Tomorrow is my first international race…12 countries. Get to wear a team usa speed suit which makes me feel pretty legit. But I’m actually nervous for this race…not like nationals. I think this race is different than nationals because I have expectations…and because I had an awesome week of training leading up to the national championships. I have had a horrible 2 weeks leading up to this race.
These past 2 weeks I have been trying new runners. For those who don’t understand skeleton runners this isn’t going to make much sense…but thy coaches had me try men’s big wheels plus 50…not positive if they are actually plus 50 but that’s what they jokingly said so…I don’t know. Anyways….these runners have a fatter spine..and shallower groves than the runners I was on for nationals. Which means that there is less of the runner cutting into the ice…which gives me less control…which I tend to like to have.
However, the less runner that cuts into the ice..the faster you go..so the ultimate goal was to teach me to control these squirrely runners so that I could go faster. However I couldn’t manage them/I think I needed more than 1 week to get used to them because it was a complete disaster. I came off of my sled again..in curve 18/19..I was still holding on but I have a bruise that runs down the entire length of my right leg. So my ego is incredibly bruised for this race.
I tried different runners today and did better. Feeling much better about racing tomorrow now.
I’m getting it all sorted out in my head...I’ll forget most of the negative stuff by tomorrow…and will be ready for the race. The coaches seem to have faith in me, so why shouldn’t I.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
INTERNATIONAL DRIVING SCHOOL
In the weeks after nationals not much was happening around the OTC. There was less ice time due to a large number of skele and bobsled recruitment camps. I liked having some time off after nationals to kind of absorb what I had accomplished and to think about what was next.
Unfortunately, I think that my mind is still not completely re-focused on skeleton. Which means I need to get my shit together because today I started my first international driving school, and next week I have my first international race.
The atmosphere at the OTC has changed again. The world cup sliders, for the most part, have all left. But they have been replaced with sliders from all over the world, some of which are world cup. There are sliders here from Mexico, Canada, Australia, Korea, Sweden, England, and Greece. I know I’m missing some but you get the picture. Most of the people here are staying after the driving school to compete in the last Americas cup race of the season.
My sliding today was not great. I popped the grove at the start and actually let go of my sled…debated letting it go down the track with out me…hopped on anyways… and hit 2 walls before I even reached the first curve. I have been working on my push start a lot lately, and not pushing well today ticked me off just a bit.
Not sliding well for a day normally doesn’t bother me, but because I was 1 of only 4 women who got picked for this school, it makes me feel bad. -- You know when you try out for a team….lets say soccer, and you just nail a shot and score right in front of the coach. You feel kinda badass after. Lets say you make the team, but in your first game you get another break away and completely miss the next shot…like it was not even close…way over the goal, like you were trying to punt a football. And then you miss your next shot on goal too…you feel like shit…obviously. So are you as good as you showed in try outs....or did you just get lucky? Does the coach regret picking you for the team?—That’s pretty much how I feel right now
Friends from home ask me all the time what you need to be good at skeleton. And a lot of times I feel like their trying to figure out why I am any good at it, or they are trying to judge how athletic you have to be to actually be good. Because to them, it seems like most of the sport is just laying on a sled. Which is true, but the push start is super important if you want to get faster down times. And I can’t name any other sport, (except for bobsled and luge obviously), that only gets to practice for 2 minuets every day. I had never even thought about how ridiculous that is until one of our coaches said something. But seriously, 2 minuets a day…2 runs…taking about 58 seconds each. No wonder it takes so long to get good at this sport.
Americas cup is going to be next Thursday and Friday I believe. And I was just informed today, that the women’s gold medalist in skeleton from the Vancouver 2010 Olympic’s, is going to be competing with us. That is crazy. I have heard that some other world cup sliders from other countries maybe competing with us as well. Apparently world championships are going to be here next year and a lot of the world cup people want as many runs down this track as possible before then. Makes sense. But to a person who has only slid for….what 6 weeks now. I’m kind of worried about getting my ass kicked haha.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
8th AT NATIONALS
Nationals and Americas Cup
This past week was a pretty eventful one. The world cup team came back to LP from the World championships. Having them around changed the atmosphere a bit. Official training started on Thursday, and the first day of racing was on Friday. Initially, the races were supposed to be on sat and sun but because of warm weather they moved them up a day. On Friday there were 2 runs, and sat there were 2 runs. The combination of all 4 of your times added together determines your final place.
The Race wasn’t until 6 at night. I actually liked that because it gave me a chance to sleep in haha. But pretty much race day went something like this.
Wake up. Eat. Watch film of training runs. Sand runners. Eat. Warm up. Head to track. Set your rock. Get in order. Wait an hour. Warm up again. Get ready to go.
Just to clarify. Setting your rock is when bow the runner so that there is less of the runner on the ice. Having less of the runner on the ice makes you go faster.
And referring to getting in order, we are all put in a random order of who goes down the track first. So if you are listed to be the first sled off, you have the put your sled in slot number 1. If your second, you have to put your sled in slot number 2. Ect. Ect.
On race day the race officials also sand our runners over a few times, and wipe them down with acetone, just to make sure there is no substance on there that’s gunna make us go faster. They also carry our sleds to the starting block for us and hold them while we wait for our turn. Which is nice because in practice we have to carry and hold our sleds ourselves.
FIRDAYS RACE
The ice on Friday was very hard and fast. Weirdly enough I wasn’t really nervous. This is gunna sound bad, but I just figured no one expected much out of me because I am so new to this sport. And because I felt no one really had any expectations of me I was pretty relaxed. Normally I put a lot of pressure on myself too, but I didn’t really know what to expect of myself either so I felt like no matter what I did I was gunna surprise myself.
I slid realllyyy well that day. After my runs on Friday I was in 6th place. If only I could have done as well on Saturday! I would have gotten a medal!
SATURDAYS RACE
Saturday was a little more stressful. Because I had done so well the day before, there were expectations now. And I put pressure on myself to try not to drop down any places. But again, I was pretty calm, my runs were not as good as Friday and I ended up in 8th place. Still amazing for a new person.
Heres an article on the national championships.
http://bobsled.teamusa.org/news/2011/03/05/oshea-and-antoine-named-u-s-skeleton-national-champions/41254?ngb_id=23
WHATS NEXT
So as far as racing goes I think I may qualify for team trails this fall! Which would be amazing. Because I did so well at nationals I ended up getting picked for the FIBT driving school and to race in the last Americas Cups race in April. There are 15 girls, and only 4 of us got picked to stay and compete. So I will be at the Training center for at least another month after all!
School is a different story, I will be going to the local community college all this summer to get more credits, and ill take block classes until October. So that school will be over just in time for team trails. Long term, I’m thinking I’m going to get my associates degree from NOVA CC, and then transfer those credits to Pen State online. Which will work out really well for me, because apparently next year the team is going to be traveling a lot.
I love this sport and wish that everyone could come up and watch it in person at some point. Its just not the same seeing videos and pictures.
This past week was a pretty eventful one. The world cup team came back to LP from the World championships. Having them around changed the atmosphere a bit. Official training started on Thursday, and the first day of racing was on Friday. Initially, the races were supposed to be on sat and sun but because of warm weather they moved them up a day. On Friday there were 2 runs, and sat there were 2 runs. The combination of all 4 of your times added together determines your final place.
The Race wasn’t until 6 at night. I actually liked that because it gave me a chance to sleep in haha. But pretty much race day went something like this.
Wake up. Eat. Watch film of training runs. Sand runners. Eat. Warm up. Head to track. Set your rock. Get in order. Wait an hour. Warm up again. Get ready to go.
Just to clarify. Setting your rock is when bow the runner so that there is less of the runner on the ice. Having less of the runner on the ice makes you go faster.
And referring to getting in order, we are all put in a random order of who goes down the track first. So if you are listed to be the first sled off, you have the put your sled in slot number 1. If your second, you have to put your sled in slot number 2. Ect. Ect.
On race day the race officials also sand our runners over a few times, and wipe them down with acetone, just to make sure there is no substance on there that’s gunna make us go faster. They also carry our sleds to the starting block for us and hold them while we wait for our turn. Which is nice because in practice we have to carry and hold our sleds ourselves.
FIRDAYS RACE
The ice on Friday was very hard and fast. Weirdly enough I wasn’t really nervous. This is gunna sound bad, but I just figured no one expected much out of me because I am so new to this sport. And because I felt no one really had any expectations of me I was pretty relaxed. Normally I put a lot of pressure on myself too, but I didn’t really know what to expect of myself either so I felt like no matter what I did I was gunna surprise myself.
I slid realllyyy well that day. After my runs on Friday I was in 6th place. If only I could have done as well on Saturday! I would have gotten a medal!
SATURDAYS RACE
Saturday was a little more stressful. Because I had done so well the day before, there were expectations now. And I put pressure on myself to try not to drop down any places. But again, I was pretty calm, my runs were not as good as Friday and I ended up in 8th place. Still amazing for a new person.
Heres an article on the national championships.
http://bobsled.teamusa.org/news/2011/03/05/oshea-and-antoine-named-u-s-skeleton-national-champions/41254?ngb_id=23
WHATS NEXT
So as far as racing goes I think I may qualify for team trails this fall! Which would be amazing. Because I did so well at nationals I ended up getting picked for the FIBT driving school and to race in the last Americas Cups race in April. There are 15 girls, and only 4 of us got picked to stay and compete. So I will be at the Training center for at least another month after all!
School is a different story, I will be going to the local community college all this summer to get more credits, and ill take block classes until October. So that school will be over just in time for team trails. Long term, I’m thinking I’m going to get my associates degree from NOVA CC, and then transfer those credits to Pen State online. Which will work out really well for me, because apparently next year the team is going to be traveling a lot.
I love this sport and wish that everyone could come up and watch it in person at some point. Its just not the same seeing videos and pictures.
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