Battered and Bruised

I'm physically exhausted once again, but still kind of buzzed from practice tonight. I'm sure the iced tea at Tim Horton's and Aaron's birthday cake isn't helping me go to sleep.

I have to remember to eat something substantial first thing when I get up, prior to heading for the gym. Can't expect to perform without fuel.

Did most of Tanya's Combat class during noon hour at Manulife. It was good to switch up the routine, but I was feeling really sluggish in both upper and lower body. Struggled to push through it and try and maintain form. Am I slowing down in my old age? I felt like at times I was punching and kicking underwater. I always prided myself in being able to throw fast sequences... visualizing Bruce Lee throwing in his half dozen strikes before your opponant has a chance to get his in. Kind of makes you wonder if there is only so much muscle memory in your body's hard-drive before you reach capacity. Does the constant repitition of movement in one activity start to impact other activities once it reaches the realm of instinctual and reactive?

On the car-ride to practice, Sigrid pointed out that we only refer to short track on ice. I should be saying track skating and road/trail skating to differentiate inline.

Aaron helped me put on my red matter wheels, and he had a trick with the spacers and bearings stacked in sequence on the tool that I should remember the next time I need to put my wheels and bearing together quicker. Also: if the wheel isn't rolling smoothly, hit it with another skate hard spinning it in both directions until it starts spinning good. His comment about my frame positioning was "who put these on Helen Keller?", which made me laugh. I don't think I've looked at the frames since last summer. I should be more aware of my gear.

I'm not sure I noticed a difference with the new wheels or not yet tonight. Scott said it looked like I was still skidding. I tried to push the envelope a little bit to try and see if they made a difference on the cornering and went down and into the wall at one point during relays. I was feeling really tired and sloppy in my technique though, so I'm sure it has more to do with that than the wheels. Let's see how things go in the next few practices.

I HATE falling. My left hip, right shoulder and elbow are feeling the effects of the crashes tonight. I'm a sore, scraped and bruised. Plus I got home and noticed that the new pair of shorts that Jen got me are trashed which upsets me more than it should. Folks were playing rough on the track tonight, but at least I'm getting a better sense of the rules of engagement now for future physical skirmishes.

Mentally and physically wiped. There is quite a bit to capture from the practice and all the different conversations tonight, and when I'm this tired I find it hard to retain it all.

Really having a hard time trying to follow the strides of the people in front of me. Tried my best to get behind the better skaters to follow their technique. I'm finding I don't know what to do in this drill when I'm behind a skater who's technique isn't very strong. On the one hand you have to stay in tight to that person in front of you, but that makes it hard when you are constantly slowing down and speeding up to keep your hand on their back. It wears you out. I know you're supposed to be looking a few skaters ahead and try and follow THAT technique, but gaps tend to open up when I'm doing that. Trying to remember to stay cool and not panick, and the track pattern is the most important aspect of the drill.

There was chat about the reason why being closest to the wall was most advantageous at the relay hand-off, but at that point in the evening it was very hard for me to focus. I could barely eat my chili at that point let alone try to distill all the voices weighing in an opinion. Morgan's answer of "Shit Happens!" was the only thing that stood out (and gave me a good chuckle). I'll have to ask on Wednesday what the answer was (although I don't even think I'm 100% sure what the question was). My guess would be track pattern.

There was also the suggestion to try watching some bicycle racing to see the kinds of tactics that can be employed into inline with the drafting and pack/team skating.

Had a really good talk in the car with Andrew, Morgan and Sigrid about the different brands of racing skates again, as well as the benefits of amino acids (for recovery and preventing soreness), pack skating techiniques, and passing, fighting for positions and contact (slip in low Underneath, get the arm in either over or under theirs). Hopefully I can remember some key points in these conversations tomorrow so I can capture and reinforce them.

The one that sticks currently is Andrew's observation about looking when someone peels off and heads for the back of the pack, chances are they are looking to break away. I think the point being, I should be always watching the other people, more often than not that their body language will be telling you what their next move will be. Need to focus more on tactical skating.

Talked about how your skating style (agressive versus clean) and reputation impact how others in the pack react to you (pro and con). For the most part, skating locally I'm almost always in a pack with "Friendlys" from OISC, Roller Montreal and Toronto that work well together, but that won't always be the case particularly if I'm going to be travelling to more events.

Morgan mentioned that he feels the lower profile on his three point Bonts were good on the corners and in sprints. And I think Sigrid was saying there is benefit to the three point Bonts (or any other boot that you request they lower) because of the Lower heel positioning that can help correct the toe-push that everyone general has as a bad habit at some point or another. As per my conversation with Carolyn the other day, I will have to remember to bring her along when I am ready to order my new skates, because she generally always asks the questions that I don't even think to ask. I should keep all this gear talk in perspective though, the best skates in the world won't do a lick of good if my technique sucks.

Going to pass out now.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
some multigrain dark chocolate bar they gave out on the subway, Green Goodness smoothie, 2 lick's homeburgers with all the fixin's, tim horton's Chili, Turkey on mutligrain with Bacon, mocha birthday cake, pickle, hot and sour soup, apple.