Yay For Practice

I wasn't feeling particularly good nor bad about practice today yet in a way, I was not at all bothered by it. I do not feel indifferent. More accurately, I was in such good spirit that I was impervious to any negativity. Does that make any sense?

If I want to be picky, there are lots to be displeased about. The parking lot was occupied by some film crew and I had to unload all our club equipment from far away. The unofficial start of my practice began with donning a pair of latex gloves, picking up globs of goose poop from our track, and flinging them to the lawn. It was so disgusting yet so ridiculous that I couldn't help but to fall into a silly mood (yes, that was me humming to Kylie Minogue songs while cleaning). Our attack/blocking drill was more than a little messed up with everybody moving together in a cluster of chaos. It reminded me of a swamp of bees circling on the track. Our 1000m repeats were tough as expected. I couldn't hang on to the pack but that did not bother me either. Normally, I would feel discouraged and wonder if I really belong in my group. Today, I just kept on skating hard...no expectations, no disappointments.

Something good did happen at practice though. I was paying attention to reach my left leg in the corners and it translated to a more powerful underpush. I tried to use more weight transfer in the straights for a more effective push. I may not be skating well today but at least I had a good workout and beginning to feel confident on the track again. Ever since my frame shifted over a month ago, I have been dreading track skating. My confidence on the track was low and it showed in my skating. The accumulation of non-sucky practice means I am slowly picking up where I left off. Now is the time to gather momentum for my string of races starting in mid August. I need to skate with confidence.