If You Think That Was Intense...

[Editted 04-10-2008: silly me, I published this post last night before completing it. It is now completed.]

I skated six days a week last week with a mixture of indoor practice, outdoor practice, and trail skating. I thought that was a bit of a crazy schedule this early in the season but I spoke too soon. This week is similar except that I actually skated two sessions today, an outdoor training session at our home track and an indoor practice at Scooter's, with only an hour and a half of rest in between. Needless to say, I'm exhausted.

The outdoor portion of the day was quite informal. Seeing that the weather was so nice, JS, AH, SZ, and I met at the track for some skating. My original plan was to warm up and record my time for flying 200, 300m TT, and 500m TT. You know, just a short and sweet practice to take advantage of the warm weather. It did not quite work out as expected. It was very windy today like last Tuesday and skating into the wind solo is not the easiest thing to do. In the end, I had my time for the flying 200, a new personal best. Definitely not as much improvement as I had hoped but I'm sure I can better my time soon enough. AH gave me some useful feedback including being less deliberate with my crossovers and a much higher back swing. Improving my arm swing is an important key that leads to faster leg speed, bigger recovery, and driving my knees forward. I practiced my arm swing for quite a bit though I have a feeling that it will be a while before it becomes second nature. We also did some ATP sprints which essentially had us doing a TT start, ran down the straightaway like a madman, and then two minutes of rest. I like the fact that I have a chance to practice my starts and run. It will take lots of practice in order to figure out to do this but this will become a once weekly habit for me this season.

AH and I grabbed a quick bite for dinner before heading over to Scooter's for indoor practice. Neither of us felt too motivated but it was a small group who showed up anyway. Between WB, AH, CP, JB, and I, we skated 10k at truly warm up pace. Unfortunately I slipped in the corner and had a minor crash. I tried so hard to roll but my knees landed on the floor nonetheless and ripped my favourite pair of knee warmers. I took a few laps of rest until the pain lessen enough to skate again.

Next, we each had our turn on the floor while the group critique the skater's technique. It was good to train our eyes to observe both the good and the bad. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that I push with all my wheels on the floor and that my movement is smooth. However, my gliding leg seriously collapses at the knee and that is one thing that will take a lot of serious hardwork to correct. AH gave me some drills to practice including gliding, pushing, and skating with both fists between my knees. The one that amuses me the most is how I can try skating with a pair of volleyball knee pads turned inside my knees or even stuffed with a tennis ball. The physical barrier would instantly tell me when I collapse my knees.

My knees are a little swollen but I hope I'll be okay for outdoor practice tomorrow.