ICE!

I'm typing this post sitting on a motel bed in a Milwaukee suburb.  There's an NCIS marathon on the TV, a Marty's pizza on the table next to me (yes, I'm eating pizza in--or more accurately, on--bed...got a problem with that?), and my usual pile of skating gear is strewn all over the room.

The ice season has begun.

I usually come down to Milwaukee, to the Pettit National Ice Center, a few times each fall before my "home oval" has ice.  I've driven down with Hubster (and dog) or Coach TieGuy or a fellow Minnesota skater a few times, but most of my early fall Pettit trips are solo.  It's a long trip after a long week at work, but I always look forward to it, in my usual "I love my routines and rituals" way.  I leave school as soon as all the students are safely on the bus, caffeinate (last night's trip took 2 Diet Cokes and a 100 mg caffeine Espresso Clif Shot), put the iPod on Shuffle All, make sure there's plenty of junk food easily accessible on the passenger seat, and hit the road for a 6 hour drive.  Yesterday's trip began particularly auspiciously...out of the 1381 songs on my iPod, the one that was playing as I pulled out of the school parking lot was the one that most says "skating" to me...Guns 'n Roses "Sweet Child O' Mine."  This is the song that my friend and fellow masters skater Andrew Love chose to use in the video he made of the US Long Track Championships in 2007, the only year I was able to qualify for and skate in them.  (You can see the video here; I make an appearance towards the end--I'm the rather stiff, upright skater in black/silver/blue, being urged on by Coach TieGuy in full suit). That event was one of the high points of my skating career thus far, so I always figure that song is a good omen.

The trip went fine, and I got a pretty good night's sleep...but I was so excited to skate that I woke up an hour before my alarm went off and finally just gave up on sleeping in and got to the Pettit an hour before the ice session started. We had 3 hours of ice, but I figured I might need all of it since I had new skates that were pretty sure to need some spot-molding with the hair dryer, which takes some time.  Between that and needing to stretch out well before skating, I wasn't too unhappy to be there early.

One new thing at the Pettit this year is that they have apparently taken a highlighter to the warmup lane (I'd post a picture, but I forgot the cord for the camera).  Long track ovals are divided into 3 lanes: the inner lane is for warmup, and the outer two for racing.  The entire inner lane at the Pettit is now painted a bright, screaming yellow.  That ought to wake us up during those early-morning pre-race warmups!

Another new thing was that, in addition to the usual Milwaukee fast skaters, a contingent of Salt Lake skaters (National Team? I'm regrettably out of touch with who does what in the elite skating world...all I know is that these were FAST skaters) were in town for some "low altitude" training.  Due to the limited venues and the small number of people who skate, it's quite common for people like me to share the ice with National Team members and Olympians, but it still always makes me a little nervous...I REALLY don't want to get in anyone's way!  So between the fast skaters and my new skates, I was feeling a bit tentative and thus spent most of my time in the Screaming Yellow warmup lane.

I spent the next 3 hours alternating skating "technique laps" with trying to fix a painful spot in my left skate (unsuccessfully; I'll have to give it another try when I finish typing).  Usually when I come to the Pettit,  I have a specific workout to complete (or I'm racing).  It was a bit weird to not have a set number of laps to complete at a set pace, but between the fast skaters and the painful skate, I was glad I didn't.  I just tried to focus on a few technical improvements: get lower; relax my leg/hip during the "recovery" phase of each stroke to try to capitalize on momentum (and improve weight shift) rather than just "forcing" every part of the stroke; and try to improve my "lean" in the corners.  I'm not sure how successful I was, but it was fun trying, and a good way to get comfortable on the ice again after a season on wheels.

So now, it's time to call the Hubster (he's been doing yard cleanup at home; yesterday, while chainsawing, he cut into a bee's nest...he's allergic to bee stings, but fortunately didn't have a reaction.  Today he was planning to rent a chipper...I need to see how that went!), mold my skates again, watch a little more NCIS, and go to bed.  Tomorrow I skate again--if the skates don't hurt I'll try to do an actual workout--and then head back to Minnesota.

I'm thinking 2 more Diet Cokes and the remaining half of the pizza should get me there...