A win on day 2

Eric and I tied to the hundredth of a second today in race two. Ill write more later but here in the press release for now. 

http://usocpressbox.org/

click on the link that says pikus pace smashes track record, dated 10.17.08

Team Trials Have Begun, Race 1- 2nd Place

It has been an intense few weeks of preparation for team trials with a few minor hiccups in the overall plan due to a few minor injuries, some inclement weather that shut down the track and other normal distractions. Overall my plan for performing this fall worked out very well and I am satisfied with todays race 1 result of 2nd place here on my home track. The race was very tight. Eric Bernotas edged me out by a .10 of a second for the gold. He is a great teammate and a pleasure to compete against. My other teammates, Kyle Tress, Matt Antoine, Stokes Aitken and John Daly also contributed to a great day of racing as they all had very good runs which pushed me to do my best. The highlights of today were my very strong start times (although I still have more to give)  and  the way I executed my plan for the incliment weather that was thrown at us. It was well over 50 degrees and pouring rain. Thankfully Lake Placid is an entirely covered track.  Although not everything was in alignment in regard to my equipment and the ice temp today, I did what I needed to do to get the job done. It was a very positive note to start the 2008-2009 season on. I made some major changes to my start technique in September and have been working diligently since then to make in my norm. It is finally falling into the right place at the right time. Im excited and will update you on Race 2 tomorrow. The weather will be cold and clear, the perfect weather for my style of sliding!

15M personal best

Today I did some impromptu testing in my 15m sprint and had a personal best of 2.27s , .03 s faster than my previous best, 2.30s . This also happened after a very hard triple workout yesterday. Its a great time for me and is very encouraging that things are where they need to be!

A small injury and some very cold weather.

So tonight the temperatures are supposed to drop into the 20's!!!! Good news for us, now we only need mother nature to cooperate for another month! I had a small injury, just a 2 day thing. I was doing my monday workout and although i didn't notice it at the time i put by back into a pretty good spasm, but as im sitting here writing this it seems to be getting better quickly. I didnt miss any workouts so its no big deal, but these times are good opportunities to learn about my body and how to fix it when these things happen. 

On a side note I had some great pushes wednesday despite my pain. Im really focusing on finding a mental que that allows my biomechanics to happen naturally without thought, and I think i've found it. Im really excited to pound this into my head with repetition in the coming weeks before team trials. 

Saturday night we are having a nice bbq and bonfire at my parents with some vino from my cellar. Ill probably get into some barolos, super tuscans and maybe some Chateauneufs. Its always fun to have the team down and get out of the training center and the mindset that goes along with it. These crisp Adirondack nights are perfect for it!

Well im back in Lake Placid. My cross country journey with Annie was a success. Im finding every year that its really important to take your time. The damage that is done to the body when driving that distance in 3-4 days is too much. The first day I was back in the Lake Placid, the fall air set in, crisp, clean and biting with an unmistakable smell. I stopped in at the bobsled track and there are numerous improvements which will undoubtedly make the sliding facility even better. There is a new finish house for the timing systems along with new roofs over the start area. All of these improvements will help us have better and fairer races less affected by mother natures curve balls. 

On a training note things are going very well. With the help of my teammate Jon Daly I have really started to make some progress with my start. The momentum from Calgary seems to be moving forward and should result in some great results this fall when I Peak for team trials. The season is coming so fast....We start to slide October 5th, potentially earlier....tick tock tick tock. 

calgary push camp and xc drive

Well here I am, in the midst of my biannual reminder of how big this country actually is. Annie and I are currently passing from nebraska into iowa, on our trip back to NY in preparation for the winter season. Every time I make this drive it blows me away how much open space there is in America.

Priceline is my new best friend, you can get 50 percent off on almost any hotel and it sure has been helpful on these long trips.

Last week we had our calgary push camp, where we practice our push starts in an indoor refrigerated facility. It was a great week and I took more than 50 starts over the 5 days. At first it was very difficult to make the adaptation to running on ice pushing a sled compared to the higher friction improvisational things I do during the summer. It was very clear to me that I am the fastest I have been in my life. I was within two one hundredths of my 2006 olympic year personal best even with being as uncomfortable as I was with the adjustment from the track to the ice.With Every push session I became more efficient in my starts and more comfortable on the ice, finally feeling good during my last push session. The uncomfortable transition to ice is something that happens every year and is exacerbated by the fact that the us does not have its own push track to utilize year round. If the usoc and usbsf want to do the one crucial thing to help the usa win more medals in bobsled and skeleton it needs to get an iced push track on us soil. Overall the camp was great and I am looking forward to solidifying my technique in the weeks that come.

I will arrive in lake placid on the 6th of sept and am looking forward to the fall air, the training, and seeing my family. This is the best part of the year for me.

Check out this San Diego Union Tribune article I was interviewed for....

He painted a good picture of the training center right now, although we dont run with out sleds, we push them while they are on the ice....ahh ice sports in southern cali :)

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080816/news_1n16cvcenter.html