My welcome home after my training camp debut

Aside from being exhausted and worn out from training nearly 6 hours a day, I was excited to come home and just sit on the couch.  That is after all where I started right?  I think at one point your body says okay it’s time to shut down for just a second so that we can start again from scratch. 

I decided that I would give my body a two day rest period and would start on Monday.  That Monday I packed my gym bag along with my work stuff and headed off to the office.  To me it was a normal work day but to my Sprint office it was a day that the athlete with good news.  I was shocked to see my desk covered in RED WHITE AND BLUE.  I was the real American hero I have always dreamed of being. 

Above my desk was the Olympic rings framed by American flags and patriotic balloons.  Right next to my keyboard was a box of Wheaties with a make shift picture of me doing the skeleton.  One of my favorite things was the poster size picture of me holding my helmet surrounded by all the pictures I took on my trip up to Lake Placid.  To add to thoughtfulness they bought an assortment of fruits and vegetables knowing that I am a health fanatic.   They did this all to celebrate my accomplishments at the training camp.

I have to say I am not as creative as the people in my office to have come up with such a things.  It definitely brought a tear to my eye.  To see my Sprint Team get together and do something for me was beyond words. 

Me finally on a Wheaties box

High Altitude training in Colombia

Sorry for the long pause everyone. I was out there training in Bogota Colombia. Now if you do not know about this capital city, it is about 8,500 feet above sea level. That makes for some kind of training!!!! I was able to train in a gym where I almost made Matthew Fasel, Michelle's cousin throw up. This puts in to perspective what is needed to be a true athlete.

Being so high just walking a flight of stairs makes you out of breath. We did go up the mountain as well to breath in the clean air and realize how alive you are. Looking down it made me reflect what goals I needed to accomplished and what lies ahead of me. This is the time to take the bull by the horns and show them what Anja is really made of. BACK TO THE REAL TRAINING!!!

Again thanks for all the support everyone. I couldn't do this without every one of you!!! THAKNS AGAIN!!!

Day 4 of Training camp

Day four was D day. This was the day that I was going to be tested to see if I advance to the next level and join the US skeleton team. I had been practicing all week for this pinnacle day and my nervous were shot.

My usually routine was to grab some breakfast and prepare for meetings, but this day was different from most. I could barely eat my banana and clear my mind. All I could think about was the testing that was going to be happening earlier in the morning. I had to be prepared for the worst just in case I do not pass.

The testing came and I felt pretty comfortable at where I stood. I had to squat three set max, Clean lift and shot toss a certain length. The coaches would assess a certain point system to each of the events. In my case I needed to score 600. When all was said and done I had made the cut. I could not believe I had passed the threshold and I was going to be invited to continue. I was now on the US Skeleton developmental team and had a brand new tee-shirt and hoodie to show for it.

I was on cloud nine. I could not believe I had just made the next level and would continue my dream. I knew that later on that night I was going to be sliding with a huge smile because it would not be my last.

That night we were sliding from stop 1 which is the very top of the track. This would be the first time we would be sliding the whole mile on this curvy course. We had plenty of battle wounds to show from our pervious runs, such as nice large bruises and some nicks here and there, which we displayed to anyone who asked. They were a bit painful when you did brush up on a curve navigating through the course.

THIS WAS THE DAY WE FOUND OUT WHAT THE DUCT TAPE WAS FOR. Since we are quite beginners and we did not have the suits the other athletes had, we would take the yoga mat and duct tape it as bumpers. This helped form a layer of protection from the ice. We were the redneck version of a slider.

I do have to say that the duct tape worked like a charm. Who would have known that a yoga mat and duct tape would be something you would be wishing for in a time like this? I know that I would never have thought of it.

By the end of the night I had completed my 2 slides and was heading to the after party. It was our last night together as a training class and we headed down to the local pub. They were a wonderful group of people that I had grown really close with in such a short amount of time. We had a fun time remembering every bump in the ice and every weight we lifted.