This blog title is the same as an article I read in the New York Times about the Adirondack Luge Club. It was an interesting article and I was surprised with the broad range of people who try that sport. Luckily for me skeleton racing isn't as popular so I don't have competition like Anne (Grandma Luge) Abernathy. She qualified for the Turin Games...at age 52.
Skeleton-thank the lord-requires great athleticism for the push start so I don't have many people outside of my generation competing against me. I know that this training has a purpose and that no Average Joe could do well in this sport. Well, at least I keep telling myself that. Otherwise there wouldn't be a point to the ferocious workouts I do.
And this week, they have absolutely been ferocious. Wednesday was an entertaining day with a Pilates workout with Kristen at 11 and then a sprinting workout with Eric at 1. Pilates has definitely been harder than I expected. Kristen has me running through these really weird exercises where I basically look like a beached whale trying to get back to the ocean. I'm sorry I can't better describe the moves she has me do but they are really like nothing I've ever done or seen. I'll humor you by attempting to describe this one exercise I did for this workout.
Kristen had me stand on a padded box and put one of my legs back onto a padded bar at the back of the box. This bar was attached to springs underneath the top of the box. Keeping my back leg straight she then had me do a one-legged squat where my back leg pushed the spring-loaded bar down but I had to stay completely upright and couldn't lean to one side or the other. My bent knee couldn't go in front of my ankle so a lot of the weight was put back in to the back leg. Then I had to return to the starting position without bouncing. This doesn't sound bad but with the body positiong she puts me in to it's really awkward. I'm pretty sure at some point I'll actually look like I've got some sense of body control and I'll do the exercises well. However, that point won't come for a long time.
After my workout with Kristen I then grabbed a quick snack and headed over to Parisi to work with Eric. I was supposed to be training with this guy from Maryland who is trying to get drafted by the MLB this year but he's been sick in all our previous workouts. Thankfully he is better and I now have a training partner to help push me. Eric says that we have to remember this isn't a competition and to not compete against each other. Yeah, right. Maybe Mr. Third Basemen can forget his competitiveness but I can't. If I'm asked to do a thirty yard sprint next to someone else, I don't care who they are I'll push myself to beat them. Bottom line though, he's a nice guy and I was happy he was there. Eric ran us through 60 minutes of sprints, sprints, and more sprints. And abs. I was really sore from the combination of the Pilates and Parisi ab routines but it just goes to show that the workouts are doing their job.
Thursday was a relatively easy day with lifting and some cardio. I did a leg workout for the first time in awhile and was really pleased with the results. I stopped working out my legs when I started the Parisi training just so my body could have ample amount of time to recover in the beginning. I wanted to do an easy lifting session for my legs but found that I had an easy time lifting the same weight despite not lifting for a couple of weeks. I'm expecting that since I'm now combining weightlifting for my legs along with the speed training I should see some better results. After my leg workout I pushed myself on my arm workout lifting for both the biceps and triceps. I cut my hand right before the workout so it was a little weird lifting with a bandage but I quickly got used to it. After the lifting session I did a couple of miles on the elliptical and called it a day.
Today I had a workout at Parisi and was supposed to have a basketball game out at Swarthmore College. Unfortunately I had to cancel on basketball with the cut on my hand but it turned out that would be a smart decision. Eric told us Wednesday that today we would be working on quick, explosive steps with a speed ladder. For those of you that don't know, a speed ladder is two nylon straps that are a foot apart that have plastic strips connecting them every foot. When you lay it down on the ground it looks like a ladder, hence the name. I've had some experience doing different exercises with these things so I wasn't afraid. Once you get your foot movement down (which is hard with some of the variations) it's not that bad. Boy, was I wrong. Eric had my partner and I doing reps over and over and over again. Here's one variation, do it six times as fast as you can. Here's another variation, do it another six times as fast as you can. We basically had that for an hour. We looked like we were playing a weird version of Dance Dance Revolution while simultaneously mainlining crack. Even though the ladders are only 10 yards long, doing that many repetitions that will quickly give anyone a workout. My partner lasted through the speed ladder workout but ended up puking right before the abs routine. I didn't. Great Success! We then had to do 30 sprinter sit-ups every five yards for 25 yards. For those scoring at home, that's 180 sprinter sit-ups including the start line with about a 5 second break in between each set of 30. Earlier in the day I made the mistake of telling Eric how my abs had been sore the day before. Seeing my pain after the second set he completely sympathized and showed me a different variation that I could do that was easier. I wasn't there for sympathy so in a proverbial "Screw You" I completed the rest of my sit-ups in the proper sprinter sit-up form. While I now don't have the ability to bring my back off the ground or bed if I'm lying down, it was well worth it to show him how much I wanted it*.
*And by "it" I mean horrible abdominal and calf pain that makes it look like I'm walking around on eggshells. Man, I really showed him!
I should be doing a light weightlifting routine later tonight to work on my back and tomorrow I have Pilates with Kristen at 11:30 and then basketball at 2:00. Let's hope I can move by then!
Friday, February 23, 2007
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
A Healthy Dose of Healthy Eating
Hey everyone! It's been an interesting few days so let's get into it.
Saturday was my day of rest and day of indulgence. I knew that once I met with the dietician on Monday I would dive head first into dieting. I figured, why not one last day of good eating? I had wings and a "Soprano" burger that had marinara and cheese on it along with a garlic bun. Good stuff and I won't soon forget it. Sunday was an easy day with me just doing some cardio in my basement on the elliptical and doing the at-home workout that the Parisi guys gave me. That workout just consists of me doing their "Dynamic Warm Up" along with 3 or 4 exercises to improve my acceleration and the same thing for my top speed. As well as abs. Never forget those abs.
Monday started bright and early with an 8 a.m. Pilates workout with Kristen. This was my first Pilates workout and I'll be honest I had no idea what to expect. As soon as we started she had me on this padded table with so many springs, bars and chains I thought it was a Medieval torture device. We went through an hour of different exercises working on my shoulder position, my hamstring flexibility (I'm really bad there) and of course my abs. She was throwing a lot of information at me but it was all really helpful. It's funny because she knows a million technical terms for muscles and movement and stuff but she often throws in childlike names for bones and muscles. It's like a medical school anatomy and physiology class with the professor occasionally saying things like "suck your tummy into your bony butt-bone." It's an entertaining juxtaposition.
At 10 a.m. I had my meeting with my dietician Ariel to go over the meal plan she made for me and to take my measurements. She mapped out 8 days of eating for me with three meals and two snacks each day. Everything that she had me eating had all the nutrition facts and measurements listed in the packet she gave me. I have to say I was quite impressed with the work she put into this. We went through checking which foods I liked (chicken, baked potatoes, fruit) and which foods I didn't like (fish, yams, more fish). She originally had me cooking and baking a lot of my meals but I had her change that when I said I'm doing this to become a top-notch athlete, not a top-notch chef. I'll still be making a lot of my meals but my day will have some extra time with me not making my own carrot cake from scratch three nights a week. An amusing part of the meeting was when we had some portion-opinion differences best illustrated with the following conversation:
Ariel: And for Day 3 lunch you'll be having steak with assorted vegetables. Do you like steak?
Ben: Of course! How much do I get to eat?
Ariel: A good portion, about 8 ounces.
Ben: (Look of horror) Good portion? That's more like 16-20 ounces for me.
I proceeded to tell her of my "Steak-Off" with Dennis down at Duke and how I ate 34 ounces in one sitting. I think she threw up in her mouth a little bit. The best part of the meeting was when she told me I can eat what I want for one meal a week. Those words may come to haunt both her and me.
I was then scheduled to have a speed training session with Eric but he was sick and had to cancel on me. I decided to go back to the gym and do an upper body workout. I worked on my back and did some cardio. Good session but nothing too brutal. Later in the day I tried my first swim workout. My goal is to swim for about 3 hours a week. I lasted 20 minutes in the first session. It was a good reminder that I really suck at swimming. However, I like it a lot and it's a great workout in that it's real easy on your joints, lengthens your muscles, and improves your conditioning.
Today was a relatively easy training day. Eric was still sick so I couldn't go and train at Parisi. I did another swim workout and am about to do the Parisi home workout as well. I started the diet today and it's been pretty tough. I really have to pay attention to when I'm eating and what I'm eating. I definitely feel that the diet will be the toughest part of my training. It's not that hard for me to avoid unhealthy foods. The hard part is cooking all of my food, portioning it out, and keeping to the meal plan. I figure if I truly focus on it for two weeks then after that it should come as second nature. Once I get this dieting thing down along with the swimming, everything else will come easy. It'll be hard at first, but I'm willing to put in the time and sacrifice.
Tomorrow should be a great day and I'm really looking forward to it. I've got Pilates with Kristen at 10 a.m., Parisi with Eric at 1 p.m., and basketball at 5 p.m. I'll be exhausted tomorrow night but I'll be feeling good about myself.
As a final note I'm going to plead with you readers. If you guys could post every so often it would really encourage me. Reading feedback makes my day and gives me good motivation knowing that there are people out there reading up on what I'm doing. If you take ten seconds to make my day I will greatly appreciate it. Thanks a lot!
Saturday was my day of rest and day of indulgence. I knew that once I met with the dietician on Monday I would dive head first into dieting. I figured, why not one last day of good eating? I had wings and a "Soprano" burger that had marinara and cheese on it along with a garlic bun. Good stuff and I won't soon forget it. Sunday was an easy day with me just doing some cardio in my basement on the elliptical and doing the at-home workout that the Parisi guys gave me. That workout just consists of me doing their "Dynamic Warm Up" along with 3 or 4 exercises to improve my acceleration and the same thing for my top speed. As well as abs. Never forget those abs.
Monday started bright and early with an 8 a.m. Pilates workout with Kristen. This was my first Pilates workout and I'll be honest I had no idea what to expect. As soon as we started she had me on this padded table with so many springs, bars and chains I thought it was a Medieval torture device. We went through an hour of different exercises working on my shoulder position, my hamstring flexibility (I'm really bad there) and of course my abs. She was throwing a lot of information at me but it was all really helpful. It's funny because she knows a million technical terms for muscles and movement and stuff but she often throws in childlike names for bones and muscles. It's like a medical school anatomy and physiology class with the professor occasionally saying things like "suck your tummy into your bony butt-bone." It's an entertaining juxtaposition.
At 10 a.m. I had my meeting with my dietician Ariel to go over the meal plan she made for me and to take my measurements. She mapped out 8 days of eating for me with three meals and two snacks each day. Everything that she had me eating had all the nutrition facts and measurements listed in the packet she gave me. I have to say I was quite impressed with the work she put into this. We went through checking which foods I liked (chicken, baked potatoes, fruit) and which foods I didn't like (fish, yams, more fish). She originally had me cooking and baking a lot of my meals but I had her change that when I said I'm doing this to become a top-notch athlete, not a top-notch chef. I'll still be making a lot of my meals but my day will have some extra time with me not making my own carrot cake from scratch three nights a week. An amusing part of the meeting was when we had some portion-opinion differences best illustrated with the following conversation:
Ariel: And for Day 3 lunch you'll be having steak with assorted vegetables. Do you like steak?
Ben: Of course! How much do I get to eat?
Ariel: A good portion, about 8 ounces.
Ben: (Look of horror) Good portion? That's more like 16-20 ounces for me.
I proceeded to tell her of my "Steak-Off" with Dennis down at Duke and how I ate 34 ounces in one sitting. I think she threw up in her mouth a little bit. The best part of the meeting was when she told me I can eat what I want for one meal a week. Those words may come to haunt both her and me.
I was then scheduled to have a speed training session with Eric but he was sick and had to cancel on me. I decided to go back to the gym and do an upper body workout. I worked on my back and did some cardio. Good session but nothing too brutal. Later in the day I tried my first swim workout. My goal is to swim for about 3 hours a week. I lasted 20 minutes in the first session. It was a good reminder that I really suck at swimming. However, I like it a lot and it's a great workout in that it's real easy on your joints, lengthens your muscles, and improves your conditioning.
Today was a relatively easy training day. Eric was still sick so I couldn't go and train at Parisi. I did another swim workout and am about to do the Parisi home workout as well. I started the diet today and it's been pretty tough. I really have to pay attention to when I'm eating and what I'm eating. I definitely feel that the diet will be the toughest part of my training. It's not that hard for me to avoid unhealthy foods. The hard part is cooking all of my food, portioning it out, and keeping to the meal plan. I figure if I truly focus on it for two weeks then after that it should come as second nature. Once I get this dieting thing down along with the swimming, everything else will come easy. It'll be hard at first, but I'm willing to put in the time and sacrifice.
Tomorrow should be a great day and I'm really looking forward to it. I've got Pilates with Kristen at 10 a.m., Parisi with Eric at 1 p.m., and basketball at 5 p.m. I'll be exhausted tomorrow night but I'll be feeling good about myself.
As a final note I'm going to plead with you readers. If you guys could post every so often it would really encourage me. Reading feedback makes my day and gives me good motivation knowing that there are people out there reading up on what I'm doing. If you take ten seconds to make my day I will greatly appreciate it. Thanks a lot!
Friday, February 16, 2007
Living the Family Dream...
Hey guys! Sorry for the delay on this post, but as I say to my campers- "You're giving me excuses and I want results." No excuses-here's the post.
I met with the dietician yesterday (Thursday) and did a metabolism test. It consists of me wearing a nose plug, reading a really boring sports nutrition book, and breathing into a tube for 10 minutes. When that was done the machine printed out a bunch of results and we went over them and had a general nutrician discussion. Anyways, I had a really informative discussion with the dietician and learned a lot. It turns out that I do in fact have a high metabolism and if I do no exercise and just chill all day I burn about 2800 calories. With my exercise, I need to take in about 4000 calories a day just to maintain weight. That's right, right now my entire family is supremely jealous of me. That being said, I'm going to be eating healthy and for some reason I have a feeling quarts of pork fried rice and pints of Ben & Jerry's probably won't be allowed in my meal plan. I meet with her again Monday to go over my meal plan and to take measurements so I can see how much I change from now until the tryout.
Today I had another training session at Parisi Speed School. Due to the storm on Wednesday I missed that day's training so I knew today would be tough. Eric didn't disappoint. It was basically a sprint workout the entire time with me working on my starting technique and my first step. That's one of the areas I really need improvement so it's a crucial part of training. He tested me in my 10 meter sprint and I got times of 1.47, 1.51 and 1.45. They are ok times but I need to get down to a 1.39 or below to really improve my 30m time. At the end of the sprinting, which lasted about 50 minutes, Eric had me doing conditioning work and abs. Conditioning was brutal but relatively quick, and the abs were killer. He says next week he's got an even tougher ab workout for me...I can hardly contain my excitement. I was completely exhausted after today's workout and came home and crashed for about two hours. When I finally woke up, I made myself some dinner and then headed to the gym for some upper body weightlifting. Today was shoulders and it's been two weeks since I've done them so I didn't push myself completely and just tried to ease myself back in. The training is tough but after a workout you always feel good about yourself so it's easy to get motivated for it. Tomorrow I'm hopefully doing some swimming and weightlifting. Should be fun since I haven't swam in a long time. I'll let you know how it goes!
I met with the dietician yesterday (Thursday) and did a metabolism test. It consists of me wearing a nose plug, reading a really boring sports nutrition book, and breathing into a tube for 10 minutes. When that was done the machine printed out a bunch of results and we went over them and had a general nutrician discussion. Anyways, I had a really informative discussion with the dietician and learned a lot. It turns out that I do in fact have a high metabolism and if I do no exercise and just chill all day I burn about 2800 calories. With my exercise, I need to take in about 4000 calories a day just to maintain weight. That's right, right now my entire family is supremely jealous of me. That being said, I'm going to be eating healthy and for some reason I have a feeling quarts of pork fried rice and pints of Ben & Jerry's probably won't be allowed in my meal plan. I meet with her again Monday to go over my meal plan and to take measurements so I can see how much I change from now until the tryout.
Today I had another training session at Parisi Speed School. Due to the storm on Wednesday I missed that day's training so I knew today would be tough. Eric didn't disappoint. It was basically a sprint workout the entire time with me working on my starting technique and my first step. That's one of the areas I really need improvement so it's a crucial part of training. He tested me in my 10 meter sprint and I got times of 1.47, 1.51 and 1.45. They are ok times but I need to get down to a 1.39 or below to really improve my 30m time. At the end of the sprinting, which lasted about 50 minutes, Eric had me doing conditioning work and abs. Conditioning was brutal but relatively quick, and the abs were killer. He says next week he's got an even tougher ab workout for me...I can hardly contain my excitement. I was completely exhausted after today's workout and came home and crashed for about two hours. When I finally woke up, I made myself some dinner and then headed to the gym for some upper body weightlifting. Today was shoulders and it's been two weeks since I've done them so I didn't push myself completely and just tried to ease myself back in. The training is tough but after a workout you always feel good about yourself so it's easy to get motivated for it. Tomorrow I'm hopefully doing some swimming and weightlifting. Should be fun since I haven't swam in a long time. I'll let you know how it goes!
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
A Healthy Dose of Reality
Once I figured out the best way to go about training I had to turn my thoughts in to actions. First order of business was getting in to the Parisi Speed School at USTC. I called them up, set up my first meeting with them, and headed out there the next day. The two guys who run my training are Gary and Eric and they really are superb. They truly know what they're talking about and they are very easy to get along with. I was very happy with how well that turned out. The first couple of times I met with them was a combination of them showing me how they would train me as well as them testing me to see where I was athletically.
For the Four Item Test the letter I received luckily gave me the times/scores that they expected me to get for them. They said that for the 30m sprint I needed a time in the 4.00s or better; for the 30m fly-in a time in the 3.20s or better; for the vertical jump a height of 30" or better and for 5 hop test a distance of 14 meters or better. I felt that going in to the testing, with no formal training, that I would be right around most of those marks. With my track training in high school (I did the long/triple/high jump) I was confident that my vertical jump and 5 hop test would go well and that the sprinting would be fine.
We started with the 5 hop test which I did the first run at a distance of 43'10''. Not too bad in that it equates to about 13.37 meters. I then did the vertical jump test...yikes. I only got 25.5" and was very unhappy with myself on that. I know for a fact that my vertical jumping ability used to be higher so I was quite upset. I redeemed myself a little bit on my second go-round with the 5 hop test when I got 45' even (13.716 meters). I gave the vertical jump another couple tries but nothing exceeded my previous mark.
The next Monday (yesterday) started my formal training at Parisi. They took it easy on me the first week and told me flat out that Monday's workout would be brutal. They didn't disappoint. My training consisted of side-squats with a very thick bungee cord tied around my ankles, tire flips with a 175lb tractor tire and sled pulling both forward and backward. I also had some sprinting and jumping thrown in there with abs at the end.
However, the big news of the day involved my sprint testing. Eric wanted to test me on my 30 meter sprint from a standing start so that we knew how far we had to go. I knew that I wanted to walk in to the tryout at Lake Placid and blow them away with my scores. In a sprint that is that short, every hundreth of a second counts. I figured if I ran around a 4.1 that I would be in good shape to improve my time to about a 3.8 or 3.7 if I was lucky. I wanted to get well below a 4.00 in April. Eric had me sprint three times with him hand-timing me. He refused to tell me my times until I was completely finished. Begrudgingly, I finished the sprints with only my mind telling me if I was improving or not each run. At the end of the third run I asked him my times and he told me: .................. 3.65, 3.62 and 3.56! I was absolutely floored! (For a reference point that would give me a 40 time of around 4.5/4.6. Marques Colston-the rookie Wide Receiver for the New Orleans Saints ran a 4.55 last year at the NFL Combine) After asking him if he got the times right and if I actually ran 30 meters I started celebrating. He was really excited too and said that with a crouched start and two months of training I could get my time down to a 3.2. That's the time that they expect you to run for the fly-in!
That was the first time in this whole experience that I really felt like I have a shot at this. My next step is to contact the Pilates trainer and continue to work on my sprinting as well as my overall body strength. I'm feeling more and more confident as the training gets harder and more and more motivated by each passing day.
62 more days!!
For the Four Item Test the letter I received luckily gave me the times/scores that they expected me to get for them. They said that for the 30m sprint I needed a time in the 4.00s or better; for the 30m fly-in a time in the 3.20s or better; for the vertical jump a height of 30" or better and for 5 hop test a distance of 14 meters or better. I felt that going in to the testing, with no formal training, that I would be right around most of those marks. With my track training in high school (I did the long/triple/high jump) I was confident that my vertical jump and 5 hop test would go well and that the sprinting would be fine.
We started with the 5 hop test which I did the first run at a distance of 43'10''. Not too bad in that it equates to about 13.37 meters. I then did the vertical jump test...yikes. I only got 25.5" and was very unhappy with myself on that. I know for a fact that my vertical jumping ability used to be higher so I was quite upset. I redeemed myself a little bit on my second go-round with the 5 hop test when I got 45' even (13.716 meters). I gave the vertical jump another couple tries but nothing exceeded my previous mark.
The next Monday (yesterday) started my formal training at Parisi. They took it easy on me the first week and told me flat out that Monday's workout would be brutal. They didn't disappoint. My training consisted of side-squats with a very thick bungee cord tied around my ankles, tire flips with a 175lb tractor tire and sled pulling both forward and backward. I also had some sprinting and jumping thrown in there with abs at the end.
However, the big news of the day involved my sprint testing. Eric wanted to test me on my 30 meter sprint from a standing start so that we knew how far we had to go. I knew that I wanted to walk in to the tryout at Lake Placid and blow them away with my scores. In a sprint that is that short, every hundreth of a second counts. I figured if I ran around a 4.1 that I would be in good shape to improve my time to about a 3.8 or 3.7 if I was lucky. I wanted to get well below a 4.00 in April. Eric had me sprint three times with him hand-timing me. He refused to tell me my times until I was completely finished. Begrudgingly, I finished the sprints with only my mind telling me if I was improving or not each run. At the end of the third run I asked him my times and he told me: .................. 3.65, 3.62 and 3.56! I was absolutely floored! (For a reference point that would give me a 40 time of around 4.5/4.6. Marques Colston-the rookie Wide Receiver for the New Orleans Saints ran a 4.55 last year at the NFL Combine) After asking him if he got the times right and if I actually ran 30 meters I started celebrating. He was really excited too and said that with a crouched start and two months of training I could get my time down to a 3.2. That's the time that they expect you to run for the fly-in!
That was the first time in this whole experience that I really felt like I have a shot at this. My next step is to contact the Pilates trainer and continue to work on my sprinting as well as my overall body strength. I'm feeling more and more confident as the training gets harder and more and more motivated by each passing day.
62 more days!!
Monday, February 12, 2007
Jack Bauer's Favorite Olympic Sport
One of the toughest parts of trying out for the team is figuring out how to train. They tell you that you will be tested for your athleticism in four different tests (more on that later) and that they don't expect you to have any experience in actually driving a sled.
I should clarify now what I am actually trying out for. They say that if I pass the four tests and show exemplary driving ability that I will then be asked to train with the development team for the remainder of the season. If I do well there it seems that I would then compete on either the America's Cup level or the Europa Cup level for the next couple of years. If at any point I do very, very well at those levels, then I would move up to the World Cup Circuit. The World Cup Circuit is the creme de la creme and that's where I would get my opportunity for the World Championships or the Olympics. So, obviously, I am nowhere near trying out for the Olympic team. That being said, I am one step closer and that only motivates me more. If the development team is where I would start then I want to make it through that tryout so that they have no choice but to invite me to train with them.
The Four Item Test that they administer has four parts to it-a 30 meter sprint, a 30 meter fly-in, a vertical jump test and a 5-hop test. The 30 meter sprint is from a frozen start while the 30 meter fly-in is a 30 meter sprint but with a running start. The vertical jump test sees how high you can jump from a stationary position and the 5-hop test sees how far you can jump hopping five times with two feet.
I figured that the best way to train is to train different aspects of my body with different trainers. I first researched for a speed training school to work on my sprints and found The Parisi Speed School at USTC in Downingtown to be my best option for that. I know that the best way to maneuver a sled while lying down is to have a strong core and good body control so I will be working with my mother's Pilates trainer to help develop my core muscles and overall body control. I also wanted to meet with a Dietician to discuss my diet and the best way to eat for this type of training. I also wanted to continue lifting weights for my upper body and to get into a swimming routine for my endurance. My whole goal is to go in to this tryout in the best shape of my life and I feel that this routine and these exercises would really help me accomplish those goals.
I should clarify now what I am actually trying out for. They say that if I pass the four tests and show exemplary driving ability that I will then be asked to train with the development team for the remainder of the season. If I do well there it seems that I would then compete on either the America's Cup level or the Europa Cup level for the next couple of years. If at any point I do very, very well at those levels, then I would move up to the World Cup Circuit. The World Cup Circuit is the creme de la creme and that's where I would get my opportunity for the World Championships or the Olympics. So, obviously, I am nowhere near trying out for the Olympic team. That being said, I am one step closer and that only motivates me more. If the development team is where I would start then I want to make it through that tryout so that they have no choice but to invite me to train with them.
The Four Item Test that they administer has four parts to it-a 30 meter sprint, a 30 meter fly-in, a vertical jump test and a 5-hop test. The 30 meter sprint is from a frozen start while the 30 meter fly-in is a 30 meter sprint but with a running start. The vertical jump test sees how high you can jump from a stationary position and the 5-hop test sees how far you can jump hopping five times with two feet.
I figured that the best way to train is to train different aspects of my body with different trainers. I first researched for a speed training school to work on my sprints and found The Parisi Speed School at USTC in Downingtown to be my best option for that. I know that the best way to maneuver a sled while lying down is to have a strong core and good body control so I will be working with my mother's Pilates trainer to help develop my core muscles and overall body control. I also wanted to meet with a Dietician to discuss my diet and the best way to eat for this type of training. I also wanted to continue lifting weights for my upper body and to get into a swimming routine for my endurance. My whole goal is to go in to this tryout in the best shape of my life and I feel that this routine and these exercises would really help me accomplish those goals.
Skeleton...cause I'm no luger
Hey everyone! Welcome to my journal chronicling my experiences training for and trying out for the US Skeleton Team. I'd like to thank you for visiting my Blog and taking your time to read about my time.
I guess the best way to start this blog is to give a background of how and why I decided to try out for the team. It all started last winter while I was watching the Torino, Italy Winter Olympics (go Russos!). I found myself thinking, like any other red-blooded American, "Wow-that would be really cool to represent your country in the Olympics." Being what I would consider an adventurous type I found myself frequently watching and taping the bobsled and skeleton races. While watching these races I got interested in the sport and read up about it online wondering how I could try this sport. I unfortunately found out that there are only two tracks in the US (Park City, Utah and Lake Placid, NY) and the only way to try it out if you're not part of the team is to pay an exhorbitant amount of money for a fantasy camp. I also found out that many of the athletes that compete in these events are around my size with relatively the same athletic background that I had. Checking in to how they started skeleton and bobsled racing I learned many of them had little to no prior experience before they got into their sport. Needless to say, this encouraged me to further check in to trying out the sport. I sporadically talked with my friends about my interest in trying out for the team but really didn't make any effort in the beginning to contact the teams. The thought of trying out wouldn't go away and a little over four months ago I sent in my Athletic Resumé and a little letter saying why I wanted to try out. I didn't get any response for a long time so, while I didn't lose interest, I did lose some hope. Then, a week ago last Friday, while checking my e-mail down at Duke, I found out that I had been granted a tryout for the team from April 16th-20th in Lake Placid, NY.
I was ecstatic. A bit shocked in the beginning, but ecstatic. The common conversation with my friends would go something like this:
Me: Remember how I said I wanted to try out for the US Skeleton Team?
Friend: Yeah.
Me: Well I've got a tryout in April in Lake Placid.
Friend: (Laughter for a long time)
Friend: (More laughter)
Friend: Dude that's so cool! Let me know how it goes.
Next came the hard part-convincing my parents to let me try this amazing experience. I had mentioned something to my Dad about my interest a long time ago but all I remember him saying was, "Let's pretend we didn't have this conversation and you go do what you want and just don't tell me about it. Hopefully I'll actually forget this conversation." He did, but that didn't help my confidence at all. I approached him the night I got back and he was fine with it once he knew it wouldn't get in the way with school. I asked him if we should tell Mom even though I thought it might be best to keep this from her. He assured me that we had to tell her. I asked him how he thought she might take it to which he replied, with a frightened look on his face, "I don't know, you're going to be the one who tells her!" Thanks Dad, way to help a brother out.
I approached my mother right before she was going to bed. I said, "Mom, there's something I need to talk to you about but we might want to ease you into it and just bring up the topic tonight and discuss details tomorrow." She replied, "Just tell me what it is, I can handle it." Right. Even though I wasn't reassured by that statement whatsoever I proceeded to tell her about everything. She completely, utterly, totally surprised me by stating how exciting this was and how much fun I would have doing it. Who knew?
With the relatively full support of my parents, family and friends I knew that this entire process would be an experience I would not soon forget.
I guess the best way to start this blog is to give a background of how and why I decided to try out for the team. It all started last winter while I was watching the Torino, Italy Winter Olympics (go Russos!). I found myself thinking, like any other red-blooded American, "Wow-that would be really cool to represent your country in the Olympics." Being what I would consider an adventurous type I found myself frequently watching and taping the bobsled and skeleton races. While watching these races I got interested in the sport and read up about it online wondering how I could try this sport. I unfortunately found out that there are only two tracks in the US (Park City, Utah and Lake Placid, NY) and the only way to try it out if you're not part of the team is to pay an exhorbitant amount of money for a fantasy camp. I also found out that many of the athletes that compete in these events are around my size with relatively the same athletic background that I had. Checking in to how they started skeleton and bobsled racing I learned many of them had little to no prior experience before they got into their sport. Needless to say, this encouraged me to further check in to trying out the sport. I sporadically talked with my friends about my interest in trying out for the team but really didn't make any effort in the beginning to contact the teams. The thought of trying out wouldn't go away and a little over four months ago I sent in my Athletic Resumé and a little letter saying why I wanted to try out. I didn't get any response for a long time so, while I didn't lose interest, I did lose some hope. Then, a week ago last Friday, while checking my e-mail down at Duke, I found out that I had been granted a tryout for the team from April 16th-20th in Lake Placid, NY.
I was ecstatic. A bit shocked in the beginning, but ecstatic. The common conversation with my friends would go something like this:
Me: Remember how I said I wanted to try out for the US Skeleton Team?
Friend: Yeah.
Me: Well I've got a tryout in April in Lake Placid.
Friend: (Laughter for a long time)
Friend: (More laughter)
Friend: Dude that's so cool! Let me know how it goes.
Next came the hard part-convincing my parents to let me try this amazing experience. I had mentioned something to my Dad about my interest a long time ago but all I remember him saying was, "Let's pretend we didn't have this conversation and you go do what you want and just don't tell me about it. Hopefully I'll actually forget this conversation." He did, but that didn't help my confidence at all. I approached him the night I got back and he was fine with it once he knew it wouldn't get in the way with school. I asked him if we should tell Mom even though I thought it might be best to keep this from her. He assured me that we had to tell her. I asked him how he thought she might take it to which he replied, with a frightened look on his face, "I don't know, you're going to be the one who tells her!" Thanks Dad, way to help a brother out.
I approached my mother right before she was going to bed. I said, "Mom, there's something I need to talk to you about but we might want to ease you into it and just bring up the topic tonight and discuss details tomorrow." She replied, "Just tell me what it is, I can handle it." Right. Even though I wasn't reassured by that statement whatsoever I proceeded to tell her about everything. She completely, utterly, totally surprised me by stating how exciting this was and how much fun I would have doing it. Who knew?
With the relatively full support of my parents, family and friends I knew that this entire process would be an experience I would not soon forget.
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