Sunshine..

It has been a great week of training in Lake Placid, with some wonderful weather. It was almost 80 degrees again today, super sunny and almost hot for doing tempo.

As for this week of training sprinting on Wednesday was awesome because we weren’t on the gravel hill in the woods we were on a street right around the corner. Although, I wonder if we will be able to keep running there. An elderly man who lives on the block came out today and was annoyed that we were creating a “circus” as he put it I suppose. I’m not sure why people are so possessive of their street, mainly because they don’t own it, it’s not a private street! Just let us train!

Non training; my biggest accomplishment might be that I set up a twitter account finally, but since I waited so long my name has been taken. So, I decided to just be backwards and make it @OSheaAnnie why not, I wanted my entire name and nothing else! I’m not so great at it yet, but follow me I’m sure I will catch on soon!

I spent my time after workouts doing my recovery; stretching and icing in “the tub” as I call it and get Morgan to laugh every time! The cold tub is about 50 degrees and is the easiest way to ice everything that is sore after a tough workout. Wednesday after the tub, Morgan and I got a coffee and sat on main street in the Adirondack chairs just relaxing in the beautiful sunshine!

Justin tried really hard to teach me a proper golf swing today. You might think all athletes should be good at everything but this is not the case. Golf is tough! He sure was patient though, I think it helped that he laughed at me a whole lot! I practiced my swing at the track while he was doing his running workout, and we hit golf balls in the field outside after dinner. I think he was afraid I was going to hit a car and break a window. I am slowly catching on, but I have a hard time not breaking at the wrist and remembering to bend my knees. Practice, practice for me because it felt so great the one effortless nice shot I had!

For the holiday weekend I will be watching the girls I babysit for often. Friday through Sunday, wish me luck I might be so exhausted after that I can’t get up Monday morning. Or I am expecting to be so hopped up on coffee to get through! We will see. I have some things planned but I know it is never that simple! As long as the weather stays nice it will be better, it is much easier to entertain outdoors!

Normally, holiday weekends don’t exist for athletes, training continues on its normal schedule. Which means the majority of the employees have to follow that as well. It’s a lot of hard work for everyone not just the athletes at the training centers sometimes!

That is pretty much it until the weekend ends! Good luck to Vinny  (Kate’s husband for those who don’t know) and his Vermont Marathon! Wish I could have made it watch! For the next one of course, I’ll be there!

Morgan retweeted this from @addicted2success and I liked it so much I retweeted it as well and I wanted to share:

“I am too positive to be doubtful. Too optimistic to be fearful. And too determined to be defeated.”

New week, new program

Our beautiful weather has disappeared for a little while, normal for Lake Placid after having a beautiful weekend. It was absolutely perfect 80 degrees and sunny! I got to visit with Kaitlin, we met about halfway at the NY to VT bridge that she helped oversee the building of. We had a wonderful day with her boss and his family at the bridge grand opening festival. Kate told her boss that my accent is stronger than hers, but I failed her because I didn’t channel my inner mommy (her accent is the worst) so my Long Island self didn’t show up on Sunday. Sorry Kate… next time I will be actual Annie as you put it!

Me and Kate on “her bridge” as I call it!

We played frisbee, Erin would have been so jealous! I never ran to fast to catch it though but it was a lot of fun to play, could be a nice game to play next time we are all home. I’m pretty sure Sarah enjoys frisbee as well. Hopefully we will all find time to get together this summer.

Workouts so far have been good, my adductor/hip is sore and slightly weak but not really hurting. I have a different program for the next three weeks 4×5′s and 3×5′s instead of 4×10′s and 3×10′s to work up to 10′s again. Tempo was extra tiring today because we did it inside in the gym and it is just so much hotter, being outside is just better (but not in the rain)!

I am excited for tomorrow’s sprinting workout because Brad (strength coach) took my suggestions and has found us an incline to run on that is not in the woods! I cannot wait to not slip on gravel or get eaten alive by mosquitos while sprinting!

I set a goal with Under Armour’s whatsbeautiful.ua.com a competition to redefine female athletes; I will have a summer of sprint and weight training without injuries to get ready for the 2014 Olympics! There are challenges to accomplish your own goal and they decide a winner. I need to post some videos and pictures of training, once I understand everything I’ll explain it more.

That is all I can think of at the moment, its getting late and I didn’t sleep too well last night it was just too hot in my room, but I put on my summer blanket today so tonight should be better. Tomorrow is a busy day, time for a cup of tea and then bed.

Wait one last thing; I am finally going to make a twitter account but I am so behind that my name is already taken, anyone have any thoughts other than annieosheaUSA.

“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.”
Walter Elliott

Bedtime Post…

Today wasn’t too busy, tempo in the morning which was difficult because I am so sore its hard to sit, walk or do anything! I organized my room and spent time with my friend and teammate Joy.

Just wanted to post a little something before heading to bed for the evening. Sometimes the things that make me happiest to read are just simple Irish blessings. I’m not sure why or when this started exactly but I love them. So, I thought before bed I would share one of my many favorites with everyone. For a good nights sleep, and a wonderful day tomorrow.

“May you always walk in sunshine.
May you never want for more.
May Irish angels rest their wings right beside your door.”

Life got in the way

I finally am sitting in front of my computer doing nothing (which I haven’t had time to do in I can’t even remember). I realized how outdated my blog was and that I am complelety slacking.  So I apologize to everyone.

This summer has been seriously crazy. When I am not sleeping I wake up and train, eat somewhere in the day and then go to work for about 10hours or more. I do this about 6 days a week. Talk about having no outside life. This past two weeks I worked about 99 hrs in the 2weeks. Call me crazy I sure did!

I have a little bit of a break this week. I am in Calgary for a push camp. They have an indoor ice house here and we got to come for a small camp. It’s the perfect time to get back to running bent over and especially on ice. Today was the first day back, and of course I just felt really rusty. The first time back on ice every year I swear I forgot how to do what I do and I get really nervous. Needless to say I was super nervous today and it really is no big deal, all I had to do was run.

I am just really excited for the season to start. I think I am in a really good place right now mentally. I am happy I have my family and friends, I am going to stop working soon and just focus. There really isn’t anything to complain about.

My birthday was just on Saturday, I played mini golf, went to dinner and then out with some teammates and friends. It was a great night!

I started online classes last Monday, now I really have to stay motivated and stick to a schedule so I don’t fall behind. Better buy a calendar or something.

I can’t believe that the summer is basically over. It is really weird to think about, mainly because it was just getting nice again in Lake Placid. Hopefully once the season starts it isn’t going to be 70 degrees, thats the worst for keeping ice.

I will be better about the blog from now on. It seems that I go in spurts doesn’t it. Again I apologize. I’ll get some pictures of the ice house this week. I’m exhausted all of a sudden.

Music

I love listening to my Ipod when I work out at the track or in the weight room. Although I do need to update my music selection some, and download more music.

I haven’t had much time to make good playlists so I have been working out to certain artists. No one would probably guess but I am a heavy metal girl at heart. I’m pretty girly on the outside, don’t get me wrong I love pop every now and then when I’m in the car singing with friends, but put my in front of my computer and its metal all the way.

I would say right now I’m on a Five Finger Death Punch kick, but my all time favorite would be Mudvayne. I also love Disturbed, Slipknot, Korn and MushroomHead. On the lighter side I go for Seether, Staind, Finger Eleven, and Nickelback.

Everyone does a double take when I put my music on in the weight room, it makes me laugh and I just start rocking out. I love listening to music it makes me happy.  I just thought I would share a little something extra about myself. I might start a fact a week. So this week is I love Heavy Metal!!

Must get ready for work now!

Getting things back in order

After Colorado I realized that this summer has already gone by very quickly. Just look at the calender its July 12th today, the track in Lake Placid opens on October 5th. My workouts have been going great but there are so many aspects to this coming season that I haven’t started on yet.

Between workouts, working  and doing rehab and recovery I run out of time in the day. When I do have a few extra minutes I just want to sit and stare at the t.v. or look out the window. I am trying to work on my time management skills so I can do the extra things to prepare myself for the upcoming season. For example I need to start doing mind runs, it is a great way to prepare yourself so you feel like you haven’t been off your sled for 5 or so months.

I know this coming season is going to be difficult but I am looking forward to it. I’m excited to experience my first Olympic season, and as long as I keep my head on my shoulders and do my best, I will be satisfied with everything.

I will admit every now and then I think about “the Olympics” (in quotes only because it haunts me sometimes) and how nervous I already am sometimes, but I guess its inevitable, how could you not be nervous. I am talking with a sports psychologist every now and then on certain ways to learn to turn these thoughts into positive ones. I realized that a lot of people have thoughts like this, and the way to become a better athlete is to learn how to deal with these thoughts.

I don’t want to rush the summer any faster than its already going, but I am very excited to go home in August. I plan on going home for only about 5 days or so really because I don’t want to miss too much of work. But I am excited to see my family and go to the beach.

These are just some random thoughts that I’ve had and I wanted to share them with everybody.

Up All Night

Well right now it is about 2:30 in the morning and I am just sitting in the lobby of the training center eating a tuna fish sandwich drinking some water and having a banana. I am not crazy i am only doing this because I have a shuttle to Albany in about a half an hour.

I am flying to Colorado Springs with the other bobsled and skeleton athletes that are here for the annual team camp. All the athletes, coaches and staff get together and have board meetings, an annual gala, workouts, and media training and other things like that. It is a lot of fun. I enjoy getting together with everyone and working out. I haven’t seem half of the team since February, which don’t get me wrong is a good thing I am just excited to see everyone.

I decided to stay up and wait for the shuttle because I didn’t get off of work until about 12;00, and I had a little bit of packing left to do and shower. I a exhausted right now,  I am just hoping that I can fall asleep on the 2 hr shuttle ride then sleep the entire way on the plane.

This post is probably a little confusing, I apologize for that I just realized I am not making much sense. I’m going to finish up my snacks then see if I sleep. Although this shuttle ride is going to be interesting I am overhearing that the bus doesn’t have enough gas, and no place is open since its 2 in the morning. I think they want to squeeze 12 large athletes in a van. This is not going to work so its going to be funny.

I will let you know the outcome when I get to Colorado. I plan on laying outside by the pool tomorrow until we have our welcome dinner.

Relaxing

I finally had a day pretty much to myself. I had a crazy weekend. I worked from Friday everyday until Tuesday. It was a lot of work, but good at the same time.

I will say I was exhausted for Wednesday’s workout though. I just didn’t have the explosiveness I needed for my cleans. But its a learning experience. Realizing how much I can really work and still have my lifts be quality. So I found out 5 days in a row is too many.

Yesterday was a beautiful day I got my lift done in the morning and i didn’t have to go to work, so I laid outside for about 4 hours. I really needed that, I was feeling pretty down on myself because I miss the Chula Vista weather, the constant sun and the beach trips. I got some much needed color so I’m off to a good start, finally since it is already June!

Today started out as a beautiful day, got my sprints on the track done by 12:30, did a little recovery in sports medicine and then it started raining. I was supposed to go into to work tonight as well, but they called and said they didn’t need me anymore. I was a little annoyed because I was all dressed and just about to walk out the door. But the extra night off was good for me. I got some sushi because dinner at the training center was not at all good. So sometimes you sacrifice having to spend money on food, but I don’t mind when I’m working.

I have just been watching Dexter the TV series with my roommate tonight. We are almost done with the second season just one disk to go. Its great I love this show! That’s about all though, I work tomorrow and Saturday but I have off all during next week. Hopefully I get some great workouts in!

The sun is finally out!

Today was a beautiful day in Lake Placid. It was about 65 or so, maybe a little warmer, but the best part was the sun. Although it was a little windy for my liking, I dealt with it!

For anyone who doesn’t know I am working at the Whiteface Lodge in Lake Placid as a server in the bar this summer. Great job, and a great place. Today they had a BBQ for the employees at the beach they have on the lake. It was a lot of fun. We went out on one of the boats and cruised on Lake Placid. It was beautiful today the water was so calm. We played a little Crockett and some badmitten and ate good food.

I got my workout in (just 80m strides today) not too hard, after the BBQ. Caught some nice rays that I got a sunburn line from my tank top at the track. I rarely burn, but since I have never been this white in June I think the sun shock really did it to me.

I brought my lounge chair out after my run and soaked up some more needed sun. And now I have one burnt shoulder, because the was moving too fast for me to realize only half of me was getting hot. (not normally how I function so I’m a little disappointed in myself!)

I can’t complain though because it looks like all of this weekend and next week is going to be beautiful. In the 70′s and sunny. That’s great for Lake Placid!

I do have to work everyday from Friday until Tuesday but I’m pretty excited because I need the hours at work! That’s about all for now though. I’m hoping to get my workout done early tomorrow so I can get outside again before work. Other than that I have a very busy 5 days ahead of me.

Off to dinner now, I hope its good!

Hail to SNOW in Lake Placid

May 31st Lake Placid, Hail

Well,  my first summer back in Lake Placid in three years and the weather sure is crazy!

I just spent the afternoon on Main street with my roommate Rachelle. It was really windy but we had to get out of the training center. The sun was out so it was a nice break from just sitting in our room.

We got back and I kid you not, about 5 minutes after that I looked out the window and the sun was gone. It was raining and windy which about 2 minutes after that turned to hail. I was shocked. Rachelle went out to play in it, I watched from the window.

I thought that was the worst of it, but then the hail changed to snow. Yes SNOW!!! Crazy I can’t believe it. It is May 31st, one day until June and it is snowing in Lake Placid, NY.  And I didn’t think I was crazy for staying here and training this summer instead of going to sunny San Diego.

The Hail turned to SNOW

That’s about all I’ve got for everyone. Now I am going to sit in my room, listening to music and think about my summers in California and about how last year it only rained once the entire time I was there, and that’s warm, fun rain.