Team Trials 2008 - Part 2

Races 1 and 2 of the Team Trials Finals were held in Lake Placid on Thursday and Friday this week. There will be two more races in Park City next week, and we get to drop one race so that it is the best 3 of 4...and I already know which race I'll be dropping...

Race 1
Thursday morning we woke up to a steady rain, which had been coming down since the wee hours of the night. I sighed - at least it wasn't windy, since wind is more dangerous to the ice. Not sure if the race would be held or postponed, we all ate and packed and headed to the track. The race jury was already there, and would make the call shortly before the race.

Kim, our friend who used to work at the Park City track but moved here to work on the Lake Placid track to be closer to her family, had been working on the ice all night to make sure it survived the rain and warmth, and, well, she succeeded! The ice was only a second or less slow, with Zach (not racing, forerunning since he has a bye onto the World Cup Team) running a 55 his first run! Amazing!

My runs were not so fortunate. I had adjusted my runners to make them have more control, and while it helped, I still had a rough first run, placing me well into 9th (of 9), and my second run was just survival. I cleaned up the top of the track, which then caused me to have a hair more speed in turn 14 and nearly crash out of it. I was on my right shoulder, then I was on my left shoulder, then I was on my sled, then I was in turn 17, 18, 19, across the finish with....a 1:01 second run! Disappointing and slow.

I spent Thursday afternoon sanding my runners, decompressing, and going over my runs. I realized I was making a few crucial mistakes and actually doing the opposite of what I thought I was doing- i.e. I needed to stay on turn 11 longer so as to avoid going into turn 12 late, but instead of holding it on I was steering off as soon as I saw the entrance to 12. A couple "duh" moments.

Race #2
Friday morning arrived cold and crisp. The ice was going to be fast!

I turned my runners down even more, and started warming up. For some reason, I felt more prepared and less nervous.

My first run down felt awesome, with a few bobbles here and there and some overdriving, but even so my time was a 58.97, close to my PR, far ahead of the girl in 9th and only a 10th of a second away from 7th place. Finally, after a week of feeling like a beginner, things were coming back to me!

My second run went almost as well as the first run. Granted, the track had warmed up some and slowed down so it was a half-second slower, but all of the women had slowed between 3 tenths to a half-second. And, I was only 1-hundredth off of the 7th place slider's time, so I'll take it! After the combined times, I was 11 hundredths of a second out of 7th place, and safely in 8th, and just elated to at least be closer to the field!

Of course, when you compare my times to the top women, I feel really slow. Noelle has just come back after a year off to have a baby, and destroyed the field yesterday, winning by over a second! In fact, she broke the track record of 56.27, shattering it by a tenth of a second with her time of 56.17! 2.5 seconds faster than the women at the bottom, in one run. It was amazing. On the men's side, EB was only 4 hundredths away from breaking his own track record in Placid with a 54.82, and Caleb was right behind him with a 54.83. Breathtaking.

Someday I'll hopefully be in that mix, but for now I'm just excited to be sliding with such talented athletes and to be learning so much, and to feel some improvement.

And now, we're packing and preparing for our trip home in the morning. Ah, to sleep in my own bed!!!