Dream Chaser On Wheels

Not Too Dorky

Provincials is fast approaching so practice today included lots of time trial starts and sprints. Thanks to ShH, I finally know what I look like when I do my time trial starts. She took plenty of pictures and videos today during practice. If picture is worth a thousand words, then a picture and a video together should make my post quite brief. Let's take a look:

This video was taken probably during my third or fourth attempt because I remember my balance was off in my first few tries. JeP gave me some good advice...do not stick my bum out while I run! Ideally, I want to generate forward momentum and the feeling would be similar to falling forward. With my bum sitting back, my running motion was too up right and it looked like my body was dragging behind. ShH commented that my start was smooth and coach SZ agreed that the general mechanic of my start was all in place. I do need to keep in mind of a more aggressive arm swing and of course stepping one foot in front of the other so the initial run would be more crisp.

This picture was taken close to the end of the drill when I was a lot more confident. I absolutely love this picture! To have my foot off the ground like that and the body leaning forward, that is something I wasn't able to do last season. Somehow, things just sort of came together this year and I no longer feel awkward with my starts. Still a long way to go but I can't really complain. For some comparison, this is what I looked like this time last season during Provincials: 1, 2, 3, and 4.

After the TT starts, we moved on to group starts in preparation for 500m sprints. The distances varied between 50 to 200m. My running legs were missing today and my tempo was still not fast enough during the sprints. My reaction to the start signal was reasonable and I could typically reach the 50m mark in front of my group. Beyond that though, my poor acceleration caused me to lose significant ground. This is something that I continue to work on though I doubt any miracles will happen this season.

Picture and video by Shannon Hegarty.

Revising My Goals

When coach SZ assigned me a goal setting exercise at the beginning of off-season, I only knew where I stood and where I wanted to be in five years. However, goal setting is about breaking down my dream goal into smaller milestones so I can have a clear road map of reaching the ultimate goal. As I improve my skating from season to season, I can compare my progress against what I have planned.

It only makes sense that my road map evolves to reflect my actual progress and in the last month, I have given much thought about revising some of my milestones. The majority of my milestones are finishing time for various distances. However, racing is as much about measuring against other skaters as about challenging my own personal bests. Naturally, I do have some placement goals along the way.

When I finished my season last year, I started to "dream big" (that's my lingo of goals that are beyond my reach now but may not be entirely unrealistic). One of them is to crack top 5 in my age category (30-34) at Duluth in 2008. I was 11th last year so given a higher starting wave, top 5 in my category is a reasonable goal to strive for. In light of the improvement I made since off-season, I am dreaming big again. I did a bit of analysis of the results from last three years and I want to really challenge myself. I am aiming to place top 10 in the open women category, not just my age category.

To get there in September, I have a few intermediate steps to take, of course. Let's work this out backwards. Cracking top 10 means I need to finish the race at JoS's pace or faster.  For that to happen, I need to qualify for wave A. My finishing time in Montreal is enough to do that. However, I need to know that it was not a lucky coincidence. So, I will have to prove to myself that I am capable of a sub 1:30 finishing time in Detroit in less than two weeks.

But there is a twist (of course there is a twist)! Both CC and ShH from my club are planning to race in Duluth this year. I have yet to race either of them in a marathon this season but based on club practices, I am currently slower than them. However, there is a good chance we will end up skating in the same pack. There are two sides to this equation. I would like to think that it means I will have teammates which is a novel and exciting idea to me at this point of my skating career. On the other hand, it also means I will compete with them for that top 10 spots.

As of today, I have my eyes set on Detroit on May 24. That will be where everything begins.

Back On Earth

After being on cloud nine for my first marathon of the season, there's nothing quite like getting my butt kicked in practice to bring me back on earth. We had our first "Tuesday" today, which is modelled after the "Wednesday" at Weinfelden. I had a lot of trouble with the series of 200m sprints. Basically, after the first five sprints, it became apparent where I belong...at the very back of the pack and I was still getting gapped. I suppose it didn't help that I felt nervous in the corners and I subsequently slowed down my crossovers. However, this is really the first time I experience this feeling of nervousness outdoor...like my wheels will slip under me, just like at indoor! After the first ten sprints, things improved slightly and the gap was not as big. I started mimicking the way W skated the corners and my crossovers became more stable and less panicky.

If there was any cockiness in me because of the race last Sunday, I'm sure they were all gone by the time we finished the 200m sprints. On the bright side, as the titleholder of the slowest skater in the racing and fitness group in the last two years, I can say our club has gotten faster overall.

I felt a lot better in the 10k points race. I was working hard but it was not a complete struggle. In fact, I stayed with the main group until the last five laps while a number of people quit the drill early. After practice, I spoke to coach AH and he explained that when done right, the 10k points race should feel a lot harder than the 200m sprints. However, with less of a dramatic acceleration than the sprints, I was able to keep up because of a more steady pace. Acceleration, the bane of my existence!

It will be the same practice format every Tuesday from now on. I hope to work my way up the ladder so eventually I will not be the last skater when we do the 200m sprints.

Picture courtesy of Chelsea Parry. The Mogema Girls sporting their matching defunct skinsuits. We should take this picture again when SaH comes to practice with her Mogema suit too!

Exceeding My Own Expectation

Finishing Time: 1:27:18.065

Best Lap Time: 8:11.314

Overall Placement: 38/72

Gender Placement: 5th

Coming into the marathon at Montreal this weekend, I have set some expectation for myself. I know that I made improvement based on my performance in the Run For Reach half marathon but could that possibly be a fluke? After some consideration, 1:33 is to be my goal finishing time. Frankly, it is a tall order because my finishing times for a marathon last season range between 1:43 to 1:50. Pressure? You bet.

Before the race, I talked to many skaters, trying to find out what their own expectations are. I figured if I hang on to skaters who expect to finish around the 1:30 mark and those who have the results from previous season to back those expectations, chances are I have an easier time finding my pack. I did a relatively long warm up with two laps of skating (around 8km) with a few sprints sprinkled in. I was preparing myself for a fast start.

At the start line, I kept my eyes on RV but at the same time, I knew that I wanted to aim for the next faster pack. You never know, right? Bang! went the start signal and I was on BX's tail who was in turn pulled along by another older skater. We were flying and weaving in and out of the hectic traffic down the straighaway leading to the paddock! It was nuts and I had a few close calls for collision. During one of those, I got gapped and was on my own. I continued skating at an easy pace by myself but keeping a close eye on the packs coming up behind me. It seemed like forever and I started to worry perhaps I already missed RV's pack...that would be bad. Luckily, about 3/4 way of the first lap, LM caught up along with everyone in the pack including RV. Phew! A huge sigh of relief.

We had a pretty coorperative pack of about 6 or 7 skaters. The pack got a little bigger as we picked up a few skaters for the 21km race as well. With so many people in the pack, I did not feel bad for taking shorter pulls at all. However, it was quickly apparent who the stronger skaters in the pack were, who were willing to work, and who were conserving their energy. I stayed near the front of the pack most of the time so as a result, I did my fair share of work. I would definitely prefer to work less and probably should. :) However, I have my reasons. I was definitely not one of the stronger skaters in the pack and if I get stuck behind skaters who get gapped, it would really drain my energy to repeatedly play catch up. A more steady pace at the front with a bit of work thrown in definitely beats getting dropped any day!!

So it went rather uneventfully for lap after lap. At the end of lap 8, I was very very alert. I fought to stay behind JSB from Roller Montreal (that's him in the picture flying down the straights in awesome long strides), probably the strongest skater in my pack. I did not want to get stuck pulling the pack and everyone else had the same idea so there was some dillydallying. Unfortunately, I did get stuck before leading up to the right hand turn and incline. What I did not expect though was a truck pulling out from the parking lot across the beach and onto our track! I was like "oh sh!t", stood up, slowed down, before getting caught by a FORKLIFT on the opposite lane. What's going on?! As a result, I was pulling far more than I really should in lap 9 because of all the commotion.

As soon as we started the last lap, the pace picked up and was I ever glad that I stayed in the front! BY told me afterward that we gapped him and he had to play catch up for over half a lap. With about 250m to go, the sprint began and HX took off. I made a crucial mistake at this point. My legs started sprinting but my heart really wasn't in it. I watched as RV and BY sprinted ahead of me and I was thinking "forget it, I'm done". With 100m to go and a hairpin turn approaching quickly, I suddenly realized "I can't let BY beat me! What was I thinking?!". That's when I started picking up my pace for real, quickly overtook BY, and closing in on RV right at the hairpin turn. He took the inside and I carried my speed on the outside, all the while scootering with my left leg to lose as little speed as possible. I remember my lesson from indoor racing! It came down to a jab at the finish line and with the official result still pending, I'm very curious to see which of us crossed the line first (the results are out, he did).

According to RV's GPS, our finishing time was 1:27. The offical results are available here. That would be a 16 minute improvement from the same race last year. I think I will go register for Duluth wave B as soon as I'm done celebrating. Yay for me!

Photo courtesy of Heather De Garis and Cor Beattie.

In Montreal

We arrived at Montreal in early evening. Fortunately, I already had my pre-race workout this morning before we left. From the fall yesterday, my knee and hip hurt a bit when I walk but not when I skate. Go figure.

I enjoyed a plate of seafood linguine for dinner. Oh how I miss eating pasta! It was delicious. Ì am really looking forward to the race tomorrow. Hopefully I can reach my goal of 1:33. That is the magic number to convince me that I can race in wave B in Duluth based on some convoluted calculation.

Hotel is fantastic...beats hostel anyday!