Thursday, December 16, 2010

Is it raining? Is it snowing? Is it sunny?

These are always the questions that come with "winter" in Southern California.

After a lot of last minute planning and some last second decisions, my parents were kind enough to get me a plane ticket to California, so I could come and visit for a couple weeks over the holidays.

After arriving home from New York, I only had three full days in Virginia before I left again. Some might know that I absolutely hate flying. I'm slightly terrified of airplanes, particularly the landing. This trip was no different.

But I arrived safely in Ontario, CA (after a three-hour layover at Dallas/Ft. Worth...uuug) and was shocked to walk out of the airport into 60 degrees. Talk about warm!

Mom took me out to dinner at Eureka! burger in Redlands, where I had my first hamburger in probably a year (it was excellent). It was nice to visit my mom and people watch with her.

But the time difference was killing me. I was exhausted that night, and was tired all day yesterday. I was also very sore from my Monday's lifting session. After struggling slightly with my lift yesterday, I had to sit in a hot bath for a half-hour in order to relax my muscles.

Today, I have a sprint workout, which will be interesting without a track or gym, because it's raining. Actually, right now, it's not raining. It's beautifully sunny with blue skies. But an hour ago, it was raining and two hours ago it was snowing. I guess I should come to expect this with the Idyllwild weather I had when I lived here.

I am missing my teammates from Lake Placid and my coworkers from Virginia, but it's only two more weeks before I'm back on the East Coast, and less than a month before I'm sliding again!

In an attempt to stay focused on sliding, I've been watching video of the Lake Placid track (shown below), trying to learn the turns better and trying to practice what I've learned. Because I don't have a sled here, it's difficult to practice the actual movements, but I re-create them with my shoulders.

Lake Placid helmet camera

My parents also just got a DVR, which not only opened up a bunch more channels on TV, but the ability to record shows as well! Since we now have UniversalSports, an NBC-affiliated channel that focuses on winter sports, I'm able to record and watch the World Cup skeleton races.

It helps even watching on TV, because I get to focus on elite sliders' form (something I need work on) and their technique. I even get to know a new track slightly after watching run after run!

I haven't gotten my mom to watch with me yet, but it's only a matter of time!

Until then, I'll be trying to stay on top of my training, and getting in as much relaxing as I can before diving headfirst into full-on training in Lake Placid.

Happy holidays, everyone! Keep on sliding forward!

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