Long week in Park City

I had a great first week of training here in Park City. The track is in great shape and we have been able to utilize our time here and get a lot of runs and also get speed training in preparation for the training week in Whistler November 8th. The track here is very different from Lake Placid, most noticeably it is a much faster track. We train from the bob start here and reach speeds just over 81 mph. The other major difference between the track here in Park City and Lake Placid is the curves are far more stretched out so it is a great place to work on position (aerodynamics) and also smoothness in driving. If you are stiff on the sled or creating more friction with the ice (driving more than needed) then it shows greatly in your finish time at the bottom. I have been able to take a lot of runs this past week as we have had double sliding sessions available everyday. It has kept me very busy between sliding, working out, sled work and rehabbing my knee my day starts at around 6:30 AM and most days I don't sit down to dinner until about 8 PM or so. Oddly I really enjoy being this busy, I am a very detail/schedule oriented person, I don't like to waste any minute of my day. And mostly I love the fact that I lay down in bed at night and am usually asleep in about 2 minutes.
I am five weeks out of Surgery now and I am really making big steps in my rehab (finally). It couldn't come soon enough for me. I am now able to do a lot of strength exercise for my quad and hamstring with out causing any extra swelling in my knee. While in Lake Placid I was working with the head trainer Peter Toohey, and he did great things for me to get me ready to go on the road. Most importantly he helped to remind myself that I Can't approach my rehab the way I do my normal training. In my normal training I want to lift as much as possible and work through all the pain/fatigue of my muscles. But with rehabbing my knee I have had to take a step back and realize that working through the pain in most cases is just prolonging the process. With the type of procedure I had normally you would go the first three weeks without any activity, I went 4 days mostly because of the timing or lack there of. So after 5 weeks, I now have done a lot of reading and have a much better understanding of good pain vs. bad pain and know when I just simply need to give my knee a rest.
We have the day off today from sliding, Mondays are the universal day off in the luge world, because generally it is a travel day in the world cup season. After 6 long days of training we were all very much ready for a day of rest and relaxation.
We have four more days of sliding here then we will pack up all of our gear and head to Whistler for the International training week for the Olympics. I am really looking forward to getting back on the track in Whistler, and also it will be nice to see the other competitors and shift into competition mode with the first world cup lurking only three weeks away. I am about to head to the gym for a work out and rehab. Happy Fall!!!

PS: The weather is amazing here, cold at night (which is important for track conditions) and bright, sunny and warm all day!!