Hello everyone
Merry Christmas. I am in St Anton Austria with my Brother and Sister inlaw, Ben and Karen, they are running a Chalet here in the alps for the winter and I have come here to have my first christmas with kiwi family since 1999!!!
I went and checked out the track in Igls today, it is looking great with brand new very nice start and finish buildings.
My plan is to get as much sliding in here in austria as possible, the next race is in Japan, the track there is a lot of fun and we dont get to go there very often, I have found some affordable flights out there, so at this stage it looks like I am on my way, I loved that track last time I was there for the world champs and I'm looking forward to getting back on the ice there.
Have a great chirstmas and New Year, I'll give an update of how it is all going next month.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Park City World Cup
I arrived and my luggage didn't, -25 celcius and snowy out side and I only have jeans a t-shirt and a light jacket and street shoes. The airline said they would get my bags to me as soon as possible but did not know when that would be. AAAAHHHH, luckily I have good travel insurance and once my bags are missing for 12 hours or more, they will let me buy emergency clothing, a nice warm new jacket and snow proof shoes, it felt like christmas. Day one of training went very well for me, I clicked on my sled, I had one of the highest speeds and my down time did not have me trailing the field, I felt like celebrating. But after that I started to try too hard, and just didnt click with the sled, I kept on panic steering with my feet which is way too agressive and slows you down way too much. 6 training runs then race. Unfortunately I didn't even go as fast on race day as I did on the first day of training. I didnt get to understand the track or be sure of what I was suposed to be doing in the corners. I finished 24th.
But I can take some thing good from this race, my first training day I clicked with the sled and got the high speed that I am used to from previous good races, and that is progress that was the first run of the season that felt right, so now I need to do it again, it is a pity that I am only getting 6 runs per track, I really needed a month somewhere at the start of the season, but that is a luxury I have to learn to work with out.
Next stop Lake Placid, I like Lake Placid, I have had many many training runs there over the years and can feel the rythm of the track.
But I can take some thing good from this race, my first training day I clicked with the sled and got the high speed that I am used to from previous good races, and that is progress that was the first run of the season that felt right, so now I need to do it again, it is a pity that I am only getting 6 runs per track, I really needed a month somewhere at the start of the season, but that is a luxury I have to learn to work with out.
Next stop Lake Placid, I like Lake Placid, I have had many many training runs there over the years and can feel the rythm of the track.
Calgary World Cup
Calgary World Cup
It was a last minute decision for me to go to Calgary, I originally intended to spend the week in Lake Placid getting comfortable on my sled as a lack of money meant I did not get the preseason training in that I had hoped for and I did not want to show up at a world cup race having not even had 10 runs on the sled, getting a good result is hard enough, trying when other competitors have had 10 times more runs to prepare for the season makes it a wee bit harder.
Still though, as the FIBT selects atheltes for the world championships on points and the only way to get points is by racing, I decided to go.
We got there and it was cold, very cold, unbelievably cold, so cold that the schools were closed and there was an extreme weather warning.
Day one of training was cancelled, it was -41 celcius.
I was happy, I'd much rather hybernate in the hotel room than run around in a lycra swim suit and add 120kmph worth of wind chill to -41.
Day two training was postponed untill mid day when the temperature had heated to a balmy -35, they offered each athlete one run.
Day three, last day of official training, women were training at 8am we got there and they cancelled training, then 5 minutes later announced it was back on and we slid in -31, 2 runs each.
Race day it was alot warmer, I hit the left wall before corner one and the game was over, you cant hit at the top of the track and definately not before corner one, I also bumped out of one (because I went in late after hitting before one), and lost too much speed and finished 23rd. I was disapointed with the result, as I really want to get back to where I was two seasons ago before my trampoline mishap, but reality is that it will take me a while to get comfortable on the sled and learn how to make my shoulders work and drive the sled the way they used to, both shoulders were tightened at the back, I need them to rolled forward. And it will take me more than 15 runs to be sliding fast and being competitive.
Next stop Park City, I havent slid there for over 4 years! I remember the track well and I'm looking forward to sliding there again.
Visit the Snow Farm
It was a last minute decision for me to go to Calgary, I originally intended to spend the week in Lake Placid getting comfortable on my sled as a lack of money meant I did not get the preseason training in that I had hoped for and I did not want to show up at a world cup race having not even had 10 runs on the sled, getting a good result is hard enough, trying when other competitors have had 10 times more runs to prepare for the season makes it a wee bit harder.
Still though, as the FIBT selects atheltes for the world championships on points and the only way to get points is by racing, I decided to go.
We got there and it was cold, very cold, unbelievably cold, so cold that the schools were closed and there was an extreme weather warning.
Day one of training was cancelled, it was -41 celcius.
I was happy, I'd much rather hybernate in the hotel room than run around in a lycra swim suit and add 120kmph worth of wind chill to -41.
Day two training was postponed untill mid day when the temperature had heated to a balmy -35, they offered each athlete one run.
Day three, last day of official training, women were training at 8am we got there and they cancelled training, then 5 minutes later announced it was back on and we slid in -31, 2 runs each.
Race day it was alot warmer, I hit the left wall before corner one and the game was over, you cant hit at the top of the track and definately not before corner one, I also bumped out of one (because I went in late after hitting before one), and lost too much speed and finished 23rd. I was disapointed with the result, as I really want to get back to where I was two seasons ago before my trampoline mishap, but reality is that it will take me a while to get comfortable on the sled and learn how to make my shoulders work and drive the sled the way they used to, both shoulders were tightened at the back, I need them to rolled forward. And it will take me more than 15 runs to be sliding fast and being competitive.
Next stop Park City, I havent slid there for over 4 years! I remember the track well and I'm looking forward to sliding there again.
Visit the Snow Farm
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