Now, this is not a new concept to me. In my short time so far as a skeleton athlete I have experienced this notion of ‘subject to change’ many times; I have even written a blog on it before.
However, Winterberg
as a camp optimises what has now become a mantra for my skeleton team. You see,
upon arriving in Winterberg last Saturday by Thursday we’d still not slid and
were busy with other workshops and training. The problem was the weather. We’d
been tricked last season; when we visted Winterberg was a lovely place; the
worst weather we experienced was some fog. The ice was beautiful, the track
clean and ready. This time we arrived to howling winds and rain which played
havoc with the track and ice; in particular, the exposed top section of the
track.
We were
supposed to side Monday afternoon. We prepared as normal, the nerves were
normal (that sort of nervy tummy where you can’t really stomach food) BUT
sessions kept being put back until it got cancelled (you can eat again). Repeat
for Tuesday and Wednesday – my stomach went through the paces. By Thursday we’d
given up, had done a morning track session in the pissing down rain and had
even started preparations to leave!
THEN at
14:30 on Thursday we heard the track was good and training was on. STARTING AT
15:00. Obviously we were sliding. That’s what we came for and that’s how you
improve and learn (buzzword). But we’d never had such a short notice period
before – 15 minutes to be precise. To put this in perspective our coach asked
how long we needed to be ‘ready’ to which Maddy replied 2 hours and in my head
I was wanting to say ‘tomorrow’. Subject to change didn’t even come close to
describing this scenario!
It is hard
to put into words how I felt at this point but I will give it a go. You should
probably know something about my preferences first though … I am a blue person!
What this indicates is that my preference is for planning, logic,
understanding, time to think etc. etc. Can you see a problem here? I had no
time for this and usually feel nervy enough with 2 weeks notice!
I think my
face was a picture and I everyone later commented how quiet I was. You see, I
felt sick, nervous, excited and relieved all at the same time. I also felt
empty and had some serious wobbly legs going on in the warm up. Imagine, being
nervous for something important to you and then it happening 2 days earlier
than you imagined.. sort of like that! Added to the above was anticipation and
some worry that I hadn’t left Lillehammer with the most positive experiences of
sliding plus the track would be difficult in the weather; a new experience.
BUT the
show must go on or something like that and we all just got on with it. We were
prepared because we’d done the work for Monday; my bag was even still packed.
So continue as per it was, this helped keep calm and allowed my red to surface
(just get on it with it). Like I said my legs were shaky during warm up but
getting moving helped channel some energy. What didn’t help was the temperature
of the changing room (hot)); talk about being hot and bothered and and the
weather (rain and wind!). You go out one by one to wait at the top of the
track, watching the clock tick down until you get the go ahead to put your sled
down and go. Stick to the plan is the name of the game, don’t sway from
routine. But I can’t help being nervous, it is also excitement although harder
to distinguish as this when you’re facing your first run of a camp in my
opinion.
My turn came and it was okay (sorry to be
anti-climatic). The track was slow – I hit 124-5 kph last year compared to 110
ish kph. It changed the whole dynamic and was a very different experience but I
still finished the run out of breath, heart pumping and with a dry mouth! There
is just so much adrenaline! At the end of the sessions (two runs) I was feeling
okay, nerves calmed and pleased to have gotten back on the sled and of course
got down without cracking an ankle. Above all I and the team had coped with the
short notice period and the weather; we’d learned a lot.
Back at the
hotel, the day wasn’t over. After dinner (yes now the nerves had gone I was
starving!) we had video to review (it wasn’t pretty); I got some air off the
corner that is notorious for flipping you and the frost played havoc with my
timings. Armed with some actions for the next days sliding (yes we were back on
schedule now) I had to do some runner work before the next day. Amongst all the
activity I saw on Twitter that I’d hit my campaign target of £2000 in the day!
What great news and good timing that it happened the first day we’d been able
to slide on camp. So despite having a dirty face from sled work and feeling
more than a little emotionally drained I went to bed happy and looking forward
to the next day. It all ended well.
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