SLC Masters Camp--Days 2 and 3

OK, today I'm going to have to abandon my usual attempt to be witty or to at least have a coherent focus for my blog entry...because I'm just too tired.  (What?  You haven't noticed that I usually try to be witty and/or have a coherent focus?  Well, then, today's entry will just seem like business as usual to you!) .  So instead, I'll just try to hit the high points of the past 2 days.

Yesterday, Day 2 of the camp, didn't get its own entry because after 2 ice workouts and one dryland workout  in one day, I was too tired when I got back to the motel to do anything but eat some granola bars, call the Hubster, and fall into bed.  Day 2 was a lot of fun, though--I managed to surprise myself by doing pretty well on some skating drills (I discovered I can now do a one-legged squat when gliding on my skate...I've never been able to do that before).  So I felt better about the drill portion of the ice workouts.  And then...we got to skate.  Six minutes of skating, focusing on the things we'd learned.  I think I smiled the whole six minutes.  And then we got to do it again...but this time I only smiled for the first 4 minutes, because after that my legs were so tired it was all I could do to keep skating.  But still, it was fun, and after we got done skating I got a comment that made my day; Marian, one of the assistant coaches (who I've skated with in masters meets, so she's seen my "bunny on crack" technique before), told me that my skating is very different from what it was a year ago.

In a good way.

So that was nice.

Day 3 started painfully.  My legs and low back were not happy with what they'd endured for the previous two days, and were letting me know their displeasure in no uncertain terms.  Fortunately today's first workout was on-ice...it's a lot easier to ignore pain when you're having fun skating than when you're slogging through dryland.  And today, I finally figured out (OK, someone else figured out for me) my problem with corner entries.

After some fast 500's, I told Derek that I was still blowing every corner entry at high speed (as I did in my 500 and 1000 meter time trials in Milwaukee a couple of weeks ago).

"That's because your hip is out in the corner," he said, and proceeded to demonstrate while I skated behind him.

So I tried doing what he had done, and lo and behold...I could enter the corner without losing speed, and I could actually lean in the corner.

Now, I'm quite certain that Coach TieGuy has mentioned, once or a thousand times twice, that I should get my hip into the corner.  Why I could do it this time but not before I don't know...but I do think that I've got more balance and maybe a bit more body awareness this year than I had before, which is enabling me to do things differently on skates than I've been able to before.  And I'm sure I'll continue to blow corner entries at speed for a while, but at least now I've felt what it's supposed to feel like a couple of times, and now I can pursue that feeling every time I skate.

After our workout in the morning, we had an interesting lecture from a Sports Psychologist. There wasn't a whole lot of new information for me, because TieGuy is well-versed in the mental side of skating (and apparently needs to be, because, as he often tells me, many of my skating problems originate between my ears). So I've been doing visualizations and relaxation exercises and banishing negative self-talk for several years.  Still, it was an interesting talk, and Derek Parra told several related stories that had us riveted--he's a very entertaining speaker and his passion for the sport comes through loud and clear when he talks.

This afternoon was slideboard, which was fortunately not too intensive of a workout but more an opportunity to work on our slideboard technique.  And tomorrow, the last day of the camp, we get to do time trials.  I really want to do a 3k, despite how trashed my legs are, because, well, 3k's (and 5k's, but I don't think I have one of those in my legs this weekend) are kind of my thing.  So we'll see.  Just in case I do a distance event tomorrow, I've sucked it up and made myself carbo load tonight--pizza, a couple of PopTarts, and a few Reese's Pieces.  Just another one of the many sacrifices we make for our sport...

And now, time to visualize a few high-speed corners, try to convince myself that an ice bath would be helpful for my aching legs, and to rest up for one more day of fun on the fast ice.