Here is the “official” ICC team photo, taken in Park City in February 2012.
Of note, our lovely Darla Deschamps-Montgomery is missing from the photo. So…here is the “unofficial” team photo taken in Lillehammer, Norway in December.
Check out this news clip that aired this week on Shaw TV about helmet testing. A step in the right direction to help reduce the risk of concussion and make sliding and skating sports safer. Featuring none other than our slider/physicist extraordinaire– Alexis Morris!
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I got a new sled at the beginning of the season, which I named Newt (short for Neutrino, the “fastest particle” in the universe). It arrived too late for selections at the beginning of the season, and needed some tweaking, so I wasn’t able to get on it until the last month of sliding. I figured 3 weeks of sliding daily, including one week in Whistler, would be enough time to get used to it well enough to slide on it for both Provincials and Canadians.
Learning a new type of sled after sliding on the same make of sled for the past four years (and most formative years of my sliding) was interesting. It felt very foreign to me, but also exciting as it could do things my other sled couldn’t. I trained on it for the aforementioned 3 weeks, and although I struggled with it in Whistler (it tried to eject me in corner 11 a few times!), I decided it to give it a try in a race, Alberta Skeleton Association Provincials. The week of official training went surprisingly well, and I was hopeful for a good outcome on race day. However, the weather was erratic, as usual for Calgary, and race day brought about a chinook which effectively started melting the ice at the beginning of the race. I drew a relatively late start in the women’s side and could see times slowing down as each slider went down. Normally, I wouldn’t really worry too much, I am very confident on Moe, my normal sled, and can adapt to most conditions. But I had no idea what Newt would do.
On the line I was focused on good push technique (I struggled with a back injury the previous two weeks and wasn’t confident I could muster any speed). I loaded comfortably on the sled and hunkered down into race mode. However, very early in the run, on the entry to corner one, things started to go wrong. I got stuck in a slush pile on the left wall and had a very strange sled angle on the entrance. Somehow I got off my balance point and started to skid this way and that through the top 4 corners. I did the best I could to shift around on my sled, but with limited experience on the new sled I just couldn’t seem to get it together. I hit about 6 times on the way down, on a track I have literally done hundreds of runs on! As I crossed the finished line I knew it was a disaster. At that point I pretty much knew I had no chance of winning the race, so I decided to make the most of the situation and focus on learning from the unusual conditions and new sled.
My second run was a little better, although again the conditions on the track deteriorated significantly. Inside the corners felt normal, but the small straights between corners and any sun exposed areas were extremely soft. The straight between 8 and 9 had the consistency of a margarita. Although I moved up a few spots from the first run, I ended up fifth in the final standings.
For the next week I had an internal battle on my hands. Canadian Championships was the next weekend and I had to decide if I should keep on trying with the new sled, or go back to the old one. It wasn’t an easy decision, with a number of pros and cons on each side. In the end, for me it boiled down to if I knew whether or not I would race on it for selections next year. After my time in Whistler, and my experience in Provincials I decided probably not. The sled is not ready for primetime yet. I don’t consider the three weeks of training on it a waste though as I learned a few new skills that I could take back to my old sled, plus it could have been better than my old sled, the only way to know was to try. I haven’t decided what I will do with Newt yet, but I don’t believe our time together has ended. With a few more modifications here and there it could be brilliant, who knows?
The 2014 Olympic Games Skeleton track has been unveiled near Sochi, Russi. Looks pretty sweet, can’t wait to try it out!
Sochi track
After the Calgary race, the Intercontinental Cup team boarded a plane early the next morning to Salt Lake City, Utah. The last two FIBT races of the year were in Park City. I was looking forward to it as I had done a week of extra training there in January, and during that time got significantly more familiar with the track. I felt I could compete for a medal position. At the same time I was a little worried because I know it is a pusher’s track, and despite having personal best pushes consistently through the year I still have lingering worries about how I will push on the days that count.
The 6 training runs up to the races were actually quite frustrating. On the first day, the ice was hard and cold. I had the perfect setup for those conditions and slid well, having great top speeds along with clean and fast runs. However, the next day it was cloudy out and the refrigeration was turned off. The ice warmed up by 8 degrees Celsius! I was a bit worried my runners were too sharp for the new ice conditions, and I was right. Despite having clean and relaxed runs, my speeds were much lower and all of a sudden I wasn’t at the the top of the pack of the training group. The bigger problem was although I identified this as a problem on the second day of training, there was nothing I could do about it as I didn’t bring any runners for soft and warm ice. All I could do was work on pushing and sliding the best I could and hope for a sunny race day!
On race day I woke up, and immediately looked out the window. My hopes were crushed, it was overcast. I checked my computer, and in addition to it being cloudy the temperature was warmer than it had been all week and the humidity was very high. All these factors lead to soft ice. When I got to the track I checked the ice temperatures and as predicted the ice was warm. As I prepared for park ferme, I had a choice to either keep things the same or increase my rock in hopes of gaining more speed. As I am a slider who loves control, I am usually hesitant to change set-ups on race day without testing it in training. However, I knew without this risk I would probably have slow speeds and not perform as well as I wanted to. So I went for it and bumped the rock up to the highest I have ever had it in a race.
The first run went well, I pushed a massive personal best (over a tenth of a second faster than before), and I finished the heat in 6th. The second run was a near carbon copy and I moved up to 5th place. The gamble to increase the rock in the runners paid off, although my speeds were still much slower than I would normally expect. I was pleased with the result, it wasn’t a podium, but it was a personal best push time and two very clean and consistent runs.
For the second race the next morning I was hopeful that maybe the temperature would drop, but of course it didn’t. During set up for park ferme the ice temperature was almost the same as the day before. It was a little sunnier outside though, so I was hoping the ice would be a little harder. I was first off the top, a position that is a double edged sword. It can be good, as the ice usually slows down as the day goes on. But, it can be difficult to time the minutes leading up to the start, as there are often delays. Also, when you are first you have very little idea of how fast the ice is and what to expect in terms of speed. There are forerunners that go down first, but unless you know what their times normally are, it’s difficult to use their times as predictors.
When it was almost time to go, I received a two minute warning. I went out to the line, bundled up in the early morning chill, with my helmet tucked under my coat to keep it warm. I asked my coach if they would give a one minute warning, as was normal custom, and he confirmed it. Much to both of our surprises, a few moments later “the track is clear for Lanette Prediger” blasted over the loud speakers. I had 30 seconds to frantically take off my snow suit, get my helmet on, put my sled down and get in position for the push. Normally when the buzzer goes I am completely ready to go, helmet on, in just my speedsuit. I normally push off as soon as the track is cleared, as I learned an important lesson a couple of years ago, ironically in Park City. That race I pushed out of the groove, came back to the block and went again, but was over the 30 second clock by 2 seconds and got disqualified. I wasn’t going to let that happen again and in warp speed got ready and pushed off the block. I was a little slower than the day before, but still overall happy with the rushed push. The ice felt good on the way down, I didn’t feel like I was cutting in as much like on the previous days and when I got to the bottom, was happy with my run. Of course, going first I had nothing to compare to so would have to wait for everyone else to come down before I would know where I stood. At the end of the heat, my time held up pretty well and I was in a three way tie for 4th, and only two tenths out of the lead.
I was pumped for the second heat, hoping to move up into medal contention. I felt confident and strong as I pushed off the block. Everything was going smoothly until corner 6. I entered a little late, which makes the oscillations in the corner very dramatic. By the end of the corner I knew I was in trouble, and despite my best efforts I couldn’t control the height and smashed out of the corner. I hadn’t made that mistake once in training, so I was very frustrated, and I knew the consequences would be significant. I did the best I could to hold it together for the rest of the run, but couldn’t make up the lost speed. Because of the short length of the track, times are really close together and small mistakes can result in devastating consequences. Unfortunately, my mistake was pretty major, and I fell six spots to tenth. I felt horrible. What a lousy way to finish the circuit, especially since I was really hoping to move up onto the podium.
It was a week of roller coaster emotions. I was thrilled to push well, and I had slid consistently all week. However, I struggled with equipment, and then made a costly mistake during the second race. Things are never dull for me in Park City! Fortunately, there were still a few more weeks of sliding, and two races, left in the season. Next up…Provincials and Canadians!
The last race of the year, Canadian Championships, is coming up this weekend at Calgary Olympic Park. It is a four heat race over two days, March 10 and 11, at 11 am both days. Come out for the last chance this season to see us speeding down the track head first and to cheer on your Canadian athletes!
Pushed two new personal bests in the ice house yesterday! Has been a couple of years since a pb here, so pretty exciting. Now to break into the next 10/100ths of a second.
After a month long break, our 5th and 6th races of the Intercontinental Cup Circuit were in Calgary. Given it is my home track, I was so excited about these races. I had already been to two new tracks earlier in the season, and done pretty well, so I was hoping to improve on that with home ice advantage.
Heading into the Official Training week though, I started to develop some doubts. The first week back from Europe there was very limited sliding because of the Christmas break, and because I had a lot of shifts at work I wasn’t able to make any of the sessions. After the break, I went to Park City for a week for extra training, and then to Whistler for a week. This left 2 weeks of sliding in Calgary before the IC race. Given I have been down the track hundreds of time, I thought this would be plenty of time for a few little tweaks. However, the first week back sliding was canceled because of ridiculously low temperatures (minus 30C!). Then, the next week I had a couple of work shifts, and on top of that our coach wanted us to rest and requested we take off a few extra days. The few days I did get to slide, the ice was quite different than it had been in November. I was having difficulty getting out of Kreisel, sometimes even popping off of my sled I was hitting so hard. I knew that if I didn’t fix that problem before the race I would be in trouble.
In the 6 runs of official training heading into the race, I tried a number of different lines, but nothing seemed to work. I was having good speeds and good runs, but after Kreisel I would lose a ton of time. It was the first time in years I headed into a race in Calgary that I didn’t feel confident and 100% sure of my driving.
On race day #5, my anxiousness increased as the girls who went ahead of me pushed blazing fast. I have always struggled with my push, but despite being nearly two tenths faster this year, I was worried if I made any little mistake I would fall out of the top 6, or even out of the top 10. As I stepped up to the line, I was prepared to give it everything I had. My push was good, and my run was going well…until Kreisel. I smashed out again, and was 5th in that run. The second run was almost the same, and I ended up 6th overall.
Race day #6 I was determined to start from scratch in Kreisel and just forget all my previous lines in training and just feel it out. After the first run, however, I was in 10th place. I made an elementary mistake in corner 8, harming my speeds in the straight, and hit hard out of Kreisel again. I felt that my nightmares were coming true. I couldn’t seem to fix my problems in the track, and with the caliber of girls in this race, it was going to be really hard to climb back up. Did I mention that the 2010 Olympic Gold medalist, along with 4 other world cup competitors from this and previous seasons came to this race? A curse because of the increased difficulty at reaching the podium, but a blessing to be able to race against such talented women.
As I prepared for my second run, I tried to focus on the present. I could either give up and end up 10th, or worse, or put together a hell of a run and see what happened. I stepped up to the block for my run, and felt the amazing support from the spectators in the stands, including the Canadian world cup team who just came back from Whistler, and pushed as hard as I could. My run was smooth and as I shot through the straightaway into Kreisel I just thought “relax” and “feel it out”. I did just that and lo and behold came out nearly clean with a slight tap! I ended up 3rd place for the run, which moved me up to 5th overall! I was so pleased that I was able to fight through the self doubt and anxiousness and put together a clean run.
Even though I had hoped to do better in the standings, I felt like I learned a lot during these two races. I thought these races would be so easy, so natural, but they were anything but that. This year for me has certainly had ups and downs, but every race is preparing me for things to come. I will be ready when the next opportunity strikes.
5th place in Park City today. Full blog to follow shortly…