

2:30pm Sled assignment, sliding basics, and track walk

3:30-5:30pm Sliding from Start 4

6:00pm Check in to the Olympic Training Center and Dinner

Tuesday, April 15

10:00-11:00am Seminar: “Understanding the skeleton sled”- Sled Room

12:00pm Lunch

2:30pm Depart for Olympic Sports Complex

2:45pm Track Walk

4:00-6:00pm Sliding from Start 4 and Start 3

6:30pm Dinner

Wednesday, April 16

10:00-12:00pm 5 Item Test in Gym

12:00pm Lunch

2:30pm Depart for Olympic Sports Complex

2:45pm Track Walk

4:00-6:00pm Sliding from Start 3 and Start 1

6:30pm Dinner

Thursday, April 17

10:00-11:00am Seminar: “Sled Awareness and Driving”- Skylight Room

12:00pm Lunch

2:45pm Depart for Olympic Sports Complex

3:00pm Track Walk

4:30-6:00pm Sliding from Start 1

6:30pm Dinner

Friday, April 18

8:00am Breakfast

8:45am Check out of the Olympic Training Center

9:00am Depart for Olympic Sports Complex

10:00-12:00pm Sliding from Start 1- Final Day

12:00pm Depart for home

Uh.. Thanks George?

2008-03-28T13:14:00.003-04:00

We had a fairly productive rowing practice on the water yesterday, and I got to do my sprint practice afterwards. The weather was almost.. ALMOST balmy, and I really enjoyed the 15m sprints because they were quick enough that my knee didn't start acting up at all. This was the workout:

Functional Warm-Up
3 x 120m accelerates
2 x 15m @ 80%
2 x 15m @ 85%
2 x 15m @ 90%
2 x 15m @ 95%
2 x 15m @100%
1/2 mile cool down
3 x 15 Abs (specials)
3 x 10 Obliques (each side)

Here's where my day got entertaining. I was in the mood to eat something different than the cafeteria food on campus, so I went over to Shop Rite. I was surveying the dessert case and walking past the deli towards the olive bar when the deli worker yelled out to me, "HEY, do you workout?" I was wearing hiking boots, my spandex pants and a black jacket and for those who know me, I was definitely rocking the halo of frizz so this kinda caught me off guard. I said, "uh, yeah" and he goes, "because you look good!" I mumbled some kind of thanks and tried to book it to the safe haven of the olive bar.

As I was reaching for the bleu cheese stuffed olives, I look over and he was 'restacking' the crackers right next to me, and definitely not looking at the crackers. He told me his name was George and was asking about where I went to school, etc, etc. I didn't want to be rude because he seemed harmless, but the guy was like mid 30s and more than a little on the creepy side. I was invited by George to come back to Shop Rite as often as possible and shortly thereafter made a bee-line for the check out.

At least I know if skeleton doesn't happen, all this working out will help me successfully pick up deli-workers in grocery stores. Awesome.

Hm. Annoying

2008-03-27T11:11:00.002-04:00

The past few days have gone relatively smoothly both workout-wise and job-wise. Practices for rowing have been productive, and it feels like the team is starting to get into a rhythm and norm with eachother. I had a good sprint practice on Tuesday, it was the first one that I have been able to complete with my knee pain. I was able to minimize the pain by trying to focus less on power and much more on quick feet. By taking the pressue off of myself to run fast, I feel like I actually was running faster.

However, yesterday I was doing the functional warm-up, and sure enough by the end of the drills I was having significant knee pain when I brought my knees up and kept my toes dorsoflexed. I decided that enough is enough and finally went to see the trainer. She was very helpful and after examining it and making it hurt even more, she concluded it is most likely a small tear in my miniscus on the inside of my knee and towards the back. The miniscus is the cushioning in between the two bones connecting at your knee that prevents them from rubbing together. Unfortunately, there is very little blood flow to this area, so any kind of tear takes a very long time to heal if you are not aggravating it everyday. The fact that my pain is bearable and that I have been able to get through workouts is a good sign that it is not a very large tear, because if it had been that would probably mean surgery in the near future. My main concern was being able to train up to and during the camp in three weeks, and the trainer was very confident that I could do this without risking it falling apart. This kind of injury can last indefinitely, even years before becoming very serious and requiring surgery. So basically the prognosis is good, and I just have to suck it up and not be a baby about a little pain when I run. I feel like not knowing what was going on was the main thing that was bothering me. The pain sucks, but now that my bones aren't rotting or anything and that it is ok for me to keep pushing, I will be able to deal with this much better. Also, this is not my first introduction to miniscus tears; I had one in my left knee while I was fencing in high school, and it has healed since then (probably due to my non-activity during college). According to the trainer I should be doing hamstring curls with light weights to help stabilize and support as well as swimming for 20-30 minutes at a time to help with my hyper-extension in my knees. This is good news so now I can rehab the crap out of my knee all of summer (read: go to the beach everyday for a reason).

After I was educated by the trainer I went and did my lift for about an hour, and it was pretty tough sine Wednesdays usually are. I upped my weights in every lift, and it felt good at the end. This is what I did:

Functional warm-up
weight warm-up (same deal with the various squats)

3 x 5 Power Cleans @ 85lbs.
3 x 5 Hang Clean Pulls @ 85lbs.
3 x 5 RDL (hamstring/butt lift where you keep your back straight and knees bent and lean over as far as you can, then pull back up) @ 155lbs.
3 x 5 Bicep Curls w/ 25 lb. dumbbells

I may not be an American Gladiator or anything with those weight numbers, but its encouraging that I am definitely gaining strength if I stay consistent. Today is a sprint day w/ 15m sprints and mega-sore calf muscles.

Back

2008-03-25T14:57:00.002-04:00

I made it through spring break with my sanity trailing along, but still in my possession. I was able to finally do a full functional warm up and lift yesterday, and it went much better than I was expecting. My car has been in the shop for the past few weeks, so I've been walking up and down the hills on campus and to the boathouse everyday. My aerobic capacity was definitely improved from all the walking because I got through the functional warm-up particularly easily. I have been thinking a lot about how much I have relied on my car to get around, and how very unnecessary it is. I am hoping this summer, I will spend much more time riding my bike around instead of driving (especially with gas prices as they are).

The warm-up went well until the very end when I was doing the fast legs drill. Its where you take like two small steps and then bring your knee up high with toes dorsoflexed and the opposite arm up. Its like taking one sprint step interspersed with small jogging steps in a quick rhythm. It seems that the combination of dorsoflexion and high knees aggravates my right knee. I start with a dim awareness that something doesn't quite feel content in the right knee, and then during sprints towards the end, I feel a pain in the back of my knee. With each successive sprint, I feel more and more pain. I am at odds with what to do when this happens. I could push through, and deal with the pain, but I don't want to make it worse for future workouts. I really need to just talk to the trainer I think.

Anyway, the lift went well in that I'm upping my weights in everything, but I still feel as if I'm ridiculously weak. However, if I consider where I was 6 months ago, it puts things into perspective. As a varsity coxswain, I felt like I needed to be as close to the weight minimum (120 lbs.) as possible. In order for me to get anywhere near that, I ended up dropping ALL of my muscle mass that I had built up from years of fencing and just being active. The past weeks of training have felt like I'm finally addressing that loss and trying to build up from a very sorry and atrophied state. As long as my knee stops its ridiculousness, I will continue to make up for what I lost during college. Sprint practice today.

Major Drainage

2008-03-18T20:52:00.002-04:00

New Plan:

Get through hell week and then refocus myself on training. I can't believe how badly spring break training has gone. If I could picture my worst nightmare for the season, I'm going through it now. I'm on the verge of falling apart, so I am just going to cut some slack, get myself back on the sane train, and hopefully hit it harder than ever once I'm getting actual sleep.

Confirmation

2008-03-17T11:00:00.002-04:00

I am officially registered for the camp! I feel sooooo much better knowing that I have finally gotten the email and the sign-up taken care of, because I kept feeling like the whole thing would fall through sooner or later. I'm set now so no worries, and I will definitely be up in Placid on the 14th of next month.

I've decided to lift again today so I can start back on the training routine the way it was given to me. Plus its too cold to be running around outside its sub 30s with the wind chill and this morning it supposedly felt like a whopping 0 degrees outside. Cold is cold is cold to me though. The wind is really strong today and we got blown off the water this morning, so I figured it wouldn't be too good for my muscles/knee either to be sprinting outside in that.

Today I will:
- do functional warm up
- weight warm up
- 4x6 reps of squats, push press, bench press, triceps.
- take no prisoners

Inconsistency

2008-03-16T20:38:00.003-04:00

Yesterday's lift went really well. The human body is such a strange thing. I was able to do more weight than ever despite taking four days off of working out this weekend so I could be in NYC with Ethan and his family. I am definitely having trouble keeping up the energy to stay consistent with my workouts, but I am still making progress.

Here's what I'm actually doing: The functional warm-up consists of something like 25 different short exercises which takes approximately 20-25 minutes to get through. Then I do 10 reps of 3 warm-up lifts (hang cleans, overhead squats, and drop squats). The actual workout is usually 5 lifts and yesterday they were hang cleans, squats, incline press, and RDLs. I do 4x6 reps of each lift with a total of 9 warm-up reps before.

Knowing when to rest is crucial, even though American attitudes towards elitism in sports emphasize the 'more is better' attitude. As a result of my participation in rowing, I have adopted this attitude, but I am starting to realize that sometimes well-timed rest can be more beneficial than an extra workout. So I'm trying to be a little bit easier on myself and not beat myself up if I miss a workout or two. I can always up the intensity when I'm definitely invited back for next winter.

Ethan said that today the USBSF intern said that they were waiting for me to register for the camp, and had asked him about it. I emailed them back saying that I had never gotten the email giving me the formal invite and the instructions for registering. Hopefully that will get taken care of in the next few days, because I sure am anxious about it.

Waiting . . . . .

2008-03-15T16:01:00.002-04:00

I have written numerous emails to the USBSF about the camp, and despite their replies that I am definitely invited, I have yet to receive the formal invite via email. This makes me pretty nervous, but according to Ethan, this is pretty standard for the federation. Supposedly organization is not the best within the system, so I'll keep holding out and probably bother them with yet another email in a few days.

I have been trying to follow a schedule of lifting every other day and running in between lifting, but I keep hitting roadblocks that keep me from training as consistently as I'd like. I ran with my new track spikes for the first time on Wednesday, and my calves are crying for my car to come back from the shop so I don't have to keep walking everywhere. I definitely felt awkward running in those shoes, and I'm concerned that my knees aren't coming up high enough. I keep feeling like I am practicing the wrong technique, but I'm trying to adopt the attitude that just doing it is half the battle. I'm also concerned about my knee. I can lift just fine and get away with almost all of the warm up exercises before I start feeling a tightness behind the knee cap. This tightness turns into pain by the time I start sprinting on the track. Its fine at the beginning of the sprint, but at the end its pretty painful, and progressively gets worse with the more sprints I do. I think it has something to do with the hyperextension in my knees. I keep holding out that the pain will eventually go away, so I haven't been sprinting as hard as I'd like in order to preserve my ability to train over the long run.

Lifting is going pretty well though. I feel like I'm building a strong base, but its difficult when I'm lifting exclusively on my own. Occasionally I can get one of my roommates to come with me, but all of the training that I'm doing is by myself. Let's just hope I don't drop weight on myself because its come close a few times.

Spring training for crew is making it extremely difficult to train because we have two practices a day as well as a meeting in between. I never knew that being a coach would be exponentially more tiring than actually being on the team. I'm always wiped out, and yesterday I was so much so that I decided to take the day off. Today there are no excuses, so I will be lifting after practice tonight.

The Start

2008-03-15T15:46:00.000-04:00

I've decided to start documenting my training as the skeleton camp in April approaches. I figured I can do this as some kind of internet self-affirmation and tracking my progress. Might as well, because seriously, what else is there to do in New London with no car? Answer = Nothing.

I've been on a training plan designed by the wonderful Ethan Albrecht-Carrie that I started when he came to visit in early February. The purpose of this training plan is to get me ready for the skeleton driver's school on April 14-18 at Lake Placid, NY. I want to show up in decent enough shape that I do not make a fool of myself in front of the coaches, and hopefully, good enough that I may even impress them.

But let's start from the beginning - why am I doing this? and why am I trying to do this now? I went to visit Ethan up in Lake Placid in early January. Not only does he train full-time up at LP for bobsled, but he also works at the bobsled/skeleton/luge track doing passenger rides on the bobsleds. This is basically bobsled-riding for tourists. You get to ride in a bobsled with two experienced athletes and feel what its like to pull Gs down a winding track at speeds up to 60mph. The real deal is much faster with speeds approaching 80mph. So Ethan got me on one of the passenger rides and I friggin loved it. Riding in the sled was like being in a rollercoaster with no straps. I tried to watch the turns as we took them, but they ran together much too fast for my brain to comprehend. It looked like I was staring down a tube and the walls would rise up on either side, but I couldn't distinguish the timing. The bobsled ride was really bumpy, but incredibly thrilling. It made me think of when I was a kid how I would ride rollercoasters at Six Flags over and over again while promising myself that I'd become a fighter pilot so I could experience that sinking feeling in my stomach accompanied by unexplainable euphoria at the feeling of defying gravity. Well, I never became a fighter pilot, but here was that feeling again. I couldn't stop smiling after I got out of the sled.

That night Ethan took me out for dinner, and I spent the whole car ride from Mt. Van Hovenberg to the actual town of Lake Placid grilling him on how he got involved in bobsledding. I was secretly hoping he would give me some clue that a Florida girl might be able to broach this obscure world of ice sliding. Bobsledders have to be huge (Ethan weighs over 200lbs. and the women have to weigh over 150lbs.), so I knew I probably didn't have a real shot at that, but i was also thinking that both luge and skeleton slide on the same track. To be honest, skeleton has fascinated me from the second I saw it in the Olympics in Torino. It might have had a little bit to do with the commentary by fellow viewers about how crazy it is to go down head first on a sled, but whatever.
Sure enough, Ethan made the comment to me that I might be a good fit for skeleton. He said, "don't take this the wrong way, but people who do skeleton have to have some sort of screw loose.. . and you might be perfect." From the second he said that to me, I have been making him tell me everything about the sport, and the more I learn the more I think I may have real potential for it. There are only two tracks in the entire US, so the pool of athletes they have is very small. The Olympic center is apparently hurting for true athletes in women's skeleton because it is still a relatively new sport. I don't think there are all that many women interested in trying it either.

So anyway, Ethan has talked to the coaches for me and I have been invited to go learn how to drive the skeleton in April. I was planning on going next winter if the spring didn't work out, but the federation has assured me that I am on the list to attend. I haven't been as consistent on the workouts as I'd like to be, but I've already noticed large gains in the amount of weight i can lift as well as the amount of weight i have gained. I currently weigh around 145 which is hugely more than what I weighed last year at this time which was around 120lbs. I am struggling with trying to accept that the weight I am gaining is necessary and a good thing. I had become very obsessed with my weight numbers from coxing, and I am slowly, painfully being able to make myself believe that skinnier is not better. Its warped and completely wrong, but I am getting over it. Ok, that's probably enough for now. I am going to bed since we have 6am practice in the freezing cold water tomorrow morning.