Day 5 at the OTC
Recap:
1. Breakfast
2. Group 5 shuttle to the track for the running and jumping portion of the combine
3. Run and jump in the rain
4. Shuttle back to the OTC for the rest of the combine
5. Change into dry clothes and head to the gym for the shot toss
6. Wait around for other groups to finish and throw the shot
7. Grab a snack and hang around the weight room
8. Lifting portion of the combine
9. Get invited to stay for Push Championships
10. Decide to stay till Wednesday and change my plane ticket
11. Cold Tub (Brrrr!)
12. Chill time in my room making all my phone calls
13. Dinner
14. Bible Study
15. Sleep!
I just noticed my recaps keep getting longer and longer each day. This was the most eventful day, so I guess that makes sense. Today was D-Day. The combine had arrived. If you haven't heard by now, you have to score 600 points to make the team. I scored 390 last summer and improved to 548 this summer. I wasn't sure how far my sprint times would have progressed since then, so I didn't really know where I stood. It's kind of a tough spot since running is half the points possible. Anyhow, it was raining from the moment we got in the van to the moment we got back to the OTC. In fact, it's still raining right now. I'm not talking about a light sprinkle either, this was full on rain. That made for an interesting outing. Good thing I'd packed all my Gortex wet gear from rowing. Those things are like a sweat box, but they keep you dry.
After warming up in the rain for 45 minutes, we got to run. I did improve, just not enough. So, I knew there was no way I would make the 600 point minimum. Kind of a downer, but nothing I could really do about it at the time. The game must go on. I should mention that 9 girls plus lots of gear were under a little tent while all this was going on. Kind of comical to watch as you walked back from sprinting. Then we'd run out one at a time and do the standing broad jump. I improved there as well. Then it was back to the OTC to change into dry clothes and finish indoors.
I should mention this is the largest number of people they've ever tested all at one time. These are the largest men's and women's recruiting classes ever as well. I find it even more impressive that we all tested very well, and the coaches were impressed with our athletic abilities. I'd say quite few of the guys and some of the girls will be on America's Cup and potentially World Cup teams this season. Amazing! That would be crazy cool. So back to the point of this paragraph, there were probably around 50 people getting tested today between the men's and women's teams. We were split into 5 groups: 3 men's groups with everyone mixed together and 2 women's groups with the rookies (and one veteran) in one and the veterans in the other.
I did really well in the shot toss, adding almost a whole meter to my distance. I reached my goal of throwing at least 12m with my 12.25m toss. I overcame my fear of falling and laid out like superman. I was very proud of myself. So, I was excited about that (I was looking for any positive at this point). There was a log jam at the weight room, so we had some time to get a snack and recover before we lifted. After eating some greek yogurt, I headed down to sit on a bike and watch the beastly women lift. On a total tangent, I had always thought greek yogurt would be horrible, but I really like it. It's got lots of good proteins while I get my yogurt fix. The texture is a little different, more like the consistency of sour cream, but it tastes great. I've declared it a great food and added it to my diet as of this week. Back to beastly women, Elana Meyers is ridiculous! I watched her squat 157 kg. That's 345.4 lbs. What?!? She can also run ridiculously fast, jump far, and throw a 12 lb shot almost 50 feet. She is a machine! I got to wear her weight belt today, and it definitely helped. I could feel the power. Haha. But seriously, she's ridiculously good. So, once I'd had the socks impressed right off me, we got to lift. I had personal bests in both power cleans and squats, so I was pumped to end on a high note.
Val, Sineaid, and I were the only ones that had not yet scored enough to stay for the week. None of us got the 600, but we all improved. I ended up scoring 563, which is a 15 point improvement over my combine just two months ago. I was happy with the outcome, but I'd known since the running portion it wasn't enough to stay. So there we were talking to Todd (the head women's coach), and he invited us to stay until Wednesday for the push championships. What?!? I'd been preparing myself for hours to go home, and now I can stay? Why not? After a few phone calls to my mom and the airlines, I decided to take him up on that offer and stay till Wednesday. So excited!!! I'm going to Push Championships!!! With veterans like Emily Azevedo, Jenna Bree Brown-Tollstrap (Long story...she was a rookie last year and was so amazing she got to go to World Championships her first year, and now she lives in Dallas. I even met her this summer and didn't know it was her I'd been reading about and so impressed with last season), Vonnetta Flowers (That's right. 2002 Olympic gold medalist, first African-American winter gold medalist, first ever running of the women's bobsled in the Olympics gold medalist, coming out of retirement after 9 years), Elana Meyers, and a host of other Olympians. I'm going to be competing against them. Crazy! And so awesome I can't even comprehend it!
On a side note, I've had several girls assure me that Todd must think we have potential or else he would not have invited us to stay or encouraged us to stick with it and return. He means what he says and would tell you to go home if he didn't want us here. Another positive. At the team meetin tonight he once again reassured us that we are part of this team and they want us around. More positives.
After this mind boggling change of events, I made my immediate family and work phone calls to tell them what was going on and headed to the cold tub for some recovery time. It was really cold. And I mean really cold. I feel better though, and that's what matters. I had a good chat with a veteran brakewoman that again made me feel better. She was very encouraging and reassured me that most girls on the team didn't pass at first and definitely didn't rock posh championships their first go around. It takes time to improve and learn just like any other new sport. Just being athletic isn't enough at this level. It's an art form that takes time to master. She also said no one thinks about the combine after it's over. No one will even remember during push champs. As long as you can pass and you're a great pusher, you're good to go. So that's my in. Become a great pusher and score just enough to pass. Jenna Bree told me the same thing tonight at dinner. And as soon as sliding on the ice opens, no one will remember push championships.
After dinner tonight, I went to Bible study here at the OTC. A local pastor comes in each Monday evening to host an hour study for whatever athletes want to attend. It was great. We spent the evening answering questions and listening to his insights on different scriptural interpretations. I learned something knew, and I love knowing that this option is here when I come back in the future (which will happen, just letting you all know up front). It was great to see a few other bobsledders there. I do have a prayer request I found out about this evening. Jazmine Fenelator is bobsled driver and her mom's house was washed away by Hurricane Irene. I know all the hurricane and food victims would appreciate our prayers and support.
Overall, it was a crazy and eventful day. I'm wiped and ready to hit the sack. It's strange not having Val in the room. I miss her already, but she'll be back. Tomorrow is just a recovery and chill day with a little push track training in the morning. Nothing crazy, just some technique stuff and getting our muscles moving again after a hard day. I'm sure I'll need it.
Signing off from one of the greatest places on earth (in my humble opinion). Good night.
1. Breakfast
2. Group 5 shuttle to the track for the running and jumping portion of the combine
3. Run and jump in the rain
4. Shuttle back to the OTC for the rest of the combine
5. Change into dry clothes and head to the gym for the shot toss
6. Wait around for other groups to finish and throw the shot
7. Grab a snack and hang around the weight room
8. Lifting portion of the combine
9. Get invited to stay for Push Championships
10. Decide to stay till Wednesday and change my plane ticket
11. Cold Tub (Brrrr!)
12. Chill time in my room making all my phone calls
13. Dinner
14. Bible Study
15. Sleep!
I just noticed my recaps keep getting longer and longer each day. This was the most eventful day, so I guess that makes sense. Today was D-Day. The combine had arrived. If you haven't heard by now, you have to score 600 points to make the team. I scored 390 last summer and improved to 548 this summer. I wasn't sure how far my sprint times would have progressed since then, so I didn't really know where I stood. It's kind of a tough spot since running is half the points possible. Anyhow, it was raining from the moment we got in the van to the moment we got back to the OTC. In fact, it's still raining right now. I'm not talking about a light sprinkle either, this was full on rain. That made for an interesting outing. Good thing I'd packed all my Gortex wet gear from rowing. Those things are like a sweat box, but they keep you dry.
After warming up in the rain for 45 minutes, we got to run. I did improve, just not enough. So, I knew there was no way I would make the 600 point minimum. Kind of a downer, but nothing I could really do about it at the time. The game must go on. I should mention that 9 girls plus lots of gear were under a little tent while all this was going on. Kind of comical to watch as you walked back from sprinting. Then we'd run out one at a time and do the standing broad jump. I improved there as well. Then it was back to the OTC to change into dry clothes and finish indoors.
I should mention this is the largest number of people they've ever tested all at one time. These are the largest men's and women's recruiting classes ever as well. I find it even more impressive that we all tested very well, and the coaches were impressed with our athletic abilities. I'd say quite few of the guys and some of the girls will be on America's Cup and potentially World Cup teams this season. Amazing! That would be crazy cool. So back to the point of this paragraph, there were probably around 50 people getting tested today between the men's and women's teams. We were split into 5 groups: 3 men's groups with everyone mixed together and 2 women's groups with the rookies (and one veteran) in one and the veterans in the other.
I did really well in the shot toss, adding almost a whole meter to my distance. I reached my goal of throwing at least 12m with my 12.25m toss. I overcame my fear of falling and laid out like superman. I was very proud of myself. So, I was excited about that (I was looking for any positive at this point). There was a log jam at the weight room, so we had some time to get a snack and recover before we lifted. After eating some greek yogurt, I headed down to sit on a bike and watch the beastly women lift. On a total tangent, I had always thought greek yogurt would be horrible, but I really like it. It's got lots of good proteins while I get my yogurt fix. The texture is a little different, more like the consistency of sour cream, but it tastes great. I've declared it a great food and added it to my diet as of this week. Back to beastly women, Elana Meyers is ridiculous! I watched her squat 157 kg. That's 345.4 lbs. What?!? She can also run ridiculously fast, jump far, and throw a 12 lb shot almost 50 feet. She is a machine! I got to wear her weight belt today, and it definitely helped. I could feel the power. Haha. But seriously, she's ridiculously good. So, once I'd had the socks impressed right off me, we got to lift. I had personal bests in both power cleans and squats, so I was pumped to end on a high note.
Val, Sineaid, and I were the only ones that had not yet scored enough to stay for the week. None of us got the 600, but we all improved. I ended up scoring 563, which is a 15 point improvement over my combine just two months ago. I was happy with the outcome, but I'd known since the running portion it wasn't enough to stay. So there we were talking to Todd (the head women's coach), and he invited us to stay until Wednesday for the push championships. What?!? I'd been preparing myself for hours to go home, and now I can stay? Why not? After a few phone calls to my mom and the airlines, I decided to take him up on that offer and stay till Wednesday. So excited!!! I'm going to Push Championships!!! With veterans like Emily Azevedo, Jenna Bree Brown-Tollstrap (Long story...she was a rookie last year and was so amazing she got to go to World Championships her first year, and now she lives in Dallas. I even met her this summer and didn't know it was her I'd been reading about and so impressed with last season), Vonnetta Flowers (That's right. 2002 Olympic gold medalist, first African-American winter gold medalist, first ever running of the women's bobsled in the Olympics gold medalist, coming out of retirement after 9 years), Elana Meyers, and a host of other Olympians. I'm going to be competing against them. Crazy! And so awesome I can't even comprehend it!
On a side note, I've had several girls assure me that Todd must think we have potential or else he would not have invited us to stay or encouraged us to stick with it and return. He means what he says and would tell you to go home if he didn't want us here. Another positive. At the team meetin tonight he once again reassured us that we are part of this team and they want us around. More positives.
After this mind boggling change of events, I made my immediate family and work phone calls to tell them what was going on and headed to the cold tub for some recovery time. It was really cold. And I mean really cold. I feel better though, and that's what matters. I had a good chat with a veteran brakewoman that again made me feel better. She was very encouraging and reassured me that most girls on the team didn't pass at first and definitely didn't rock posh championships their first go around. It takes time to improve and learn just like any other new sport. Just being athletic isn't enough at this level. It's an art form that takes time to master. She also said no one thinks about the combine after it's over. No one will even remember during push champs. As long as you can pass and you're a great pusher, you're good to go. So that's my in. Become a great pusher and score just enough to pass. Jenna Bree told me the same thing tonight at dinner. And as soon as sliding on the ice opens, no one will remember push championships.
After dinner tonight, I went to Bible study here at the OTC. A local pastor comes in each Monday evening to host an hour study for whatever athletes want to attend. It was great. We spent the evening answering questions and listening to his insights on different scriptural interpretations. I learned something knew, and I love knowing that this option is here when I come back in the future (which will happen, just letting you all know up front). It was great to see a few other bobsledders there. I do have a prayer request I found out about this evening. Jazmine Fenelator is bobsled driver and her mom's house was washed away by Hurricane Irene. I know all the hurricane and food victims would appreciate our prayers and support.
Overall, it was a crazy and eventful day. I'm wiped and ready to hit the sack. It's strange not having Val in the room. I miss her already, but she'll be back. Tomorrow is just a recovery and chill day with a little push track training in the morning. Nothing crazy, just some technique stuff and getting our muscles moving again after a hard day. I'm sure I'll need it.
Signing off from one of the greatest places on earth (in my humble opinion). Good night.