| Push Champs are tomorrow, but before I tell you all about the start and live-streaming info, I think this would be a perfect time to explain what a “push” is exactly. Three key factors that we look at in Skeleton are the push, the finish time, and velocities. The push is the very beginning of the race—the part where we sprint with the sled, then jump on, or “load the sled” as it’s called. Modern Skeleton has evolved to the point where winners are separated by fractions of a second. Everyone is knows how to drive the sled down the ice and find a line that works best to get them down the track the fastest. Not everyone has the same athleticism, however. That’s where the push comes in—the faster an athlete can push their sled, the bigger the initial separation from the other competitors. Each track varies in design and each start ramp has varying degrees of steepness, so having the ability to adjust is just another factor that could be an advantage or disadvantage. Every track has a flying start, a portion where the push starts, but time hasn’t started yet. Generally this part is similar in slope grade across all tracks. Time starts at a red line and past it the track can either gradually drop or be very steep. So the question is can athletes run downhill with good form or do they need to be able to sprint super fast before their form falls apart. If an athlete can do both, that’s even better! This is what we’re contesting tomorrow. Many variables will be removed, like the slope will not change from heat to heat and it’s also going to be in an indoor facility so weather will not be affecting us too much. Here’s how the race will go: -Women start at 9am EST -Men start at 10am EST -Two heats—lowest combined time wins -5-minute break between heats -The race is made as fair and equal as possible by having athletes be within 5% under or equal to the max combined athlete-sled weight. -Women must be 96.9-102kg -Men must be 114-120kg. Streaming will happen on the USABS Facebook Live How to know if the push was good: -We have a few standards that some athletes are trying to hit -Women: A-5.28, B-5.41, C-5.54 -Men: A-4.80, B-4.92, C-5.04 -Anything near the B standard is good. Anything near the A standard is great. Keys to success in this race: -Be explosive off the block and efficiently carryover into top speed. -Be comfortable in the push positions -Have a smooth load, or landing, onto the sled THE RESULTS…BUT WITH A TWIST Apparently that’s an umbrella term. One of the meanings, and the one that applies to me, is that there’s a weakening of the tissues of the abdominal wall. It started in June and has been growing in intensity, really catching my attention in August. I think at this point I really should be calling it an abdominal strain because of the way it’s been healing with me aggravating it a few times over the past month…and today haha. I’ve been seen by everybody from doctors to athletic trainers and have been scheduled for an MRI and should know for certain what it is in the coming months. For now the plan is to rest, for the most part, and focus on driving the sled down the track fast. Once we get that handled and couple that with my healthy push, then we can put the world on notice. Even with this mysterious, performance hindering injury, I still pushed decently fast. Remember those standards we talked about? I exceeded the B standard of 4.92 with a 4.86 push in the first heat and followed that with a 4.88 push. This isn’t a bad day at all. That put me in 2nd place and I’m walking away happy that I didn’t make anything worse. Huge thanks to everyone that watched, wanted to watch, but found an excuse to not watch (just kidding), and everyone that sent up a lil prayer for me. Next event will be the conclusion of National Selections from the end of last season. That’s in 2 weeks. Probably won’t be live streamed, but the results will sent out to everyone subscribed to my newsletter. How Can I Pray for You, Darryl? I need to learn how to drive. And I mean DRIVE! Like how Texans drive. Pray for me to really grasp the concepts of driving the sled and for me to confidently apply them when I’m on the ice. Now my position going into the season is pretty much already set. So don’t expect me to come out saying I’m ranked number one in the US, but I’ll be studying A LOT and the spending a good amount of time with my coaches. I just want to start the season off strong! |
