36: T-minus 1 day

Managed to make it to Yvonne's Yoga today for the last half an hour. Had trouble with some of the poses involved in putting any weight on my left knee, it's still a bit swollen from when I banged it against the coffee table.

1st time skating in a week and I really felt it. I'm at the tail end of my cold, just some congestion and coughing. Hopefully it will be gone by this weekend!

Practice was okay tonight. We did three sets of 30 laps. First round was 1 easy, 2 medium, 2 fast... managed to keep up with Travis and Kevin's pack on this one for the most part. Second Round was 2 fast, 2 medium, 1 easy and I got lost on the surge right away. Third round was 1 easy, 1 fast, 1 medium, and I held on for one round before losing it. Coach Mike Murray basically told me on the last round that it was more important to take my rest than to try and keep up with the pack. At the beginning he also mentioned to try and keep in with a pack because it's harder to skate alone, but I am guessing that's within the parameters of the drill... so I don't keep skating the extra distance hard to catch up with the pack while they are all taking their rest interval. I just get burned out that way.

At the beginning of practice, Morgan mentioned to me that I should really be focusing on my glide around the corners and thinking about the push. I tried to keep that in mind, although I'm sure it all started to fall apart as soon as I started getting tired (which was pretty early today). Slow it down and work on that crossover technique.

Another night of Falling Rampage. Poor Sarah and Kevin took spills for a second week in a row. Kevin walked away from his with some elbow rash, but Sarah's backside and knee didn't look pretty. There was some discussion around how falls impact your skating on a psychological level, and people's nervousness in packs when it comes to passing and coming around corners. It was nice to see Travis being able to make jokes about his bone-breaking crash last winter.

Looking forward to the Eddy Metzger clinic this weekend. Sounds like the weather is going to be great.

At Mister Sub after practice, I got to listen to Peter, Sarah and Mike planning the Pam Am workshop this weekend. I think it would be a worthwhile experience, and I really wish it didn't fall on the same weekend as the Eddy/Barry Ottawa Inline event. Even Eric G's distance camp out in Rondeau sounds like it will be a blast. I wish there weren't so many cool things going on in the same weekend.

The Philidelphia Freedom Skate is the following weekend, which is the same weekend as Nationals/Canada Day Marathon in Cambridge. That would have been a good benchmark for me to see where I am at comparted to last year (since I didn't have Ottawa NCM as my "tune up" for the season, but going to the home of the original Philly Cheesesteak and skating through the Subway sounds like too much fun to miss. Particularly after hearing how great a time Mike Lin and Richard "The Mayor" A had last year.

On the drive home, Morgan suggested I get on the bike more when I mentioned how I felt I wasn't as strong a solo-skater as I used to be in races and how races really differ for me depending on if I have a good sized pack to skate with.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
apple, banana, whole wheat pasta with spinich and veggie dogs in salsa and ragu, olives, pickle, gazpatcho soup, blueberry strawberry mango banana yogurt orange juice smoothie. chocolate chip cookie, Chicken Noodle Soup. Turkey Mister Sub on whole grain with all the fixin's. ice tea. Strawberries.