Dream Chaser On Wheels

If It Ain’t Broke

You’ve probably heard the saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. But what would you do if it’s only a little broke? Do you stay with the status quo or take the risk in your attempt to improve? I was faced with this dilemma the week leading up to Nationals. The first few minutes of stepping into my skates, I always felt like my left frame was pointing to the wrong direction. Visual inspection suggested otherwise but it just didn’t feel right. I was skating well on road and alright on 400m track. However, the stress of racing on the 200m banked track got to me and I decided to adjust my left frame to my marked position because I needed every advantage I could get for the weekend of racing.

Any experienced racer can tell you fussing with your equipment set up is the last thing you ought to do before a big race. I was well-aware of the risk but the frame position was clearly marked so I had confidence it was a minimal change to the tried-and-true. My sprint races at Nationals were nothing to write home about. In fact, my times were well off my personal bests set over two years ago. I dismissed it lightly thinking I simply have not been training for track racing and my cornering skills have taken a turn for the worse.

Within Reach

If you ask me for my evaluation of last weekend’s Apostle Island Inline Marathon, you may receive two completely different answers. The short version is I skated well and I’m thankful for all the heartfelt congratulations on my first win as a pro. It has taken years of training to reach this point and it means a lot to me to be surrounded by supportive friends. That also means I have a very short blog entry to write and we’ll chat again next time. So let’s get to the self-indulgent long version, shall we?

Coach SZ and I had been carefully monitoring my recovery from Denmark training camp leading up to this race. Thrown in a bit of jetlag and some early symptoms of a cold, I was not sure if my body was ready to race came Saturday morning. Fortunately, I had an amazing training session last Wednesday skating with GN at the trails. Shins did not lock up and I had the top-end speed I last saw in Denmark. It really boost my confidence and I remained relax on the long drive from Thunder Bay to Wisconsin.

The weather forecast did not look favourable and I was bracing for another rain race. No matter, I had my trusty Storm Surge and Streetfight rain setup. On race day morning, it was cold and drizzly. I was too occupied thinking about my lack of warm layers than stressing out about racing. I suppose that was not a bad trade off. I did my usual warm up of jogging, static and dynamic stretches, working up to race pace on skates, and a few accelerations. I did not feel particularly strong but it was nothing to complain about. My rain setup felt good on the wet but smooth pavement.

Milestones

I have much to tell about last weekend’s Apostle Inline Marathon. But right now, I’m in the mood to look back upon some milestones that I hit along the way since I started skating competitively in 2006. 2011 season holds much significance because I have a big goal to achieve in September. All those hours of hard work in the last five years culminating in one race. It’s easy to let the stress get the better of me. With my first win in the pro category last weekend, I want to savour some important moments of my skating career.

The 2007 Mississauga Criterium women’s 10k race was a small local race but it was the first time that I earned my spot on the podium. I stood on podiums before but with the typically small number of racers in women’s races, it was all by default. On that hot summer day, I dropped enough competitors to finish my race in third place.

Changes

Since I came home from Denmark, I’ve been resting a lot to get my body back to race-ready condition. The increased training load at Sk8skool did not really affect my cardio condition but the accumulated fatigue in the muscles began to show toward the end of my trip. My sleep schedule has been erratic at best so I can’t even blame jetlag for not resting well.

Usually I don’t sweat over this sort of things because we all have good days and bad days. However, my immediate concern is the Apostle Islands Inline Marathon this Saturday in Wisconsin. MW and I will fly to Thunder Bay on Friday and make the five hour drive across the border. Prior to this race, I have only raced the Texas Road Rash and Mount Forest 10K this season. You can say my race instinct is getting a little rusty.

Word from the organizers is that there will be over 300 racers at the event. My main focus is to have a strong start to get into the right pack and finish with the same pack. I’ll have to remember that I am capable of bridging a gap as well as dealing with repeated surges in speed. Both scenarios were simulated at our training sessions in Denmark and I handled them well. Those are convincing arguments that I will have no excuse to give up the race before my time.

End Of Training, Start Of Vacation

My training at Gerlev with coach Sooty, Sara, and the international crew has come to an end. Two nights ago, we drove over an hour to a road track for a session with the Sk8skool skaters. It was the first time I skated on an asymmetric road track. There were three left corners followed by a little chicane and another left corner with slight incline. What a fast surface and smooth surface!

Training intensity has really scaled back this week since most people are going to race this weekend. However, the accumulated fatigue in my muscles has finally made itself known. My shins locked up again when we began practice and it took a while before they relaxed enough for me to skate normally. It was too bad because it was such a fun track to skate on and we could build up some serious speed here.

Paceline warm up was followed by 2 sets of 10x half lap sprints with one and a half lap of rest in between. I focused on faster feet in the corners so I wouldn’t get gapped too much. Straightaway acceleration felt good and I could feel the difference driving the knees forward made. We then did 3 sets of second place race. For five laps, the pack skated like we were racing only that we had to fight for the second place in the pack. I tagged along at the back and took the chance to film a couple of laps. You can get an idea of the track from my video:

 

Yesterday skating was not on top of my priority because it was my long-awaited lunch at Noma. I have so much to share about this memorable meal but I’ll have to take time to write them down. I love how the food is full of creativity and playfulness. After JN and I returned to Gerlev, coach Sara took the three of us, including NCJ, for an easy roll near the school. It was mostly the stretch the legs before traveling to races. As for me, it was my last serious training in Denmark. I felt good on my skates and I think my cruising speed has increased a little since I came here. I look forward to training and racing when I return home so I can find out if I have really made some improvements.

I’ll be staying with a friend for the weekend. He promised me a whirlwind tour of Copenhagen but the piece de resistance will be a pastry showdown between us when we stop for sweets along the way. I only hope I don’t put on too much weight and will still be able to skate when I get on the plane on Sunday!