Pre Race

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.

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.

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.

Empire State Games

The Empire State games were held this week. Most of the skeleton athletes here competed. I didn’t do very well, and it was my first official race so…oh well. I got 8th out of 13. My second run was so much worse than my first. I went into curves 8-12 late and it slowed down my run a lot.

The ESG had an opening ceremony where we all marched in under our sport into the ice hockey arena. Kind of like the Olympics. They lit a flame, had a bronze medalist speak, and it was televised. Everyone got a sweat suit and hat if you signed up to participate. So everyone in the arena was matching. Id say there were about 200 athletes there? Maybe 300, about 100 of them were figure skaters.

Bought my first speed suit and brush spikes this week. I feel pretty legit now. Not like a nube in my track spikes and under armor compression clothes. I’ll work on putting up some pictures.

Nationals are this weekend. I wish I could say I was excited but I’m really just more interested to see how it turns out and to get to watch the world cup athletes slide. Mom and Dad are coming up so they’ll get to see more of what I try to explain to them. Maybe they’ll take some video of me sliding and I can post it up here.

I might be coming home in the next 3 weeks if I don’t get picked for the FIBT driving school or the Americas Cup race in April. I’m still crossing my fingers but I think I have to do really well at nationals to get picked. Going home is going to be weird, I’m going to talk to normal people again?? Right now I would be really excited at the thought of interacting with people that I don’t compete with every day. But ill miss my crazy LP family for sure.

Off the sled

Week 3

This week did not have as much productive sliding involved. We slid from start 3 again this Friday because the top of the track was melted. It was 45 on Friday! Anyways, obviously everyone took sliding from start 3 very seriously. A few of the guys dressed up in super hero costumes, and bikinis over there spandex. Others taped extra weight to themselves and the sled in attempts to win. Unfortunately there were sled checks and a few of the sliders were DQd for their extra weight haha. It was all a joke anyways. There were also large rubber bands attached to the luge posts at the start so there was an attempt to slingshot a sled down the track. Failed attempt.

The beginning of this week was not as much fun for me. For the first time I actually came off of my sled, and was holding on with one hand. I came out of a turn extraaa late and my sled stayed in the turn…as in the sled was still sideways coming out of the turn and stuck to the sidewall as I was dragged behind it. It wasn’t actually very scary because it happened so fast that I pulled myself back on my sled almost as fast as I was thrown off. When I finally got off of my sled I actually couldn’t stop laughing, I think that might have just been the adrenaline or the shock, but I guess I thought I was hilarious. I didn’t feel the injuries until later in the day, I got some iceburn and actually ripped my spandex for the first time on my left arm. My right hip was a little swollen, which got much worse in the days fallowing. My chest bone also was bruised because when my body started to come off the sled, I was thrown to the left, and my chest bone landed on the left side of my saddle, which is metal.

I’m actually glad it happened because now I think I have been initiated into the sport haha. It’s happened to everyone at least once and now I know I can get back on the sled even after a spill. Not that this spill was really that bad, I’m sure it’ll happen again.

Anyways, nationals are coming up and mom and dad are gunna come up to watch. Which I’m kind of excited to show them just how fast we go. It’s kind of hard to tell watching it on TV, but in person makes it seem more intense.

RACE DAY and SCHOOL

Friday was a good day for pretty much everyone who competed. There were lots of PR’s all around. I had a few myself, I pushed a new pr of 5.59 and had a new pr down time of 57.83. The best part for me was probably getting in the 57’s. A lot of sliders who have been here longer than I have, have not gotten into the 57’s yet so I’m extremely happy about my progress. But it was also an awesome day for me because I was consistent with both of my runs. My second run was 57.90. It cant get much more consistent than that! Overall I got 6th place out of…17 people..i think?


School has sucked big time. When I was at home, I did my schoolwork pretty diligently because I was so bored I had nothing else to do. Here, I try to still do a little every night but its not easy. I have 2 tests due the weekend of nationals so I have to take them a week early, which doesn’t help me out. Good thing a lot of the work is easy.

On another note, I signed up today to compete in the empire state games. I’m not really sure what they are but they have opening ceremonies and we get a sweat suit for it. So it sounds pretty legit.

After 2 weeks here, I don’t love skeleton any less than I did from day one. If anything, these two weeks have made me enjoy it more. Of course that could definitely change in the next 3 weeks. But I feel that I have reached a point where I know I want to seriously peruse this sport. A point where I’m considering transferring to SUNY Plattsburg. (Sorry mom and dad that you had to read it here first) At first I wanted to avoid SUNY Plattsburg because it doesn’t have the academic reputation that UMW does. But I’m loving skeleton so much right now that I’m trying to convince myself that life is what you put into it, that I can still get an awesome job based on my personality, and drive. And maybe when I’m done with skeleton I can get into an awesome grad program. If I were to transfer to Plattsburg It would be cheapest for me to live at the OTC and commute to class 3 times a week.

A lot of people have asked me if I will regret not having the typical college experience. And I was worried about that too for a while. There are three reasons I don’t think I will. 1. UMW wasn’t your typical college experience anyways. There are no frats, no raging parties, no clubs, and an insane amount of girls. 2. This sport might offer me opportunities to go Europe and to compete at a level that few people will ever experience. I think those experiences will be priceless, and more valuable than the future hangovers that would surely be awaiting me in college. :) And finally, 3. I talked with a veteran athlete here who started at the same age I am, and did go to SUNY Plattsburg. He managed to slide, finish school, and be the alternate for the Olympics twice. And the best part is that he said he did not regret in the least that he did not have the typical college experience.

I know what my parents will probably be thinking right now, What about track? Yeah I’m going miss it a lot. And I know college track is an experience that I would like to have, and my parents would love me to have. But I don’t enjoy track anywhere near as much as skeleton. AND if I wanted to run track at Plattsburg, I could. A skeleton athlete who was just at the past Olympics in Vancouver, also started skeleton close to the same age as me and went to Plattsburg. AND he was an all American track athlete. So…not making any promises…but I could run track, do skeleton, and go to school all at the same time!

Week 2

Week 2

This week got switched up a little bit. Instead of starting from start 1 (the top) they moved a small group of us down to start 3 (the next skeleton start below start 1, start 2 is for luge). The lower start was to help us work on our form. When you run the sled from start 1 the hits are much harder (obviously). When you hit a wall, your form breaks because your body is flung to one side of the sled. So when you are going at such high speeds, recovering from a hit and getting good form back is pretty basic, but is hard to get used to. Sliding from start 3 makes it easier to hold form after a hit because you are going slower.

The hardest part about recovering after a hit isn’t really physical, because when your adrenaline is pumping you don’t really feel much. The hardest part for me is recovering mentally. When I catch air coming out of a turn, that instant I’m in the air is in slow motion, even though I’m going about 60mph. That moment I’m in the air is like..oh crap oh crap of crap oh crap SMACK ...then SLAM into the wall (curve 12). Next thing I know I’m in another curve and I have to think about whats next, but its already too late because my head is jumbled from the hit, and the next thing I know I hit another wall.


I know when I’m going at slower speeds and I mess up or start to skid, I cuss out loud. I’m sure if there was a microphone in my helmet it would be pretty entertaining.

Bruises last a really long time here for me mostly because I usually hit in the same spot every day. Unfortunately it will be a while before I stop getting bruises. There are people here who have been in LP since November and are still getting them. So I’m sorry to say mom, and aunt Shannon, the bruises are here to stay.

Went back to start one on wed. Did awesome! Got faster after every run.

Got an official work out from the weight trainer on wed. I’m really surprised how opposite the peer pressure is in LP as far as how often to work out. You see a lot of people here work out, what seems like every day and lift a lot of weight. Seeing them makes me worry that I am not doing enough as far as training goes. But I was told today that over training is a real problem here. The weight coach said to take 2 days of rest a week. Because we have to slide after we work out, the added stress on the body requires more recovery time.
I feel like normal people don’t have to force themselves not to work out. But some people here in LP have to force themselves to take a day off! And I never thought I would ever feel lazy for only taking 1 day off! It just makes me realize what a backwards life we live in the training center.

People sliding 60-70mph face first down in ice shoot. Forcing themselves NOT to work out…crazy