Day two of Lake Placid- Push Training and “the talk”

 After all the adrenaline rush I had yesterday, I was thankful that they allowed us to sleep in just a little bit.  I am not a morning person by any means and was very grateful for the extra sleep time I was allowed.  Although I was allowed to sleep longer I had to get a move on and look to working out in the morning before going to the push training.  After all I did not want to just stop now that I have made it this far. 

When I entered the training I looked for my other rookies and could not see anyone I knew.  I did see the US national team training in on the other side the gym and decided to press my luck.  I walked over and said hey do you guys mind if I just workout with you guys.  The trainer looked puzzled and said, “Sure why not.  No one has ever asked to join us before.”   That is was when I knew I was in trouble. 

Here I was someone who decided to join the US National team just a year ago working out alongside elite athletes.  I could not believe how far I had come.  I was working out next to people who medaled in the last Olympics.  I did not have time to think about all that until after the workout because I had to prove to these people that I belonged.  Now I thought my workout was tough this stuff was like a warm up to them.  I can see now why they are at the top of their class. That will be one experience I will always remember. 

After my training I went to grab some lunch and get ready for the push training.  This was where they teach you to push your sled with one hand and jump in.  The start is where it makes you or breaks you in this sport.  From my understanding you have to do 1000 practice runs before you can master it.  After this training I have 994 more times to go.  (:

During the time that they are teaching you the correct techniques the main skeleton coach was speaking to everyone about their results from the day before.  I was anxiously waiting for him to call my name to speak with him.  I was apparently the last one to be spoken to.  I also mentioned to the coach  that I knew he was saving the best for last.   His response was a nice big smile, which helped me calm my fears. 

My previous encounter with him was the visit before where he said saw a great bit of potential; however that he feared my age would get in the way and that I had a lot more strength and speed I had to build on.  When someone puts up road block I just bust on through them.  Immediately when I came home I found an article about a 42 year old woman who was competing in skeleton and emailed it to him with the email saying, “You’re never too old to shoot for your dream.”

This time around he was very impressed at how far I had come and the strength that I had built since the last time we had met.  He we so astonished that he made mention there has not been stronger woman athlete come to the training center in a VERY long time.  I of course was smiling from ear to ear.  This only fueled my fire inside me to train harder and faster.  He did say that I had to drop 300^th of second on my time in order start competing.  That is something he said that is doable, but I needed to focus on my sprints, which I knew.  His last comment to me was, “by the way I did read the email you sent me on that older woman competing in the Skeleton.” That of course had me smiling because I knew he knew I meant business.  That I wasn’t taking this sport lightly and I was going to do what it takes to compete. 

My next step is to get faster like the coach has mentioned and get back with him on my progress in October.  I did get a chance to video some of my push training which you can see below. 

RDV Article Aug 2011

I was in the process of writing my second day of camp on my blog when I had a request for the next blog to be the article from the RDV.  I have scanned it for all you non-RDV members.  This gym has not only helped me trained but has become my next family.  I have to say without the smiles from the staff and the cheers of the other members, this journey could not be possible. 

I am hoping to have some new videos of me training at camp.  Thanks everyone for helping to keep my dream alive.  (:


(click on the picture to make it bigger)

My return trip to Lake Placid

My trip back to Lake Placid was less stressful than the first one I did.  This time I knew what to expect and I was returning to see a few friends of mine.  This helped to calm my fear because this is the time I had to test to see if I advanced to the next round.   I had to improve drastically from my last visit to Lake Placid with a monster scale. 

Arriving at the center I was greeted by the front desk lady who actually remembered me.  I was sure that she had seen many athletes come and go but for to know my name helped to ease into the transition.  I unpacked and waited for our evening meeting.  In this meeting they would outline our schedule for the week and what group I would be participating.  I was selected into group two which allowed me to have enough time to warm up and get my mind frame set. 

The following day was testing.  We started at 10:30 on the track for our speed testing which isn’t my best event.  I had tremendous amount of strength but the speed always got the better of me.  This has been my one down fall throughout the training and the one thing I been working on the hardest.  One it came to my time I did the best run of my life. In fact I had a personal record at the track that day, but that was not enough to help me on my journey to being on the US skeleton team.  I was at loss at first but decided to tell myself I can do this….What do I have to lose nothing…and picked it up for the next event. 

This event was the broad jump which shows how far you can jump from the line.  I actually scored rather high and knew I was well on my way.  I just had to keep this motivation going for my best event which was the weight lifting and finish with style. I wanted to show these coaches who Anja really is!!!

Moving into the weight room I started to practice my clean lifts.  I was tossing that weight around as if I was throwing a coat over my shoulder. There was nothing to it.  Many at the gym were shocked and telling me I needed to add more weight so that I can maximize my points.  The moment they said testing begins is when my nerves got the best of me.  I wasn’t able to add more weight like I wanted but know for the future that I just need to focus more and not worry what’s going on around me.   

Despite not adding weights to the clean lifts I was able to KILL IT on my squats.  I am more confident in this portion of the testing and I said..what the heck what is another couple Kilos.  Before I knew it I was squatting 120 Kilos which is 264 pounds which gives you the most points available for that event.  I had guys whooping and hollering all over the gym floor.  The coach was shocked that I was so strong. In fact I had no idea either. I was so happy to have been able to show them what I can do despite being new to the sport. 

Thanks again for all the support from the people at Sprint to the people from the youtube video. If you have haven't seen it. See the link below.  Everyone has been so kind and it helps me realize that I can really accomplish whatever I put my mind to. 

I-Connect article from Sprint

I made it home today from the training camp to find such a wonderful article on my Sprint web portal.  A lot of non-Sprint friends wanted to see what was written.  Well here is the best I could do with short notice.  Thanks again for all the support everyone has given me.  It gives me more of a drive to MAKE THIS THING HAPPEN.  I will be updating this blog later next week on my trip up there.  ((:  (if you click on the picture you can enlarge the font so you can read it better)