Back to the Grindstone

Everyone gets their fifteen minutes of fame, I've just finished enjoying mine.
After qualifying for the games it appears that everyone is suddenly interested in me.
I came home for a few days last week, killing several birds with one stone.

The main reason was to take a couple of days off sliding to see my family so I wouldn't be all burnt out going into the olympics. It takes it's toll on you and as any good athlete will tell you, recovery is an important part of training.

The second reason was to do some athletics training to sharpen up a little. It was nice to do a session on the track again after so many months away. It's practically impossible to do proper speed training while away, there are very few good gyms to be found, and even fewer athletics tracks.
The club I train with is called DSD and it has played a very large part in my qualifying success. When I'm not doing skeleton I'm can ususally be found training with some excellent athletes, namely Dave, Andy, Lorcan, Ross, Avril and Zeta (Hi guys) and being coached by Jim and Lucy.

The third reason was to collect the Olympic gear that I have to wear for the Games. Some sharp negotiator managed to get Columbia to give us stuff to wear in the Olympics. That must have been really hard work. They may even have had to hand over a few first born children. Wow. Can you imagine how hard it must have been to convince them of the benefits of people wearing columbia gear on a sporting event watched by billions? Can you tell I'm being sarcastic?
I can't help but feel a little resentful that we only get the gear once we've qualified. I've already spent hundreds on my own gear, where were they when I needed them? I don't particularly like fair weather friends. To top it off, I suspect that the Columbia gear isn't as warm as the generic stuff I already use. All the labels talk about is breathability and waterproofness. Erm, yes that's all very well but it's the Winter Olympics, not the Water Olympics. Oh well.

The fourth reason was to take care of all the media attention that had sprouted up overnight, kind of like mushrooms. A few radio interviews, some tv stuff and a few newspaper interviews seemed to cover everything. I've been told that I come across quite well, which is a surprise since I consider myself to be a bit of a mumbler. Anyway, the masses have been informed of my presence.

On saturday, the limelight was switched off and it was back to the grind-stone. I travelled out to St Moritz to resume training and took part in a small local competition on Sunday morning. My mojo still seems to be in place and mojofying correctly, I came 2nd in the competition amongst a load of people competing on their home track.

I originally intended to stay in St Moritz and train there until just before the Games start. I really, really, really love the St Moritz track, in a platonic sense. It's fast, it's smooth, it's exhilarating, it's beautiful. It's like a giant highway of a track, big sweeping corners, wide straights with loads of room to correct before you go into a corner. You get big speeds on this track, I hit 130kph on monday. The only problem is that the track is too easy, and I don't want to get lazy going in the Olympics.

That's when I decided to use my secret weapon. Altenberg. That fast, mean track up in northern Germany. The ice is really built up on it at the moment, making it particularly fast and mean. Chris (my new coach for the Games) and I travelled up to Altenberg on monday. I got 6 runs down it yesterday and even the messy runs were super quick. After St Moritz it seemed like every corner was coming at me too damn fast. It was almost like my first time down on a sled. But I got used to it and therein lies the true power of my secret weapon.

All tracks are fast, usually getting you well up over 100kph, but some seem faster than others. While St Moritz gets you up to 130kph, it doesn't really feel like it because the track is so smooth, the corners are so big and you don't have to do much steering. In altenberg you only get up to about 110kph but it seems like a hell of a lot more because the corners are sharper, closer together and you've got to work them pretty damn hard lest they toss you like a rabid dog. What's really interesting is when you go from a difficult track to an easier track. The easy track seems even easier. Your reflexes, used to being pushed to their limits, now feel like they have an eternity to ponder the corner you're in. Hopefully when I get to Torino, it'll seem like the proverbial walk in the park ... at 120kph.

The plan at the moment is to head down to Torino on Thursday morning, get settled into the athletes village, then walk the walk in the Opening Ceremony on Friday night. On impulse I bought a load of little stuffed leprechauns in the airport on the way over. Despite my best efforts they wouldn't tell me where they keep their crocks of gold so I'm going to resort to throwing them to people as I walk around the stadium, maybe they'll have better luck.