Liege

Last weekend I went to Liege Belgium for an international para-cycling race.

We arrived Friday afternoon after a 2 hour drive, we had a good and clean hostel, for only 17,50 euro per night. Saturday was the time trial and I was pretty nervous, didn’t know what to expect, the time trial started 40 minutes late. My start was at 11.35 am, there was a 1 minute interval.

After 1,5 km I felt my leg, it was already full of lactate but I could also see the German girl that had started before me, it was a pretty long climb but I kept pedaling and I found a rhythm. After the long climb came a descent and some sharp turns, I couldn’t see the German girl anymore and before I knew it I was at 5 km.

The total distance was 7,8 km when I reached the finish my body felt empty I knew I had given all I had. Pretty soon I heard the unofficial result that I got a second place in  my class (C2) and a small gap with the winner. That was pretty exciting because I had never expect to do that well in this race. It was a beautiful sunny day with nice and warm weather and I liked it a lot. After the race we got back to our hostel tried to get some rest but ended up laughing ourselves to death making pictures like this.

The next day was Sunday, day of the road race. The coach came to me smiling saying Annika have you seen the results, you got a second place with a 15 second gap with the winner you can still win (results where combined). The first start was the C category meaning cycling on a regular bike. All the men and women of the 5 different classes started together.

Immediately I got the wheel of the German girl, she was fast but we stayed together most of the race, for about 36 minutes I was fine but after that it got harder and harder to keep up with her, during the climbs I lost her, but during the descent I got her wheel again, I was way better downhill and with the turns, no surprise with the skiing back ground.

One round before the last I had to let her go unfortunately, but I managed to keep my speed up. With a the last strength I had in me I made one last sprint for the finish. 

One of the trainers helped me off my bike and my leg was just too weak so I fell on the ground, I really gave it all. Everybody said I did great for a first race and I was happy to because I knew I was as fast as I could be at this point. The sun came out and the next group the tandems had their road race, those tandems are fast it looks so cool. A tandem has a pilot and a visually impaired racer on the back.

Last group where the handbikes and the tricycles it was warm and sunny again and I got a tan while watching everybody.

It was a great weekend good to get some races in after a ski season in which I had started just one race and got a DNF. I liked the races a lot and was happily surprised with my results. I had a talk with the coach and he said I did very good in the races and was pretty fast for a C2 with an average speed of 25,44 km/h in a hilly road race. I got a second place with a 90 second gap with the winner in the road race, the German girl who won is ranked 7th on the world ranking.

After the price giving ceremony, in which only the winners got a price,  we drove 2 hours home, tired but happy and an experience richer.

at our hostel

Back on snow

Last week I went to Snowworld Landgraaf for a 2 day training, the first on snow training of the 2011-2012 season. We went back to the basics with a lot of different drills mainly focused on technique. I think I’m skiing good for this stage in training and I notice the results of my physical training in my skiing as well. Snow conditions weren’t great, the  slope was icy and not in the good way, old snow and ice with lots of dirt in it, luckily I had already trained in this conditions with my ski club.

It was busy in Landgraaf with a lot other (national) ski teams, we even saw the Swiss WC team. Pretty cool to see them train, because of the snow conditions they switched ski’s every 20 minutes or so. It was a good 2 day training camp and I had fun with the rest of the team.

The coach made a video of some of the runs.

http://youtu.be/LkYSEXuP-E4

Today I had a good cycling training climbing really is getting easier. Which is good because the race in Liege is this weekend, I feel prepared as much as I can be since cycling isn’t my sport. And I walked the dog which sometimes feels more like this…

But he is old and so sweet, so I don’t mind. The cat on other hand is pure evil from time to time.

The good life

New video; Summer training 2011, has footage of me doing some jumping exercises, cycling and some older skiing footage.

I haven’t blogged in a while, sorry guys.

Everything is great, I finally have vacation so no more study stress for a while. Still training hard and getting lots of results, very happy with that. I’m moving boundaries and with every victory new goals appear. Two years ago I wished I could get my walking up to the level where I could walk the dog or go shopping without a wheelchair, now those goals are far behind me. It’s good to look back and cherish what I have accomplished already. Now I’m starting to do something you might call running, I know it looks totally weird, but I’m getting faster and way more agile.

Cycling is going good as well, I’m climbing some bigger hills now. I get lots of nice comments when I’m climbing our local big hill the Posbank. People think it’s hard core pedaling with one leg and say things like “you are awesome” and “that’s hard work”. I have to admit though it is as hard as it looks, I’m not at the level yet where climbing is anything near easy, but it’s getting easier and I’m getting faster.

 Today at the top of the Posbank

 last week

 top of the Posbank last week

Cycling at the Posbank last week

On snow training starts Tuesday at the indoor ski slope, snowworld Landgraaf, so stoked.

And I’m participating in an international para cycling race in Liège Belgium (August 20-21). I wasn’t planning on it but some people sort of persuade me. So we will see how that goes another fun adventure, a spontaneous plan, love it. 

My silly cat likes to join me when I walk the dog

Finally: end of the semester

Today was my last day of lectures. We had our final presentations and are done for the summer……….or not, still 4 exams to go till July 26. My last course was about orthopaedic implants, hip and knee. Learned a lot and that orthopaedic surgery isn’t my thing, haha, well it’s good to know!

Training is going really well and I’m pleased with the results so far!

Jumping <3 J

I’m cycling a lot and my speed and technique is improving, still falling off my bike every now and then though J  

 the picture on the right was taken at an artificial outdoor ski slope, where children were tube gliding, looked like a lot of fun, actually I wanted to join...

Since last Tuesday I’m done with ski training, for a month, I start August 9 again, can’t wait J.

Last Saturday one of the boys in a sit ski hit the wall and this is what was left of ski.

I caved; planking J

The twitter one and the way my trainers want me to plank, haha.

Hope you all have a good summer!

Summer

I started dryland training with a group of skiers and snowboarders, all members of the national team. These sessions are fun, variously and a bit challenging every now and then. We do all sorts of strength, core and jumps, which I can do with my ski-orthosis. I’m the only adaptive athlete in the group but I’m able to do most exercises, sometimes I have to adapt an exercise a bit and when the rest of the group is running I get a different exercise. I like it a lot to train in a group and the fact that I’m able to do almost everything is good for my spirit. I made a lot of progress during the first couple of sessions so this is a good fit for me. I’m especially happy with the jumps I can make now, never thought it would be possible, I hope to get a video of my jumps.

Also I’m really into cycling these days, my bike is working great with the one legged cycling system. I love to be outdoors and enjoy nature. Today I went for a ride with a friend, it was a sweet long ride in a very Dutch environment with great weather.

Even though it’s almost summer I’m still skiing with my ski club (for another 3 weeks) 2 times a week. They are changing the snow in Snowworld so the slope is very icy, which gives a more challenging training. A good opportunity to train in a little more difficult circumstances and good to notice I’m skiing pretty well on the ice.

Other then training I’m enjoying the summery weather we have had, but not every day unfortunately. My sister’s house has a boat and we toured the canals and surroundings of Leiden last week.

 They went for a swim

 very dutch..

My dog Bounty is staying with me for 12 days ( he is leaving tomorrow), I took him to the beach last week and I even went for a swim.

Bounty thought about jumping in the canal 'Rapenburg' luckely for me he didn't

The end of the semester is nearing so it’s time for elective courses, these are more clinical and a bit less demanding then the regular courses. I’m in the Neonatology course now, I learned so much and it’s all so interesting, I totally love it. For a practical we got to do CPR on a very special baby doll, the thing has a heartbeat can breath, cries (which is a very good sign) and reacts to the given treatment. Happy to say it survived when I treated it, good thing I didn’t know about these dolls when I was a little girl because I definitely would have wanted one, the little doctor in me. I went to the neonatal intensive care unit and saw some very small and sick baby’s. I’m going to the neonatal high care next week, this will be the last week of this elective. Next elective is a surgical one in which I’ll go to the OR, looking forward for that, going to the OR not as a patient is a lot better! (and a change of scene for me…)

With my brother and sister

Training weekend Landgraaf

Last weekend I went to Snowworld Landgraaf with 2 ski friends, Stephanie and Ingrid, for a training weekend and the champs of our ski club Snowsports Academy Racing (SAR). Packing the car took some serious ‘Tetris’ skills but in the end we got everything in.

We arrived at Landgraaf after a little over 2 hours at 8.10 am. I had training with the talent group from 9-11 and my friends were allowed to train with us. I had a few good runs and a few not so good runs but all in all I’m clearly on my way back from injury and improving each week.

After training we had some time to chill, which was necessary since we got up at 5 am.

Next training was that night from 7-9 pm with the ski club, well that training I mostly had not so good runs, I was pretty tired and my leg was hurting so I took it easy. After training we prepped our ski’s, taking the SAR champs very seriously ;)

Everybody was  arriving for the race the next day and we had a few drinks before we went off to bed, 4 girls in one room made it crowded but gave a lot of fun as well.

Next day was the race day, this race is mostly about the fun and yeah we had a lot of fun! All though Stephanie took it very seriously making her ski’s extra fast for the start ;-)

Our group cinsisted of 7 girls and I got a 5^th place, being the only adapted ski racer in the group made this a good result for me.

Thanks girls it was a great weekend and I enjoyed myself.

Back at home it was back to business I have been pretty busy lately, I even have to schedule sleeping in my agenda. But it all worked out and I hope the next couple of weeks will be a little calmer.

I also had some medical appointments lately.

I went to the surgeon that fixed up my ankle for my six month check up, timing wise it was a 8 month check up. Well he was glad with the end result, the ankle is doing good, but the joint is still a bit stiff I can’t move forward further then 90 degrees in the ankle. So I will get a special heel in my ski boot to compensate the ankle a bit. And I still need another surgery to remove the metal screws and plate because it’s all a bit irritated, luckily I can do it after next ski season. Just have to tough it out the next 10 months, I’m pretty good with that. 

I have had Asthma since I was a little girl, not a big deal, I always just took the meds and the extra meds if necessary, my last real lung check up was still at the pediatrician….. So yeah that’s a while ago…. It was time to get it checked out again also because my meds are on the doping list. Last Thursday I had an appointment for a lung check up.  

I had to take a bronchial challenge test and I surely can say that test is very challenging.

You first have to get off your meds for 2 days, which is a challenge alone. During the test you have to inhale increasing doses of an irritating substance, you take a lung function test between each dose. The test is positive if the lung function decreases 20% at 13 mg of the substance. Well saying mine was positive is probably an understatement.

My lung function had decreased over 40% at 4,9 mg of the substance and probably even more since it took several minutes before I was even able to do the lung function test.

To reverse the effect I had to take twice as many meds as regular for this test and still my lung function was just 87%. Not a surprise the doc told me I was severely under treated, now I have to take 4 times as many Asthma meds. I get another check up in 2 weeks. My lungs are still a bit bothered by the bronchial challenge test, I’m coughing a lot (more than normal) and I’m still a little short of breath. I even get out of breath when I’m talking a lot, although some people might think that’s a relieve ;-)

My bike is back from the shop and the new adjustment works great. I went for a short ride this morning since I’m not actually fit. Funny to see everybody twist their neck when they realize that I’m cycling with just one leg.

Last Wednesday I had a power test but because I was off my meds I probably could have done better. I will get another one in a while.