I wish my camera's tomb wasn't the bottom of the Grant Memorial Pool in Washington DC. If I had it, I'd take a picture of myself to show you exactly what I'm doing. Since I have no photographic evidence, I'll try and explain as much as I can.
I'm currently sitting on the floor of the lodge at Hemlock Overlook Regional Park, where I work as an Adventure Facilitator for a company called Adventure Links. I'm wearing jeans and my US Bobsled and Skeleton sweatshirt. One of my pant legs is rolled up to the knee and a big bag of ice is resting on my shin.
Every time I inhale, I'm smelling delicious things coming from the kitchen about 10 feet to my left, where most of the staff is gathered, putting the finishing touches to their contributions to our end-of-year feast.
It's a rather comical picture of someone who is training for the Olympics, I'll grant you. But, such is my life!
I've been in Virginia for six months now, ever since my graduation from college. While I was working for Adventure Links last summer, this is the first time I've stayed through the fall season. Now that our company is closing its doors for the winter, we are celebrating with a lavish feast of turkey (cooked in a bonfire-turned-embers pit outside), mashed potatoes, casseroles, salads and desserts, each made by a different staff member.
Knowing that I would be eating a LOT tonight, including a lot of the dessert that I made, I got a workout in. Today, it was a pretty low-key workout, though it was pretty challenging: 8x 100m strides. Sounds simple, but seeing as this is my first full week back after my sliding camp, it was mainly a test of my fitness.
I also have the added challenge of my old/nagging/chronic shin splints coming back to haunt me...darn it! How is it that every sport I enjoy involve constant pounding of the legs, mostly in a sprint? I guess it's time to stock up on tape and ibuprofen.
And with that point, I suppose I should inform you all: I have recently taken up the sport ofskeleton. Known as one of the fastest sports on ice, skeleton involves the athlete essentially hurling themselves down a mile-long ice chute head first, laying on something closely resembling a cookie sheet with runners, reaching speeds up to 90MPH and exerting up to 5Gs of force on their bodies. Sounds fun, eh?
It's one of the most exhilarating thing I've ever done in my life. It's like a drug: addictive, gives me a huge rush at the end, and keeps me on my toes, so to speak. In a sport where the smallest movement of muscle can cause a crash, it's not an activity for the faint-of-heart.
I got into skeleton through a teammate of mine from NAU Track and Field, who suggested I look into bobsled, noting that I was a fairly fast sprinter and powerful weight-lifter. My inquiry to the United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation was answered by the developmental skeleton coach, Don Hass, who suggested skeleton, saying I was a little too small for bobsled, whose female athletes of my 5'6'' height weigh close to 160 pounds, 20 pounds more than me.
I attended a camp in Lake Placid in early September, showing off my fitness and strength in a combine, or a combination of nine different fitness events: a 15m, 30m, 30m fly, and 45m sprint, shot throw, broad jumps, squat in the weight room, and power cleans.
During the second sprint of the morning, only the first event of the day, I pulled my hamstring, which effectively ended my combine hopes for that week. Because my one sprint I got in was one of the fastest in the group, I was allowed to stay, and was even invited back to attend a sliding school in November.
This sliding school just took place last week. For more information and blog posts from that trip, please visit my other site, Living Fast, Living Strong.
My plans for the next couple weeks are as follows: I am attending the Advanced Sliding School in Lake Placid between November 30-December 10, then returning to Virgina until January 17. From that date until April 3, I will be in Lake Placid, living at the Olympic Training Center, and attending open training for my first season. I am extremely excited to go back and learn more, and to challenge myself both on the sled and off.
From time to time, I will be posting here, as well as my other location, so please keep reading, comment, and enjoy!
For now, keep sliding...
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