Saturday, December 13, 2008

Why do we lift heavy weights?

A: To get better at our sport of choice.

I did heavy cleans and speed squats today. I felt pretty spent after the squats but I tested my vert (along with basically everyone at CP) and jumped a couple 33's before a couple 34's and a 34.8''. Not too great but pretty awesome considering all the work I had done before. I finished it up with some heavier (225lb) sled pushes. I am working mainly on the initial push and first couple steps, as my top end speed is pretty good but I need to learn how to accelerate more powerfully.

My weight is up a bit again, but I just need to keep eating more. Tomorrow is a day off, and I'm back in for training on Monday again.

So remember, your squat, deadlift, or bench don't matter unless you can use that strength to your advantage in your sport (unless you're a powerlifter in which case it works out anyway--you're welcome, Dan). On the other hand, if used properly in a smart training program, there is nothing that can help you get faster and more powerful than strength training.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Sled Pushes are fun

I was training at Cressey Performance today did some sled pushes. Here is one:




I need to gain a LOT of strength still but my weird back does some magical things for me in pushing. Basically I have a hyper mobile lumbar spine that hinges at a weird point and it allows my spine to rotate while also going from flexion to extension quickly and with force. While this is probably not good for upright running, its a huge advantage for running bent over like I do for skeleton pushes-- Think greyhound spine:

This:


to This:


Exciting stuff, eh?

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Training....

Has been going well so far. I'm still a bit underweight but I did some heavy cleans yesterday that felt pretty good. Had an upper body day today and I felt pretty good on the bench and especially good on the pullups. Tomorrow is another lower body day and I'm going to be sprinting and doing sled pushes along with it so it should be a fun day. I'll update you about it later.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Training Continues an New Sled

Thanks to Brian's diet and Eric's training, I've already gained back about 7 pounds of the muscle I lost. I also did some sprint work yesterday and actually feel fast. My left tibia isn't bothering me as much anymore, but Eric is getting me in to see Dr. John Pallof on Friday in order to get that cleared out and also check out my overall soft tissue quality and damage.

I'm also getting a new sled. Yes, Matt Skolnik from Slovakia has contacts with the Canadian sled building company, S1. I've seen their sleds and I hear they're really fast (they better be for the price), so I'm really excited to be getting one. Also, I'm working on getting a really good set of runners while I'm at it.

I'll keep you posted on the training and recovery and everything else.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Back in training

So I'm back to training today.

Eric is helping me with a rehab program to get me back into training hard without getting injured. I lost 14 lbs due to my injury, and so Brian (one of the CP coaching staff) was gracious enough to take the time to write me a comprehensive diet to get back all the muscle mass I lost. Speaking of Brian, he has his website up finally ('bout time!), and you should check it out here

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

How did I survive that?

So...

Massive crash today. And by massive crash, I mean I was done with the run and then hit something in the run out of the track and got launched about 15 feet in the air, did a triple somersault, and landed off the track in some coolant pipes..... right on my head. They think my sled got caught on something in the track-- it takes a huge amount of force to launch a 172 pound guy and an 86 pound sled with a really low center of gravity that high.

The helmet is gone-- absolutely shattered in the back. Thank God for it-- It saved my life.
The sled is gone too-- it got launched out of the track as well. Gonna have to find a new one.
$400 practice runners that I've had for 2 days-- also destroyed.

Still, I am thrilled. Beyond some serious abrasions, I'm alive, and I didn't break anything! Honestly, I thought I was going to die or at least be paralyzed, so I'm doing great!

Hopefully I'll have some good-- non injured photos for all of you soon.




Monday, October 20, 2008

Day One of sliding...

Today was the first day of sliding.

Unfortunately, my speed suit has yet to arrive, so I bought a surprisingly good one of a lady here. The downside is that it is just about the ugliest suit you've seen.

We slid from start 4 today just to get a feel for the ice. I felt really good on my new sled, and I was amazed at how responsive it was compared to the old steel sleds. All I had to do was look in the direction I wanted to go and apply just a tiny bit of force on the sled and it moved. I was happy just to get a feel for the sled and get down real clean in all 3 runs. Hopefully we will be moving up tomorrow, so I'll let you know how that goes.

In terms of photos... I forgot to bring my camera today... I'll get some good photos tomorrow, though.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Finally landed!

I just arrived in Salt Lake City.

I managed to convince the nice lady at the shuttle counter to get me a discounted ride to Park City and the condo I'm sharing with six bobsledders and one skeleton athlete from New-Zealand.

I managed to sleep for 80% of the flights here from Boston and through Dallas, but I'll definitely be able to get back to sleep tonight at an early enough hour.

Tomorrow morning there is athlete registration, and then I get to spend my day searching for a speed suit at various sports stores around Park City because my speed suit didn't arrive at my house in time (it's been 3 weeks since it's shipped). Also tomorrow, I am picking up my new runners and attaching them to the sled.

In any case, I'm sitting here in the airport and it seems the shuttle as just arrived. Hopefully someone is in the condo to let me in :-). I'll keep you posted!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

New Blog!

So I hope this blog will be able to help everyone stay updated regarding what I'm doing. Feel free to subscribe, or just check in periodically to see what's going on with me, my training, and my competitions.

I hope to update this a few times a week, so check back often!

Thanks!