Holy Headcase, Batman

I think I've mentioned, once or twice, that my brain frequently gets in the way of my body when I'm skating.  And frankly, this just isn't helpful; my body is perfectly capable of getting in its own way without any assistance from my brain.  I know most athletes (ooh, I always feel a little strange when I refer to myself as an "athlete") have this problem now and then but it seems to be a pretty frequent event for me, as demonstrated by last night's experience.

After my American Cup races last weekend in Milwaukee (oh, the Sunday races were so-so--I totally hosed up my first corner entry in the 500 meter and ended up coasting most of the first corner, and the 1000 meter would have been a PB had I skated it before the PB I did on Saturday, but since I did it after, it's simply my second fastest 1000)...where was I?  Oh, yeah--after my Milwaukee races I was feeling a bit stiff and sore at Tuesday's endurance workout, and the laps were spectacularly unspectacular.  So I wasn't expecting much from last night's tempos (race-pace laps).  My plan was to do a rolling start 400 meters and base the rest of my workout on the result.  I usually can do a 37 second lap if I'm having a decent night; I had one or two 36's this year, and a high 35 way back in 2007, but I can also easily throw down a 38, 39, or even a 40 on a given tempo night.  So I figured that, if I couldn't do a 37, I'd bag the rest of the tempos and do something slower.

As I was about to start my lap, though, I saw fellow masters skaters Sprinter Boy and Broomball Boy coasting past.  I knew they were doing 400-meter repeats, and they were planning to do them, and I quote, "really fast."  Which meant, of course, that I hadn't a hope in hell of actually keeping up with them, but I decided to start my 400 with them and just see what happened.  Both are good skaters, and I figured that maybe, if I was (way) behind them, I'd subconsciously mimic their technique and end up skating faster.

And, indeed, I did. By the time we hit the line where I started my watch, I was already a good 30 feet behind them.  But I skated my butt off--drive the knees down the straight, hit the corner wide, tempo up in the corner, drift out on the exit, repeat.  The lap felt great, and when I looked at my watch at the end, I saw...35.37.

Yes, my fastest lap ever at the Oval.

Apparently, my brain--which was anticipating not being able to do a 37--had not been in contact with my body, which was actually capable of a 35.

Or two.  I did another lap with behind "the boys," and it, too, was a 35--35.67.  Then, after the rest break, I did a 400 completely by myself, just to be sure I wasn't experiencing some performance-enhancing draft 50 feet behind the guys.  It was a 36.47, so that was reassuring (I didn't expect a 35, really, because the first two 400's had taken quite a bit out of my legs).

So...I need to work on my brain.  Stop the negative thoughts ("oh, I don't think I can possibly do a 37 tonight..."), start pushing to my body's limits instead of my brain's...and see what happens.

Oh, and on a completely unrelated note...indoor ovals are nice, what with being all temperature-controlled and all, but you just can't beat a view like the one we've had the past couple nights at the John Rose Oval...

Yes, that's the full moon between the two rink lights...