After 3 back to back race days last week I accidentally got down to my race weight* from my track and field days so . . coach and I decided to have a little fun at training just becuase 😊
Haven't used starting blocks in 5 years! @athleticscanada whatcha think? 🏃🏼♀️🏃🏼♀️🏃🏼♀️
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*race weight: differnet sports have different "ideal" competitive weights based on the physics and mechanics of the sport.
In sprinting, it is advantageous to be explosive and smaller. (Think back to physics class, acceleration = force / mass ; you can either increase acceleration by increasing force or by decreasing mass.)
However in bobsleigh, since we are required to move a large mass (170kg minimum) and total weight moving down the hill is our friend (momentum = mass x velocity) it is to our advantage to weigh a little more to help get the sled moving and to get better speeds down the track. That said, we do have weight rules and restrictions : minimum weight for sled, maximum combined weight for sled and crew, and the option to add weight to your sled to get up close to the maximum combined weight allowance. In an ideal world, we push a minimum weight sled (obviously!) and the combined weight of the athletes gets us to maximum combined weight. Trick is you also have to be fast at that weight... lucky for me the difference between my "bobsleigh weight" and "track weight" isn't massively different as I was a bigger, more explosive, strength based sprinter.
