Dream Chaser On Wheels

I Can't Do That While Training

My year is divided into three distinct periods: competition season, off season, and October. During competition season and off season, my training workload is demanding in different ways but my body needs to be in good shape nonetheless. October is the only time of year when I can do things that I normally have to push aside because they interfere with training. Such things include:

Traveling For Fun

If you know me for any length of time, you probably know that my idea of traveling for fun includes seeking out good eats everywhere I go. My mantra of "lean protein, no refine carbs" will have to take a backseat. This year, I will be traveling to New York City and Hong Kong. I expect to do some serious eating in both cities. Can you say dessert walking tour?

Annual Body Check Up

I am a strong believer in keeping track of my medical history. As much as I hate going to the doctor's, I insist on getting my annual body check up done for no better reason than record keeping. If I fall ill or get into an accident, my complete medical history is readily available to spot out trends.

Blood Donation

As long as I am healthy, donating blood is one small thing that I can do to help others (not that I can help many people. Only 3% of the population can use my blood according to Canadian Blood Services). I used to donate regularly before I got into training seriously. However, the body takes a long time to recover from the blood loss and it affects my training. I still want to help so October is the only time of year when I can afford to donate.

Wisdom Tooth Extraction

I had three of my wisdom teeth extracted years ago before I went to university. It was a traumatic experience as I lay awake to the sound of the drill and the smell of blood. For an entire week, I survived on yogurt and ice-cream while I waited for those three gaping holes to close. My last wisdom tooth is now fully grown yet I have been putting off the extraction because of that horrific experience. Unfortunately, for the sake of my dental health, it is in my best interest to get it done sooner rather than later. I'll bite the bullet this October. If I'm in a good mood, perhaps I'll even immortalize this occasion with a picture of me with puffy chipmunk cheek.

Skating In Costume & Pancake Make Up

October is the month of Zombie Walk and Halloween Night Skate. Time to dust off my rec skates and my stage make up kit! Hmm, I have yet to come up with a costume this year. Suggestions welcome...

Fitness VS Technique

As I progress from a beginner skater, I skate with many different skaters, each posessing of their own unique combination of fitness and technique. A skater can be fast because he is physically strong. Ultimately though, to take your skating to the next level, building strong technique is your ticket.

I have been thinking about my own combination of skating characteristics and this is what I come up with:

Can you tell that I used to be a RPG gamer?

I think my progress this season is mostly a direct result of some much improved fitness from off-season training. In my opinion, I do not notice a vast improvement in my technique. There are a few key weaknesses in my technique that will limit my growth as a skater. I understand that improvement in technique is gradual and I just have to slowly keep working on them. However, it is a worry that hangs over my head...

Unexpected

I saw this silhouette of a speed skater a few weeks ago in the Distillery District. It reminded me how elegant the body can move in this sport. Can you spot out why this picture is unusual?

I have had many pictures taken while skating. Sure my recent pictures don't make me blush as much as some of my earlier ones. Sadly, I have yet to own one which can make me exclaim "gosh I look like a speedskater!". It may sound strange but this is actually one motivation for me to improve on my skating technique. All these hours of hardwork for a photo-op? Oooo, the vanity!

Skater Fashion Faux Pas

I went to our home track late in the afternoon for my delayed interval sessions. I've heard often how skaters work so hard in training that they had to vomit though I have never come anywhere near that...until today. Those ten minutes of intervals was probably one of the most physically demanding ten minutes I've endured so far. When I came to my last two reps, I slowed down considerably for the simple reason that I was trying hard to hold it in. Yuck.

Skinsuit is one of those rite of passage thing for anyone first taking up speedskating. In my club, a skater typically start off with baggy shirts and baggy shorts before progressing to more slim-cut clothing made of technical fabric. For some, the transition to skinsuit is pretty quick but for others, they may never feel comfortable with a one-piece skin tight garment. That's all fine and dandy but recently I come to the realization that there is also a time and place for skinsuit. If you are one of the skinsuit advocates, have you ever show up in a social skate decked out in all your Bont/Luigino/club suit glory only to discover everyone around you are in T-shirt and shorts? I have, far too many times, and frankly feel stupid every time.

Your choice of skating attire can say so much without you even uttering a single word. A few weeks ago, I showed up at practice unprepared so I ended up skating in my T-shirt and low-rise jeans (very very bad idea). I thought it would be amusing if in lieu of matching skinsuits, our relay team come dressed in matching T-shirt and jeans. Coach AH immediately responded "Only if you win the race". I suppose there is the notion that showing up at the race with "inappropriate" clothing is a sign of disrespect for your competitors. So if you end up getting your butt kicked, it's a double whammy that you can't live up to your arrogance.

I'm not sure I like this whole idea of conformance though it is something amusing to think about.

"Rock Those Edges"

Although DA is one of the fastest skaters in our club, he is not necessarily one who is quick to offer unsolicited advices. We carpooled to Detroit a couple of weekends ago. During those many hours of driving, we had a chance to chat about many things, skating or non-skating related. When describing his warm up before the race, he used a phrase that I really like..."rock those edges". I was skating behind him during warm up so I have a complete picture of exactly what he meant by that phrase. In every stride, there was a very clear distinctive outside edge setdown, a powerful underpush, followed by a smooth rolling over to the inside edge to complete the push. Someday, I will be able to have such good control of the edges too. On my road to achieve this, "rock those edges" will be my mantra.

DA did give me some advices and what he told me was completely unexpected. I would imagine with so many flaws to pick apart about my skating technique, he would probably say something along the lines of pronation, incomplete recovery, two-footing, not fully extending my pushing leg, etc...basically feedback that I've heard from many different skaters over the last couple of years. Instead, he told me that I already know how to skate (I do?). What I need to do is to skate without thinking through every little movement along the way. Just skate in a flowing and fluid manner. The day when I am able to skate with flow will be the day I throw my Robogirl moniker out the window.

Because It's Suppose To Be Fun

To be honest, I was feeling a little blah over the long weekend about training. Getting myself out of bed was hard (the bed won two days in a row, by the way) and dragging myself to the trail or track for yet another training session was the last thing I wanted to do. In the end, I slept a lot, worked hard on Friday and Saturday, and did a recovery ride on Sunday. Today was the last day of the long weekend. With a race looming on Saturday, I deviated from my training program for some much needed re-energizing. I met up with the folks from Toronto Bicycling Network for the Victoria Day Fireworks Skate.

A few fellow TISC members decided to have a pre-skate on the Martin Goodman Trail East for an hour so I gladly joined in. It was another windy day today (since when is it not a windy day this season?) so it was nice to have some impressive tailwind going east and I put up a good fight with the headwind going west. Actually, I really didn't mind the wind all that much considering how often we train on windy days anyway. It was all the curbs, crosswalks, and railway track crossing that had me worry. My street skating skill leaves much to be desired. It's not so bad if we just move along at a moderate speed because I knew I would have plenty of time to react. However, sprinting full speed into unknown obstacles on the course is not something I'm comfortable with. In the end, it turned into a workout with lots of slowing down and speeding up. Not a bad outcome at all.

During the fireworks night skate, we skated through a very congested trail in the dark. It was actually lots of fun. Had my rec skates not lying in pieces all over my basement, I would probably have changed into them for this portion of the evening. Heehee, everybody else did. Without a brake to rely on, I surprised myself that I tagged along with the group just fine. RD found us a prime spots to enjoy the fireworks which lit up the sky. As I was sitting on the lawn admiring the colourful twinkling sparks, I remember that skating is fun. If not for skating, I would not have met all these wonderful friends who share lots of special memories with me. Training can be hard sometimes but skating is more than just about training. I am thankful that my friends reminded me why skating is fun.

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.

Acceleration

Lately I've been giving more thoughts about acceleration and the crucial role it plays in racing. Simply being able to skate fast at a constant speed means exactly that...you can hold a certain pace. How long does it take to reach that speed though? Whether you're reacting to a change of pace in the pack or you're trying to initiate such a change, a skater with a good acceleration definitely has an advantage.

I have much trouble reacting to change of pace in the pack in the corners. Whenever the pack jams up and accelerates, chances are I end up watching a gap form in front of me and cannot do anything about it. I would spend my time catching up to the pack in the straights, only to be gapped again in the next corner, and so the vicious cycle continues until I get dropped out of exhaustion. This happens at almost every practice, constantly reminding me to improve on my acceleration.

Control is one thing that coach AA discussed with us during the indoor season. If you know that you have a long distance to bring up your speed, the acceleration should be gradual for best efficiency (think long powerful strides). However, if you have to accelerate quickly, fast legs is what gets you there. In the last couple of weeks, coach PD repeatedly emphasized the importance of staying low during acceleration. Staying low, fast legs, big recovery, driving my knees forward, and arm swing....they have yet to come together at the same time during my skating. It's a lot to think about. Ironically though, the key is NOT to think about them. With enough practice, the body would learn to do them on autopilot and that's the time when everything comes together.

Choices And Inspiration

It's been three days since I last skated and it certainly feels a little strange. It was on and off drizzling rain so the dampness combined with the cold temperature was rather unpleasant to say the least. At Thursday's club practice, I did something that I haven't done before. The sky threatened to rain several times, spitting down droplets of rain, and we were unsure if practice could proceed. After standing around in uncertainty for a while, I decided to pack it in and head over to the gym instead for an indoor workout.

It may appear that I was a wimp. The way I see it, I could stay around for the sake of just staying on skates. However, with the uncertain weather, would the quality of training be worthwhile? Would my time be better spent on an indoor workout instead? I chose the latter. With only a limited amount of time I can spend on training, these are the kind of decisions that I need to make. In retrospect, I really can't say if it was a smart decision or not.

On days like these, motivation is hard to come by yet many of us in the club still commit ourselves to training. It got me thinking...what exactly inspired me to take on this mindset? I remember there was a time I announced to anyone who would listen that one day, I would stand on top of the masters podium at Nationals. That was when I only completed one marathon (ever!) and barely squeaked under the two hour mark. I did not even expect anyone to take my words seriously. However, SZ listened. Not only did she believe in me, she told me that I could aim higher and break the current records for the different distances. She showed me how I can get there with training programs, knowledge, and hardwork. Coach SZ's support is one very powerful motivation which inspires me to train hard for my goal.

2008 Off-Season Round Up

This is somewhat of a belated post but I really haven't had a chance to give this topic the thoughts it deserves until now. After reading CB's comment on my last entry, his question prompted me to review what I set out to do at the beginning of the off-season, what I have done, and how well my training program work.

• Reliably complete a marathon: I know this may sound silly to some but it was really an issue that bothered me much in 2007. If you talked to me at the start line, you probably heard me said "I just want to finish the race". If you saw me at the finish line, you may have caught glimpses of me rolling in pain. Confidence, endurance, nutrition, and equipment all played a part. In order to address the confidence and endurance issues, coach SZ prescribed lots of 2h rides on the stationery bike during the off-season. I built up from a very leisurely pace back in October to eventually completing the session at race pace effort with variation of cadences thrown in. On the nutrition front, I significantly increased the protein intake in my diet. As for equipment, transition to my custom boots and 4x100 set-up went relatively smooth in December saved for a few weeks of frame position problems. I will find out at the Montreal Marathon how well the training work.
• Building strength: It's no secret that I am not that physically strong. Years of relatively non-active lifestyle and genetics probably have something to do with it, haahaa. The plyometrics program in the off-season played a key part in increasing my strength. Plyos is painful but a very important part of the my off-season training. No weight-training though.
• Technique: I spent a lot of time in September weighing the pros and cons for skating short track ice or indoor inline during the off-season. Now that all's said and done, I am very glad that I chose to skate indoor inline three times a week. Why, you ask? Comfort in a pack is a big thing because we have no choice but to skate in very close proximity at indoor practices. All those echelon and passing drills gave me the confidence to move within a pack now that we have so much more room outdoor. My crossover has also improved over the course of winter. This is an important skill for me to work on because I do track racing too in the summer. The unfortunate part was I had my share of injuries from indoor, some more painful than others. I hope I have not done too much damage to my knees.

This Supergirl Wants Some Super Power

Invisibility to be exact! No, I am not trying to disappear into the background. Rather, I want to be able to draft well enough that you can hardly see me in the pack on race action photographs. Unless of course I was leading or it was a field sprint. Not being particularly tall, I should be able to use my size to the best advantage while skating.

In addition to my skating-related training, I began a twice-weekly workout session with my father starting this week. Our goal is to gradually work up to a 5km run by the end of summer and we will enroll in one of the many running events in the city. I think this is a great opportunity to spend time with my family and reintroduce my father to an active lifestyle at the same time. Through skating, I have learned much about exercising and its benefits to our health. I cannot imagine a better way to share this gift than with people who are important to me.

I was looking for information on inline speed skating in Japan today because I may have a chance to go to Tokyo or Osaka for a week in very near future. Unfortunately, most of the information that I found are from a few years back. Does anyone know of any speed skating clubs in Japan?

Here's a bit of nostalgia for you. My first inline skating race! Two years ago, I skated 55:17 for a half marathon in Ottawa after training with TISC for merely a month. Since then, I returned to Ottawa many times but something always went horribly wrong in those races. Fast forward to 2008 and two pairs of skates later, my time has improved to 45:52 and I had a fantastic race at last. I think I have finally broke my Ottawa curse. Photo by Michelle Foster.

How Do You Measure Improvement?

A big part of speed skating is about going fast. So in the most simplistic sense, beating my personal bests on a regular basis is a definite sign of improvement, right? I suppose the answer is yes. However, unless I only ever skate against a stopwatch, I don't think it is enough. Skating is also a competitive sport and the competitive aspect of the equation means I race against other skaters. Slicing a second off my 300m time trial may sound like a big deal...until I see that my peers are two seconds faster than they were last season. Does that make my one second improvement any less meaningful? It's a mental tug-o-war as I struggle to convince myself that an improvement is an improvemnt while a voice is whispering "but it is not good enough".

I do know a few skaters who race against themselves, or at least they claim to. However, I would say they are in the minority at my club. At our practices, not only do we work on technique and fitness, we also place a high priority on strategy. We learn race strategy so we can beat our competitors.

I really do enjoy the competitive aspect of this sport even though I have not been winning, or beating anyone for that matter. However, there certainly are days when self doubt takes over and makes me wonder why I continue the cycle of racing and losing. I've competed in enough things in my life outside of skating to know how to take things in stride. I know that it's more than just about bragging rights and that brief moment of glory or disappointment.

But really, some days, I honestly can't help but wonder and be frustrated at my own "lack of progress".

Good Read: A Primer On Sprinting

I've often been told that the dynamics of racing on inline is very similar to cycling. So by observing the strategy being played out in cycling races, I can probably learn a lot and apply some of those for skating as well. Recently I came across an article by Chris Carmichael which dissected the finish of stage 10 of 2007 Tour De France and how it is a prime example of what to do and what not to do when it comes to sprinting for finish. The original article As Racing Season Starts, A Primer On Sprinting can be found here. I've made a few notes so I can remember these key points later:

• If you're stuck leading before the sprint, you can keep your eyes on your competitors by keeping to the side of the road. This way, you don't have to check both left and right for any movements.
• As a rule of thumb, the longer the race, the shorter the sprint.
• Know how far you can sprint so you can plan your sprint. You don't want to run out of steam before the finish line.
• If you're at the back of the pack, keep your eyes open for opportunity.
• Do not let yourself blocked in so you do not have a clear line to sprint to the front.

Happy reading!

The Most Annoying Thing About Falling...

Other than the fact that falling involves physical pain of all sorts, there are many other related inconveniences. Since I've had my share of falls this winter (and last winter too...), I would like to share with you some of those little things which annoy me.

• Another skinsuit to mend!
• I tend to land on my knees which means jeans are out of the question for a few days after a fall. I don't mind wearing skirts but not when it's -10C outside.
• Scuffing up my boots
• Taking a shower with fresh road rash or floor burn is absolute torture
• Icing my wounds...I don't like things that drip.
• Stairs kill me. Going up or down the stairs without any knee bend is precarious to say the least. I live in a house so there's plenty of stairs to navigate between my room and the basement.
• Food avoidance: This is either old wives' tale or ancient wisdom but Chinese people have this huge list of food to avoid in case of injury, especially open wound. No eggs, no beef, no shellfish because they may cause inflamation. No soy sauce or anything that stains because it darkens the pigment of the new skin. Nothing tart either though I never quite figure out why.

Pretty trivial stuff isn't it? However, when you add everything together and you have a significant fall once every month, it really wears the patience thin.

I learned something cool today. I have trouble with giving a powerful push in a relay exchange for as long as I can remember. Now, I know that I should skate right up to my partner before pushing. The push should begin with my arms bent upon contact and fully extended when the push is completed. Coach AA gave me something else to think about today. When you make contact, your body is almost upright. As you begin to push, bend over at the waist so that at the end of the push, the pusher's upper body is almost parallel to the floor. Something to remember next time.

With this smile, you wouldn't have guessed that I had injury all over. I know this is a dorky picture but hey, I grew up in the purikura generation.

Evolution Of A Skater

My hand is hurting less by the day and I'm feeling quite convinced that nothing was broken (phew!). There is a big patch of bruises though which explains why it hurts funny because I'm really not used to having a bruised palm. My left knee on the other hand is a different story. I am still feeling a fair amount of pain whenever I put any weight on it. This means I really haven't been moving around much in the last couple of days. I would very much like to go to practice tomorrow morning especially since practices are cancelled for next Monday and Wednesday. However, I really can't say at this point in time.

Aside from lounging around at my house and working on stuff from the office, I have something special planned for this Easter long weekend. Over the years, I tried many different form of skating. Everything from quads to jumping on figure skates to rec skating on the trail to racing on speedskates, I've tried them all. This is nothing special of course. Most of my skating friends probably share similar background. One thing that I notice is there is a certain persona that comes with each pair of skates. In a case of "a picture is worth a thousand words", I took an afternoon to put this mental picture to reality.

From left to right: custom Simmons 4x100 (2007), K2 Velocity 4x80 (2002), Rollerblade SpiritBlade 4x72 (1996), Risport figure skates (2003), Yasaki quad skates (1986)

Pretty nifty eh?

There was lots of running between camera and posing but I really like the final result (yes, this is indeed a self-portrait...). It really represents the different sides of me as a skater. Can you spot out the retro Rollerblade SpiritBlade? It holds a special spot in my heart as the skates that gave me my first real road rash (on my doomed left knee no less). Awww, isn't that sweet!

It's Still Snowing Outside

This is part of the snow piles outside my house, after a very hard session of shovelling. It's taller than me!

"In skating over thin ice, our safety is in speed."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I came across this quote today and took a liking to it.

What Goes Up Must Come Down

Compare to the excitement of Monday's practice, tonight was just meh. We had a really long warm up consisting of six sets of the Everything Drill, each set separated by the fast group lapping the slower group. I can't remember the last time my lower back muscles felt sore during indoor skating (well, perhaps way back at the beginning of the season) but tonight it was hurting. I think it probably has a lot to do with my three hour snow shovelling session earlier today. Coach AA reminded me that when I get passed on the outside, I must keep skating to maintain my speed. If I feel too squished, use my arms to make sure that I have enough space.

Relay was uneventful. I was not skating with the main group this time but there were two teams in my group so we needed to keep the teams together throughout the drill as well. I was paired with PM (and later WB) and coach AA wanted me to practice passing. Unfortunately it did not quite work out. PM was visibly uncomfortable with a big push from JB so JB eased up on the exchange. Even when we exchanged at the same time, I needed to glide for 3/4 of a lap before we grouped up. By the time we grouped up, it was time for another exchange.

I took the chance to focus on my exchanges today. With JS toning down his acceleration coming out of the relay box, I had plenty of time to make sure I skated right up to him before pushing. I also experimented with my timing coming out to the track. I still come out too early and I need to keep my eyes on my partner the whole time. It is hard not to feel rushed when I try to get out to the track. I suppose comfort is something that comes with practice and experience.

Since the opening of the brand new London indoor rink early this year, I have been a little curious about their floor. Last week, I finally heard back from AL. He went skating during one of the session skates and found that the floor was very dusty. Under the circumstances, he really couldn't get a good feel of the floor quality. It was a little amusing when he said he had the urge to whip out a mop and vinegar to get the floor clean. Heh. I wonder if he and his skating friends at UWO will start an indoor speed club? Now that would be exciting.

At A Crossroad

I ran out of prepaid sessions for indoor practice as of yesterday and I've been very undecided what to do. We are still six weeks away from start of outdoor season but the off-season is really winding down. I don't know if this is merely a mental block or I'm just not trying hard enough but I reach a point where I am not keeping up at indoor anymore. I really enjoy the social aspect of our indoor practices and I learned lots from AA's coaching. However, being more critical of my own training needs, I think my time can be better spent with more time on the bike.

It can be argued that it's not all or nothing. I can continue to come to the Sunday morning practices for sure. However, with three more RSO races on the horizon, that means I'll be skating once every two weeks. I do not plan to attend the races if I'm not training full-time for indoors. Once every two weeks? That does not sound productive at all so I may as well hang up my skates until outdoor season begins.

I'm not sure if this is a smart decision or not. However, since my gym is closed today, I'll have no access to a bike anyway. I'll go to indoor practice tonight and see how it goes. I'll think about this some more in the next couple of days.

On The Sideline (Curse Of The Green Jersey)

I was still waiting for all the bruises to surface on my knees but from what I could see, this is going to be a really big one. Not only do I get bruising on the knee caps where I landed, I am also getting bruises in the surrounding area including the side of my knees. To play it safe, I decided not to skate practice last night. I could bend my knees and I would probably forget about the pain as soon as I started skating. However, I could not afford to take another tumble even if I had my squishy volleyball kneepad on. I will need my knees in good working order for years to come so it is in my best interest to take good care of them.

It has been a while since I last watched a practice. I got to observe many things which I miss when I was too busy to avoid getting dropped by the pack. For example, when I bring my right skate over my left in the corner, I know that I lift my leg way too high. However, exactly how high was too high? When I saw all the different ways everyone did their crossover, it became clearer. I saw how skaters like AH, AA, and DA lift the right skate just high enough to barely clear the left skate and how stable they were. It really doesn't take a lot of space for the right skate to cross over without tripping! On the other hand, for skaters who lift the skate high, their body weight moved back and were definitely not as stable.

Another interesting thing I saw was timing for the relay push. I have lots of trouble with pushing effectively. DA told me that I should run right up to the skater in front before pushing. After watching all kinds of pushes last night, I think I start to understand what he meant. If I'm not mistaken, I make contact way too early in fear of not catching up to the skater I'm suppose to push. However, that basically means I'm typically one stride short of getting close enough before pushing. I saw some fantastic pushes last night and some rather weak ones. A very distinctive difference is that if the pusher's arms are bent at contact, the push is usually pretty good. However, if the arms started off with less bent, of course the pusher couldn't generate much power (well, duh...). Anyway, this is something for me to keep in mind when I get back to practice next time.

At the start of the season, coach AA started awarding the green jersey at each practice to give recognition to skaters in the club. It is a really cool thing to do and I think it's wonderful to give props to skaters at the club. However, this may sound silly, but I think there's a curse to the wearer of the green jersey. Since the beginning of the season, whoever wears the green jersey typically wouldn't have a good practice. If memory serves me right, SH, ShH, L, JaP, AH, and I all had bad falls when we got the jersey. As for the "lucky" few who didn't fall, well, they seemed to skate slower than normal. Of course there are exceptions but still, the odds are against us so far. Would you like to break the curse of the green jersey?

What Am I Doing?

As most of you already know, I have committed to a serious off-season training program this winter. My body is often sore and I made necessary changes to my schedule to accomodate for the extra time required for training. During those endless mind-numbing minutes of pedaling, I do have lots of time for my thoughts to run wild. Recently, one of the things that I think about often is why am I putting myself through this?

Of course there are the obvious answers such as getting stronger, faster, and improving my performance. Putting in the hardwork right now paves the way to achieve my goals in this sport. However, at the same time, I do hear often from non-skating friends and family that it's good to be active but isn't it enough to have fun and enjoy my time on skates? What is there to gain to have my body covered with bruises & road rash and my time eaten up by scrambling on a cardio machine like a hamster? Depending on how good I feel about my skating and training, my answer to those kinds of question differ.

On good days, I would likely say that it is a personal challenge. It is not only about reaching my goal in the eventual future but the satisfaction of inching closer and closer to my goal day after day. It may not be apparent now but I believe that my effort will not go to waste. Since graduating from university, I find that "real life" can often be lacking focus. In school, time is divided into semesters and if I complete such and such courses, I will get my degree. There are obvious goals and clear path/timeline of reaching them. That is one aspect of school which I like. Since being out of school long ago, I have been setting goals and reaching them along the way because that's what keeps my life focused. Skating is simply another expression of this way of living. When it is time to take a tally, I am confident that I have lots to show for my time on earth.

Of course, it's not always lollipops and roses. There are days when I simply cannot justify to myself why I am dragging my feet to yet another two-hour ride at the gym. Am I really making a difference? What I could have done with all those time otherwise? What if, horror of horrors, none of this training actually would make me faster? Worse yet, I am spending my time training when there are actually more important things that I should be doing instead (of course I am completely oblivious to what those important things are). Am I hiding behind the facade of training in order to stall on growing up and facing real responsibilities? Doubts can be a dangerous thing indeed.

Let's See Some Confidence!

I was comparing my outdoor and indoor skating videos over the last year. It just occurred to me that my indoor skating really lacks confidence. What I mean by that is I do not skate like I mean it. Instead of attitude, I am tentative in a I-hope-I-don't-mess-up...did-I-get-that-wrong-again? way. It's no wonder my movement is not fluid and full of awkwardness.

This is a stark contrast with how the kids (like AM and JM) in our club skates. Technique is not a big concern at all. They want to go fast! They swing their arms with conviction and their legs follow. When was the last time I swing my arms with any real effort at indoors? I doubt it ever happened! When I was at the start line with these kids, do they think about duck walk or staying low or run without the letting the wheels roll or increasing their cadence? Somehow I don't think so. The goal is to be the first one off to the start. I think there are a few things I can learn from them.

There's really nothing to be embarrassed about. Skaters in my club have seen me back in the days when I was incapable of crossing over. They were there when I could not get on my left outside edge if my life depends on it. It's not like I can prevent tumbling over in the middle of any drills even if I skate cautiously. I still have a whole lot of technique-related issues to work through, regardless of my attitude. What's there to lose? Time to skate with some confidence or at least a pretense of confidence. I'm a strong believer of "fake it 'til you make it".

Tough Decision

A few weeks ago, I thought I had my winter training all planned out. It would be two days of short track ice (to sort out a lot of my alignment and technical issues) plus lots of LSD, weights, and plyos. However, for the last few days, I'm not so certain anymore.

I skated both indoor inline (2-3 days a week) and short track ice (2 days a week) last winter. That was definitely too much time on skates so I really did not have time to invest in any proper off-season training. From that experience, I know that I only want to skate 2 days a week this winter. The weekday indoor inline sessions at Scooters were too fast for my ability last year. For the latter half of the season, I was mostly skating in the middle of the rink by myself because I could not keep up with the pace. Whereas for short track ice, I was skating with the kids and we got to work on mostly technical drills with very little intensity thrown in (except for the occasional relays). By the end of the season, I eventually got more comfortable on the ice but I was still stiff as a wooden dummy.

SZ suggested that I list out my goals for next season and use that to help me figure out my priority and training plan. My long term goal of breaking some of the masters women Canadian records is still firmly in place. However, I still have a few years before competing in the masters category. As a medium term goal (haahaa, is there such a thing), I would like to be competitive enough to race in the senior women category in provincials and nationals...you know, not being blown out of the water immediately in the first round of an elimination race kinda deal. Heh. As for goals of 2008, I aim to get consistently under 40s for my 300m TT on track (current PB 00:39.21), under 20min for my 10K road (current PB 21:30.00), and under 1:40 for my marathon (current PB 1:43:26).

I know that I have little motivation to compete on ice. Short track ice in Ontario is very much geared towards kids progressing through the ranks. As an adult skater new to the sport, I only want to use it to supplement my inline training and to help me achieve goals in inline. Can I get the same technical benefit from skating indoor at Scooters? Well, perhaps. After all, there are differences in technique between ice and inline.

My main concern with skating at Scooters is that I'm not fast enough to benefit much from the very intense weekday sessions. Having said that, I must say what I learned there last winter were immensely helpful in my outdoor season. The comfort I gained in pack skating and the improvements I made in starts and crossovers were not immediately seen in my indoor skating but those new skills were applied effectively in all aspect of my outdoor skating in 2007. Would it negate the LSD training I plan for winter if I punctuate my week with two very intense skating sessions? I better do some researches.

If I give up skating on ice this season, will I ever come back? Of course I can try again next winter but I will also face a steep learning curve all over again. Will I still be motivated to get back on the ice if I skip a season?

Last but not least, cost is a big concern. I have just made a big purchase in the form of inline custom boots. The cost of skating ice this season is about one of those boots (either the left or the right, take your pick). It will be significantly cheaper to skate indoor inline. I can probably afford to skate ice but skating is not the only plan I have for my money (sad but true). I would very much like to visit my grandpa in Hong Kong this winter so I must watch my spending carefully.

All reasonings seem to lead to the conclusion of skating indoor at Scooters. However, I am still undecided. Tough choice to make indeed.

2007 Outdoor Season Review

Now that I have finished all my competitions for the 2007 outdoor season, it seems appropriate that I take a tally. The goal of this season was to gain as much racing experience as I could as 2007 is a development year for me. I'm proud to say that I have accomplished this goal.

• 1 half marathon
• 4 marathons
• 1 10K race
• 5 track races (including provincials and nationals)
• Montreal 24hr Relay

That's 12 weekend of racing. Woah, I spent half of my weekends in the outdoor season (April - September) racing. I haven't even included my dragonboat regattas and the fact that I went to Europe in April and again in June!

Of all the races, I think provincials and the Canada Day Marathon were my breakthrough races for track and road racing respectively this season. My results in provincials were huge improvement over last year and it kicked off a trend of breaking my personal best throughout the season. I felt good on the track and it was a great boost to the morale. The Canada Day Marathon gave me the confidence to skate solo in a notoriously slow course. It was this confidence that gave me the resolve to race to the best of my ability even though I was dealing with a very small pack in Duluth.

Nationals and Ottawa Inline Festival were the low points of my season. Due to inappropriate change in training and my inexperience with tapering, my times at Nationals were slower than my rec-skate days from last season. Bonking and boot problem plagued my race in the Ottawa marathon. However, I learned what works for me and what doesn't in both events so I am appreciative of these learning opportunities. As I have no big expectation this year, these are all valuable lessons which are quite affordable when I look at my development as a skater/competitor.

Compared to 2006, I have increased my training load. I manage to keep up with a disciplined 6-days-a-week training schedule. I supplemented my skating with dragonboat practices twice a week which strengthened my core muscles immensely. I rarely experience any back pain during skating (touch wood). During early season, I went twice to Rondeau Provincial Park for some much needed mileage. I also took up running for cross-training purposes. I can now consistently run 5km in 26 minutes.

All in all, I am happy with my progress in 2007.

Good News Bad News Go Hand In Hand

We had end of month time trial last night at practice. Good news was I beat my previous best time for flying 200 by half a second so it is now 23s flat. Bad news was I had my worst 500m in the entire season, clocking at 1:03.81.

I'm not exactly thrilled about these results but I'm not entirely surprised either. I've been working hard on technique in the month of August so the improvement in the flying 200 makes sense (phew!). As for the slow time, well, I was hungry at practice. Planning my food intake has always been a challenge for me and every once in a while, I would suddenly decide that eating is a sign of a weak mind. When that kind of loopy mentality kicks in, skipping meals or being paranoid about eating is not uncommon and as a result, my performance suffers.

This was exactly what happened in the last couple of days. When I skated to the start line for my 500 TT, I felt all the energy drained from my muscles. I had to slow down in the corners because my muscles just didn't have the necessary strength to hold. By the time I was done, I was breaking out in cold sweat all over, a sure sign of low blood sugar. It was not fun.

I must break out of this mentality soon as I have a 42k race coming up on Sunday in Ottawa. I NEED to eat normally for at least three days leading up to the race otherwise it would be deja-vu like last year. Bonking during a race was terrible and I don't want that to happen again.

Mental Toughness

I went for my usual Sunday morning skate at Hamilton Beaches yesterday and we had a surpringly large group of skater showed up considering that there was another road skate trip happening at the same time. As soon as we were ready to skate, the guys all took off quickly. I considered skating with KN, JS, BY, ML, and MJC but quickly changed my mind...those guys would pick up the speed soon enough to drop me quickly. Instead, I opted to skate my warm up with RA and CS at a moderate pace and I got to chat with CS for a bit. I always feel that our Sunday morning skate at Hamilton Beaches shouldn't be only about serious training (that's what regular TISC practice is for)...catching up on the latest happening with friends is one of the reasons it is so much fun.

Before we reached the end of the trail, I turned around and skated back with ML at a slightly quicker pace. I was ready for lap two. While I was waiting for the pack to start, there was this huge friendly dog next to me and I started playing with the dog. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that the guys left without me! I sprinted to catch up with the pack only to discovered that the pack consisted of KN, JS, BY, and DD. Ooops, the pace was going to be fast this time. I hung in for as long as I could and somehow managed to stay with the pack for 4km at around 28-29km/hr. I was on my own but I knew that ML, DD, and MJC should not be far behind. I decided to skate a steady pace and tried to apply what I learned from last Sunday's dryland drills to skating. After the turn-around point, I finally saw ML and DD about 400m behind me. I decided to work just a little harder to make it hard for them to catch me. In the back of my mind, I was pretty sure they would catch up soon enough. Not too long after, I saw MJC skating by and he yelled out "slow down! I'll catch up with you". Had he not said anything, I would probably slow down and pack up with at least ML and DD. But, since he told me to slow down, I was determine to get back to the starting point without being caught by any one of them. It was tough skating into the wind by myself and I thought to myself more than once to just stop this silly game. Somehow, I managed to push myself to the end without being caught. I had a lot fun, despite in a rather painful way.

When I related this story to EG, he said that it was good practice to train for mental toughness. He said that a skater needs to be mentally tough in order to push the body to perform in races. When the body is hurting, it is the mind that decides not to give up and force the body to keep skating. However, it is not enough to be tough during races. Like everything else, this mental toughness comes from training. During practice, when your legs are hurting, you need to push them to hurt some more. You're training to push your body's threshold as much as the unfaltering resolve to hang in there.

I didn't quite understand EG's words at the time. Isn't bragging rights and the drive to win enough motivation to make a person mentally tough? I thought about this a bit more today and it's slowly starting to take on more meaning. When I get dropped from a pack, is it because I have pushed myself to skate as fast as possible yet still not fast enough? Or is it because I fail to close the gap a few times so I leave the pack to skate at an easier pace? Do I empty the tank and leave everything on the track or do I conserve some energy "just in case"? I typically leave the track gasping for breathe after race. How often do I do that in practice?

I have much to work on, both physically and mentally.

Discipline

I remember last summer coach EG asked us how much weekly skating/cardio we do outside of club practice and I sheepishly answered "less than 60 minutes". That was when he assigned me to do LSD for the remainder of the practice while other skaters worked on intervals.

Fast forward to this season, and suddenly I realize I have incorporated training into my daily routine. 60 minutes of cardio outside of club practice is easily achievable and I go to the gym (as if on autopilot) if any of my scheduled practice is cancelled due to weather. It wasn't even a matter of "Should I go to the gym? Hmmm". Rather, it was "Oh well, no practice. To the gym then".

When did this happen?! January 2007, to be precise. I was in the midst of a busy "off season", committed to 5 skating practices every week. SZ helped me refocus with a training schedule which included regular visits to the gym for cardio and weights. From that point on, I became much more disciplined with training.

When I look around me, the culture of my club helps me to take training more seriously too. When I see my friends and club mates training hard for whatever goals they have for the season (be it World Championship, Pan Am Games, WIC, Nationals, 24hr relay, or any marathons), the urge to train is contagious. Of course I'm no where near their level of dedication. However, their positive influence definitely help me to incorporate training into my life. It's true, I don't want to be the one slacking off when everyone's working hard.

This is actually quite a contrast to the culture in my dragonboat team. Our team is a very competitive team in the region but to take it to the next level, we definitely need to work on the overall fitness level of the team. However, despite constant encouragement from our team captain and coaches, our paddlers still seem a little reluctant to hit the gym. Both my skating friends and my paddling friends are equally passionate about their respective sport and the thirst to be competitive are matched. The peer support is definitely there too as both groups have lots of social activities outside of club practices. However, from what I can observe, the focus of the social activities is the main difference. Among my skating friends, training and skating is the focus of any social outings (spinning party anyone?). Of course we enjoy going out for a bite after skating but we rarely ever meet without our skates or bike shoes or running shoes. There is certainly no lack of social activities from my dragonboat club. However, hanging out and clubbing are not exactly the best motivation to get fit.

After 30 years, I can finally claim that I live an active lifestyle. I would not have even imagine the possibilities a couple of years ago!

Kinda Important...

After witnessing so many crashes last weekend, I learned that it is of utmost importance to wear nice underwear while skating. You never know when a crash will happen and when it does, chances are your skinsuit will be torn and your underwear will be on display (even momentarily).

Oh, helmet and wristguards are important too.

Rainy Day Training

Practice was cancelled due to rain so I spent my evening cycling in the gym for an hour. I actually don't mind logging time on the cardio indoors because it is one of the rare occasions that I get to watch prime time television. Let's see...on Monday, I cheered quietly inside at the very awesome Apollo Anton Ohno on Dancing With The Stars; today, I watched with bemusement as the overly enthusiastic contestant on Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? high-fived everyone and everything on the show. I can't imagine how boring it would be to work out early in the morning...or worse, while watching daytime talkshow.

On an interesting note, a few people I met on Facebook have shown considerable interest in learning to speedskate. One of them is already practicing with the Ottawa club; one I skated with on the Martin Goodman Trail yesterday; another is registered for inline skating at Ride For Heart eager to break his own record from previous years. I really hope that there'll be more people skating with our club in the summer!

Bye Bye Aaron

Coach ARA will be flying over to Europe today to begin a season of racing the WIC and SIC. This is going to be a really exciting experience and I hope that he'll have a kickass time. I would really like to take this opportunity to thank ARA as well. If it's not for his coaching and guidance, I wouldn't have made so much improvements over the last indoor season! (oh, and he's a lot of fun to hang out with)

Practice last night was a disaster for me. Not so much that I was skating especially poorly, but more so in my attitude. I was very frustrated with the acceleration drill. We first did 10 accelerations on the straights and then 10 in the corners. When asked to elaborate, coach EG said that we were to make our way from point A to B as fast as possible and run like a duck. I could not yet run on my skates so basically I did not benefit from this drill as it was intended. I was very embarrassed about my (lack of) effort and by the time the drill ended, I just wanted to pack up. However, elimination race was next so I stepped on the starting line nonetheless. During the ten float laps, my mood got increasingly worse so I just dropped off from the pack and was the first to be eliminated. I didn't even wanted to try.

I am very sick of my own attitude, just threw up my hands and gave up when I could have regroup and end the practice in a more satisfactory manner. This is not the first time it happens at practice so it is definitely something for me to work on. But for now, I feel like a swirling vortex of suckitude.

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.

Trade Stubborness For Motivation

It's funny how motivation can come and go with so little predictability. A few days ago, I was all gungho on my new training program. AH's comment on how I must push through those days when I don't feel like training seems a little unfanthomable.

Not so quick, grasshopper!

I feel a little under the weather today, the first sign of an oncoming flu/cold. Combined with sleep deprivation and a little fatigue from the strength training session in the morning, I really didn't want to go to the ice practice in Brampton. As soon as the thought of skipping practice entered my mind, it became a mind game of fighting my lazy tendencies. I've been known for being stubborn all my life and luckily, this stubborness comes in handy at moments like this. I thought about how I announced my commitment to training to everyone who cares to listen; I thought about other hardworking members in the club such as SZ; I thought about how badly I want to get faster on my skates; I thought about one missed session on my part means one session gained by my fellow competitors; most importantly, I thought about how I cannot let myself down. My stubborness often causes much grief to my friends and family. However, in this particular case, I am able to put it to good use as a motivation.

I felt great after practice. Coach MM "picked on" my, well, lack of technique, as usual. However, I'm slowly getting used to his style of coaching so his comments do not bother me as much as before. I have much trouble with gliding on one skate because my body is totally out of alignment, I kinda "float" on my blade, and putting my weight on the wrong part of the blade. However, the relay practice was a lot of fun. I used to be quite uncomfortable with relays but since the new year began, relays on both inline and ice got so much easier. This overnight change is likely brought on by an increase confidence of my own skating ability and getting more comfortable with crossovers. It used to freak me out to do crossover to the inside of the track because I kept on thinking that I wouldn't be able to make the turn tight enough and swerve into the track. My timing for the exchanges is still terrible but the improvement is undeniable.

Must fight off this malaise...[glug glug glug] with lots of water.

Praise And Encouragement

I overheard a conversation at practice recently that got me thinking. A group of us were doing drills and someone called out "good work" and another person replied quietly with "don't say that". Of course I can be totally mistaken on the meaning of the conversation. However, at which point does a praise cross the line from useful feedback to meaningless encouragement?

When I do something right, it is tremendously motivating to hear that other people agree. It is a clear signal that I should reinforce what I was doing with more practices. This is even more so if the praise comes from someone who is critical of my technique and demands the best of me. On the other hand, when I hear a praise at a time when I don't think I did a good job, I can get very doubtful and typically have an embarrassed smile on my face. Should I question my own judgement? Am I being too harsh on myself? Perhaps I have the wrong idea and I was actually doing something right by fluke? Such encouragement can sometimes do more harm than good.

Re-reading what I just wrote, I realize that I can sound a little unappreciative. After all, praises are well-meant and encouragement can be an effective motivation. However, I think the key is being judiscious of when to praise and how to praise. Nothing is a simple as it appears, isn't it?

Word Association

It's funny how taking up skating would give whole new meanings to words and numbers that I see in daily life. I was driving on highway 404 last night and saw the sign Exit Hwy 401 300m. I immediately thought to myself, "Aha! Time trial". Of course there're the ubiquitous 80, 84, 90, 100, 110 which evoke wheel size. "To the line" would get my adrenaline pumping because that's the call before starts.

Speaking of words, it's always interesting to read how my skating friends sign off their emails. I like to wish people happy skating but that's not particularly creative. My favourite line comes from GT from Zt Sports: skate fast turn left. Isn't that what we all do?

When Was The Last Time I "Fun Skate"?

While we were skating down Hamilton Beaches last Sunday, We blew past a couple on rec skates just rolling along. It's not like they were the first rec skaters that we saw on the trail but somehow, that imagery just struck me. I asked ML when was the last time he skated entirely for fun with no concern for technique or speed. You know, just for the joy of moving on wheels. I was surprised to hear that he said not too long ago in one of the TBN skates. He said that he would skate recreationally whenever he wants to take a break from training.

The last time I skated like that was at the TBN Peterborough road trip and that was definitely not recent. However, even that was not 100% fun skate. When I needed to accelerate, I skated low before I even knew what was happening.

It's not like I don't skate for fun because I absolutely enjoy skating with friends on trails. However, I was always thinking of improving my technique, skate faster, keep up with the pack, and all that sort of stuff. Is this a sign that I'm in this sport for good?

What Can I Do To Help?

I organized a meeting with a group of skaters today to talk about fundraising and sponsorship. For a casual skater, this sport is quite economical. Think about it...all you need is a pair of rec skates, wrist guards, a helmet, and you're ready to roll at your choice of trails around the city. However, once you get more serious into racing, equipments, traveling expense, and race registration fee can add up quickly. If your goal is to compete at an elite/professional level, coaching, more equipments, more traveling, and just making ends meet (all those time spend on training probably means more difficulty in maintaining a full-time job) can make the sport quite expensive.

A lot of concerns and questions were brought up in the meeting. To be honest, depending on each person's specific needs and goals, it's difficult to come up with any action plan. However, in the very least, we established two things:

1) we need to do fundraising and/or sponsorship

2) time commitement, effort, and persistance are prerequisits to any successful fundraising attempts

Point 2 is especially difficult for athletes engaging in amateur sports. How to find the time to devote to fundraising when he is already torn between training and making a living? The initial investment is big and knocking on strangers' doors will be difficult to overcome. However, I do think that the effort is worthwhile though.

From my perspective as a newcomer to speed skating, I do not have much fundraising needs. Going forward, my participation will likely focus on helping my home club to raise money to keep the club in operation. In addition, I think I can help with raising awareness of the sport in general. I remember reading the Toronto Star I.D. section a few months back on cool sports that residents of Oakville do. I was going to write a letter to the newspaper and invite them to come to one of our club practice but never really put this idea to action. I think it is time to stop procrastinating.

Some of my friends in the club are much more invested in the sport than I am and I would like to help out in some way. Organizing this meeting today is a starting point. I need a bit of time to think about what I can do to help. My motto is I make things happen, whether in life or work or play. After all, good things come to those who ask for them, right?

It's Amazing What (A Little) Exercise Can Do

I went for my annual physical checkup today and was pleasantly surprised to see the positive effects of all the training I've been doing since beginning of this year. My blood pressure was 100/60 and my heart rate was 64bpm. I told my doctor that when I donated blood less than two weeks ago, my heart rate was slow. He checked my heart rate today and exclaimed "wow, it is slow!".

Even more surprising, I've grown taller since my last checkup...I heard that skaters have gotten shorter due to falls that compress their spine [eeek] so I'm grateful for any help that I can get. I've been 5'3 for many years but apparently I'm now 5'4. Heehee, perhaps a belated growth spurt? As long as I don't get wider, I'm fine with it.

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.

On Being Competitive

A couple of conversations in the last few days with fellow skaters got me thinking what does it mean to be competitive. After reading my post on the current RSO standings, SZ checked the standings and decided to compete after all. I think this is a healthy dose of competitive spirit because after all, we are talking about people competing in an individual sport. I believe that for an athlete, the drive to win is not only a wonderful motivation for himself, but also a source of inspiration for his competitors. After all, there will not be a race if nobody wants to win, right?

I was talking to GC and SF about taking a week off work to just skate because I have many vacations days on my hand with no money to travel. SF is just beginning to skate again after his injury and said that he would love to join me. Before his injury, I've never been able to keep up with him when we went skating on the Hamilton Beaches trail. GC joked that I should keep my speed in check and not get competitive. Hey, wait a minute, since when have I become "competitive"? The only reason that I pick up the speed is because I'm afraid that people would find me too slow and decide to drop me. In fact, this is one of the reasons why I love to skate with people who are faster than me. They motivate me to push my own limit. In Montreal 24, my best time of the entire event was my last lap when I skated with CW. I skated in front of her for some time and it was only when I tried to draft her that I slowly drifted behind. The fear of "not being good enough" motivates me to skate faster than I otherwise would have. GC said that fits the description of being competitive but I beg to differ...

Unlucky Tights

I went for a light skate today at St Robert's Catholic School's 400m track. The track was in repair over the summer so it's good to finally see it in good shape. I was messing around, trying this and that to get myself to skate on the outside edge. I guess I put my weight too far out and lost my balance. I fell in an awkward way that ended up scratching the inside of both my boots. Sigh, my boots already look pretty beaten up now and it has only been two months since I bought them brand new.

This is the third time that I went skating in this pair of tights and for some unlucky coincidence, I fell every time I had them on. The first time was at the Support Your World Team Clinic, the second time was last Thursday's practice, and now this. I try not to be superstitious but it's getting hard to ignore the pattern...

Big Head, Big Dream

This thought has been brewing at the back of my mind for some time. Now that my first outdoor inline season is coming to a close, I want to put this thought down in black and white to make it official.

I want to be in contention for the nationals masters podium once I'm eligible in five years.

You may dismiss me as having delusions of grandeur because after all, I am still a slowpoke. However, five years is a very long time and I believe that it is a realistic goal.

SZ and I talked about this a little after practice on Thursday and she encouraged me to compete in nationals and provincials next season in the novice level. Competition experience is one thing that I need to accumulate.

When I set out to learn figure skating in 2002, my goal was to be able to do a spin and a jump. I started from the bottom of the CanSkate program. As of last season, I was able to do a backspin, waltz jump, toe loop, and salcow. Having concrete goals is my driving force to continue with an activity. I believe that my goal for the nationals podium will keep me focus and I'm looking forward to years of competing.

Eventually, you'll not call me slowpoke.

Post-Race Overeating

I realized today that post-race overeating is a bit of a problem for me, especially when I travel out-of-town for competitions with friends in the club. After the marathon in Duluth, we had a big Tex-Mex lunch at Little Angies (oh the fat) followed by an encore barbeque dinner at Famous Dave's (yet more fat). Breakfast on the next morning for an all-you-can-eat brunch buffet at the revolving restaurant in the Radisson Hotel. A little excessive, don't you think? We really didn't exercise all that much to justify burning off all these food...

ML and I drove to the Thunder Bay airport for our flights back home immediately after brunch. The weather was not great and we were running late with merely minutes to spare before last call for boarding. I didn't want to be delayed by another 10 minutes of security check by my cargo pants so I came up with the bright idea that I would wear my skating tights under my cargo pants and start stripping at the security check. Of course, that also meant I had to change at the back seat of the car while ML continued to drive. I don't know if it was intentional but ML decided to make a sharp turn while I was fumbling with my clothes. I slid across the back seat from one end to the other and slammed my head against the door. OUCH!!!! Nobody ever told me that I need my bike helmet here of all the situations...

As soon as we arrived at the airport, I took off to the check-in counter while ML returned the rental car. Just like contestants in Amazing Race, he came back just as I finished checking-in. Unfortunately, since we were so late for the check-in, we were told that our seats were given away so worst case scenario was we need to board the next flight instead. No big deal. We breezed through security (my little tactic worked well) only to discover that ML left one of his bags in the rental! He ran back to pick up his bag while I waited anxiously at the gate. As soon as he left, Air Canada told me that they had seats for us on our original flight. Luckily, ML made his way back on time and we returned to Toronto as planned.

Unfortunately, our luggage did not arrive. Air Canada apparently did not load our bags so we have to rely on their luggage track service. Sigh, I am now left with no bearings. Practice on Tuesday ought to be interesting.

Rained Out

Practice was cancelled today due to rain. So much for staying up last night to clean my bearings. Thanks to the help of SP, I got my skate backpack from Shoei Creations just in time before leaving this Friday. Need to start packing soon...so much to do before this trip.

I'm trying to organize a camping+skating trip to Rondeau Provincial Park either in late September or mid October. I hope there will be enough people interested because I really want to go. This will be my umpteenth attempt at camping in the last couple of years.

Next Tuesday will be the open house of Brampton Speed Skating. I have two other commitements scheduled in that same time so it will be tricky to figure out how to be at three places all at once.

So many things to do, so little time.

What I Learn From Paisley

Recently, there's been a lot of negativities surfacing among the very small community of inline skaters in Ontario. As a newcomer, I'm still getting to know everyone a little better. Well, the lengthy exchange of ideas and opinions certainly is telling. However, the way I see it, disagreement is something that we live with everyday, especially with a group of people coming from such diverse backgrounds. I'm hoping that these kind of disagreement would blow away just like arguments between members of a big family.

Anyway, that's not the point of this post.

The fact is, since I got into inline speedskating this season, I met lots of really great people with qualities that I admire. Mind you, I don't blindly admire everything that they do. However, over all, I see lots of admirable qualities in my new friends that I want to learn.

I rarely mention names in my blogs but I would like to make an exception this time. Paisley Perrie is one exceptional young skater who has achieved a lot in her skating career. I heard of her by name but I only met her for the first time during the RSO series less than a month ago. After the time trials, we raced in the same category. During the 3K and 5K race, she was leading the competition pretty much the entire time. When she lapped me, I heard her voice loud and clear "Go Candy!" cheering me on. For a split second, it felt weird that a nine-year-old was encouraging me. However, her enthusiasm and sincerity were unmistakable, so much so that her cheer encouraged me to skate better.

After spending a weekend at the Perrie's for the Support Your World Team Clinic, I got to know Paisley a little better. I saw first-hand how she takes on a leadership role among skaters her own age and shares her knowledge on the sport. Again, she was encouraging other skaters, young and old, to do the best that they can. After being on the receiving end, I truly appreciate the power of having someone cheer you on and it is a quality that I'm slowly learning to call my own. In our TISC fitness group, we have new skaters who are learning to speedskate, just like I was a few months ago. I like to cheer them on and make sure that they are part of our group because you know what, Paisley taught me that encouragement is a powerful motivator.

I Miss Skating

This brief break from skating is driving me nuts. My ankle is not in pain anymore but it is still swollen. Logic tells me that I should be patient and wait for the swelling to subside. However, while I was walking around town last Sunday, all I could think of was getting back on my skates. I would stare down at endless stretches of corridor in the subway station and thought to myself wouldn't it be nice if I can just skate to the other end. I would look at other people inline skating on the street and wish to be one of them (even when they're struggling to skate uphill). I would see a guy putting on his skates on a park bench and imagine that I'm lacing up my skates.

[sigh...]

I just heard that LC had a nasty fall at our last Tuesday practice. I hope she gets well soon too.

For something a little more light-hearted, I just received our June club newsletter from WB. Towards the end of the newsletter, I read something that really made me smile.

"T Shirts, Tank tops, Skin suits etc must be worn at all times as non-compliance with this standard of dress at practices is not permitted. Your cooperation is appreciated."

If you've come to more than a few practices at TISC, it's not too hard to figure out the likely suspects of this rule!

Ten Days Of Rest...Doctor's Order

My ankle is in less pain than last night but I went to see the doctor just in case. He said that it's unlikely to be a fracture because I would be in much pain. However, based on the swelling, he said that I should take about 10 days of rest to give it a chance to heal. I'll have to call back tomorrow morning for the result of the x-ray.

For the sake of curiosity, I asked my doctor how to minimize the scarring from road rashes. He said that the white blood cells are responsible for clearing up the scars. In order for them to work most efficiently, I must be mindful not to re-injure the wounds. This same principle works for both bruises and scars. However, in general, I should expect the scar not to fade for at least six months.

I'll probably drop by the TISC practice tomorrow just to watch before heading over to my dragonboat practice.

Grumpy

I skated a bit cautiously during lunch today to test out my ankle. It didn't hurt but I know that putting it through two hours of practice would not be such a great idea either. I figured the stress from skating hard continuously would likely do more harm than good. Since our softball team was seriously short on female players for tonight's game, I agreed to play on the condition that I'll not be able to do any running. I thought that I would just be a warm body on the team so that we didn't have to endure automatic outs. Oh my, I shouldn't have. I really shouldn't have.

I asked to play only back catcher or second baseman because it has the minimal amount of running. Before the game began, I tried to run for a bit and my ankle was doing great. Although I couldn't run at top speed, I could move around without any pain. Unfortunately, while I was playing second baseman, my bad foot first got stepped on by a 180+lb big guy charging to second base. And then, in the 6th inning, my ankle got hit by the ball in the exact same place and in the exact same manner as yesterday. Like deja-vu, I kneeled over in pain. But this time, since I couldn't just walk off the field, I switched position with JH to play back catcher for the remaining of the game.

My ankle is now in more pain than before and I'm a little worry. I'll see a doctor tomorrow. I'm crossing my fingers that it will be a quick recovery so that my inline skating season would not be cut short this year.

I could have, should have, would have gone to TISC practice instead. Argh, so grumpy.

Noooo! My Ankle Is Swollen

I'm injury-prone and over the years, I've come to accept that. My softball teammates would joke that the season doesn't really begin until Candy gets her first injury, which we typically don't have to wait long. However, this year is slightly different because I actually try not to hurt myself because I don't want to miss any inline skating training.

Unfortunately, my wish may not be granted.

During softball practice today, I missed a catch. The ball came shooting fast and furious towards me at second base. Instead of catching the ball in my glove or miss it all together, it hit directly on my right ankle, just above the top of my foot. That is actually the same ankle that I sprained last September. I immediately kneeled over in pain and it took me about 30 seconds before regaining enough strength to hobble over to the benches.

I've been diligently icing and de-icing my ankle since I got home but I still have trouble rotating my ankle comfortably. I'll see if I can actually be able to skate at practice tomorrow. If not, I'll be playing back catcher for our team.

"Not the legs, anywhere but the legs!" was all that I could think of when the ball hit me. Alas, it was not to be.

Ride For Heart 2006

RA organized a group of volunteers to help with the inline skating portion of the Ride For Heart event and I was glad to be a part of it. We arrived promptly at 6:45 in the morning to meet with RA for all the necessary information. Our responsibility was simple: direct the skaters to stay on the course and assist anyone who may need help. However, most importantly, this is the perfect opportunity for us to spread the word about our skating clubs and upcoming competitions.

The route is a closed loop on the Gardiner Expressway from the Jameson on ramp to the South Kingsway exit. The trickiest part of the course is the on ramp because one can build up quite a bit of speed rolling downhill. I heard that last year, many skaters fell on that on ramp. As a preventative measure, we positioned many volunteers this year at the ramp and offered to help skaters down the ramp should they feel uncomfortable. This turned out to be a fantastic idea because there were less than five falls if I remember correctly.

ML showed me a trick to help people downhill which works great. I would ask the skater to skate behind me holding onto my hips. I would skate forward, steer, and brake for two of us. This works very well because if the skater gets nervous, he would just hold on tighter instead of rolling out of control. I can safely direct him down the slope at a speed that he's comfortable with.

I got the honour to sweep the route at the end of the event. No, not with a broom, silly. I was the last skater (with a police cruiser following closely behind, no less!) to make sure that everybody got off the course in the last lap.

All in all, a good day of skating and met some great people. I wouldn't have thought at the beginning of the season that inline skating would take me to all these different places, events, and friends!

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That's Three In A Row...

Weather has not been kind to us here in Toronto. Outdoor practice at TISC has once again been cancelled due to rain. That's the third consecutive practice that's been cancelled. I'm hoping for good weather this upcoming long weekend so that I can get in some good training.

My accomodation for the Ottawa weekend has been sorted out at last. Thanks to the help of ML and WB, I have a place to stay and a roommate to share the cost of accomodation. I'm very much looking forward to my first half-marathon.

My original plan this season was to simply train and get a feel of what it's like to skate with the people at TISC. The goal was to improve my technique and speed until I can keep up with the fitness group during practice. However, as the season unfolds, I can't help but be attracted to all the races. I know that my (lack of) speed probably means I'm not going to do well in the races. However, I would like to immerse in the atmosphere of competiting with all these skaters from starting line to the finishing stretch. Since I don't have any expectation from my performance other than completing the course, I think this season is a great opportunity for me to participate. Besides, the inline skating crowd is a closely knitted community and I'm getting to know lots of great people. I'm loving every minute of this.

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Itching To Practice

Our last scheduled practice on Thursday was cancelled due to rain. Since then, I have been busy with preparing dessert for my monthly dessert night at Linda. Sigh...I did not skate at all this entire weekend even though the weather was gorgeous outside and I even braved the traffic to drive to downtown Toronto, despite of closure of our main highway.

I really need to log more hours on LSD.

On a more upbeat note, our club practice will be held at two different locations this week to try out new tracks. I wonder what it feels like to skate on a 400m track?

A (not so) Brief Introduction

I've been doing recreational/fitness inline skating on and off since 1996. What drew me into the world of inline skating in the first place? It was a Canada Day barbeque party at a friend's house in Burlington, Ontario. A group of us were strolling to a nearby parking lot for some pyro-fun (i.e. fireworks). I remember looking at some friends of a friend who made their way over on inline skates looking oh so cool. The very next day, I walked over to the nearest sporting goods store in Waterloo (my hometown during university years) and got myself a pair of clunky old-school Rollerblade Spirit Blade of plastic molded boot.

After reading through the instruction booklet that came with the blades, I figured out how to manoeuvre around on these babies with a few late night sessions in an empty parking lot. Since then, they were my transportation of choice to go between my apartment and school. All was great until one evening, I had a pretty bad fall after a night class. It would be a few years before I take up inline skating again.

A couple of years ago, I started skating again on different trails in Toronto but it was absolutely frustrating to work with my old skates. They made for a slow and bumpy journey wherever I went. At that time, soft boots had practically taken over the recreational skates market so I got myself a comfy pair of K2 Velocity 4.0 with 76mm wheels. It was an absolute joy to skate on compare to my old skates and I put on lots of milege with these skates.

Over the last couple of years, I skated most trails in Greater Toronto Area, Hamilton Beaches, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and even participated in the Paris Friday Night Skate on Oct 30, 2004. I was a member of the Toronto Trailbladers in 2005. However, this season, I'm looking for more challenges. I would like to improve on my technique and speed. I love skating long distances and a long term goal would be to compete as a recreational skater.

I've known about the Toronto Inline Skating Club for a few years. However, I've always been a little intimidated by the competitiveness of this club. It's been my dream to be a part of this club and I'm happy to say that as of May 1, 2006, I've officially registered as a member for the 2006 season! The people are so enthusiastic about the sport and I'm already learning so much from the two practices in April.

I have a feeling that this is going to be a wonderful season.

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