Julia Clukey

First WC

2010-11-23T11:49:00.001-08:00

We are In Igls Austria for the first world cup. This is one of my favorites stop on the tour, the scenery is great (although the weather has been cloudy/rainy) thus we haven’t quite yet been able to take in the mountains. Usually the weather here is perfect sunny and just cold enough for a fast track. I also like it because I am very familiar/comfortable with this track. As a junior athlete we spent a lot of our free weeks training here in Igls. So of all the European tracks I would say I have the most runs on this one.
Getting into a race week after the many week of preseason training is a breath of fresh air. I enjoy training because it is generally low stress and I am able to focus on the basics of sliding and y weaknesses, but the excitement around racing is one of the factors that drives me forward in the sport. It is what I have prepared for all summer, and now I have the opportunity to see where I stand against the fellow competitors from around the world. We will have our Qualifying race on Friday, followed by the world cup on Saturday.

Heading to Europe

2010-11-15T10:01:00.000-08:00

Somehow my first blog entry has been deleted ( I am sure it was user error) so I will make this entry longer to cover (and repeat for those of you who read the first blog) the first part of the season.
I spent the past six weeks training in Lake Placid, NY with the team preparing for the world cup season. It was a really productive 6 weeks. The first two week we weren;t on ice yet. It was a finally push in our physical training, and ensuring our bodies are ready to hit the ice. We completed our Physical testing (which is 1 of the first steps in qualifying for the world cup team). And we also had our US National Start Championships, where I placed 2nd. My teammate Ashley Walden edged me out by .006 of a second. Although I of course want to win every competition, it was nice to see her back in action after missing much of last season with on going health issues. Her and I are constantly pushing each other to be stronger/faster starters, so that we can beat out the Germans in the winter season.

We got on ice October 15th and it was a very easy transition to fall back into sliding mode. The anticipation of the first sliding session is always the most nerve wrecking for me personally. You never quite know where you stand until you hit the ice. Even after a long summer of training and feeling like I am in shape, I need the numbers on the paper to prove that my training has been productive. I am really happy with how the season has started off. I changed my training pretty drastically this year in an attempt to maintain my health and ongoing neck problems. I cut way back on the time I spent lifting and incorporated a lot of swimming, agility, plyo workouts to maintain my strength while basically trying to keep my body “happy”. I used to have the mentality that I had to be as strong as possible, and that bigger muscles meant more strength. But I have now learned that I can train “smarter” and achieve the same results. I have also seen what scheduling rest and days off can do for my body in the overall picture. So to sum it up I am feeling physically quite healthy and am very happy with my start times and overall strength heading into the season.
The first few weeks of sliding were all about settling into my groove and falling back into rhythm with sliding. After I felt I was satisfied with my level of sliding I started testing some new equipment. I have learned a lot over the past year and a half about the importance of having a sled be perfect for you as an athlete. I have individual strengths and weaknesses and it is important over the next few years to make sure I can make adjustments to my equipment to mirror those strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately this is something that will definitely not happen over night. It will take many runs, many hours, money, lots of tweaking my sled, and lots of writing in my journal/collecting data to figure out what is best for me. For now that aspect of sliding will take a backseat to preparing for the world cups. We are given only 6 runs prior to a world cup and it is important to just focus on sliding and learning the track, and not be adding another element of difficulty by constantly adjusting my equipment.
Our first stop in Europe is Italy for the international training week for World Championships, which will be held in January. This is not a track I am all that familiar with (I have only slid there once before, and it didn’t go all that well) I am looking forward to further learning the track, and then hopefully start putting some runs together, as the biggest race of the season will take place there.
For my friends and fans back in Maine; The Maine beer and wine distributors and myself put together a great new PSA for Thanksgiving that will be airing on the radio over the next week. ☺

Yours in sport and health,

Julia

Day 1!!

2010-02-09T19:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning started out like any other travel day for our team. We had a 4:30 wake-up, followed by a 5 AM departure for the airport. We returned our rentals cars, checked in, and made our way through security. We all sat in silence, waking up at 4:30 is one of our least favorite activities, followed a close second by sitting in the airport. Our flight itinerary was Salt Lake City to Vancouver with a stopover in San Francisco, CA. The moment we landed in Vancouver I quickly came to the realization that this was going to be anything but an ordinary travel day. To clear customs in Canada, they had a special line designate for Olympic participants followed by immediately being greeted by members of the USOC that had our credentials for the games, and were there to make sure our travel went as smooth as possible. We picked up our bags loaded a shuttle bus and were on our way to team processing.
Team processing consists of picking up all your clothing/gear for the games, as well as having pictures taken, talking with the media. It was such a great afternoon, In addition to hopefully being the most successful team; we are undoubtedly going to be the best-dressed team at the Olympics. Ralph Lauren and Nike did a great job designing our outfits. As I Walked through the line picking up my clothes I kept thinking this is my favorite piece, only to be outdone by the next piece of apparel I received. It took about three hours to complete team processing.
We are now sitting on a bus heading up to Whistler village, once we get there we will quickly change and head out the track for our track walk. We walk the track to look at the ice conditions and shape of the track. You can tell a lot by the shape of curves and how much/ how little ice in on the curves. It helps to set a “game plan” for the first run of training. With only 6 runs of training it will be very important to have the track dialed from run 1. As much as I enjoyed yesterday and the excitement surrounding it, I am happy to be getting back to our normal routine and start focusing on my competition.

Oberhof, Germany

2010-01-19T01:54:00.001-08:00

I drove through 5 different countries yesterday en route to Italy. The trip took about 10 hours, it is one of the amazing things about central Europe in a few hours you can be in a different country, it really makes you realize the proximity of everything. Last week was mostly a disappointing week both training and competing. I was never really able to get a grip on the track and feel comfortable sliding. We are only allowed 6 training runs prior to the race and generally I am able to pic things up on the first day of training and then move forward in finding my comfort level and extra speed in the runs. This week just didn't go that way. I have had really good training and races on this track before but I wasn't able to turn it around for the weekend and I finished 14th in the WC. We are in Italy nor for a training week, it is European Championships this week, but since we aren't European we won't participate. I am looking forward to a stress free week of just sliding and not worry about having to master a track in 6 runs. It will be nice to just slide and really work on the small details of sliding without having to worry too much about the consistency. I have actually never slid hear before so it will be an exciting "down" week.
Lastly I am selling t-shirts to raise money to help cover some of my expenses I have already endured this season as ell as a last minute fundraiser as I push towards Vancouver next month. I am selling the t-shirt for $20.00 e-mail me clukeyluge@googlemail.com if you have any questions or would like to order one.

Winterberg WC

2010-01-14T12:15:00.000-08:00

We have had two races since Christmas break and while I have finished 7th and 10th I still have a lot of things I still need to improve upon before Vancouver. Some athletes are simply satisfied with finishing a race, or just qualifying for the Olympics; I am definitely not one of those athletes. I set daily/weekly/monthly/yearly goals for myself and am constantly analyzing myself athletically. Don't get me wrong I do enjoy everyday, and I am very fortunate for the life I have. But I will always be a fighter, and doubt there will ever be a day in my athletic life that I can't find something that I can improve upon or do differently. Some people would disagree with my mentality, but I see it is a strength. While some athletes find it easier to make excuses or try and justify a weakness or result, I a, always looking inward first.
My main focus for the coming 4 weeks of training/racing we have is to just take every run to fall into a complete comfort zone on my sled. Luckily we have a week of just training coming up next week and I hope that we are able to slide double sessions so I can get my run count up. I am still 80 runs behind on the year compared to my teammates. Which if you multiply by the average run time (45 seconds) which works out to about an hour of time on my sled (again my over analyzing/tracking every aspect of my training). So from here on our any extra runs I can get are going to be very valuable.
We are In Oberhof, Germany now for our next world cup. I enjoy sliding on this track, it is a real luge track in the sense that you have to really drive the sled in every curve. This style of track suites my natural abilities better, as I have a tendency to overdrive a lot. We race Saturday afternoon. Stay warm!!!

Julia

Happy New Year...New start!!!

2010-01-02T21:24:00.000-08:00

The past few weeks have been extremely busy, productive, and pleasant. I spent ten days in Lake Placid, training and recovering there. The training center was practically empty and I was able meet and work with the trainers a lot. I left there feeling near 100% and with full confidence that I will be more than ready come our World Cup race next weekend. I went home to Maine for 5 days and had a great Christmas with my friends and family. I spent a lot of time with my sisters, and nephew. He just turned a year old and I can’t believe how much he changes while I am gone. He is becoming his own little amazing person. I can already tell he is going to be a great athlete. ☺
It was really nice to be home although it went by very quickly and I was extremely busy. I am so gracious to everyone who has been supporting me these past few months, and the community planned a great send off celebration for me. Thank you to everyone who came, it was so great to see all of you, and many of you I haven’t seen in a few years.
We just wrapped up our first week overseas, I had my best finish of the year, finishing 7th in the world cup. I was mostly pleased with my race, more than anything I am thankful that my health has kept up and I have been able to maintain the great feeling I had at home, while hopping back on my sled. I pulled my fastest start time ever here, and had a really good week of training. I still have some work to do in my sliding, but this is a great place to start and I hope to only move forward from here. The next month my only focus will be using every run to get more comfortable and natural feeling on my sled, something that for me comes with taking many runs. We are packing up now and heading to Munich for the night before we move on to Winterberg, Germany.

Happy 2010 everyone! We had a nice mellow NYE, which for myself concluded at 10:30PM (we had qualifying the next day) We did however light off a bunch of fireworks, which is the biggest bonus of spending NYE in Germany.

Vancouver Bound

2009-12-16T18:18:00.001-08:00

I think the title says it all!!! I will have a longer post in the near future.
Our team will be formally announced on the Today Show Fridy at 8AM!!!

Moving Forward....Lillehammer

2009-12-07T11:42:00.000-08:00

First and foremost I must thank everyone for all there e-mails over the past 6 weeks or so. I keep everyone's kind words very close to my heart, and I am sorry that I have not found the time to respond personally to you all. But please no that I appreciate them very much and I hope in the coming weeks to have a bit more time on my hands and will send out notes to all of you. Most of you read about my injury this past week. I was working out in the gym, and felt a pop in my neck while doing pull-ups on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning I got a MRI that showed I had two discs they were protruding and pushing on a nerve route in my spine. On Thursday I drove to Munich with our trainer to meet with DR. Christian Schneider and received a cortisone injection to help quickly relief the inflammation. I am very thankful that he was so willing to get me in so quickly and help me. The injection was very successful and I now have almost all the feeling and strength back in my hand. I still have quite a bit of pain in my upper back, neck and right triceps, but am very optimistic that as I get my muscles to relax and start functioning properly these symptoms will too significantly decrease if not (fingers crossed) disappear completely. regardless I am getting ready to slide tomorrow and get ready for this weekend, our final world cup competition before the Christmas break. We are in Lillehammer, Norway and look to get ourfirst real taste of winter this week. The drive up from the airport was snowy and the sun is only out for about 6 hours a day.

Igls abridged update

2009-11-30T11:57:00.000-08:00

I am extremely exhausted right now, but I want to send out a quick update regarding the past week in Austria. I finished 12th in the world cup, and normally I would be disappointed with that result, but I am so happy with the way I am sliding. All I can really control is the way I feel on the sled, and use each run to improve and better myself as a slider. I will try and get a more personal update out later in the week but for now I am going to cheat and post the latest press release from our team site.

IGLS, Austria - Julia Clukey, along with sisters Megan and Emily Sweeney advanced to upcoming World Cup luge races Monday as they eliminated Kate Hansen in a race-off in Igls, Austria.

Clukey, 24, of Augusta, Maine, fifth in the 2009 World Championships, had the two fastest runs in wet conditions and 50 degree temperatures. Using her trademark fast starts, the 11-year veteran was never threatened. Her times of 40.645 and 40.636 seconds totaled 1 minute, 21.281 seconds. The racing format allowed each racer to score their best two of three attempts down the 1976 Olympic track.

Sixteen year old Emily Sweeney, of Suffield, Conn., 2009 Junior National Champion, placed second in 1:21.642. Her 22 year old sister Megan Sweeney, also of Suffield, Conn., a two-time Junior National Champion, took the final available spot by clocking 1:21.727.

Kate Hansen of La Canada, Calif., the 2008 Junior World Champion, had the fourth best times of each heat and finished with her two best runs totaling 1:21.942.

Calgary WC-----Arriving in Europe

2009-11-27T08:23:00.000-08:00

I am overall mostly pleased with my first world cup of the season. The first race is always the most nerve wrecking for myself because it is the first true test to see if everything you have done in the summer is going to pay off on the sled and in the track. Although my placing wasn't as high as I had hoped, both of my runs and split times definitely showed that my speed is there, and that my training this summer is going to pay off. I had some small problems in the start curve, which is rare for me as generally the start is my strongest part of my sliding and finished the first run in 14th place. My second run although not perfect was significantly better and I moved up three spots and finished 11th. I was hoping for a top 9 finish, but I took a lot away from the competition and am now ready to attack the rest of the season. It is so easy to slide reserved and be complacent with just finishing the run. To be one of the top sliders you have to take risks and really let the sled run and try to work with it, rather than trying to always control it. Every day and every run I am learning more and more of this with my training. I realize this is a lot of luge lingo, so if anyone has any question please feel free to e-mail me. Clukeyluge@googlemail.com. Even if you don't have questions feel free to e-mail me anyways, I enjoy hearing from so many people, especially from back in Maine, it makes me feel close to home.

We have been in Europe since Monday evening. Our first stop in Europe also happens to be my favorite place to visit, slide, and just be in. Igls is a small town nestled right in the middle of the alps. The views are breath taking, and unlike Germany the sun seems to always be shining here. It is by far the most beautiful place in the winter time that we visit. I am a little bit disappointed though that there isn't any snow here. Somehow competing in our sport in the cold, is a little bit easier when there is snow on the ground. I also really like sliding on this track, although it is the slowest track on circuit, it is sometimes difficult to find the time and speed for a fast run. It is very important here to drive precise lines to maximize the push you get from every curve. This is the most attended world cup in the history of our sport, over 180 sleds entered to compete, generally on an average world cup there would be around 110 sleds, sometimes in Olympic years it would rise to 130 max. Because of so many sleds that have entered, our training was limited to just 5 training runs. despite this I have had a good week of training and am ready and excited for the race tomorrow morning.

We had a Thanksgiving dinner yesterday here in Austria. The hotel did a great job preparing all of the American traditional foods. The one thing I missed was Cranberry Sauce from a can WITHOUT real cranberries. It has been years since I have had that processed perfectly canned shape goodness.

Big day for my knee

2009-11-19T20:58:00.000-08:00

I was doing my rehab this morning around 6:30 and thought I would try and step it up a notch and give my knee a new challenge. And it PASSED!!!! I was able to stand on a physio ball for 60 seconds without my knee feeling at all unstable. woohoo!!! Balance is a big part of my training, I normally do a lot of squats and other exercises while standing on the physio ball. I am excited that I am able to start pushing this aspect of my training. At first I mocked my friend who wanted to take my picture, but now I am glad he did. All of our training is complete, and I am very excited and ready for the world cup on Saturday.

Calgary World Cup

2009-11-18T15:43:00.000-08:00

Our training is done and we are officially into the first race of the season. I have had a good week so far in training and am really excited to take to the hill tomorrow in the qualifying race, and then again Saturday in the World Cup. The weather has been quite warm here in Calgary, well by warm I mean around 40 degrees. They are still able to maintain the track here despite the warm weather because it is a very dry climate. Not a lot of humidity in the air. Thanks to everyone who has followed me and supported me all summer. I am ready to show everyone how prepared I am.

Whistler training week

2009-11-16T20:29:00.001-08:00

We just wrapped up our week long training in Whistler. It is mandatory that every athlete be offered 18 runs of training within the Olympic season. I spent most of the week at the track. When we weren't sliding ourselves, I spent much of the time watching the other countries slide trying to get a better understanding for the flow of the track. You can learn as much from watching people slide as you can from being on the sled yourself, sometimes more because you are able to really see where the natural pressures in the track are, and can see when an athlete is steering. When you are on the sled sliding it is more important to relax with your run and kinda take things as they come, absorbing every curve. The unique thing about luge is that you will never have two runs that are exactly identical, even being 1 inch lefter into a curve will change the where and how much you have to steer. The best sliders are able to adapt quickly and fix a problem before it can become a real problem (crashing). Overall I am very happy with the way the week went for myself. I really feel that I have a great understanding of how the track works and how to negotiate it. It took me a few days to get comfortable on the track and begin to drive consistent lines, but by the end of the week I was really focusing on relaxing, and becoming more comfortable and confident with every run. The track is very fast in Whistler my top speed was just under 87 MPH's it is really such a rush to slide there. While the speeds are very high, the track is so smooth, when you drive it right it feels like a sort of dance in a way. Everything just flows together, ALMOST effortless.
We are heading to Calgary now for the first world cup. I really feel as though I am ready for the competition's to begin. Although it was a slow start to the season and I missed some early runs because of my knee surgery, I feel as though I really optimized the time/runs I did have on the track and feel as though all my summer preparation and training is falling into place.

Goodbye Park City sun.......hello Vancouver

2009-11-08T08:48:00.000-08:00

***Teammate, Tony Benshoof took the photo above. He does amazing work with his camera. If it weren't for him I would have very few photos of myself sliding. So big Thanks to him!!!!***

We are now sitting in the airport in Salt Lake City, UT getting ready to head to Vancouver for the International training week in Whistler. This is the only training opportunity we will have on the Olympic track prior to the games. We have had really great training in Park City. We had long days with double sessions, and the coaches kept us very busy. I definitely think the team is ready for the training week, and also ready to transition over to world cup weeks and competing. We will have 18 runs in Whistler, I definitely feel like I had a good grip on the track last year, and I am looking to just completely focus on getting completely comfortable with every run I slide. The most important aspect of sliding is being comfortable on the sled and not tensing up. When you are tense on the sled, you will be more likely to make sharp movements which ultimately can cause trouble (crash, get off line) but if nothing else you will lose time going down the track, because with all of your movements you are causing extra friction between your sled and the ice. This was the biggest thing I worked on this summer both in wheel training, and in balance/agility work outs.
The men's team was finalized during the race-off in Park City. Congratulation to Chris Mazdzer and Trent Matheson for earning their spots on the World Cup team. They will join Tony and Bengt (who were pre-qualified). The woman's team will be finalized after the training week in Whistler. The first two team trials proved to be very close, competitive racing. Two more girls will join Erin and I in the world cups.

I will try and keep my blog up more, from here on out we will just be sliding once a day. Whistler area is known for having a lot of bears, so we are hoping they aren't all in hibernation yet, last year we missed them by about a week.
I was featured on Bill Green's Maine Saturday November, 7th. This is the link to the episode, I am not sure if it will be shown on the internet. But you can probably catch it on channel 6 some night this week.
http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=110717

Long week in Park City

2009-11-02T08:35:00.000-08:00

I had a great first week of training here in Park City. The track is in great shape and we have been able to utilize our time here and get a lot of runs and also get speed training in preparation for the training week in Whistler November 8th. The track here is very different from Lake Placid, most noticeably it is a much faster track. We train from the bob start here and reach speeds just over 81 mph. The other major difference between the track here in Park City and Lake Placid is the curves are far more stretched out so it is a great place to work on position (aerodynamics) and also smoothness in driving. If you are stiff on the sled or creating more friction with the ice (driving more than needed) then it shows greatly in your finish time at the bottom. I have been able to take a lot of runs this past week as we have had double sliding sessions available everyday. It has kept me very busy between sliding, working out, sled work and rehabbing my knee my day starts at around 6:30 AM and most days I don't sit down to dinner until about 8 PM or so. Oddly I really enjoy being this busy, I am a very detail/schedule oriented person, I don't like to waste any minute of my day. And mostly I love the fact that I lay down in bed at night and am usually asleep in about 2 minutes.
I am five weeks out of Surgery now and I am really making big steps in my rehab (finally). It couldn't come soon enough for me. I am now able to do a lot of strength exercise for my quad and hamstring with out causing any extra swelling in my knee. While in Lake Placid I was working with the head trainer Peter Toohey, and he did great things for me to get me ready to go on the road. Most importantly he helped to remind myself that I Can't approach my rehab the way I do my normal training. In my normal training I want to lift as much as possible and work through all the pain/fatigue of my muscles. But with rehabbing my knee I have had to take a step back and realize that working through the pain in most cases is just prolonging the process. With the type of procedure I had normally you would go the first three weeks without any activity, I went 4 days mostly because of the timing or lack there of. So after 5 weeks, I now have done a lot of reading and have a much better understanding of good pain vs. bad pain and know when I just simply need to give my knee a rest.
We have the day off today from sliding, Mondays are the universal day off in the luge world, because generally it is a travel day in the world cup season. After 6 long days of training we were all very much ready for a day of rest and relaxation.
We have four more days of sliding here then we will pack up all of our gear and head to Whistler for the International training week for the Olympics. I am really looking forward to getting back on the track in Whistler, and also it will be nice to see the other competitors and shift into competition mode with the first world cup lurking only three weeks away. I am about to head to the gym for a work out and rehab. Happy Fall!!!

PS: The weather is amazing here, cold at night (which is important for track conditions) and bright, sunny and warm all day!!

Back on the Sled

2009-10-25T07:11:00.000-07:00

The past 6 weeks went slightly different than I had planned heading into the season. Upon returning from Europe I crashed wheel training in Lake Placid. My right leg took the grunt of the crash, and at first I thought/hoped my injuries were minor enough to rehab with the help of the sports medicine staff here in Lake Placid. But after two weeks of not a whole lot of change we went ahead and got x-rays and an MRI to see the full extent of the damage. I partially tore my MCL, meniscus, and a small crack on my tibia where my PCL attaches. On September 28th I underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair my meniscus, which is the only damage that won't repair itself. It was a very difficult decision for my to make and I struggled with it for a few days, but I believe it was the best decision. I was able to start sliding just 2 weeks out of surgery with A LOT of help from my teammates (Thanks!) Although I had to limit the amount of runs I have taken so far, I have about 1/2 the amount of my teammates, I already feel back to where I was last year sliding wise. And feel very comfortable on the sled.
I am almost 4 weeks out of surgery and I just got cleared to be off my crutches. We are leaving tomorrow for Park City and I am hoping to be able to really bump up my run count each day as long as I can keep my knee happy, healthy, and with minimal swollen. The good thing about training in Park City is that we have double sessions so I will be able to rest and recover in between, and not have to take all my runs in one session.
Some positive things that have happened this fall. I was able to go home to Maine for a week, see family and friends, and mostly just relax and enjoy a good Maine fall. Bengt Walden, Ashley's husband is finally an American citizen, just this past week he took his oath and applied for his passport. It is a big relief off of their shoulders and I am very excited that he is now 100% a part of our team. We had a coming to America party and introduced him to all of America's finest gifts.

2009-09-05T04:37:00.000-07:00

This week went by really fast. We had an amazing three days of hiking in the Alps. We hiked through three different countries (Lichtenstein, Switzerland, and Austria). It was the single most challenging thing I have done because of the height aspect. I have a huge fear of heights and it has been a while since I have challenged myself and put myself in a situation out of my normal element. There were parts of the hike that brought you up and over rock faces. It was a great team activity to bring everyone together before heading into the season. It was also an amazing way to see those countries, as we never have before. In the winter we go from hotel to track to the cars heading to the next track. I have never felt so connected to the natural world and disconnected from society at the same time. The highest point through out the hike was at the mannheimer hutte, where we stayed our second night. It sits at 2,679M.

On Friday we headed over to Meransen, Italy where the start competition was taking place. We had a training session Friday afternoon and the competition was Saturday. This competition comes at a good time of the year because it Is about one month out of the sliding season so it is nice to see the other countries, see where you compare physically to them and I always leave with a little extra motivation for the last month of summer training. This year was no different. The countries that participated were Italians, Austrian, Germans, Slovenians, Japanese, Slovakian, France, and our team. There were 139 competitors total including juniors and seniors. I was really happy with the way things went. I won the womens title and also set anew track record, I was able to shave .008 off of my previous start record, which doesn’t seem like a lot of time but in luge world it is enough for me to consider myself significantly stronger than last year. Especially since this off-season I have gained roughly ten pounds. I am very happy that I haven’t lost any speed.
I am sitting in the Munich airport right now getting ready to fly back to Albany. I am looking forward to returning to Lake Placid and falling back into my normal training routine. In the eleven days I was in Europe I spent at least one night in five different countries (Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, and Lichtenstein). It will nice to be grounded again in a place. This weekend gave me an extra boost of confidence as I head into the winter season. It reaffirmed everything I have felt the past month as far as my training falling into place. Roughly 36 days until we are on ice!!!!
Here is a link to the story on the start competition in Italy:
http://www.usaluge.org/dyncontent.php?articleid=857
Here is a link to me wheel sliding in Lake Placid, NY:
http://www.usaluge.org/videogallery/CIMG0857.MOV

Altenberg

2009-08-24T04:33:00.000-07:00

I just finished up my wheel training in Altenberg, Germany. I was able to take 42 runs over the course of the four days I was there. My goal was to take 50 runs but there was a club race on my final day of training so I was only able to train once in the morning. But overall I am very happy with the things I was able to accomplish. The only thing I would have changed about the week was the weather. It was foggy and rainy everyday that I was there. It was a new challenge for me because I have never wheel trained in the rain, I was actually a little bit nervous about the track being slippery, but it just forced me to really work on my position and being fluid on the sled, as the rain caused the sled to easily feel sideways pressure, which is something than can greatly slow you down in the winter.
I am now on my way down to Lichtenstein where I will meet up with the rest of the team at our coach, Wolf’s house. It has been a few years since I have there and I am looking forward to going back. There we will be doing last minute sled preparation for the season and hiking. There is a network of huts through the mountains there. So you can hike from hut to hut and stay the night. It is something I have always wanted to, and will be a good activity for our team one month our from our preseason camp. On Thursday we will all head to Italy for the International Start Competition.

Summer Training

2009-08-22T03:02:00.000-07:00

I finally have my blog up and running, and will keep my finger crossed that it won't get connected to the sites it did this winter. Unfortunately I had to delete all my prior posts. This is a big year for us and I look forward to keeping you all connected to myself and team through the journey.
I really can’t believe that it is already nearing the end of August. The thoughts of sliding this spring are still very fresh in my mind, which I suppose is not a terrible thing considering the start of the sliding season is 6 weeks away. I have had a great summer training in Lake Placid, we had a solid group of athletes in and out throughout the summer. We have all been training hard with each other and in our own ways preparing for the season. I am really pleased with the amount of wheel training we have been able to do this summer. Wheel training is really important for training sliding position and smoothness, both things that I consider to be my biggest weaknesses in the sport. It is great to be in a community that is so supportive and helpful in our training. The track allowed us to use the track 3 times a week, which is a lot in there busy schedule and work maintenance they are doing this summer to get the track ready for the winter. We have watched them re-sow a lot of the shades that cover the curves, and they have also extended the roof cover almost half way up the finish. The track is now probably about 95% covered which is important for keeping consistent track conditions.
There were a lot of different sports floating around the training center this summer. At times Lake Placid can get very repetitive in the day to day schedule, so seeing so many fresh faces and sports has help to keep things both interesting and motivating. Seeing athletes from different sports prepare for their own individual competitions can be very inspiring. A lot of the sports that come through the Lake Placid training center are smaller sports much like luge. One thing in particular that is special about the training center is the amount of development programs kids ages 10-14 that have training camps in the summer. They represent their sports in their truest form with pure joy. While I love what I do, and am so blessed to have found something to partake in that I am so passionate about, at the end of my day results matter a lot. And I think at the elite level it is easy for the true love of sport to slip your mind. The development camps here not only offer a reminder of my live for what I am doing but also offer such great energy, and lastly they give me an extra push within myself to be the type of person/athlete these kids are aspiring to be.

So I am on the train now heading to Newark airport and getting ready to fly overseas for an 11-day training camp. My first stop in Altenberg, Germany where I am going to be wheel training for 4 days by myself. I try to always take some training time for myself so I can focus solely on what I am thinking. I came here last year for the first time (at the time we didn’t have any wheel training available in Lake Placid) and really enjoyed the training I got here, and the better understanding of my sliding strength and weaknesses. Although I have had the opportunity to wheel train in Lake Placid this summer I decided to try and train in Altenberg again because the tracks are quite different. In Altenberg I can really focus on being smooth and making my movements on the sled softer and try and find the finesse I sometimes lack in the winter. From there I will meet up with the rest of the team in Lichtenstein are our head coaches house. We are going to do a 3 days hike between huts in the mountain. It is something I have wanted to do for sometime so I am glad that we were able to fit it in to the schedule. The last stop with be the start competition in Italy. I am really looking to returning this year and seeing where my start times compare with past seasons. I have been doing a lot of work on my paddle strength this summer and this will be my first real test. I hope everyone is ale to enjoy the last weeks of summer, and is able to find sometime to get outside and enjoy all the natural gifts of the world.