What It's Like To Be... with Dan Heath An Olympic Bobsledder (Replay)
Feb 17, 2026
Kaillie (Kaylee) Humphries, Olympic bobsledder and multi-time medalist who won gold for two countries, walks through life at 100 mph. She describes the physical training and sprint-style starts. She explains the sensations and high G-forces on the track. She talks about visualization practice, hunting hundredths of a second, and the logistics of a short ice season.
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Very Little Seat Time
- Bobsled pilots accumulate very little actual seat time: Kaylee estimates ~22 hours across 21 years.
- Limited ice access makes visualization and physical preparation far more important than practice runs.
Practice Visualization Like A Skill
- Visualize entire tracks and individual corners repeatedly to build a mental map you can execute under G-forces.
- Stop visualizing before you overanalyze; prepare enough to be confident but avoid frying your nervous system.
Walk The Track, Rehearse Corners
- Walk tracks corner-by-corner and rehearse each segment dozens of times to internalize lines and transitions.
- Use combined micro-reps (20–30 per corner) and a few full run visualizations to balance detail and nervous-system recovery.