Thursday November 11, 2010

Breathe... Breeeaaathheee... breeeaatheee...

I woke up this morning with butterflies in my stomach. They say that it's a good sign if you get butterflies, means you really 'care' about what is coming, and that you're going to put full effort in. They also say that if you want to have your BEST day though... you need the butterflies to fly in formation. That's where I run in to trouble. If any of you know me, you know that my entire life is typically a scattered mess. But, I think today, maybe for once...I got things to fly in formation.

The combine was to start at 9:30am at the Lake Placid High School track. Basically the combine is a series of 8 tests, all of which are ranked on a points system. Get 600 points, and you get to live and eat at the Olympic training center for free. It was chilly this morning, but sunny, and low wind. I had shown up to the track first, which unbeknownst to me meant I would be the first to attempt each of the 8 series of tests for the remainder of the day. Dang it.

We were allotted three attempts for each test, and started the morning with sprints. Coach Don Hass had set up a 'starting' timing eye, and then a series of 3 other timing eyes at distances of 15m, 30m, and 45m.


Timing eyes set up on the track. Notice the 1980 olympic torch in the background!

My first 2 sprints...well, they were ok. Each were rather consistent with each other, and I had checked the "points chart" to see how I was scoring with those times... nothing too spectacular. Only a few of us had decided we were going to use all 3 attempts, and so we gave each other a longer-than-normal recovery time. In those 4-5 minutes of 'down time' waiting for the last attempt, Don informed me that I would have to pay $8 to complete the combine test because I would be using the Olympic Training Center's weight room for the squat and powerclean.

WHAT?! have to pay to take this test??? Everyone else around me was taking a beginner skeleton school (which I did last year), and therefore living at the center anyways, and did not need to pay. It made me mad. No wonder the U.S.A. has a hard time finding qualified athletes to compete in skeleton... they surely don't make it easy (or cheap) for potential athletes (this being only one of many examples).

So I got mad. And I don't really get mad too often. It's good for me though, and it really showed in my sprints, as I improved my score in those 4 distances by about 15 points. BOOYAH! Take THAT, $8 fee! Now i'm back in the game.

We moved the test to a pole vault runway outside the OTC. We tested our standing broad jump, and the underhand shot toss. Hops are something I just don't got, but I still jumped a personal best. Jerame Tuman, my trainer at RAW training in PA, always made me GRUNT while practicing the shot toss. One guy was throwing the shot and landing flat on his stomach, belly-smacking each attempt... Oh yes, a grunt totally fit-in with the atmosphere. My great Grunt led to a great toss, and I picked up 90 points in the event. Hmmmm... I knew it was going to be close.

The last 2 events were the power clean, and the back squat. Before working out at RAW training with Jerame, I would have really bombed this portion of the test. Before September of this year, I didn't know the correct mechanics for a power clean, and I certainly was not doing any back squats during my bike tour.

I knew going into the test what my personal bests had been during my training at home. I wasn't going to hit the 600 mark if I matched those marks. I needed to up my game.

The power clean went well. I'm still pretty sloppy at the movement, but have really improved in the past 2 months, and I increased my personal best by approximately 8 lbs (everything is in kg here). That still meant that I would have to squat at least 15 lbs more than I have in the past. Yikes.

Lauren, Maeve, and myself all spotted each other as we each pressed all we could. I saw my personal best go by as I continued to add weights...knowing that I was lifting more than I had before, but trying to refrain from doing the exact kg to lb conversion so as not to psyche myself out.

I finished a set that I knew was just about my max. Just before adding a last 2.5 kilos I thought I could complete, coach Don walked over to me with a pen & paper. He had scribbled out a bunch of numbers that all added up to 600. Exactly 600. I had counted wrong, and had reached my goal without even realizing it! I was happy... sooooo sooooo happy. AM happy!!! I ended up adding those extra 2.5 kilos, finished the 3 reps, and managed to get 601 points for the test.

I move into the Olympic Training Center next week some time. I really stink at cooking so I am looking forward to not having to eat my own blackened, bland food. Not to mention living in the same building as some friends, and saving a lot of money by not having to pay for food or housing.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me out along the way. I really appreciate it! This was my very first goal on this journey- bring on the next. :)