Hi Guys,
I thought I would give you a bit of an update on my recent
escapades and my plans for September.
Firstly, I have managed to secure a house for my move to London and my
new job. So in a few weeks I will be moving to Basildon (Essex) to start my job
on the Post Office Graduate Scheme, working in central London. I am very excited to start, this will involve
a daily commute into London but living outside of London means I can keep my
car and ski train as much as possible :)
Early In August I was lucky enough to be invited along to a
dry land training camp at Bishom Abbey just outside of London. This was run by
EIS (English Institute for Sport) we were supported by two great trainers Abi
and Maria. The weekend involved strength and conditioning sessions and cardio
workouts to put us through our paces, improve our knowledge of our body and
improve our workouts at home. This was a great weekend and I learnt a lot,
definitely feeling the effects.
Following on from this I have adopted a daily routine to work
on the neurological side of Cerebral Palsy. Cerebral Palsy causes the message
from my brain to my muscle to be disrupted and not always work as well as it
should. So to improve this I have to improve my muscle memory and the neuro
pathways that connect my muscles. Maria
and Abi recommended a daily routine of 5 exercises to get my body used to using
certain muscles and to improve the connections to make them more easily
accessible for me. I have adopted this
and this is now part of my daily routine.
I got back from Germany after one week training in Wittenburg’s
Alpine Centre with the British Disabled Ski Team. For those of you that don’t
know Wittenburg is home to an Indoor Ski Centre with independent race lanes to
train on and even a chair lift.
There was many benefits from training on a temperate
controlled slope compared to the mountains of Hintertux (although the view
isn’t quite the same) these include having double sessions. Being able to train
in the morning and in the afternoon means we can go out twice a day and we are
not controlled by the heat of the day.
This increases our output and means these camps are a lot more full
on. Although this means that our
recovery is vitally important, this was the most intense camp I have been on.
The race lanes were a great learning curve for me, this is the first time I
have been able to train on snow similar to the ice I experienced in Italy.
The race lanes in Wittenburg are groomed every week but
after that, they are saturated with water for a few hours and then left to
freeze to create the most bullet proof ice you have ever seen. The piste was
like glass and in some places it was completely transparent, which was great
development. This meant that I had to be early in the line and have a strong
edge otherwise I would miss a gate or elbow drop the ice….which wouldn’t be/wasn’t
enjoyable. As the week went on I found my body relaxing to the ice and not
seeing it as so much of a big deal. I found I was standing taller and was able
to influence the ski more, improving my consistency in the gates and my times
consequently improved. To begin with I was sitting back onto the tails of my
skis and was very static, this was because I did not feel comfortable standing
on my edges on such compact ice. My
confidence grew over the week but so did my fatigue. I was exhausted by the end
of the camp and I was falling asleep on the chairlift but I enjoyed every
minute of it.
Whilst we were out there I was lucky enough to be turning 23
on the scheduled rest day and was blessed with a great set of guys and girls
that made it brilliant. We went go karting, which first of all was epic. Go
karting can be competitive enough anyway but having a set of ski racers
involved put the level of competitiveness to a new peak. The track was
underneath the snow dome and consisted of hair pins, straights and chicanes,
the track was even drenched in water at one bit. No one was taking any
prisoners and there was enough some collisions…sorry Katie haha. Driving the
car was the easiest bit, I struggled getting out of the thing, having to be man
handled by 3 guys to get out of it after seizing up from 15 minutes of driving
made for quite a sight. I believe the Award for most outstanding performance goes
to Millie and Suzanne Knight though. For those of you don’t know, Millie is
registered blind but was able to take part in go karting by following her mum
and listening to her instructions.
So what’s next ?
Today I am travelling to Wittenburg to put myself through
another intensive week of ski training and then coming back to start my new job
in London. This brings on a new challenge in itself, which I am looking forward
too. The weekend after I am up in Stirling, Scotland for another weekend of dry
land training. Needless to say I am very busy but I am still trying to remain
focussed and keep improving.
I will update you guys after I get back from Wittenburg,
Stirling and when I am settled in my new job. My Next race is mid November and
I am keen to hit my goal.
Speak to you soon
Alex
x
(Photos Courtesy of Suzanne Knight)
Or email me on alexclarke1992@outlook.com
