Time for new Skates

I'm really tired right now, but I want to try and capture some of the important things from tonight's Indoor Inline practice (and conversations that occured afterwards) before I fall asleep and much of it will have escaped from my mind by morning.

Everyone was very encouraging at Practice tonight, even though didn't feel anywhere near my top of form in terms of both endurance and technique. In fact I felt like the more tired I was getting the sloppier my technique was. I really thought things started to fall apart really badly towards the end of the track pattern/passing drill we were doing tonight.

I am physically exhausted. The culmulative effect of all the Kickboxing classes I've been teaching the past few weeks as well as more intensive Ice and Inline practices lately. I taught Combat at Noon hour with Tanya at the Eaton Centre and again I was having trouble speaking and catching my breath. Pre-cueing was off. I stayed for Body Flow and really enjoyed having a chance to stretch out my tired aching muscles.

I was going to try and take it easy tonight at inline practice, to make sure I'm well rested for the Combat Class I'm teaching tomorrow at Mount Pleasant in the evening. Unfortunately no one from the "slow pack" showed up! I ended up pushing myself harder than I was anticipating. Hopefully I can stretch it out at Yoga tomorrow and not be too sore or tired when my 5:00 class rolls around.

It was a good opportunity tonight to skate in with the fast pack. I tried my best to get in positions behind people I know have good technique. I'm going to do more of this from now on. It gave me a chance to follow their strides and track patterns in a way that I do not benefit when skating with the slow pack.

Some good feedback from different people.

Jesse and others pointed out that I should stay calm and not panick when passing or trying to keep up. I realize everything about my body language is screaming panick which will just tire me out. I think about skating with the Columbians and how cool Leo seemed to be at all times. Both him and Camilo (and others) have told me to never let it show when you are working hard. Keep steady, keep the technique and the strides and conserve energy.

I also find more often than not that I learn so much from just hanging out and listening to conversations that the advanced skaters are having.

At Tim Horton's after practice, Aaron and Andrew explained that as we are doing with the track pattern drills, I am losing ground going around the Apex because I don't have confidence in my wheels gripping, A Gap opens up in the straight and then I catch up on the next curve by entering tighter in the cones but encounter the same problem at the Apex again. Instead I should just take the turn wider and I should close the Gap at the Apex and conserve that energy. (I hope that made sense and that I was understanding properly, it's getting hard to focus when I'm this bagged).

Aaron again emphasized that I should put new wheels on my skates ASAP (the Star Grips are not supposed to be any good)... the Red Matter wheels that I was saving for Spring race season shouldn't be too worn down by indoor is what they told me.

We also talked about me getting proper racing setups as well. I've been meaning to upgrade boots and frames all last season but there seems to be so many different opinions that I have a hard time figuring out which setup I should get. The opinion around the table with Morgan, Sigird, Andrew and Aaron were to get customs of some kind rather than lower end stock boots to start with. In the long run it will be more economical and beneficial. Both Aaron and Andrew offered to do the molds if I get custom Bonts and Schenkels. The new 2007 models are all out, so I guess I should make a decision in the next month or so.

They mentioned that the lower profile of the three point frame mount of the Bont's is better in a Marathon situation, although not necessarily short-track. Given the fact that I'm a Marathon skater, maybe that means I should lean towards a Bont.

I'm sure there was plenty of other stuff that we talked about, hopefully I can recall them still tomorrow.


WHAT I ATE TODAY
Flax Bagel with Cream Cheese, Veggie Chili Soup, Orange Juice, Booster Juice, 3 slices of pizza, chocolate donut, Reese Peanut Butter Cups, Terriyaki Beef, Vegetables, Rice, Miso Soup, Salad with Ginger, Ice Cream/Mochi. Ice tea


Tuesday was a rest day.

WHAT I ATE TUESDAY
Flax Bagel with Cream Cheese, Tandoori Chicken, Garlic Naan Bread, butter chicken, spinich, ice cream, oranges, tomatoes, Saag Paneer, pakoras, onion bajas, lamb masala.