Dream Chaser On Wheels

(Almost) End Of Off-Season

I had my last ice practices last week at Brampton and Oakville. I think I accomplished what I set out to do this season in terms of skating on ice. Right from the beginning, my intention was to use ice practice to supplement my focus on technique this season. I think the work that I've done on crossovers on ice did in fact helped me with crossovers on inline. It was a little unfortunate that I had a couple of falls in my last ice practices. The bruises are still very black and blue but I'm a little more concerned by my shoulder pain. It's been bothering me for over two weeks and now the fingers on my right hand are pins-and-needles numb. This is definitely not normal and I want to get it fixed soon.

In the last Oakville practice, I took it easy and didn't skate the laps with the rest of the group. Instead, I used the opportunity to tape JS's skating. You can see his videos for 3 laps and 5 laps skating. Now I know why I practiced relays in Brampton...it's so that I can comfortably follow skaters around a track while avoiding people milling about the middle of the ice!

The RSO indoor race on Sunday was rather quiet with a smaller than usual crowd showing up for the race. Due to my shoulder pain, I skated very conservatively. My results are as follows:

300m Time Trial: 45.32

500m Group Race: 1:14.58

1000m Group Race: 2:37.28

Looking at the numbers, I realized that I had new PB for both 300m and 500m though I didn't feel good in either distances. Go figure. My track pattern was horrible for my time trial, skating four straightaway strides, approaching the corners too close to the cones and exiting the corner way too wide. I skated close behind AM for the majority of the 500m though I did not set up any passes. I remember SZ told me that each race is a learning experience and that it's always better that I do something than to just skate along. Well, I didn't do anything in this race so it was an opportunity lost. The 1000m was a strange race for me as I got stuck behind JM right from the start. I had trouble getting around him and I was afraid to do anything reckless. He had stitches in his knee from just a week ago and I was absolutely afraid that I would cause him to fall. By the time that I could safely get around him, I already spent too much time skating slow to make up for lost time.

I'll be going away to Europe for a wedding next Monday so it means I only have two more indoor practice left. As soon as I'm back, I'll be skating the Minto Run For Reach half marathon in Ottawa the following Sunday. It will not be a race for me so to speak since I will not have a chance to really skate outdoor before the race. It will likely be a fun skate for me and if I'm lucky, I can perhaps draft behind AR! We'll see how that goes.

Injury Or Something Like It

My body has not been coorperating with my skating since Sunday. I originally expected an easy skate on Sunday morning at Scooter's. However, keeping in mind of some recent feedbacks, I made a conscious effort to keep my left knee bent in the corners and to minimize bobbing up and down during crossovers. This slight change put a lot of strain on my left shin. As a result, I soon had trouble stablizing my left ankle in the corners. It didn't take long before I had to sit out every four or five laps to massage my very sore and tense muscle.

I don't know if perhaps I rubbed my shin too much on Sunday but I woke up the next day with my left shin sore to the touch. Combined with my right shoulder pain that's been bugging me for over a week, I wasn't feeling great at all. Indoor practice on Monday was not very intense so I was able to complete everything in practice except for the relays. We worked on acceleration and starts for a good chunk of practice but honestly, I wasn't happy at all with how I skated.

Fast forward to Tuesday and I was getting concerned about the pain in my right shoulder. I had a long session of massage which, in retrospect, was not necessarily such a good idea. My massage therapist concluded that I should get myself over to a chiropracter to check out my right shoulder as she suspected that it was an issue with my neck alignment. It was a somewhat frustrating session for both of us...my massage therapist told me that my pain sensors are rather dull which means I would likely injury myself badly before even knowing. For some reasons, she wanted to loosen the knots in my left forearm. She warned me that I would feel tired in the next day but I did not expect to come out with a big ol' bruise. My left arm is now red all over.

We had a mini-meet at Brampton in lieu of regular practice tonight. I skated three times and was just doing my own thing in the first two races because I was dead last. Funny thing was coach MM skated beside me the whole time in my second race telling me to lean, bend my ankles, and push with longer strides. I guess I skated *worse* because after a while, he started asking me "am I making you nervous?" in the middle of the race. LOL. I was actually quite happy with the way I skated because I was in control and skated the corners every single time. For future reference, my 500 time was 1:27...well, lots of room for improvement! In my last race though, things went bad. I had a decent start and was in third place. I could hear sounds of blade scratching close behind me in my last lap so I got a little flustered and tripped on my own skates coming out of a corner. That fall was painful. Although I slid into the mats, I landed heavily on my right knee, right shoulder, and left elbow. I glided the remaining half lap with difficulty.

I've been diligently icing my right knee since I got home. However, it is very swollen and I can hardly bend my knee at all. I'm not sure if I can skate on inlines tomorrow now that all four of my limbs are sufficiently banged up.

Ouchies

I passed the orange level test today, woohoo! Similar to the CanSkate program, there is an equivalent learn-to-speedskate program which tests for our ability to complete different skills at each stage of the program. JP and coach MM conducted the tests today, telling us to do this and that from the list of requirements. The beginning levels were really quite trivial, making sure that we can stand upright, take steps, snowplow stop, basic position, etc. So in one single day, all of us passed the white, yellow, and orange level and will receive our orange pin before the end of season.

I had a fall in relay today which left me with a really sore right elbow. I came out of the corner too wide and too close to the boards so ended up crashing against the very last mat (phew!). I think I have a bruise at the place in the elbow where I would normally get charlie-horsed. It's nothing compare to floor burn and road rash from inline. Yet, this bruise is just annoying enough that I keep on bumping it again and again when I go about my normal business. I guess I need to break my habit of leaning on my elbow in the next little while.

My muscles are sore from the running yesterday. Strangely enough, my abductors are the ones that hurt the most so I now walk around in a funny stiff robot walk. I asked ARA and SZ why of all the places, it would be my abductors that are sore. These muscles are mainly used for balancing. Considering that I don't run with my toes turn out, running is strictly a front and back movement so we couldn't quite figure out why either. The logical explanation is that I need to get stronger...which at this stage, is always what everything boils down to.

Good Practices

It's interesting to find out what makes a practice "good", when I come out of practice feeling like a million bucks. Both indoor practice on Wednesday and Oakville ice practice last night gave me that feeling but for very different reasons.

I had a lot of fun at indoor practice even though I don't think I skated well at all. In fact, my relay exchanges with AH and MW were so totally off that I was quite embarrassed about my effort. Trying to get on the track at the right time and in the right place to be pushed by AH was especially difficult. I often found myself tangled with other skaters coming out on the track at the same time that I wouldn't line up in the right position. I spoke to AH after practice and he told me that getting the timing right will take practice and experience. He suggested that if I want to get into the right position without tangling with other skaters, the best approach is to mark the skater who will be on my immediate right hand side. Staying on the left of this skater as early as possible and I should have an easier time getting out on the track. I will give this a try at the next practice.

Ice practice on Thursday was actually rather enjoyable. We mainly worked on various technical drills including crossovers without lifting the right skate, leaning in the corner on one skate, and bucket relay. To be honest, I couldn't quite figure out the purpose of the crossover without lifting right skate drill. It felt awkward and I thought it conflicts with the crossing over motion that is so often emphasized. I mean, yes we had to bend the knees and ankles more in order to successfully crossover without tripping over our own blades and that we got to work on the underpush of the left skate....but still, this drill just puzzled me. Besides, it was very very exhausting. On the other hand, I really liked the leaning drill. This was very similar to what we worked on in Tuesday's practice but strangely enough, I could actually successfully turn the corner on left outside edge or right inside edge. I doubt that sharpening my skates made that much of a difference. I just don't understand the same drill could seem like day and night from Tuesday to Thursday. Bucket drill was fun as usual although I didn't lean as well as I did the last time we practiced this drill.

I suppose the commonality between these two practices is the sense of accomplishment, the feeling that I achieved something in the practice.

Edge Control

Recently I've grown to enjoy ice practice at coach MM's session in Brampton. The balance of technical drills, skating laps, and relays is not particularly physically demanding but I always leave practice feeling like I learned something.

The technical part of practice today involved lots of drills on edge control. We begun with two-foot pivot and then gradually moved to turning the same tight turn gliding on one foot. Since coach MM had us skating both clockwise and counterclockwise directions, we got to work on all four forward edges. Unfortunately, I fared quite poorly in this drills. It is fair to say that I didn't make it on any of the turns gliding on one skate. Coach MM had us experiment with speed, leaning, and where to enter/exit the corner to successfully complete the tight turn. The conclusion of the drill was to complete the turn using one crossover. The key to success is to complete gliding past the apex before casually crossing the other skate over. It is easier said than done.

After many weeks of practice, I've finally conquered my fear of relays on ice. The amount of traffic in the middle of the ice is incrediable, especially when we have 5 or more teams. However, I'm a little more confident on my agility than two months ago when we first started skating relays in practice. In fact, I can at last pay enough attention to the skater in my team on the track so that I can time the relay exchange slightly better. I didn't understand it before but I really think relays are fun.

Oh! So THAT Is Why

I love it when things that I learn on ice is directly applicable to skatng on my inlines. Practice at Brampton today was good with learning how to fall (maximize surface area that hits the mats), two-legged pivots (lean!!!), and lots of work on crossovers.

At the end of practice, coach MM assigned one skater from the third hour session to each of us for some one-on-one coaching on crossovers. KS was my partner and he pointed out something about my crossovers which has always bothered me but didn't know why. When I crossover my right leg on inlines, my set down always makes a "clob-clob" noise with the back wheels touching the floor before my front wheels. I know that something isn't right but it had never occurred to me to pay attention to this detail. KS took one look at my crossovers on ice and immediately pointed out that when I lift my right skate over, I have my toes turn up which resulted in a heel-first set down. On ice, the consequence is serious because it means I would likely dig the back of the blade into the ice during the set down and fall. KS speculated that I turn up my toes because my left knee is slightly bent instead of straightening out my left leg for full extension in the underpush.

Thank you KS for your keen observation!

Signs Of Improvement

"Trust me, dryland is good for you. You will see improvements in your skating if you keep up with your dryland."

This idea was hammered into my head many times from ARA, EG, and SZ. I have been skeptical but since I trust their advice, I have been diligent with my off-skates training since beginning of the year. After missing three practices last week, I was eager to skate the ice practice at Brampton today. I would have never guessed that I would see such noticeable improvements, on ice no less!

I've been struggling with gliding on one skate in the last couple of weeks. I understand the importance of being able to balance on one skate and it was just simply frustrating that I couldn't do it. I fare particularly poorly with my left skate, usually making a nasty scratching noise with the blade. Coach MM had us gliding around the rink with one skate on the ice as much as possible during practice today. The idea is for us to experiment and feel how to achieve the right balance. I still cannot glide along the length of the rink on one skate yet but I feel a lot more confident and in control of the blade. I no longer just put my skate down and hope for the best. Instead, I am aware of aligning the body and setting down the blade in the right direction. Without the strength and balance that I gain from dryland, I would not have been able to do this.

I am very happy that dryland do indeed pay off.

Training Rut?

Entering the second week of my month-long training schedule, I'm beginning to feel the fatigue from the increased amount of exercising. My body's been telling me to sleep more (and some more) yet my insomniac tendency fought hard to stay awake. As a result, I was rather tired the whole week. This tireness spilled over to indoor and ice practice...well, the outcome wasn't pretty.

We practiced passing at indoor practice on Wednesday, this time setting up the pass by skating deeper at the apex of the corner. "Deeper" really only means a half-person width because otherwise the set up would be too obvious. My trouble with this drill was that I simply could not judge how much space I need when I squeeze back in the pack. There were a couple of times that I abandoned my pass and swerved out of the track because I thought for sure that I couldn't squeeze in without colliding with someone. By the third time, I decided to just make my way in and lo and behold, I collided with someone and fell down hard. My knees are all bruised now.

I was quite distracted/discouraged at Thursday's ice practice. I could barely bend my knees without feeling lots of pain and my legs were weak from the strength-training session in the morning. There were lots of skating in this practice and honestly, I took it easy. I just couldn't get on the left outside edge most of the time so crossovers was kinda out of the question. At the end, I felt like I wasted a practice session.

I got talked into skating the ice session at the Toronto Speed Skating Club on Sunday evening. I'm usually tired after the Sunday morning indoor practice and dryland, so much so that I had to go home and nap. However, with so many things to do, even making the drive to the arena was tough. I skated both the beginner and intermediate sessions and all I can say was my legs did not feel like they belong to me anymore. I was a little frustrated at myself for being the significantly slowest inliner at the practice as well. Later in the evening, I spoke with SZ. Her encouragement made me feel a lot better...

I'm training hard and putting in the hard work now to skate faster and better in future. Although I don't have much result to show yet, I know that my effort will not go to waste.

Working Hard

So it's been a week of hardly any updates. However, it surely doesn't mean the same old same old at practices!

I find it interesting how the same topic would pop up again and again from seemingly unrelated places. On Monday's New Year Skate, AH mentioned how he's working on initiating the movement from the hips instead of the shoulders/upper body. I didn't pay much attention to this comment at the time but coincidentally, coach MM made that very same comment on Tuesday's short track practice at Brampton. We were working on our pushes in the straights and the drill was to reach the other end of the rink in 4 pushes from a complete standstill. He said that in order to put more power in the push, we need to put all the weight on one leg, push the hips in the direction of travel, and land on the outside edge of the other skate. I had much trouble with this drill on ice but the points that coach MM made stayed fresh in my memory on Wednesday night's inline practice. During the warm up, I skated behind JaP and naturally I tried to copy what he was doing. What really stood out about his skating (or what I was paying attention to anyway) was that he glided on one skate for a long time before falling onto the other skate in the straights. This prolonged gliding felt very similar to coach MM's demonstration on ice.

Practice on Wednesday also included much work on the left leg push in the corners. I am slowly getting more comfortable with leaning a little more in the corners and occasionally I even knew for certain that I set down on my left outside edge. Progress comes slowly but during the long warm ups and the distance skate session on Sunday mornings, I am getting more confident of staying in the pack when it is going at a moderate pace. I spend less time playing catch-up but instead concentrate on staying in the draft. I think this change came about because I am finally losing less speed in the corners. It's encouraging to see things moving in the right direction.

Alright, Two Bad Practices In A Row

I'm not really in the mood to elaborate on how frustrated I feel right now. In a nutshell, I'm quite angry at myself. I had a weird fall during warm up in inline practice last night. Coming just out of the corner, I did a face plant in slow motion and landed heavily on both my knees and my left elbow. It was one of those falls that I sensed it coming yet was powerless to stop it. I knew immediately after the fall that it was more serious than my typical tumble because I had to sit out to compose myself for a little while. I had trouble bending my knees from the scratches for the rest of practice. I kind of fumbled through the right leg push drills and the starts (dead last every single time). I didn't really give it much thought except an occasional "geez, I'm super slow today".

What I thought were little scratches here and there turned into swollen bruises this morning. I limped around the office all day, wasn't too looking forward to ice practice at all. On the bright side, once I started moving, the pain wasn't all that bad. It was only the initial bending of the joints that bothered me. However, as soon as I stepped on the ice, bending my knees was an exercise in willpower every stride. In retrospect, the pain wasn't really THAT bad but it was enough to totally distract me from the drills at hand.

We practiced tight turns with two-foot pivot, left outside edge, and right inside edge. This exercise wasn't so bad. I actually went from not being able to turn the corner on my left outside edge at all to slowly completing the turn at snail pace. Unfortunately, once we started to skate laps (5+3+3+5), I totally fell apart. I would start the first lap with somewhat recognizable crossovers and slowly degenerated to gliding the corners with flailing arms. It was rather embarrassing...I got so mad at myself for my lack of effort yet at the same time, pouting and sulking my way through the drill. I really should have just step off the ice.

I stayed on, however, and went through the bucket drill (love the bucket drill) and the crossover drill (same as what we did on Tuesday in Brampton). I hope my knees heal quickly so I can break this string of bad practices when Sunday rolls around.

Cry baby, I behaved like a cry baby today. I'm sooooo embarrassed of myself.

Ice Practice: 12/19/2006

me: "Oh, I didn't realize it's a race..."

coach MM: "Of course it's a race. If there're more than one person on the ice, it's a race."

I think this is one important lesson I learned at practice today. We were in the middle of a drill which coach MM divided the group to two and sent off two skaters at intervals to skate one and a half lap of crossovers around the center circle. MM was all excited, calling out to everyone to skate fast, and egging us on with "he's catching up on you!". I was still in the mindset of our previous crossover technique drill hence the above conversation. I suppose this competitive way of thinking is necessary in a sport which speed and strategy play such an important role. Unlike some other areas of my life, sitting back and letting other people pass me by is not an option.

The practice today focused back on crossovers. We practiced stepping over around a circle in both clockwise and counter-clockwise directions, skating forward then backward. MM explained the correlation between how much the body leans, speed, and the radius of the circle of which we skate. We took turns practicing crossovers around the circle and experimented with how adjusting one of these three factors would trigger changes in the other two. Also, MM emphasized that we should lift the skate over the other foot instead of sweeping from the front. If we swing the leg to the front before placing it on the other side of the other skate, the forward motion would cause the body to pitch backwards which totally throws off the balance.

Leaning in with the hips is also one thing that we should do in the corners. RH demonstrated for us a really cool drill that forces us to do the hip check. When we glide the corner on two skates, reach for the back of the left heel with our right hand. I think I will try this drill on my inlines too and see if it helps.

Practice wrapped up with relays with the third hour skaters. I have so much trouble with the timing of the exchanges...sorry SH...

Ice Practice: 12/12/2006

Last week's practice at BOSS was all about crossovers around the circle. For a change of things, coach MM had us working on straights this week. When skating the straights, we should really only have one skate on the ice at any given time. From the set down to the end of a push, we would roll from the outside edge to the inside edge as the weight transfer happens. Most of the practice today involved skating a zigzag pattern around the blocks, rolling from outside to inside edge. Suffice to say, I did not progress very far since I had trouble to even glide on one skate.

The 3rd hour skaters joined the practice and we practiced relays. In order to keep the faster skaters' speed in check, they were only allow to push with the right leg in the corners. Having five teams of five circling around the ice all at the same time was a little dizzying. Another variation of relays was for us to push other skaters in our team around the track in basic position. With so many people on the ice, sometimes it is easy to forget who your teammates are. It happened during one of my exchanges that my teammate came speeding out of the corner because he thought another skater ahead was me instead. LOL.

Another 10 laps of skating and it was time for me to get off the ice.

Ice Practice: 11/30/2006

Repetition is good because practice makes permanent and I got to practice the same couple of things over and over again in today's practice. Leaning continued to be the focus. We practiced crossover in small circles with a partner holding on to the skater's right arm for support. As expected, I started off this drill very awkward, so much so that I could barely get the two of us moving around the circle at all. However, after a while, I got onto the left outside edge more reliably and was able to feel how the leaning, the edges, the pushing, and the crossing worked together. It was like slowly watching a jigsaw puzzle come together to a recognizable picture.

We also repeated the hip check/leaning drill from last week which we skated between the centers of two face-off circle. One big difference that I noticed this week was that I finally was able to grip the ice with my left outside edge. My body alignment was still totally out of wack but this left outside edge business means a lot to me. It means that I no longer endure the wobbly slippery effect from gliding on the flat of the blade. Honestly, I was doing a happy dance in my head.

Practice wrapped up with an elimination race. To my surprise, I was not the first skater to be eliminated. How did that happen?

[wiggle wiggle, happy dance continued all the way in my drive home]

Ice Practice: 11/28/2006

I just found out that the club changed the practice schedule so that second hour skaters and third hour skaters now only have a 30-minute overlap in practice time. I heard a few different opinions on this change, some more convincing than others. Personally, I think practicing with the third hour skaters is a great learning opportunity. They have better technique, they're faster, and they have more racing experience. However, on the flip side, having a smaller group on the ice for the first half of practice means getting more individual attention from the coach. I believe that is the most convincing reason for the schedule change although I really think the original practice is just fine.

Our practice began with 15 laps of slow and low skating. Coach LM told me to have bigger recovery with the trailing skate's blade pointing down towards the ice. We did 10 starts next from one end of the rink to the other. I don't know how to run yet. LM told us to keep the arm swing close to the body for a more compact profile. Of course, we should pull the knees up during the acceleration.

We did some crossover drills. The first one was gliding on the left outside edge with the right leg extended. The second drill was to cross the right skate over the left and hold the crossed position. The final drill was to a few continuous crossovers around the circle. I like these crossover drills because I could focus on the same exercise with lots of repetition.

After the crossover drills, we had to put them to use when skating on the track. We glided on one leg in the straight and crossover in the corners. Thus the crossover should accelerate enough to keep us moving in this exercise. I like this exercise because I typically would lose enough speed through the gliding to enter the corner sufficiently slow to do the crossovers.

Our practice wrapped up with a game of mat dive. It was a nice change of pace to enjoy a fun game.

Ice Practice: 11/23/2006

Last Thursday was the end of the 80/20 program which we spent 80% of the practice time on technical drills. The focus from now on shifts to intensity as can be seen in our session today. After a bit of warm up, we worked on leaning in pairs with the skater on the outside holding on to the skater leaning to the inside of the circle. We skated around and around until our wrists hurt from pulling each other...I still don't "get it". If only I can convince my brother to help me with this drill at one of the public skating sessions...

Next was hip check in the corners. Coach EG set up blocks in the centre of each face-off circle and we were to skate an elongated oval around a pair of blocks. Simply put, I was not able to do any hip checks.  I fared a little better when we need to glide on right inside edge around the blocks but was a total mess for left outside edge.

The reminder of the practice was intensity-focus with a somewhat interval-training exercise. The group was divided into two by ability levels and took to the ice in alternating turns. My group were to skate 4+5+6+7+4 laps. Even with my complete lack of crossovers, I tried my best to keep up with the front of my group. So exactly what I did in the corners? I skated the corners with my very clumsy version of right leg push. It was not a pretty sight.

Before we wrapped up practice, EG briefly went over the topic of arm swing. The arm should swing close to the body in a front to back motion. The hand should relax with an open palm. The arm swing should end with the hand about the forehead. The arm should not cross the midline of the body because the excessive side to side movement would twist the body and throw off the balance.

Recently, I've seen a change in me regarding my attitude for ice. I'm no longer anxious to learn quickly nor do I feel troubled by my slow progress. In other words, I accepted the fact that I'm a slow learner. There are a lot of things to learn and improvement must happen at its own pace. I'm glad that I'm enjoying practice once again.

Ice Practice: 11/21/2006

Before I get into the details of the practice, I want to write down an amusing exchange when I introduced myself to coach MM.

CW: Hi Mike, I don't think I've introduced myself yet. I'm Candy. Nice to meet you.

MM: Hi Candy, nice to meet you too.

S: Hey, you're Super Skater Girl! I saw your video on the TISC website.

CW [blush]: Yup, that's me.

MM: So you're an inliner? Outdoor or indoor? Have you ever fallen on inlines?

CW [more blushing]: As a matter of fact, many times.

This conversation really sums it up how uncomfortable I am when I skate on ice. I'm so stiff that it looks as if I'm really afraid of falling even though I endure much worse falls on my inlines or even snowboarding.

There were close to forty skaters on the ice today so coach MM divided us into smaller groups to work on the drills. First we practiced track patterns by skating behind better skaters, single file. Next we did circle drills again for some left foot gliding, right foot gliding, crossover, two feet gliding, and right leg push. This drill was completed once in counter-clockwise and once in clockwise direction. The second half of the practice was filled with many laps of skating. I tried hard to relax and remembered to skate upright with knees over toes. Perhaps I was imagining things but I seemed to skated just that tiny bit faster. Still a long way to go.

Ice Practice: 11/16/2006

I had a great practice today because we didn't cover too many different material and had lots of time to practice each drill over and over again. After a few warm up laps (skated upright, knees over toes), we were divided into four groups of different abilities. Each group took up a hockey circle. We were to practice weight transfer in preparation for crossovers. Strangely enough, the drill was awfully similar to an ice-dance chasse, except with much less grace and some stomping. Coach EG reminded us to keep a few key points in mind including hip check, landing on the outside edge of the left skate, and leaning into the circle. As expected, I had much trouble with the leaning. EG tried to explain to me by standing on my left side and told me to "fall" while stationary because he would stop me from falling. I understand the theory of this drill but my body does not. However, one good thing that came out of this drill was that I got a lot more comfortable gliding on one skate.

Next we repeated the painful drill from last week with crossing and uncrossing the legs across the width of the rink three times. Instead of keeping my arms resting on my back, I did the drill with matching right arm swing. Arm swing in the right way (as oppose to the opposite way) has never been a natural thing for me so at least it kept my mind occupy enough to ignore some of the pain from the legs.

Finally, we went back to our circles for crossovers. My timing for the crossovers was way off which made for an almost non-existent weight transfer. I wasn't leaning much either. On the bright side, I managed to get on a shallow left outside edge 80% of the time. I wasn't slipping too much any more!

With the upcoming ability meet in Brampton, we went over starts. There are two start positions, one more difficult than the other. The harder one involve digging the tip of the blade of one skate into the ice to keep the skater steady. The easier one is the same as what I've been doing in inline practice. However, the key thing is most of the weight must be on the front skate. The front skate should be on an outside edge and the back skate should be on the inside edge. EG explained that track and field sprinters start with their hands on the ground because the force from the falling motion helps to propel them forward as fast as possible. This same principal applies to our start. With the weight on the front skate, we fall forward during start and stop the falling when the back leg lands in the front. Now it all makes sense!

To end practice, we enjoyed a game of bucket relay. The group was divided into two teams. Each member of the team was responsible of pushing an inverted bucket while skating down the length of the rink and back. EG reminded us to mind out technique and although my team lacked some of the faster skaters in our session, both teams should be on equal ground. This comment really puzzled me...technique with a bucket?! I found out soon enough when it was my turn to skate. First, to reach for the bucket, we had to skate low with more knee bend than usual. Secondly, with the help of a bucket, I did not worry too much about falling. For a brief moment, I was able to push hard, throw in a little weight transfer, and thought that I was actually comfortable on these skates! I remember a few weeks ago during my first time on ice, coach LM smilingly asked me if I would need a bucket. I thought he was joking but now that I think back on it, perhaps it's not such a silly idea after all.

Ice Practice: 11/14/2006

Practice today began in a rather unconventional manner as everyone stared at the malfunctioning zamboni in the middle of the ice, unable to move. After numerous attempts, the driver finally was able to start the motor again so he quickly parked the zomboni back in the garage. As a result, the ice today was rather rough.

During warm up, L got all the slower skaters to skate close to the middle of rink. I must remember that because it is the exact opposite of our outdoor inline practice. Coach MM hurt his ankle so he conducted practice from the benches. We began with five different groups. He assigned a different drill on each hockey circle and the groups rotated from circle to circle for some technical exercises. We glided on left skate, glided on left skate while bending and unbending the knee, glided on right skate, glided on right skate while bending and bending the knee, and crossover. This drill was skated once in counter-clockwise and once in clockwise direction. Coach MM reminded me that I should remain upright, only pushing the knees forward over the toes because it would help me to get more comfortable on the skates.

We also did relays in groups of 4 during this practice. It was very...crowded. However, since I was skating with three little girls in my team, I didn't have to worry about being pushed too hard. LOL.

After I finished skating the second hour, I decided to stay and watch the third hour practice. They did a quite a few 2 lap races in three different ability groups. I was standing by coach MM and listening to his comments for each skater. It was immensely helpful to watch the skating and immediately have coach pointed out the weaknesses. Coach MM asked me what was different between my skating and the skaters in the rink. The laundry list of things that I need to work on just roll off my tongue including:

• I'm skating on the inside edge. When I try to skate on the outside edge, I usually just end up on the flat of the blade and slip.
• Not enough knee bend.
• Body's out of alignment.
• Not leaning in the corner.
• Body's too stiff.

Coach MM then asked me so what did he tell me in the last practice. All I could think of was that he called me chicken (for not leaning in the corners). But no....SKATE UPRIGHT with knees over toes!!! I have to remember to do that until I can comfortably find my balance.

It's good to see fellow inliners PD and TS at practice. SH also brought her brother RH to practice. There's an upcoming meet hosted at Brampton this Sunday. I think I'll drop by after inline practice to watch the races.

Ice Practice: 11/09/2006

Today's practice revisited the speedskating push and gliding the corners with all the weight on the left leg. We are slowly adding drills to build up to doing crossovers and the most memorable one was stepping one foot over another in basic position across the width of the rink three times. This drill began in the basic position, lift the right skate over the left, and uncross the leg back to the basic position. It is important to pay attention to the edges. the left skate must stay on the outside edge at all times. The body should not bob up and down. By the time I completed the second width across the rink, I was exhausted. One of the coaches was checking my progress as I was about 3 crosses away from the finish. All I could thought of was this is about the time that I wanted to kill myself. My legs muscles were burning and I was in much pain.

Training can be so painful sometimes.

I try to stay relax throughout the practice but I find that I usually tense up more as I get tired. Two things, first, get stronger so I don't tired out so easily. Secondly, make a more conscious effort to relax my muscles for the entire practice.

Ice Practice: 11/07/2006

Today was the first time that I skated with the adult group on Tuesday practices and I'm really glad I did. Our coach MM's way of coaching is very different from what I've seen from other coaches so far. I like his coaching style and hope that I'll learn much from him.

Our session began with lots of crossover drills in the middle of the ice because we wanted to wait for the freshly zombonied track to dry first. We first started off with very technique-focused crossovers, then accelerated to crossover with lots of speed, and finally crossover low enough that the knees would hit the chest with every stride. It was amazing to watch MM and the group 1 and 2 skaters to practice this drill. When it was my turn, I gave it my best. I have not had any success with crossover on ice because every time I glide on my left skate, it would slip under me. So there I was, puttering along, when something strange happened...my left skate started gripping the ice!! This means I finally glided on the outside edge instead of the flat of the blade. I was ecstatic.

Next coach put the group in pairs with opposite abilities. As the slowest skater in the group, I was paired with JP. The exercise is to learn to lean into the corner so each pair skated round the circle holding hands, with the stronger skater on the outside holding onto the other skater. It was a similar drill that coach ARA worked with me last Sunday. JP emphasized that I need to set down on an outside edges so that the skate will grip the ice immediately. This is something that I need to work on because I still skate on the flat of the blade more often than not.

The rest of the practice involved lots of skating around (3 laps on, rest, and repeat). Coach MM pointed out that I really need to relax when skating because I was so stiff that I skated like a stick figure. In order to help me relax, he told me to just skate upright and swing my arms. What do you know, as soon as I relaxed just that tiny bit, I was already going faster even with the poorest technique imagineable. Go figure.

Another thing that coach MM wanted me to work on was leaning in the corner. He told me to forget about doing crossovers for now, just glide the corners. However, I should pay attention to gliding on the left outside edge and right inside edge and LEAN!!! He said that it's a matter of the "chicken factor" and I need to overcome that fear of falling.

I really like skating in this session. Edges and leaning...I'll concentrate on these two for the next little while.

Ice Practice: 11/02/2006

To my surprise, I have shown some miniscule progress in practice today. The focus today was on the speedskating push which we began with holding the recovery position before weight transfer and land on the other leg. We first emulated this series of action while holding onto the boards. I felt more secure pushing with my right skate as expected. Once we began skating, coach set up the rink into four lanes and we basically skated up and down the lanes practicing the speedskating push. I thought for sure that I would be an absolute mess in this exercise because to this day, I still couldn't quite skate on one skate, especially holding the recovery position. To my surprise, I was actually about to do that!!! How's that for a pleasant surprise? I sure hope that this is a sign of more good things to come.

Mind you, I'm still the slowest skater on the ice and I have yet to get comfortable even just skating/gliding. However, any progress is good.

In Need Of Self-Cheerleading

Give me a "C"!

Give me an "A"!

Give me a "N"!

Give me a "D"!

Give me a "Y"!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CANDY!!!!

Okay, I feel a little better now. Part of the reason that I started blogging is to have a little space for some self-cheerleading. Honestly, I know that there are days when I don't feel good about the way I skate or in the case of today, the way that I cannot skate.

Practice began today with low and slow skating for warm up. We then lined up against the boards to calibrate our push position. Things to pay attention to include lining up the front of both skates in a straight line, the gliding leg should be on the outside edge, get the gliding leg under the body to line up nose-knee-toe, and the extension of the pushing leg is dependent on how low you're skating. Next, we did single sculling along the length of the ice and checked for the same things while moving. Lastly, we skated around the track doing single sculling with the left leg on one side and the right leg on the other.

Funnily enough, we did an obstacle course in today's practice too. Basically we did single leg slalom down the straightaway, continued skating on one leg, double slalom down the other straightaway, a few shape turns at the corner, and repeat all over again. It was a good drill to train for skating on the different edges and endurance. We also did a follow the leader drill while skating around and around the rink. The practice ended with more skating around the rink.

It wasn't a crappy practice, really. However, it was one of those practices that I just felt absolutely horrible. It was frustrating that I still cannot glide on any edges nor balance on one skate. I know that I will grow to like this but I certainly don't right now. Time to keep my head down, work hard hard hard, because I will not see immediate improvement anytime soon.

To put things in perspective, it took me a whole season to learn to do the salchow. For the first two months of inline skating at TISC, I got lapped when we did technical drills for eight laps on a 200m track. I spent one season on the bunny slope before I could link turns on my snowboard. There, with such an illustrious track record, I shouldn't be surprise that I'm learning slowly. I will be able to speed skate on ice some day. I know that because I'm too stubborn to give up. Just not today, or perhaps this season, that's all.

The Blade Doesn't Scratch Anymore

After much procrastination, I finally adjusted the blade on my left skate. I tried out the new setting today and was relieve when I could finally glide without scratching. It's not like I can comfortably glide on one skate in recovery position yet. However, it is feeling much better than last week and I'm happy to see any small improvement.

The bad news is I've gotten into the habit of not putting much weight on my left skate because it always slipped under my foot to unexpected direction in the last three weeks. Of course, floating on the ice on that blade would only make it more slippery. This is perhaps the reason why I can glide better on my right skate than my left. I'm not afraid of putting weight on my right skate at all. My plan is to consciously disobey my instinct whenever my left leg touches the ice.

When we did crossover drills around a hockey circle today, every time I lifted my right leg over my left, my left foot just slipped sideways without gripping the ice. For that alone, it was an interesting drill.

We ended practice with an obstacle course built with crash pads. It was a good exercise to train agility but I felt really out of place. Fortunately, I'll start skating with the adults in the 2nd hour of practice next time I return.

My video from Sunday is now available. Sigh, watching myself skate on video is always such a humbling experience but that's how I can learn. To look at it differently, fixing my technique problems is a great way to eliminate dorky racing pictures in future. Of course I want to look cool in my racing pictures...who doesn't?

Haahaa, I'm motivated by photo-ops.

Ice Practice: Week 3

Since I'll miss the practice on Thursday due to other engagements, I figure I may as well post about my practice notes early. We began warm up by gliding in basic position and recovery position back and forth between the blue lines non-stop. It's much harder to get the legs warm on ice. After a little of skating around the rink, we took turns to learn starts. We stepped up to the line with the skates in a T. When coach L called "ready", we bent the front leg with only the tip of the blade on the ice. This would prevent us from sliding. Once we took off, don't be gentle and glide! The blade can take lots of abuse. The arm swing is important because arm swing drives the leg speed. It is important to keep the arms close to the body otherwise the arms would throw off the balance.

We began to learn crossover this week by first practicing the lift and over motion against the boards. The key is to bend the inside leg otherwise it would be practically impossible to do. Next, we skated around the rink. As we came to the center of the circle (the ice is of course painted with hockey lines and circles so it is easy to determine the location with respect to the painting), we got into basic position, crossover, and glided the corner holding the crossover position. Since I still feel very unstable on my left skate, it took some leap of faith every time I lift the right skate over my left. Hopefully I will become more comfortable with this motion.

The last exercise of the day was a balancing drill. We skated in a single file (well, sort of) while coach L called out instruction for us to skate in recovery position, shoot the duck, hypoglide with one skate off the ice, etc. I felt a lot better on my right skate than last week.

Remember that I'm taking the Learn To Speed Skate with all the kids? We ended practice with a game of crash pad dive. Coach L divided us into three teams with one crash pad each. One member of the team skated full speed towards the crash pad and dove onto the pad. Once the pad stopped skidding forward, the skater would get up, skate to the end of the rink, and skate back when the next member repeat this process over again. Once the crash pad reached the end of the rink, the whole team would skate over and push the pad back to the other end. Our team won (gee, I think my size gave us an unfair advantage...)! It was actually a very fun exercise because I skated faster than I ever did in the last three weeks in hopes of winning. So I may not be as unstable on my skates as I previously thought.

Ice Practice: Week 2

If memory serves me right, the last time I attempted to learn a brand new skill was four years ago with snowboarding and figure skating. Since then, although I picked up softball, inline speedskating, and dragonboating, none of them has the really steep learning curve that takes the joy away from the activity itself. Although I eventually learn to ride down a hill with ease and do a few jumps on my skates, it took a long time for me to become proficient enough to enjoy the activity. Mind you, even though I suck at learning new sports, it never stops me from going back week after week, fall after fall. After all, I am very persistent (or stubborn, depending on your point of view).

I think speedskating on ice is turning out to be a similar experience. When I struggle across the ice at snail pace, I keep on telling myself that I am putting in the hard work right now so that I can eventually glide with speed, confidence, and hopefully some grace. It doesn't look like it will happen any time soon but I just have to believe that it will come true, eventually.

On Tuesday's practice, we learned the basic position, recovery position, and push position against the board. In addition, we also did drills on gliding in basic position, recovery position, and single sculling around a circle to get us used to pushing to the side. We ended the practice with playing asteroids. Oh, did I mention that I'm in the beginner session with all the kids? Being the oldest student in the class gives me flashback of my days in swim class [shudder]. Fortunately, I've also grown less self conscious in the last 15 years so taking lessons with the kids does not bother me at all.

On Thursday, we also learned about the basic position but the focus of the practice was on find the edges. We did drills on gliding forward in basic position, gliding forward in basic position on the outside edges with fists between the knees, double sculling, and gliding backward in basic position. The last exercise was quite interesting. We started off with basic position with one arm pushing against the boards. We took small steps away from boards so that eventually we lean on a deep outside edge with only one skate on the ice. The point of this exercise is to feel the edge grabbing the ice when so much weight is put on it. It is the beginning of learning how to corner.

On my way home, I suddenly remember something that my figure skating coach told me long ago. I was doing a 3-turn and she commented that the reason for my out of control 3-turn was because I just floated on the ice without putting any weight on the blade. Between this and the exercise that we did today, I think I know why I feel so unstable on these speedskates. Something to remember for next practice.

Man, Those Blades Are Thin

I went to my first practice tonight at Oakville Speed Skating Club. This was my first time ever on speed skates and well, I could barely stay on my feet. Before practice began, MaO'D showed us how to sharpen the skates. He first mounted the skates up-side-down on the jig with the blades facing up. Using the large rough side of a grinding stone, he rubbed the stone at an angle to the left up and down the length of the blade 20 times. Next, he switched the angle towards the right for another 20 times. This whole process was repeated again with the front of the skates facing the opposite direction. Once that was done, he used the smooth surface of the stone and ran it across the blade about 5 times. Finally, he used a small piece of stone to smooth out each side of the blade to remove any burrs.

During warm up, my left skate kept on running away from me. I was trying to feel the outside edge but as soon as I did so, the blade slipped into unexpected direction and I found myself sliding across the ice on my butt. The blades of the speed skates felt so much more unstable than my figure skates. Who knew the thickness of the blade and the lack of rocker would cause such a big impact on finding my balance?

Since coach EG was away this week, MO'D filled in to coach our session. We began with the basic position and the recovery position, then quickly moved on to hypoglide, hypoglide while lifting the pushing leg, and finally a complete push with recovery. During any of the one-legged glide exercise, I found that I could balance on my right leg with more ease than my left. This was rather strange because my left leg is typically my stronger leg. One of the key points that coach MO'D pointed out was that skating should be quiet. He said that a mistake that many beginners make is not lifting the blade off the ice during recovery. We ended our practice with skating around the rink doing push and recovery in the straightaway.

MaO'D said that we'll be doing 500m time trials next week so that we can measure our progress come January. I have a feeling that I'll be the slowest one on the ice!

I checked the skates after I got home. It appears that the blade on the left skate is set up such that the back of the blade points outside (i.e. it is to the left of my Ahilles tendon). I compared it to the right skate and comfirmed that I wasn't seeing things. I'll talk to other people in the club next time to ask for some advice.

Winter Schedule

Starting this week, I kick off my winter training. On Tuesdays, I train with Brampton Ontario Speed Skating. Thursdays are practices with Oakville Speed Skating Club. Come November, I will join the beginnger/intermediate group at Scooter's for inline skating indoors. As for the remaining days of the week, I'll be busy at the gym or snowboarding. I decided to pass on figure skating this season because frankly, I'm going to be busy!

I don't think skating two nights a week is too much. From past experiences, I know that I improve much quicker with two instead of one practice per week. Everybody's been telling me that learning speed skating on ice will be very difficult so I fully expect to spend a lot of time falling on my butt/knees. Hopefully the learning process will not be as painful as I anticipate.