My Frame Has Found A Home At Last
In the last several weeks, track skating had been a painful and frustrating experience because I never did find a good position for my left frame. However, after much experimentation, I learned a very valuable lesson. I can now rely on my own instinct to know where my frame should go instead of running to more experienced skaters for help everytime. After many trial and error, I finally learn to feel the difference of frame position and how it affects my skating. I guess this is simply a very long-winded way to say my left frame is where it should be, at last.
Tuesday practices are very predictable with a bunch of flying 200s followed by a points race. I am happy to report that my left shin did not threaten to cramp up even once. That means I could actually concentrate on sprinting instead of worrying my leg would collapse on me any minute! Obviously my corner acceleration still leaves much to be desired. However, I also found out that it was not all doom and gloom. When I skated behind PP, I could match her stride by stride for the entire sprint! There are a number of skaters in the club who are around her speed or slower and I skate behind them in these rolling sprints on a regular basis. Yet I always get gapped so badly to make me wonder if I am really so incapable of track skating. My success with skating behind PP restored my confidence a bit...my problem is that I have yet to learn to adapt the different skating/cornering/acceleration style of the other skaters.
I felt that I skated the points race better than I have in a long time. Instead of resigning myself to just skate the distance solo, I hopped back into the pack when I got lapped. At the end of practice, I felt like I finally took full advantage of what our club practice offers. It has been too long since I last felt this way but it's never too late!
On a totally different note, I've been following the blog of Olympic gymnast Kyle Shewfelt for a while. Shewfelt was the gold medalist for floor routine at Athens in 2004. Less than a year ago, he broke both his legs during training but with a lot of hardwork and determination, he comes back on form to represent Canada in Beijing. Obviously, gymnastics and speed skating are vastly different sports. However, Shewfelt writes eloquently about his worries, insecurities, focus, hopes, and the highs & lows of training. Those are common sentiments that most athletes can relate to.
Recent Comments