Once more I'm completely bagged from our late night Wednesday practice, even though I got an insane amount of sleep last night. It probably didn't help that i've been off the inline skates for a couple of weeks. Dorota and Carolyn were a bit nervous about my driving when I'm that tired on the way home, although Kevin seemed fine with it (note: Dorota prefers the front seat for next time). I'm going to try and capture as much as possible right now, otherwise I'll fall asleep and the details will escape me come morning.
We left in a reasonable amount of time today, because I planned on putting on my new wheels when we got there. However, when Kevin and I went to get the car in my underground parking, the front tire was completely flat and we had to go find a gas station to get some air in the tires. So we were running a bit late, which was noted at practice and I didn't have time to put my new wheels on.
Aaron spent a bit of time with the secondary pack today at the beginning of practice, and the general consensus among us was that this was something that we all really needed and appreciated. We each got individual feedback, which was just awesome and I feel incredibly greatful for getting that outside insight. I thought for sure that my twist and shoulder drop into the corners would be an issue, so I was really thinking about keeping squared up while skating, and suprisingly that wasn't a problem (like it normally is). What was the issue was my pushing backwards instead of off to the side. I really hadn't thought that was a problem anymore since I had been working on correcting that when I was skating outdoors this past outdoor season, but it looks like I'm falling into bad habits again. I'll really have to be more aware of that when I'm skating, hopefully so I can load it into muscle memory with enough repitition. I also wonder if I was getting low enough and if my hip was any kind of issue as Aaron was saying just prior to our skating, but I didn't get any comments about that.
Once again it was reinforced that I need to get the new wheels on my skates and get racing skates. It will make all the difference in the world with how I grip and feel the corners. The question of customs versus stocks came up again, and understanding that i was left with is that it all comes down to the amount of space between your feet and the boot and the amount of control and responsiveness you have. I am a bit nervous still about getting customs since they cost so much, but given the fact that I do spend so much time on my skates, it will probably be worth it. I'd just hate to get them and have constant blisters or pain. From what I've been able to tell, it appears that there is a move towards the three point boots with the lower profile and additional support, and at this point it's Bont that is the only brand you can get. It's like whenever I get a computer or any other consumer electronic like a DVD player or Stereo... you just have to accept the fact that there will simply be something newer and better as soon as you make your purchase. I haven't even thought about the even bigger 115 wheels that they are putting on many of the new model skates this season. I wish I were more of a gear-head, perhaps then I could make the decision more easily. It's probably why i'm such a dedicated Macintosh computer user... I prefer "plug and play".
I forgot my neoprene ankle sock again and ended up with another uncomfortable gauge on my right ankle that started to impact on my skating once we started relays.
I probably could have benefitted more today if I tried to skate with the faster pack in the second round, but they were pushing the tempo right off the start and again my technique falls apart when I'm fighting to keep up that kind of pace. I wish there was some kind of happy medium, because I'm feeling like I am not improving on the track pattern/passing drills with the b-pack at this point and it shows when we get into the relay drills.
I'm dreaming of the nice weather when I can skate outdoors in nice straight lines on the trails again at my top speed rather than this constant round and round. I'm hoping I'm making improvements on my cornering by doing indoors, but there are days when I feel like my technique is constantly falling apart and I'm not making any progress at all. Will all this make a difference when the outdoor season begins in five-six weeks from now?
Today's relays seemed to be a bit more aggressive than usual. At a couple of points I was on the receiving end of contact, being grabbed on the shoulder and shoved to the side, pushing me off balance and nearly knocked me over while cornering, which kind of freaked me out. It did lead to some interesting discussion around what kind of contact is allowed. My understanding is that there is much more contact on inline than ice, but it should remain relatively "clean" (hips and lower back?), on the cornering in particular. I heard a few different opinions tonight on what degree of agressiveness is permissible, from Sigrid (who's a world team member) saying that it's just pretty standard aggressive racing, to Kevin saying that kind of contact isn't allowed (although perhaps the Koreans are cleaner racers?). I noticed many of use were knocking skates Ben-Hur style as well after getting pushed. A couple of weeks ago I accidentally knocked Bruce down after a pass-off with a long stride that collided with his skate. Again, the question of what degree of agressiveness is appropriate. Today I opted to shorten my stride and just let them get past rather than have someone fall, but is that my shortcoming? I find most of the time when I've knocked skates with someone, I'm pretty low and stable and it's almost always the other person that falls... so does it come down to how badly do you want the lead position? I know I really hate falling and try my darndest to avoid falling, and I always feel really badly when someone falls because of a collision off of me. Sometimes I'm really worried that it's only a matter of time before someone else is hurt as badly as Travis was or worse.
What I need to work on as well is my relay pushes, Scott told me I was pushing him off to the side. I have to figure out what I'm doing wrong... I think it's because I'm cornering too widely and fighting the momentum pushing me towards the wall, while trying to get the push in. I really do want to improve in doing these relays and I don't want anyone to feel like they are "stuck" with me on their team as a liability.
The other problem is getting sorted out when we are all coming into the corner bunched up and trying to get in position for the pass-off. I know I'm supposed to go tight to the cones, but what happens when there are so many other people at the cones that you need to find your way around? What about the guys that are cutting across perpendicular that you need to get around to get into position?
Once again I found it really informative just to listen to the conversations at Tim Horten's afterwards, as the more elite skaters discussed and analyzed what happened during practice in a more casual setting. It helps give me a bit of perspective on things I should be looking at or have more awareness around. I always have a million questions I want to ask, and maybe I shouldn't be so shy about asking those kind of questions and not feeling so stupid all the time.
I'm having mixed feelings about today's practice, some parts were frustrating, but on the other hand there was some pretty awesome cool things about it as well once I started thinking more about technique. I'm probably just overly tired right now.
WHAT I ATE TODAY
Carrots. Flax Bagel with light cream cheese, apple, 2 custard buns, Orange Juice, Turkey and cheese sandwhich on whole wheat, chocolate muffin, ice tea, rice crepes and hoisin sauce.
