First day of my training camp with British Bob Skeleton in Norway was mostly spent preparing the sled. For anyone who has not seen skeleton, it involves me descending an ice track (the same as the ones used for bobsleigh) lying face down on a sled and using my body to steer and maintain speed. The aim is to get down as quickly as possible.
Sled preparation is crucial as it involves making sure it all fits to my body and that the runners, which are in direct contact with the ice, are also set up correctly. This can take many hours because of the attention to detail needed to get it right, so it took up most my first day. We are training on the 1994 Olympic track so the surroundings are great.
Day two was a nice early start to begin sliding at 8am sharp. It was fantastic to be back on the ice speeding down the track, it was like riding a bike, I got straight back into it.
Each run starts with a running push of around 30 – 40 meters to build up speed before you dive onto the sled. We had three slides each in the morning before heading back to get lunch, a quick sled preparation session, then another three sides in the afternoon. It’s been very tiring but great to be back in it. I can’t wait to get back up to the top in the morning!
