Dream Chaser On Wheels

Playing Tourist...

This post is nowhere near anything skating-related but my skating friends and I spent some time sightseeing in Chicago after the race on Saturday. I think some of you may get a chuckle out of these pictures.

A picture of chocolate dipped cheesecake attracted us inside a chocolate boutique on N Michigan Ave next to the Chicago River. After seeing this:

EL had to do this:

Next to the chocolate boutique, I got into a silly mood when I saw the name of a building. We insisted that MW pose in front of it:

I have a soft spot for stick figure signage. This one was seen at the piers. Awww, no skating allowed! Sad but true...this stick figure probably has better knee bend and recovery than I do.

We were walking along N Lake Shore Drive toward the Navy Pier with some bike and skater traffic. As skaters, some things are second nature to us such as yelling out "Bike back!". And of course, when you see a good drafting opportunity, you hop on. This is one fine example as demonstrated by EL:

No trip to Chicago is complete without a taste of Chicago-style pizza. No, this is not a clothing-optional kind of restaurant.

We went to Lou Mitchell's for breakfast the next morning. This picture is totally classic Candy with my arm warmers, pigtails, toothy grin, and posing next to a basket of delicious baked goods.

You can check out my other "playing-tourist" pictures here.

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.

Christmas Skate At Harbourfront

As I was lounging around in my house on Christmas Eve, I had a sudden urge to skate outdoors on Christmas Day. The weather in Toronto has been dry and some of the snow has melted away so I had high hopes of trying out my Simmons outdoor. Unfortuately, my reliable sources for trail condition (that would be MJC and ML) told me that the Martin Goodman Trail is in no shape for skating any time soon. If you know me, you can probably guess that I would not be deterred. So on Christmas Day, I found myself at one of the largest outdoor ice skating rink in Toronto lacing up my long-neglected figure skates.

It took me a long time just to get used to going around on my figure skates. Those rocker and short blades just felt so strange! Before I picked up speed skating, I was able to comfortably do a few jumps and spins here and there. However, the only thing I could do today was [drumroll] left crossover. And it wasn't even a good crossover either!! This is a fine example of what happens when I don't practice, heh. Despite that, I had a good time just pushing around the rink with my brother and ML, chatting and laughing. You can see a video of me decked out in my most ridiculous "recreational" skating outfit here, completed with pink leg warmers with pompom, beret, bows, mini skirt, and a little purse. Who in their right mind would skate with so much clutters anyway? Oh, the joy of skating for fun.

Merry Christmas everyone!

You Can Call Me "Tumbles" (Hmm, May Be Not)

My first foray into strapping wheels onto my feet was long ago when I was about 10. I was still living in Hong Kong at the time. I remember the apartment building where I lived had this one whole floor of open space paved with concrete. Most of kids in the building would spend their playtime there at some point and for me, it was the best practice ground for roller skating. Mind you, I never was good or anything...just fun to roll around. So today, I brought out my roller skates for our club's end of year party.

My first impression of my old skates? Tight. They are about two sizes too small for my feet now so my toes were all kinda scrunched. My feet looked so small in those skates to match the tiny wheels! GC, who has the smallest feet in the club, was comparing her skates with mine and we agreed that my skates wouldn't fit her either. When I tried to propel myself forward, I had to be mindful to keep my weight over the much shorter base of these skates ("Where are the rest of my wheels?!"). However, once I got the knack of it, it wasn't so bad. Kinda fun, actually....though of course I was more robogirl than rollergirl.

Showing off my roller skates. Picture by Peter Doucet

Indoor practice still felt difficult today but slightly better than last Wednesday. I took a tumble during warm up and took out EL and AH who were right behind me. Fortunately, none of us got hurt and I hopped back in the pack to finish the warm up. Whenever I saw a gap opening up in front of me, I said to myself "don't panic". I knew that we were skating slow lap times so one way or another, closing the gap was within my capability. I had to learn to control myself even though the urge to panic and shuffle my feet was strong.

We did some starts and it felt like I clicked skates with everyone all the time. I actually anticipated this before the indoor season began but I did not expect to click skates at every start. Unfortunately, I went down at the apex about midway through this drill and BY fell over me at the same time. GN was right behind us and he could not avoid us. In the midst of all these, I felt my head got kicked where the back of the helmet didn't cover. It was all so confusing. Luckily, my head was alright even though it was a good scare. Accidents do happen and the risk is part of the sport.

I wasn't feeling quite myself after those two falls but I managed to complete the remaining practice. I skated 13.4s for my 100m lap time. I was not happy with my lap because I once again missed my last crossover coming out of the corner and thus messing up my rhythm for the straights and subsequent corner. Relay was not much to write home about. I missed a couple of exchanges because I couldn't weave through the traffic to get to where I should meet GN. I am starting to worry that I forget how to skate the straights....sigh.

Halloween Night Skate

It appears goofing around on my skates is becoming a regular occurence. Since I had so much fun at last year's TBN Halloween Night Skate, I decided to do it again this year. Not only do I have a more elaborate costume (check out Dessert By Candy for more information on my costume and make up), I have also practiced rec/street skating recently at the Zombie Skate! I think I'm as well-prepared for this event as I can ever be.

To add to my challenge, I decided to skate while holding onto a serving tray full of teacup, plates, and cupcake. I'm not talking about plastic unbreakable fakes...I was skating around with ceramic dinnerware perched on one arm! Well, it is an essential part of my costume. It is what makes my "Little Tea Shop Of Horror" persona complete. Without it, I was just one in a million maids around the city. Luckily, my arm strength and agility far exceeded my expectation. Everything stayed where they should be...not even one single breakage! I think I just invented a new agility drill. However, single arm swing when going uphill is a totally different challenge. You can't believe how weird it feels to accelerate while balancing a tray on one arm.

It was funny how my "bruises" and "road rashes" invited a few concerned glances from fellow skaters and cyclists. What can I say? The combination of liquid latex, make up, stage blood, and some keen observation from past experience can do wonders.

The skating itself was as fun as it was last year. We had a nice group of ten skaters covered with flashing wheels, blinking lights, Halloween costumes, and great spirit. Our route took us up and down the Beaches neighbourhood and we saw some truly amazing haunted houses. Words cannot describe the thoughts and efforts these homeowners put into their annual Halloween extravaganza. I can't wait for next year's Halloween night skate!

photos by Michael Lin and Patrick Lam

Gatecrashers On Wheels?

After our success with skating at the Toronto Zombie Walk, EL suggested attending the upcoming Lightsaber Battle on skates. One of the advantages of living in a big city is the myriad choices of social activites available all year round. Now, wouldn't it be fun if we can get a group together to attend many of these on skates? I'm not talking about gatecrashing the running marathons or cycling events. Those are just too obvious. How about parades, street festivals, or events that involve road closures? What about events that include dressing up? The sky's the limit and I think it is fun to goof off on our skates once in a while.

Toronto Inline Skating Zombies

Since being a specatator last year at the Toronto Zombie Walk, I have spreaded the word of the undead to many of my friends. EL is most enthusiastic about anything zombie-related. We've been talking about skating this event for, oh, at least several months. I was skeptical for getting in any real skating since after all, this is a walk involving slow moving zombies on crowded sidewalks! So when it came time to plan, I only dared to invite my skating friends to come drag the wheels with me. Luckily, ML was totally into having some silly fun too so the three of us coordinated our transformation before the event.

The plan was to meet at ML's place two hours before the event and transform ourselves from healthy tanned athletes (heehee) to pale decaying blood-smeared zombies. Then we would skate over to the starting point. Unfortunately, traffic did not cooperate and I arrived at ML's place with merely 10 minutes to spare. When ML opened the door, I was absolutely impressed. Between ML's hunchback zombie with tire marks across his back and EL's bleeding Spiderman, I could not decide who was more over the top! With a few final touch of blood and liquid latex (this stuff rocks!), we were ready to go.

Last year's Zombie Walk was held in drizzling rain but the turnout was impressive. However, it did not prepare me for the thousand zombies strong crowd this year! When we looked down to the pits at Trinity Bellwood Park, we were greeted by an endless sea of arms and legs and brains and blood. There were zombies from all walks of life/death: Village People Zombies, Zombie Brides, Zombie Tennis Player, Zombie Leprechaun, Zombie Chefs, Zombie Elvis, Zombie Waldo, Zombie Lolitas, even Zombie Roller Derby Girls! Instead of just dragging our wheels in the crowd, we took advantage of our skates and got to skate up and down the whole procession (while in character, of course!). We had a chance to see practically every zombie in the crowd. It was such an awesome experience. You can see my photos here.

As an aside, I think I have conquered some of my fear of street skating. My lack of agility has always been rather embarrassing and most of my friends have seen me frozen in fear of stepping on and off a curb in my skates. Today, however, I somehow managed to manoeuvre my way around traffic, crowds, and curbs with relative ease. Well, the lack of speed certainly helps but I'm still quite pleased with myself. Perhaps I can join the Friday Night Skate after all!

Off To Duluth

I'm suppose to be sleeping at this time in anticipation of my early flight to Duluth. Since this is not my first time traveling out of town for competitions, I'm not really feeling nervous. From last year's experience, I know better now to pack some non-perishable food for breakfast on race day. Rushing around town the night before race day looking for suitable breakfast food just adds unnecessary hassle to my schedule.

I don't expect anything out of my performance other than making my way across the finish line. My ramp-up days in tapering are working as expected but I lose energy very quickly during a workout session. On the bright side, I'm now more used to the effects of exercising while bordering on sugar low symptoms. It's a little annoying but I can mostly get through it somehow. Unfortunately, club practice is becoming more and more uncomfortable due to various reasons so I'll be glad when the season wraps up in two weeks. I feel the need to hibernate (in a gym) for a while.

On a more exciting note, I made my casting appointment at Simmons Racing for tomorrow afternoon. According to the very helpful Jennifer, David Simmons will be doing the casting himself. Getting these custom boots will be a very heavy financial commitement. However, when each marathon is a gamble to see how many kilometres my feet can last, these custom boots may not be such a bad idea after all.

(Not Really) Mega Miles Training Camp

EG had been planning for a week-long Mega Mile training camp at Rondeau Provincial Park for a while. As much as I enjoy skating, I knew that it would simply be painful for me to match him mile by mile. Instead, I came to the training camp with a rather lighthearted attitude...in fact, I was more excited about the camping part than the skating part of the trip!

After an easy three hour drive, KN and I arrived at the campground on Sunday morning in good spirits. We immediately threw on our skates and the four of us skated a lap on the very smooth and quiet road in the park. I love how the road goes right between the marshes and the trees! The guys kept me in the pack for the first lap but the speed inevitably picked up in lap two. I dropped out of the pack and skated back to the campsite and it wasn't long before everyone came back anyway. After a leisurely lunch, we explored a bit in the park. I particularly liked the beach which stretched on and on in the distance.

One of my favourite pictures from this trip: The TISC Kung Fu Masters

KN enjoyed a quiet moment at the beach.

Monday was a rather uneventful day as EG and I woke up to the sound of falling rain on the tent. It kept on raining and raining until early afternoon. Luckily, EG planned for a recovery day anyway. When the sun finally came out, we went out for an easy skate which turned out to be a useful one-on-one coaching session for me. I worked on correcting my problem with weaving and EG asked me to setdown along a straight line. Upon the setdown, head/sternum/knee/foot should align vertically. In addition, I should drive my knee forward as if I was kicking a soccer ball. This additional forward thrust should allow me to add more power without doing more work. I still have problem with coordinating between delaying my setdown to avoid two-footing and minimize weaving. It was almost as if I could only do one but not both at the same time. Hmmm...

Tuesday was EG's big day of 10hr skate. I had no intention to skate with him for the entire duration anyway so I slept in a bit and had a good breakfast. By the time I was ready to skate, he had already skated three laps. It was a little windy but tagging along behind EG made it easy for me. Somewhere along the way, it occurred to me that I only learned to stay in the draft since last August's Support Your World Team Clinic. And it was really since the beginning of this outdoor season that I am finally comfortable to skate close enough to feel the benefit of the draft. I skated with EG on alternating laps so by the time he completed his 10 hours of skating, I skated 75km. I think this is the most distance I've ever skated in a single day.

First Hamilton Beaches Skate Of The Season

Photo originally uploaded by danielcd.

Thanks to EG who remolded the ankle area of my left skate, I had a great time skating the Hamilton Beaches trail this morning with a big group of skating friends. The weather was beautiful and there were about 20 of us. It was so much fun to skate in a good size pack!

Considering that it is still April, I surprised myself by skating up and down the length of the trail three times, making for 45km of skating today with relative ease. I started off the first lap by skating with GC, ML, and JB. We took it at an easy pace. For the second lap, I was sufficiently warmed up and we had about a dozen skaters in our pack for the half of the distance. I drafted close behind JB and was quite determined not to get gapped. On the way back, I took a breather and skated by myself for a little before meeting up with CC. The two of us skated together for a bit before I finished off the last kilometer by myself. In the final lap, ML, CW, EG, CC, and I were going to take it slow. However, the speed inevitably picked up and there were only CW, EG, and me. It's a joy to draft behind either of them so even though I was getting tired, I made sure that I was drafting within bent arm's length. I was so happy that they kept me in the pack until the end.

All in all, I felt very good about my skating today. My ankle did not hurt and my sore running muscles from yesterday's fitness test did not affect my skating muslces at all. This is certainly a very good sign for the start for the outdoor skating season...I think that my fitness level has improved since last September. Dryland and working out at the gym may be boring but seeing their positive effects on my skating, I'm more motivated to get to the gym.

After skating, we had a little photo session courtesy of DD's father. You have to check out his (very cool) pictures here. ML took a few pictures as well including one of me smiling all teeth. I snapped some pictures too though they are far less interesting...

Photo originally uploaded by kiteboy.

End Of Year Skating Party

There was a bit of flurry as I was leaving the house so for a minute, I thought we have to cancel skating outdoor. Fortunately, the flurry eased up soon enough and we were greeted with a clear sky. We arrived at the Richmond Green Skatng Trail early in the morning just in time to say hi to Mr. Zamboni. With a freshly flooded surface, the trail was a joy to skate on.

The night before, I ran around and borrowed a few pairs of hockey skates and figure skates. It was a little funny to open my car's trunk to see five pairs of skates all lined up! I sort of expected that a few of my friends do not own any recreational skates. I've been advised that skating outdoor trails with short track blades is a bad idea because it catches on everything. Luckily, the skates were the right size for EL and JS. Check out some pictures of us on the trail!

Just as we were about to leave, ML and EG arrived with his homemade skates in hand. Too bad I didn't get to see those skates in action but they sure look impressive!

A short drive later, we were all hanging out at my home for lunch and some Dance Dance Revolution. It was cool to see everyone breaking out their moves, even WB and SP. A small group of us stayed after lunch for a game of Monopoly and of course lots of chit chat about speedskating from boots to techniques to plans for next season.

It was a good way to wrap up a wonderful 2006, with good friends that I wouldn't have met otherwise if it's not for speedskating...I can't wait for more skating in 2007!

Party

I hung out with a few skating friends all day at ARA's home. It was fun to watch the CBC broadcast of short track speed skating World Cup. Not too long ago, I would not be able to view the races with a critical eye without relying on the commentators' description. However, I've learned much in the last few months that the races are now that much more exciting to watch. Besides, with everyone voicing their opinion in the background, it was very entertaining. It was especially funny to hear ARA complained of the commentators' excessive use of "push off" in what we would normally call an exchange.

We played a very long game of Risk in th evening after PD arrived (video available here). It's my first time playing this board game. For those who don't know me very well, I don't like to strategize when playing board games or card games. Instead, I prefer to play by the basic set of rules and purposefully ignore what needs to be done to win (Who says winning is everything? Successfully annoying your opponents is funny as heck). Of course for those who love to scheme and strategize, my style of playing does not sit well with them because it ends up being rather unpredictable. Not surprisingly, I was the second player eliminated in this game which lasted over four hours. Playing to win is a lot of fun but it's only a board game...Unlike a race, there are so many other ways to play because honestly, nothing's on the line.

Ice Skating At City Hall

I laced up my figure skates today for the first time since March 2006 for some rec skating with SF, HF, and her little friend. Our original plan was to skate the free session at Varsity Arena at University Of Toronto. Unfortunately, the session was cancelled due to an exhibition hockey game. After some deliberation, we headed over to the outdoor rink at Nathan Phillips Square. I was there last night for the Calvacade of Lights without my skates so it was rather an interesting turn of events that I returned today.

First of all, it was packed with skaters of all abilities. Secondly, it was a very warm evening so the ice was soft like you wouldn't believe. That's just a long way to say that I had no choice but to have fun and just goof around. I'm embarrassed to admit that I forgot how to skate on my figure skates. The rocker and the short blade totally threw my balance off and I couldn't get my weight under the ball of my feet to push myself forward. For a brief time, I was scratching along the ice like the many beginners around me, arm-waving and all. Fortunately, muscle memory conquered all and I found my skating legs soon enough. HF and I even held hands while skating! It sure brought back memories from my brief stint as a CanSkate assistant. HF wanted to skate backwards but since it was so crowded, I held onto both of her hands and steered. I never thought I would say this but it was a lot of fun to hang out with little kids...I guess HF and I just get along well.

I had a chance to skate a lap by myself before we left and it felt great to glide and push with my figure skates. I love the maneuvrability of the shorter blade. Must make my way over to a few public skating session soon!

TBN Halloween Skate

As I said a few posts ago, I haven't fun skated for a very long time so I was really looking forward to the TBN Halloween Skate which we skated around the eastern beaches neighbourhood on Halloween night. I was not disappointed, it was a lot of fun indeed!

We had a good turn out of eight skaters in total including Spiderman, Doc, and of course Super Skater Girl. The ones who were not in costume had something even better: light up wheels! Our whole group skated up and down the streets garnering much cheers and admiration from other trick-or-treaters. The light up wheels look so cool...if I do regular night skating next season, I'll get myself a set for sure. Although I did not have any equipments that would lit up, my flashy costume worked equally well. The cape, the skirt, and the boot covers are all made of metallic fabric. So shiny! At one point, a kid decided to challenge us in a runner vs skater contest. RA and I just smiled and rolled along but Spiderman couldn't resist a challenge. With a few powerful strides, he was already way ahead of everyone and the kid did a fake collapse on the ground and groaned "Spiderman, you beat me~~~~". That was hilarious.

This skate reminded me of the time I went night skating in Paris in 2004 on the night before Halloween. There were thousands of skaters, some dressed up in costumes, some with light up wheels, some with boombox strapped on their back. Wouldn't it be nice if we have something of this scale in Toronto?

End Of Season Party

AT hosted an end of season skating barbeque party at Hamilton Beaches Trail. On any normal day, I love to skate there except it was cold, windy, and wet today. I arrived late so my friends were already skating on the trail when I got there. I looked at the drizzling rain and the wet trails and thought that it was best to wait for them inside the car. I wasn't even sure that I wanted to skate at all. Not too long after, ARA showed up. He asked if I'm going to get ready to skate...well, I was really leaning towards no but driving all the way there just to sit in the car seems like such a wussy thing to do so I ended up putting on my rec skates anyway. The wind was so strong that it was actually pushing my backwards when I stood on my skates with my back to the wind!

It wasn't long before the group comes back and I skated with JoS, RA, GC, and DG. ARA took off with AT on his bike. It's been a very long time since I last skated on my rec skates (heehee, 4x80). All I can say is I miss my speed skates despite the fact that I still have a love/hate relationship with them. Love because I skate much faster and they're lighter. Hate because they hurt my feet after a marathon and they're unforgiving to my poor technique. In any case, it was a fun but tiring skate. I think it was the first time that I skated with ARA and it was great to skate behind him to mimic his movement (that's when I really wished I had my speed skates on!). Compare to SZ and AH, his movements are more rhythmic, for lack of a better word. In fact, it reminded me of how EG describes speed skating.

After the skate, we all went over to AT's house for a barbeque/potluck. I brought a really horrible-looking chocolate cake and a pumpkin cheesecake. SH, MW, CS, EL, JM, CC, ML, LS, CW, and BW were there too so it was a really great crowd. I had good time chatting with everyone, a casual get together for friends. Sitting by the fireplace, I realized how lucky I am to make so many great friends this season. This is definitely an unexpected present that I wouldn't have known back in April when I started skating with TISC.

Super Skater Girl

A little while ago, I told you that I wanted to find out what it feels like to skate with a cape in style. Thanks to EG, he captured my Super Skater Girl alter ego on video and put together this awesome clip (ahem, you just need to agree cos I said so. Or else I'll get you with my super power.). If you're lucky, you may run into Super Skater Girl on trails around the city. Don't forget to wave.

Video courtesy of Eric Gee

Clinic Recap Part 1

What a great weekend I enjoyed at the Support Your World Team Clinic! Let me first recap the serious stuff we did and then I'll fill you in on all the hijinks that happened in between.

Friday was informal skating sessions around the beautiful banked track as we please. I was still recovering from two late nights on Wednesday and Thursday so I didn't skate as much as I would like to. However, it was good to refresh my memory on weight-transfer and leading with the shoulders.

Saturday we began with jogging around the track for a brief warm-up and then we did some stretching. AJP led the first half of the stretching session with some static stretches which we held usually to a count of 20 (of course nobody counted seriously except for Mr. Pauley, as people yelled out random numbers/colours/names of fruit/names of soft drinks ...this pretty much sums up the tone for the entire weekend). Next, PD emphasized the importance of dynamic stretches. Some typical moves include side way kicks, ankle roll, and front/back kicks to ensure the joints are properly warm up.

Our first exercise of the day was to practice skating on different parts of the banked track. There are three paths on the track: low, middle, and high. Due to the different elevations, it feels totally different to skate low as oppose to skate high. This drill segued perfectly to the next item on the agenda which was passing. When the pack skate low, we pass from the middle. When the pack skate high, we pass from the middle. When the pack skate in the middle, we have a choice of passing low or high where each requires different timing and effort. In general, passing low is easy because a skater only needs to skate a shorter distance to overtake the pack. We can start to pass as soon as we enter the corner. Passing high is trickier because the skater needs to cover a longer distance than the pack. This is where the banked track comes in handy. The skater can take full advantage of the downward slope of the banked track if he starts to pass just before the apex of the corner. When done correctly, he should be ahead of the pack in the straighaway. Note that a skater does not need to open up too large of a gap between him and the pack after he made the pass.

Next, coach AP wanted us to practice duck walking around the track. We lift one leg with bent knee to waist level, open up the hip, and set the foot down with toes pointing out. As one gets more comfortable with this exercise, he should be able to increase the pace from walk to trot to run. This is an important learning drill for starts. During time trials and sprints, the ability to accelerate holds the key to success. The next drill was learning how to do starts. Coach AP and PD explained many common mistakes that inexperienced skaters make during formal time trials starts and the proper technique for doing starts. I'm afraid I can't adequately explain this in words so I would suggest you to check out Barry Publow's Speed On Skates instead. We practiced our starts over and over with coach timing our starts. Hmm, it was my first time doing starts and I did on average 3.10s. For comparison purposes, the faster skaters were putting in 2.08s times. I will come back and compare my time a year from now.

After lunch, we did 300m time trails using the start technique that some of us just learned. My time was under 45s. Pictures of our time trails are availabe here. Relays are also an important aspect in speedskating. After my crash in my first relay race way back in June, I'm still not comfortable with the relay push. On a banked track, the relay happens while exiting the corner in a downward slope for even more speed. I opted to sit out in this exercise.

On Sunday, we began the day with a road skate on a newly paved asphalt road. Since I'm the slowest skater in our pack of 10, the faster skaters took it down several notches to make sure we all stayed in a pack. Everybody told me before that to make the best of the draft, I need to skate close enough to the skater in front of me so that I can touch his back with bent arm. Well, it never made sense to me before until now because I usually can't even keep up to stay close enough for the draft. During our skate, the pack was going just fast enough that I could barely keep up. Whenever I skated close enough, I could at last feel the pull of the draft. It was awesome. AH was skating behind me and giving me pointers on how to skate in a pack. It was immensely useful.

After 7km of skating, we began the echelon drill. This is an effective way to share the work load between skaters in a good size pack. We basically have two lines of skaters where each skater travel into different positions of the pack in counter-clockwise manner. The key to safety is for everybody in the pack to synchronize the push. Since everyone skates so close together, an out of synch push can easily turn into a fall which I experienced first hand.

I was skating behind SZ for much of the road skate. It was absolutely wonderful because it was a great learning opportunity for me. Like coach EG said, one of the best way to improve your skating is to mimic better skaters by skating behind them.

We also did some acceleration in pairs. I partnered up with JS since we're most similar in speed. However, even so, I was still slower than him. This drill was hard as the speed of the pack eventually picked up and I couldn't keep up anymore. All in all, it was a really great session.

After lunch, I attended AJP's spinning class. Quite a good workout, I must say but I was distracted my the road rash on my left knee. This pretty much sums up all the training I did this weekend. I'll come back with another post on the silly stuff we did as well.

Thank you to all the world team members and the volunteers who made this event successful!

Downtown Montreal On Skates

Last Friday, after our whole dragonboat crew finished dinner at Le Club Sandwich in the village in Montreal, SM and I decided to skip the clubbing and headed back to the McGill residence instead to grab our skates. On our way back, we checked out the Just For Laughs street festival which was absolutely amazing. There was a group of performers who walked around on stilts with three in menacing dragon costumes and one dragon lady shepharding the dragons with a long black stick. The performers were weaving in and out of the crowd and they were practically beside me for a good chunk of the time.

SM and I got ready to skate as soon as we returned to the residence. We originally was going to roll around the neighbouring area but of course, we ended up traveling much further than we expected. I haven't been skating on roads since May in Ottawa and maneuvring around the crowd and traffic in downtown Montreal at night certainly was not an ideal way to ramp up on my street skating skills. I absolutely hate curbs so I would come to a dead stop before gingerly stepping down from the sidewalk to the street. I've been trying to persuade SM to come to TISC practices since beginning of the season so he sort of got the impression that I'm a decent skater. Well, embarrassing to say, after he saw my cautious moves, he actually asked me if this is my frist season inling skating. Oh gosh, I was so mortified.

On a happier note, I did get more comfortable skating on the street after a bit of warm up. We came to a long uphill climb on a bike lane (yay) and I did make it to the top much quicker than he did. Good to know that my cardio training pays off. I think I should add some agility drills on my rest days to complement the training.

Indoor Practice: 05/01/2006

This post backtracks a little to my first indoor inline skating experience last Monday at Scooter's. TISC has a youth/beginner introduction to inline speed session on Monday in May and June. The first session was held in conjunction with the TISC sell-and-swap and 2005 awards party. Since I wanted to check out the sell-and-swap anyway, I figured it wouldn't hurt to bring my gears with me.

When I arrived, it was still pretty early so only a few member already showed up with stuff to sell. Not really one to sit around and wait, I handed in my membership registration document and officially became a member of the club. When WB asked me if I wanted to skate today, I thought since I was there already...may as well try skating indoors. I scrambled to get ready as quickly as I could before class began.

Our group consisted of about ten kids who skated with the club during the winter season and a few adult skaters. Some of the adult skaters are parents of the kids and some are people that I met from our regular outdoor practice or Trailbladers. Fortunately, I didn't feel too out of place (unlike my beginner swimming class experience at the age of 13). I was still skating on my old set of wheels. Combined with the smooth slippery floor of this indoor rink, I had very little traction. Everybody was doing cross-cuts in the corner but I could feel my wheels slipping under my feet so I just glided on two feet instead. I know...I looked so lame but oh well.

Since this is a small rink, our coach SZ divided us into groups of four for each exercise. We did a series of races with different starting position such as lying down on our bellies, on our backs, on our backs facing the wrong direction, and on our bellies facing the wrong direction. It felt funny trying to get up into up-right position as quickly as possible but it was fun.

Next, we tried a few drills to learn how to cross the finish line. Since the back wheel of the front skate is the one that counts, there are a few positions that we could use. First, we did the jab which we extended our front skate as far forward as we could while keeping our back leg bent. Next, we tried the hawk which was like a lunging position. Finally, we added the jab to the hawk which would give us the best extension. It was tricky to keep balance.

Before the session was finished, we played a game which everyone tried to skate across the length of the rink without being tagged by the skaters in the centre of the rink. The purpose is to increase agility and learn to avoid obstacles. For some strange reasons, I lasted until the last round. I think it's probably because I was skating around people who didn't care to tag me...the kids are really competitive so I was absolutely surprised (and confused!) that I was one of the last ones.

After the practice, we had pizza and the 2005 season awards. Since I'm new to the club, I met lots of new people and it was a challenge to remember everybody's name. Pictures from the party are available here. I'm the one with the red and black stripe sleeves.

Technorati: TISC 2005 Season Award, Scooters Roller Palace