World Cup Races 1-3, 2009-10

After a long three weeks in Whistler training and racing in team selections followed by a week in Calgary doing the same, it was finally time for the World Cup season to begin.  The first race was in Park City and for me it was a great place to begin the season.  Park City is one of my favourite tracks as I really slide well there and I love how fast it all happens there.  The track is only 50 seconds long – the shortest on tour – and there are no straight-a-ways longer than 15m until the exit of corner 14 and there are only 15 corners!  The curves come fast and furious but there is still a great flow to the track.  Last year I finished both the World Cups in Park City in sixth place and I was hoping to improve a bit this year.  As it turns out 6^th seems to be my lot in Park City!  I was sitting 9^th after the first run and this was the cause of a lot of stress – I only needed one more Olympic qualifier and had to stay in the top 10 to achieve this requirement.  So, I had to fight the fear and handle the stress and get it done.  My second run was very good, but more importantly my second push was even better than my first.  The track was slowing so I needed to push better to get my result and I did.  With the track being so short ties are commonplace and this year, like last year for me, was no exception – I tied for 6^th again.  It was a huge relief to get my final Olympic qualifier out of the way so early in the season and now I could focus on really honing my equipment, start, and sliding feel without the added strain of ‘chasing a result’.

From Park City we moved across the USA and began preparation for the next World Cup in Lake Placid, NY.  Lake Placid has not been my best track which is somewhat surprising as it is known to be a bit more o a ‘drivers track’ and this is usually where I excel.  The added bonus for this week was that Aly and the kids came out for the last half of the week.  Lake Placid is not their favourite place to visit as the shoulder season weather does not offer much for the kids to do.  They managed to get by swimming in the hotel pool and with a visit to the local bowling alley.  Back on the track I was having my usual ups and downs but made a bit of headway in learning both the track and my new sled.  My Schneider sled has a different turning point than my Davenport sled so it is a huge learning curve at the moment adjusting my patterns after 14 years on the Davenport.  Race day came I was flat as a pancake….  My push was awful and my driving only average at best.  Put those two elements together in the most competitive field I have ever slid in and I ended up in 13^th place.  My worst finish in 7 or eight years.  With my mantra of the year being to make sure I fully enjoy each and every moment of this privileged life I am leading, I gave thanks for the learning of the week, but have to honestly say I will not miss Lake Placid!

The Placid race was on Friday and that gave the family and me the opportunity to drive up to Montreal for the weekend.  We left mid-morning Saturday and arrived at the Montreal science Centre at around 3:30.  We really enjoyed the hour and a half we had there and have proven (with the help of an infra-red camera) that Aly’s nose is indeed always cold!  We were very grateful to stay at the Parson’s house in the beautiful neighbourhood of Westmount.  They are part of my support group B2Ten and we cannot thank them enough for having us stay over for the two nights.  Sunday we were off to the Bio-dome and then some toy shopping.  All in all a great family day.  I dropped Aly and the kids off at the airport Monday morning and then went back into Montreal to see one of my trainers and get some therapy.  At 5pm that night I then flew to Munich.

We spent the first 2 days in Munich as we needed to visit the Adidas factory to pick up our team gear and there is also a fantastic indoor water park and spa right near the airport.  We discovered last year that a great way to get over or manage jet lag is to go water sliding!  Go figure – a bunch of Skeleton sliders having a blast on a huge water park?   Seems out of character, but we made the most of it.  The morning of the third day in Germany we began our 10 hour drive to the Torino track.  It was long but uneventful – if I could just convince my team mates to not spend 25 minutes at the gas station stops….

We arrived at the Torino track 4 days before the official training began so this allowed us to get in some extra runs.  I had forgotten how much I liked this track as last season we had our race cancelled due to the 2m of snow that fell in 48 hours last December.  The track has a really nice flow to it once you find it, but the finding is a bit difficult.  I was back into the flow after the first couple of days and headed into the official training period with a solid game plan.  Race day came and after the first run it was like déjà-vu all over again….  I pushed exactly the same as at the Olympics in 2006 and I was behind the leader, my team mate Jon, by almost exactly the same amount as at the games!  I guess this was my opportunity to have a ‘do-over’ – except without the crash in curve 18 this time…..  My first run had been stellar and I was hoping for a solid follow-up performance.  I accomplished it all the way to curve 11 and then got 1” too close to the left wall.  It kicked me over too fast and I just touched the right wall right before curve 14.  Now I had to work very hard to save the run (late into 14 = land on back if not handled properly….), I did a good job of it and the rest of the run went smoothly.  Unfortunately, due to my late entry into 14 all my speed had disappeared and in the place where I usually make up time at the bottom of the track I now had the same splits as everyone else.   This meant that I ended up losing one spot and in 4^th – .04s out of second.  Regardless of my corner 14 problem, the best I could have done was 2^nd as Jon pushed great and drove great, he deserved the win to be sure.  Canadian men had one of the best days in our history placing 1,3,4.  Almost as good as the games!

As I type this I am half way between Torino and Winterberg (nicknamed ‘Rainy-berg’) and the beginning of the next world cup week awaits!

The weather finally turned nice mid-July and we enjoyed a solid month and a half of very nice temperatures.  My garden never did recover, but I did get a good crop of potatoes and onions.

My summer training was all in all very good with many new sport specific exercises as the main focus.  Of course there was the pre-requisite weight room lifting and running track sprints, but it was the new movement patterning which kept my mind and body engaged.  Although I must admit that when September rolled around I was sick and tired of the tedium and sameness of it all.  Every week the same thing.  Over and over and over.  Lyndon Rush and I were commiserating a bit in Whistler and he echoed my thoughts of “I think if I touch another weight I’m gonna puke”.  Of course it all is necessary and I will do what it takes, but after 5 -6 months of the routine it got a little old.  All things considered I have made some huge steps with my push and although it is not translating to consistently faster push times yet, I feel better and look better pushing than ever before.  As I warm up for my runs I am noticing a big difference in how my body moves in a much more sport specific way.  I know it will translate to the ice soon – I just need to keep working hard and be patient.

Whistler training was very successful and from day one it felt as if I had not gotten off my sled.  I had some very specific goals in mind regarding my understanding of the track and some of the corners and I would say I found answers to all but one corner.  That will have to wait until January now, but after 2 solid runs, one great run, and one awful run I ended the team selection race in first.  This race in Whistler counted for 50% of our team selection process so by finishing first I had put myself in a fantastic position to make the World Cup Team.

The second phase of our team selections has just concluded in Calgary where we had 2 separate races Saturday and Sunday where I finished 4^th and 2^nd respectively.  My push deserted me this weekend, but I now have the sore throat to answer the ‘why?’ of that problem.  So, phase 1 of three is now complete: I have made the World Cup Team.  Phase 2 is qualifying and being selected to the Olympic team and then phase 3 is Olympic Gold!

This week is a rest week and it is sorely needed. The time in Whistler combined with the stress of the team selections has taken a toll on my energy.  I am well aware of what I need to do this week to be ready to fire on all cylinders come the first world cup of the season – just 2 ½ weeks from now!  Life moves fast and hopefully my sled and I will move even faster!

In my first week of training in Whistler during the month of March I made a critical error in curve 6 which caused a small crash out of 6, but the result of me crawling back on my sled as I went into curve 7, and the sled angle it created, caused a massive short wall impact about 3/4 of the way around 7 and for the first time ever I found myself on my butt without a sled. Knowing that the first rule in Skeleton is ‘never let go of your sled’ (because if you do, and it is behind you, it will try and hunt you down and kill you), I had the awareness to look behind me. And sure enough there it was, hunting me. Luckily it was upside down and, thus, slowing down as it came towards me. So, I caught it with my hands, hopped on the pan (sliding down the ice in only a spandex suit at 110 km/hr is really not all it is made out to be) and rode it to a stop in curve 10. Throughout my career I have prided myself on finishing every run I have ever taken and I was not about to let that record be broken. So, I stood up, bent the saddle back out with some help from the short wall, and continued on to finish in a blistering 3 minutes and 24 seconds. My sled frame was seriously bent and my helmet lost some paint, but other than that and a sore shoulder I was fine. According to some witnesses ‘lucky to be alive’ is perhaps more appropriate. All kidding aside, I am lucky to have not gotten more injured and thank God for watching over me and keeping me safe.

I was concerned that I would not be able to continue to slide given what I had just done to my sled, but luckily for me one of the bobsled technicians used to be an auto body repairman! So, Rob took his sledge hammer and worked his magic. When he was done there was absolutely no evidence that I had done anything at all. The runners fit back it perfectly and I was back in business. The following week was full of frustration as I tried to learn how to get down the track quickly, but by the final weekend I had figured out some key things and I am very excited to begin back in Whistler next year.

The past 2 weeks have been half of my ‘time off’ and have been filled with the thrilling duties of accounting and personal taxes. Also, my ‘honey-do’ list has grown quite long in the past 6 months and I am doing my best to whittle it down a bit before my days get filled with training. I have found myself getting quite restless in the last few days so I know my body is recovering well and starting to want to jump back inot some training. I just need to rein it in for a couple more weeks to make sure I am fully rested and then I can hit it again! Can’t wait…..(?!).

During the 6 training runs I knew it would be key for me to find the ‘simple way’ through some of the curves. Basically if I could find a smooth way through corners 1-3, 5-7, 10, and 12-14 I knew I would have a great chance. I think I did a great job and did find a consistent fast line through all of them. I was ready for race day and for the first time in a long time I had won a few training runs and on the others I had some of the best split times. Lake Placid is a track where the perfect line is not always the fastest line and I thought I had found a good balance in my race plan.

Then came the rains…..! Not just a light sprinkle, but a torrential downpour! In my 15 years of racing I had never been in a race with such horrible conditions. It often rains on us in Europe, but that is usually your gentle rain shower, this was a monsoon. Oh well, if I wanted consistent conditions I should have taken up curling….. So, I put on my jacket and out I went to warm up – it was about as fun as standing in a cold shower tearing up 100 dollar bills, but I do what I need to do to perform well, no exceptions.

Race run number one came and I pushed very well – a personal best for me in Lake Placid. The run went very well to corner 9 – too well in fact – I was perfect thru 7 into 8 and into 9, gaining a lot of speed, the perfect entry into 9 was not something I was prepared for and my exit ended up 3” too far to the left and I tapped the left wall into curve 10 – not good. This moved my line and high point in the corner to a point where I was not able to get far enough right at the exit and then the cascade effect took hold – late to 11, late to 12, too early to 13, tap right out of 14. 3” essentially cost me 0.4 seconds. Mistakes happen to be sure and I know that in a four run race everyone would make them – I just got mine out of the way early! And I guess if my mistake was being ‘too perfect’ then I would take it.

I was really ready for run 2 and I pushed well again. My top section was excellent and this time I was ready for curve 9 and the entry into 10 – perfect. Very nice 11-14, no hits in the lower straight and down through the finish with one of the best runs of my life. And then they cancelled the run. The track conditions were being affected by the rain and it was the jury’s decision that the conditions in the 2nd run had become unfair for the sliders in the top 10 vs. the sliders in the 10-20th position (in run 2 we go in reverse order from 20th fastest to fastest from run one – I was fifth after the first run and so I was 16th off the top on run 2). A very bad decision in my opinion as the difference between the fastest of the top 20 and the slowest of the top 20 was only 0.9 seconds and I was only 0.3s behind the fastest slider of the group who had gone off 4th and I had gone off 16th. There have been many races in Europe where this has been the case and they have proceeded as usual. Needless to say I was disappointed – I had moved myself up to within .08s of the lead and second place, and now after the run cancellation I remained in 5th, 0.4s back. I really took the wind out of my sails.

Day two at World Championships is always interesting as we have dealt with the fatigue of the day before and the emotions – good or bad – throughout the night. I knew I had my work cut out for me with only 2 runs to make up a large deficit. Thankfully there was no rain today and warm-up time was much more enjoyable! I knew I had to make up about half of my deficit in each run and that it was going to come down to a one run race at the end of the day. Run 3 for me began with literally a ‘bad bounce’. The ‘groove’ is what we place one of our sled runners in to guide us as we push and load onto our sleds. The end of the groove is typically 20m in front of the entry to corner one and how the sled exits the groove is vital to a successful corner one and the end run time. We always check to make sure the forerunners (the test sleds they run before each competition) exit the groove straight with no issues. I went to the line and my coach Willy said “no problems with the left groove – it runs straight ahead” – perfect, nothing to worry about and I put it out of my head. I pushed, loaded on my sled, and as I exited the groove I felt the ice break away on the right side of my left runner and I was immediately set to the right wall before curve 1 – not a good thing as the corner goes right and I need to be on the far left side of the track to do it properly. This small piece of ice had just cost me half a second. I enter every run with the ‘fight’ mentality and do not let things like that distract me from making sure the rest of the run is as good as possible. I knew I had to minimize the damage and try to at least hold my spot. The lower part of the track was amazing – I made up 0.5 seconds on the field from corner 10 to the finish (corner 19). My legitimate World Championship winning possibilities were over however, and now I had to mentally prepare for racing for 3rd at best. Not a task I enjoyed or did well for that matter.

Run 4 came and I was prepared for the end of the groove, my top section was good, 4-9 I was perfect, and then I encountered the same mistake as run one – left wall tap into curve 10. From this point down my run became very average and not what I expect of myself in this situation and nowhere close to my run 3 bottom section. My end result was 8th and the ‘coulda shoulda woulda’ opportunity after looking at the run 4 splits was actually second – if I could have repeated the bottom part of run 3. Of course 8th at World Championships is nothing to be ashamed of and I made a lot of very big steps back from my oblivion of last year to finish 4th in the over-all standings and I had a legitimate chance to win Worlds. Wait until next year…..! Here come the Pain Train.

A few days before Kyle had shown Aly a huge bruise on his hip that he had discovered when he went to take a bath. It was massive! Aly asked him what he had done and he said he had no idea, he did not remember falling or hitting himself. Aly chalked it up to just the usual rough and tumble life of a 7 year old and did not pay it much mind. The next day they went to Edmonton for the day so Aly could work and Thomas and Kyle could visit their Aunt Jill. On the way home that evening Kyle got very ill – he began to throw up and did it about 7 times in the 3 hour trip. When they got home Aly noticed he had a lot of blisters in his mouth and that is when she decided it was time to take him to the Children’s Hospital.

At the hospital they checked him out and noticed that he had started to ‘spontaneously bruise’ – he had a tonne of small nickel sized bruises all over his legs and arms. This coupled with the mouth blisters got the doctors moving very quickly. They ran a few quick tests and discovered his blood platelet level was at 1 (normal is 150 to 400). Essentially his blood had lost the ability to clot. So, the next text I received as I was getting on the plane was ‘they are doing a CAT scan to check for bleeding in the brain and running a bone marrow test as well’. Essentially, they are checking for brain damage and to see if he has Leukemia. Needless to say I lose my mind. Thank God my team mate Melissa was sitting beside me and not some stranger as I sit there bawling and terrified with nothing I can do and a 3 hour plane trip ahead of me.

I went directly to the hospital after landing in Calgary and by the time I arrived Kyle’s problem had been diagnosed – no brain damage, no leukemia, and a relatively ‘simple’ problem to solve. A week earlier Kyle had gotten the flu and naturally his body began to make anti-bodies to fight the virus. Evidently in 1 out of 20,000 cases of the flu (so, relatively common) what happens is that the anti-bodies begin to recognize the blood platelets as the flu virus and begin to kill them as well. The treatment is an 8 hour IV drip of medication which stops the Platelets from being affected. Normally within 48 hours the patients are at least back to over a platelet count of 20 and they can go home. Everyone was praying for Kyle and that the medicine would do its job. A blood test the next day after only 18 hours showed his levels at 24 and we were actually released and able to go home! Probably the most horrible 36 hours of my life, but thankfully it all worked out for the best. Kyle did have to suffer through 48 more hours of medication side effects (massive headaches and stomach aches), but after that he quickly returned to normal.

This condition is a ‘one time deal’ according to the doctors and can affect anyone from 5 to 50 years old. Kyle went in for a blood test a week later and his platelet levels were over 200! The next big hurdle is March 20th when he gets another test to make sure his body is naturally producing the platelets again without the aid of the medicine (it takes about 3 weeks for the medicine to ‘wear off’). He is back to normal, eating well again, and seems to be very healthy so we are not at all concerned.

It was a very very good reminder about what is really important in life. Sure I had not done as well as I wanted in Park City, but at the end of the day my son is well and my family is strong. What more can I ask for?

Nothing, but I know what I am working for – a Gold medal…….