Dream Chaser On Wheels

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!

Rolling With The Vikings

Last night we attended Rolling Vikings’ training session at the Premier Outlets Center in Ringsted. For some reasons, I never associated outlet mall with Europe but there we were, big box mall with (slightly cheaper) apparel from most chain stores. Okay, so the photo above was not taken last night and the Viking in the shot was not at practice last night. Just play along, okay? It was a beautiful sunny Friday after skating 42km. Teammate NCJ and I even coordinated our outfits to proudly represent Asphalt Beach. Of course I need to work this photo in the blog somewhere.

Anyway, training last night. After enjoying a run of warm sunny days, the forecast finally turned against us. The ground was damp at the mall parking lot with the occasional puddles here and there. With the early closing hours, our little loop around the parking lot was quite deserted. Just perfect for the 500m repeats TB had in store for us. I was not too keen on skating since my shins quickly locked up during warm up. That usually happens when I’m tensed or nervous about the skating surface. I skated the warm up slowly at my own pace, trying hard to relax the body. With a bit of stretching, my shins loosened up just enough for me to get into skating position.

On Skates

I’ve been writing much about my experience here at Gerlev International Skate Camp with everything from training to living to eating to sightseeing. What I have not shared much is photos of me actually on skates. You would think I travel here to watch other people train hard! Thanks to fellow skaters and photographers, there are plenty of photos to remind us of great times we shared at Skate Camp. First thing first, a couple of photos dedicated to my teammate LW:

I was skating in the warm up or cool down paceline at Hemmeshøjvej on the day we practiced some straightaway drills. I was in the draft of sk8skool elite skaters. The Asphalt Beach skinsuit that NCJ and I sported received much admiration. Who wouldn’t like the backside of a skinsuit saying “Kickin’ Asphalt”?

A Day At Gerlev

The official training camp wrapped up on Sunday and I’m a little sad to see new friends returning home one by one over the last couple of days. A small group of us international skaters are still training here at Gerlev. Most of us are here until end of week and then it’s off to races or home. Yesterday I enjoyed my first rest day since arriving here and what did I do? A day trip to Copenhagen of course to explore the city. Luckily, walking rarely tires me out. My legs feel fresh once again when I woke up this morning.

So what is it like to by a fly on the wall at Gerlev Sports Academy? The best way I can describe is like my days living in university dormitory from the accommodation arrangement (common bathroom!) to the structured meal times. It’s not easy to keep school life running smoothly for all these students so punctuality is of great emphasis. I don’t recall the last time in my life when I take my meals on such regular schedule every single day. Breakfast runs from 7:30-7:55 so I either wake up earlier to take my shower or squeeze it in before we begin our morning training session. After breakfast, it’s time for morning assembly with a bit of singing and perhaps a talk from one of the teachers. It feels a bit like Sunday church service.

While the students are busy with classes, we head off to our morning training session. What we do depends on the program that coach Sooty plans out but the intensity varies according what else we have on the schedule in the evening.

There are plenty of facilities at the school specifically built for the program they offer. There’s an indoor swimming pool, dance studio, gymnastics room, crossfit training room, gymnasium for basket ball, outdoor soccer field, running track, and parkour area in addition to the dormitories and lounge/common area. We often come across groups of students gathering together for their study activities.

Seven Days

After full seven days of intense training, I’m glad that my body is holding up surprisingly well. Sure there is fatigue in the legs and my waking heart rate has been creeping up a little, those are entirely expected. I am thankful that I do not have any foot pain nor is there much lactic acid build up in the muscles.

Yesterday was a relatively easy day with morning session on the road track and some easy skating at the Copenhagen Friday Night Skate. The focus of our workout was on more intense skating with a variety of windmill drill, attack & chase, and relay. After spending some time on the parabolic track at a previous session, returning to the road track brought back a rush of familiarity. The session felt a bit like a typical practice at Toronto Inline Skating Club except that I have people around my speed to train with. It was a productive morning for me.

We are offered to spend an afternoon at Gerlev Legepark to play some traditional games. I originally planned to go but with the bright afternoon sun and rising temperature, I much rather stayed indoor so I would not get too tired. When NCJ proposed a field trip to the local big box store Bilka (think Super Wal-Mart), I jumped at the chance. I adore browsing supermarkets! I came back with so much fun food stuff including local honey, fig fruit bars that is similar to the filling of Fig Newtons, cheeses, yogurt, mackerel salad, chocolate, marzipan, more Kinder cream bars, and wafers filled with caramel. Yum! I have already made some significant damage to my stash of goodies. Did I mention how hungry I’ve been since I arrived at the training camp? The body just craves carbs and protein much more than usual. I’ve been eating more according to SZ’s advice but I’m having a tough time gauging exactly how much more to eat. My hunger signal cannot really be trusted.

Back On The Road (Phew!)

Our program today brought us back to road skating with a morning session of technique drills performed on a quiet stretch of road not far from Gerlev and an afternoon tour to the beach. It may not sound like much but take my word that was plenty of skating for anyone with inclination.

I was training with the same group as I was yesterday on the track consisting of elite skaters at Sk8skool, masters skaters from Rolling Vikings, as well as our international contingent. Assistant coach Sarah went through a big selection of drills designed to tweak our technique for straightaway strides. We covered everything from 2-leg slaloms, single leg glide, 1-leg slalom, shoulder dip, outside edge set down with lean, dolphin kick, driving the knee forward at setdown, lightly click skates together after recovery, and skating with an extended glide phase focusing on traveling forward in a completely straight line. We concluded practice by skating in small packs bringing all the drills together into the best technique we could muster.

This Is A Parabolic Track

I skated on a parabolic track for the first time today. A couple of days ago, we visited the Slagelse track. What I did not mention was the parabolic track that is nestled inside the flat track. It is paved in concrete and not the most grippy surface. The wheels of choice is MPC Road War which I found out a few months ago from coach Sooty. Of course I placed my order with Asphalt Beach long ago and had my wheels ready for this trip. On a good day, I’m already uncomfortable skating on track. I don’t need the added stress of skating on slippery wheel on top of everything else.

While half of the camp participants worked on technique on the flat track, the other half skated on the parabolic track. We began with 10 minutes of paceline warm up and I had trouble learning when and how to go up the banking to make use of the track without losing balance. It felt awkward crossing over on a curved surface.

I have little expectations skating on a parabolic track. I mostly did the drills at my own pace far from the pack to stay out of people’s way. It was useful when coach Sooty walked us through the track explaining the lines. When to step up, when to crossover, where the apex ought to be, and how to drift back up the banking to make the most efficient use of the track. Skating only the corners was a useful drill to put this into practice.

We also went over the lines for skating at top speed, hugging the top of the banking. The pack gradually built up to top speed over three laps of skating. Crossing over with light feet is even more important than on a flat track.

We concluded practice with a couple sets of fighting for second place. It was mainly designed for comfort passing within the pack. I tagged along at the back just learning to relax, stay low, and don’t fight the track. By the end, despite the extra stress track skating put on the muscle, I did enjoy a few moments when I skated the right line and things seemed to fall into place. I doubt a parabolic track would make me fall in love with track skating but it was a good learning experience nonetheless.

 

Unfortunately, there were a number of crashes involving multiple skaters. It was difficult to have a mix of skaters with various experience skating on parabolic track. Some injuries are more serious than others. I hope it would be a speed recovery for all who took a fall.