Lately I find myself doing plenty of training among vehicular traffic. More often than not, it scares the bejeesus out of me. If it is an easy recovery skate, I'm pretty cool with it because I can slow down and skate very conservatively. However, for hill repeats or intervals, it's scary at best. It is not always be practical for me to train on trails especially for my morning workouts. Nor are there climbs on any of our trail system around Greater Toronto Area. Skating on roads has become a necessary evil in my routine.
There are a few traffic light intersections on my regular route around my house. The pedestrian signal countdown is indispensable because it gives me a clear idea of how long before the signal changes. All-way-stop-signs intersections are a lot trickier. I pray every time crossing one of those that there are no cars anywhere near the intersection. Drivers typically have no idea of my braking distance nor that I simply cannot brake effectively going downhill. I try to make eye contact with the driver and make it absolutely clear that I have no intention to stop. Wishful thinking for the most part, really. But I do what I can to ensure my own safety.
I've learned to take up an entire traffic lane when I skate where there's two lane traffic. Sure I get honked on a regular basis. Who's got faster speed and superior acceleration though? They can get around me easy enough. What's most perplexing is the "friendly honk". I know that there are plenty of understanding drivers on the road who honk at me so that I am aware of their presence. It is a really nice gesture especially if the car comes up from behind. Unfortunately, car honks are not designed to convey emotions. How do you tell the difference between "hey there, I'm gonna pass you in less than a second" or "get off the road, you're in my way"? In most cases, I try to acknowledge the honking but not changing my line. Predictability is key. I secretly hope that if I train in the neighbourhood often enough, the drivers will eventually get used to my skating.
Despite enduring ridiculous amount of stress a few times a week during my road skating sessions, there are a few things that I enjoy. The obvious advantage is learning to skate at race pace on realistic race course pavement conditions. Trails with smooth pavements are a treat but how many races can you name that do not include variable surfaces? Oh yeah, and I learn to turn right. Like vegetable, climbs are good for me so I gladly train on them. There is an elementary school in my neighbourhood and my training coincides with their gym class' jog-around-the-block activity. It brought a smile to my face this morning when one of the kids pointed out with excitement "she's speedskating!". Perhaps we're not such an obscure sport after all.
Training has been going well in the last couple of weeks. Last week I was busy dealing with jetlag so I missed a couple of morning sessions. Things are more or less back on track now and I am where I should be. My improvement at club practice is the biggest surprise for me this season. I think training at the 400m track allows me to skate harder, less limited by my cornering skills. Coach PD's program is consistent and it provides the intensity I need to have a productive training session. After discussing with coach SZ, we fine tuned my program so now I go to Saturday morning group trail skates as well. It's the perfect setup for me to practice attacks and breakaways. Motivation is a little lacking recently though. I'm just not keen to throw on my skates. Once I get moving, things are fine. But when I'm the one who has to give myself a swift kick on teh behind for every training sessions...skating is so purpose-driven nowadays. Suffice to say I look forward to experience again the anticipation and joy for skating.
Hey Candy.. I can appreciate all of that!
Just make sure to have 'fun' as much as possible. It doesn't take much for the routine of training to impact you and skating came become a chore that you do instead of something you love to do.
Keep up the hard work!
Posted by: Andrew Hegarty | June 10, 2010 at 17:37