AthleteGo Interview

Jamie Greubel was introduced to bobsled in 2007 while attending Cornell. Jamie quickly found her sport and became a brakeman and making the the National Team and was one of the alternates for the Vancouver Olympics. Jamie is now driver aiming to for 2014 Olympics. Check how Jamie went from Track at Cornell to becoming on of Team U.S.A’s olympic hopefuls.  

AG: Hi Jamie! Many athletes who race the bobsled or Skelton have a track and field back ground. You completed in the heptathlon frankly the one the ultimate athletic events. Do you feel that your background in athletics gives you mental advantage over your competitors?

Jamie: I actually use sport psychology now, which is a resource I wish I would have know about during college. I think that I have very good self-awareness and determination, which very likely comes from my background in the heptathlon. I don’t know if I would call it an advantage, but they are important skills in competing and performing.  

Action photo from our National Team Trials race in Lake Placid, NY, last October. I finished in 1st place with brakeman, Aja Evans.    


AG: Having trained and competed in multiple disciplines what about the physical side?

Jamie: I do think that being talented in multiple disciplines is an overall advantage. It allows for athletic growth in speed, strength and technique in a new sport.    

AG: With the athleticism required in heptathlon do you incorporate a type of training or a sport that your peers and competitors may not?

Jamie: Although the athleticism is a very great attribute that carries over from the multi-events, the training does not really carry over. Bobsled is a sport for very unique female athletes. You must be big (160-180lbs) and strong, but most importantly you must be fast. All of the sprint training for bobsled is a lot shorter(10m-60m), and I lift almost like I am training for weight lifting (Lots of squats and Olympic lifts). Bobsled training incorporates shorter, heavier, and more explosive movements, whereas training for the heptathlon involved a lot of technique work for the different events, and longer sprint work.    
 

Jamie Greubel running the 800m at the end of the heptathlon    


AG: How did you discover the Bobsled?

Jamie: I had a teammate at Cornell who was a decathlete, and joined the US men’s bobsled team after college. He was the one that told me about the women’s team, thought I was a good fit, and suggested that come up to Lake Placid and try out.    

AG: What attracted to you to complete and how until you where racing at an international level?

Jamie: Honestly, I was not ready to walk away from competitive athletics at the end of my senior year in college. I really had no idea I could continue competing at an elite level after college until I found out about bobsled.    

AG: It may sound cliché but what keeps you motivated? Bobsled doesn’t have baseball style contracts!

Jamie: The dream of competing in the Olympic Games, the most prestigious athletic event, is definitely the motivating factor for me.  

Track walk in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Watching sleds, and doing a “mind run”. This is a visualization technique we use to practice our driving skills.    


AG: What about your off season fitness do you have other competitive outlets?

Jamie: No, I don’t have any other competitive outlets. I was injured a few years ago, and that completely changed my perspective about my priorities. The recovery process and fight back from the injury really made me think about how badly I wanted to achieve my goal, and since then I won’t participate in anything that could jeopardize my health.    

AG: Talk to us about your nutrition there are so many theories out there what works for you?

Jamie: Since I came from track and field, I was one of the lighter athletes on the women’s bobsled team. I had to gain about 20 pounds to be competitive with the other women on the team. Although my equilibrium weight is higher than it used to be, it’s a challenge for me to keep my weight up, especially when we start traveling during the season. I try to do all of the work of gaining the weight I need during the off-season and then maintain it during the season. I eat pretty healthy, with a fair share of carbs, protein (chicken, beef, or fish) and fresh veggies. I supplement my training with whey protein, and I also make smoothies with fruit, spinach, juice and greek yogurt as a healthy calorie boost.    

AG: With your volume of training and the strength element what about your recovery? Any tips for other athletes?

Jamie: I spend a ton of time recovering. Living at an Olympic Training Center, I am very fortunate to have access to a lot of great recovery tools. NORMATEC recovery pants are amazing. They are compression sleeves that you put on your legs, and they fill up with air and squeeze your legs, providing a flush. You can customize the settings, so you are in control of how hard they squeeze your legs. I also use the cold tub for 12 minutes after the compression pants. Usually this is done after a really hard squat workout. I guess that is one thing that has carried over from the heptathlon. I would always cold tub at night after the first day of the heptathlon to help my body recover for day 2.    

Massage is a must, once a week, usually towards the end of the week. If I am competing, I like to get a flush 2-3 days before the competition. This keeps my body in check and doesn’t allow any problems to add up week to week. Foam rolling (actually I have graduated to rolling on PVC pipe or a ball- foam is too soft!) and stretching with bands. I just started using acupuncture as well. Another important part of recovery is making sure you eat within about 30 minutes after training, and carbs are important during this meal.    

AG: Originally you were the brakeman on the sled and now you drive. Tell us about those two roles.

Jamie: The driver and brakeman are both important roles on a bobsled team. If you don’t have a fast start, it is difficult to be competitive. In the past the brakemen were the athletes and the drivers were smaller. A lot of brakemen transitioned to driving, and now the sport has evolved to have very athletic drivers and brakemen. As a result, the start times have become significantly faster. Drivers have more security in knowing that they are racing, but with that comes a lot more responsibility. As a driver, I am financially responsible for my equipment as well as my team. Luckily, Team USA allocates team sleds based on rank, so I don’t have to spend money on a sled, but I needed new runners (the 4 steel “blades” on the bottom of the sled), so I had to spend almost $6,000 this summer, and the brakemen I race with don’t have to worry about that.    

On World Cup this season we will travel with 3 drivers and 6 brakemen. The drivers will slide everyday and the brakemen will alternate who slides. We will have race offs in training to decide who the fastest brakemen are, and they will get to race. With extra brakemen traveling on tour, it allows the racing brakemen to have fresh legs for the races. Also, many times the brakemen are very close in ability so it gives more people the opportunity to prove themselves throughout the season.    

AG: Why drive now?

Jamie:I was on the national team as a brakeman during the 2010 Olympic season, but did not make the Olympic Team. Watching my teammates compete in the Olympics was a huge motivating factor for my transition to driving. I did not want to spend another four years with what it felt like as my fate in someone else’s hands, I wanted to be the one that got myself to the Olympics. I am a competitor, and I did not like watching from the sidelines.  

Brakeman Emily Azevedo and Jamie on the podium in Winterberg, Germany after a 4th place finish in the World Cup race this past season.    


AG: Have you raced in Sochi yet? If so thoughts about the track?

Jamie: Yes, I have raced in Sochi. We had a World Cup race there this past season after World Championships. Sochi is a fun track, it is a fairly easy course to make it down safely; however, it is a very challenging to get down fast. There are a few important curves to drive correctly or you can lose a ton of time. There are three uphill sections in the track, which are also tricky. When we are going uphill, there is no pressure holding the sled on the ice so it is easier to skid and lose a lot of time.    

AG: How do you see as your biggest competition?

Jamie:The women’s field in general has a lot of people to watch out for. The top German, Olympic Champion Sandra Kiriasis, has about 30 years of sliding experience between luge and bobsled. Kaillie Humphries from Canada is the returning Olympic Champion from Vancouver, and my US teammate Elana Meyers has the fastest push times. However, as we have seen this past World Cup season, a lot of different teams have been on the podium, so I would not count anyone out, it will be a great race!    

AG: Any tips for the novice watching you race?

Jamie: You can watch our World Cup races on Universal Sports or, the FIBT did a great job this past season of playing our races on YouTube. Check out the IBSF “Bobsleigh and Skeleton TV” channel on YouTube to watch races and highlights from this past season. You can also find videos and pictures from the past season on my website: www.speedonice.com or Facebook fan page: Jamie Greubel.    

AG: AthleteGo wishes you all the best and continues success! Good luck!