Cool Weekend

So I’ve been pretty lazy lately in my posting….sorry! I’ve been trying to get a lot of work done which has taken priority over my blogging. Anyway, this Friday/weekend has been pretty exciting!

On Friday I was a forerunner for the second ICC race that took part in Lake Placid this week. Despite popular belief, a forerunner is NOT a guinea pig for the track and it is a big honor to be selected. Basically we slide before the other sliders so that they can see what lines the grooves at the start will drop you off at and to test the timing eyes to make sure that they, along with the computer system, is working.  It is also our job NOT to crash (unless of course, it is from something that was in the track that wasn’t supposed to be).  For my first run, which took place before the race, I had to use the right groove at the start, a groove that I do not usually use, which was a new experience for me.

My second run came at the end of the day when the races were finished. I was considered an “afterburner” to check out the track one last time before the races closed. My last run wasn’t quite as good as my first, but still a solid effort. Here is a video of me on my second run coming through the Chicane:

This morning a few of us went to the Biathlon Range to watch the first part of the competition.  It was really cool! Today’s competition is actually a precursor for tomorrow’s race. Tomorrow’s competition is a pursuit, meaning that they’ll start off tomorrow based on their times from today. For example, the individual with the fastest time will start first.  Let’s say the 2nd place person finished 5 seconds behind.  Once the first guy goes, the person in second has to wait 5 seconds and then they can start in pursuit of the first skier.  This continues back the competition field.  Apparently it’s super exciting to watch, so we’re going to head back over there tomorrow!

Until then, it’s back to work. Cheers!

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Cleared!

So after 4 long, painful days of the flu, I’m cleared to slide today….hooray!  Presuming sliding goes well today (as in I feel okay, not whether or not I crash or anything) I’ll be able to resume all other normal activities tomorrow. THANK GOODNESS.

I still feel slightly under the weather, but I’m now able to function and get out of bed and exercise, which feels good. Getting back into the grind of workouts isn’t going to be the most fun, but such is life.

Today we slide from 3-5pm and tomorrow we’ll have our second race for the Lake Placid Cup Series. I finally got our results back from the first race, and turns out I placed 3rd! I’m not sure how the race will go tomorrow, seeing as I haven’t slid since last Friday, but it’ll be good to at least get back on the ice.

I’ll see what I can do about getting videos posted. Everyone slides, so getting footage at any of the turns is out of the question, so for now it’ll be starts. The next time we have a video session, I’ll try and film my run and post it, but no promises. I’ll try my best!

It’s Cold!

My apologies for not posting over the past few days! I’ve been sick with the full-blown flu since Saturday morning, so posting on my blog hasn’t really been at the top of my priority list.

Our race on Friday went really well, I think I ended up placing 4th among the girls. We weren’t sent time sheets so that’s why I’m not sure where I placed. My final run I finally made it under 1 minute so I was pretty happy. I’ve run sub-minute before during the advanced camp, but I’ve been trying to get used to my new sled.

Today our sliding session was cancelled because of the weather. It looks beautiful outside, but is a whopping -36 degrees. -36! It’s too cold to slide and too cold for the track workers to do anything on the track, so sliding was a no-go. I wouldn’t have been able to slide anyway since I’m sick, but at least now I don’t have to feel guilty about it.

Bruised and Baffled

So the past two days have been, well, painful.

The ice was faster yesterday and today, which made for some better sliding, but not without a price for some.

Luckily, I have not been one of the many who have crashed, fallen off their sleds, tripped over their sled at the start, popped the groove at the start and skidded sideways into Curve 1 or been dragged by their sleds. I know, it sounds awful. I have, however, been one of the many who have slammed into several walls, been hurtled out of several curves into a wall, popped out of the cradle of my sled and landed on the cradle (because hip bones hitting on metal DOES hurt, despite popular belief) as well as other jabs to my ego.  Needless to say, it’s been a rough two days.

My times today were 1:01’s and a final run of 1:00, which definitely aren’t my fastest. However, my last run of the night felt much better and normal. I finally felt like it did when I finished the Advanced camp before Christmas, so that was encouraging.  Lately I’ve been messing up from Curves 10-13 and then Curves 17-19, Curves I usually don’t have a problem with which is SUPER frustrating. I kept getting hurtled out of Curve 12 and into the wall on 13 and slamming out and back into the saddle of my sled. I swear, had I hit my hip on my saddle again, I probably would have thrown my sled out of the back of the truck, no lie.

Anyway, tomorrow is our first race as part of the “Lake Placid Cup” races. I’m super excited to try and go 100% from the start and slide even cleaner! I’ll let you know the results later tomorrow night!

 

**Disclaimer….for those that don’t know, we almost always slide at night here. So for tomorrow’s race, results probably won’t go up until after 8pm tomorrow!

Day One Complete

I made it!

But not at any record breaking speeds, mind you.

The ice was pretty slow yesterday. Not only was it frosty, but the temps warmed up to around 29-35F (depending on whether or not you were at the top or bottom of the mountain) which made for some not so great ice. I’m definitely not complaining, I was really anxious to get my first run over with, especially since I was on yet another new sled. The new sled is more flexible, meaning that it steers with little pressure. Therefore, if I’m not relaxed and I’m looking all over the place, I’ll start to skid.

After the first run though, I was ready for some more speed. I improved by 3 second on the next run, but partly because I actually sprinted on the start. The first run, a lot of us just took a few steps and hopped on!  Today we slide from 4:30-7 tonight and it’s colder today, so hopefully we’ll pick up some more speed!

Back in Action!

Yesterday I made the long trip back up to Lake Placid. I surprisingly hit zero-to-little traffic (yay!) and got to break up the trip in Saratoga Springs, where I met my friend Lindsey for lunch at a neat little Mexican restaurant. I spent most of yesterday moving in–since I’ll be here for the next 3 months–and catching up with the rest of my fellow sliders.

After breakfast this morning, we went to the sled shed to get fitted for our sleds. I’m currently renting one until I decide what type of sled I want to purchase. I finally have enough saved up to buy a sled, but it’s going to be hard to let the money go, especially when I have so much to pay in student loans! Looks like this chickie will be looking for another job!

Anyway, we slide tonight from 5-7pm and we’re all slightly nervous (or like me, really nervous) to get back on the ice. Since it’s so cold and there was a race here last week, the ice is really fast. So we’re all just a little anxious to get back at it and hopefully make it to the bottom of the track in one piece! I’ll post again later tonight after I’ve (fingers crossed) made it safely down the track!

It’s been a wild year!

So perhaps less procrastination should be part of my New Year’s Resolutions, seeing as this post is just a day or two late. But cut a girl some slack, I was trying to finish a website for my brother and I!  Here’s the link: http://www.wix.com/savannahgraybill/dandsgraybill You should check it out! Now, back to the post.

Looking back at 2010, it’s definitely been a crazy and interesting year!  January started my final semester as a college student, this time without AUFH.  It was a new experience not having any obligations to field hockey…I was a “real” college student!  However, it didn’t come without a price. Being free to wake up at 10am or go out on a Tuesday or Wednesday night loses its appeal when you realize that instead, you would give anything to be up at 5:45am at practice with the rest of your field hockey family. Lesson learned.

February brought along the Snowpacalypse that hit DC like a ton of bricks. A week off of school, filled with sledding, movie marathons and sleep.  It doesn’t get much better than that!

In March, I received an email that would drastically change the course of my year.  I received an email from my athletic trainer who was emailed by Elana Meyers, the current bronze medalist in the women’s two-man bobsled.  She was recruiting brakemen for the upcoming season and was looking for athletes.  Since I had no idea what I was doing with my life anyway, I emailed her back and over Spring Break, was told I should train and attend a combine over the summer to tryout! At first, I had the attitude that it would at the least, be a neat experience.  Little did I know this would be the turning point for my life thus far!

In May came my graduation from American University! I attended my final classes, finished all my finals and received my diploma–my one-way ticket to the real world! It was a great celebration with my family and fellow teammates that I’ll remember for years to come.

The summer was filled with training for my pending combine.  The first combine was in August, and I missed passing the combine by only a few points! Luckily, the coaches invited me to come back to Push Championships in September and re-test with the hopes of hitting my 600 points and competing for a spot. Unfortunately, I came back under the weather and again, missed my passing grade.

Luckily, this was not the end of the road for me.  In October, I was invited to attend a sliding school for skeleton.  It was definitely the coolest thing I’ve ever done and I was totally hooked.

November and December included an advanced sliding school and leads me to 2011. I’ll spend mid-January to the end of March in Lake Placid training and sliding and hopefully earning a spot on the team.

This leads me to my resolutions for the year. Well, some of them. A few I’m keeping to myself.  Anyway, #1 is to be as open as possible to any new opportunities I may be presented with.  I can’t necessarily predict what’s going to happen with any of the opportunities that may come my way, but instead of being afraid or nervous or scared, I want to try to embrace these chances with an open mind, minimal fear and know that if I’m not in control, it’s okay.  #2 sort of correlates with the first– to Let go.  There will always be things that are out of my control and challenges that will present themselves, but I need to remember to decipher which problems are actually problems and which are not, and let go those that are not.  I’ll work harder at calmly working out the real challenges I encounter.  I think that’s going to be my most difficult one.

I think that’s a long enough post for the day. Thanks for listening, and check back for more updates around January 16-20th, when I return back to Lake Placid!