Normal. It's "The New Normal."

For my skating thus far in the 2013-14 ice season, that is.  "Normal" seems to be "the new normal."  Which, compared to last year, is definitely not normal.

And I couldn't be more thrilled.

The season started last weekend (I can't believe I've made it through a week of skating without blogging!).  Saturday's endurance and Sunday's intervals were...normal.  Decent lap times for the conditions. Felt good, but not "wow I've never been this fast this early in the season."  Got tired at the appropriate point in the sets (which, in the first week of the season, seems to be "at two laps.").  Tuesday's endurance and Thursday's intervals followed suit, despite the two CrossFit workouts that I managed to work in around the skating. Nice; normal; decent lap times.  Decent technique; my "cornering epiphany" from August in Milwaukee seems to be sticking around and occasionally I'll just nail a corner and it will feel fabulous...but most corners felt...normal.

And then yesterday was the first time trials of the season.  A normal early November day--drizzly, windy, and warm. Slow ice, which is normal for the first race of the season.  I did a 500 and a 1000 (remember that "getting tired at 2 laps" thing that I mentioned?  Two-and-a-half laps seemed just right for my longest race.)  And my results were...normal.  50.84 in the 500, 1:41.71 in the 1000.  Right around where my first attempts of the season usually land.

And considering how things went last year, this year's "normal" is actually "fabulous."

Last year's first 500, in similar conditions, was almost two seconds slower.  Last year's first 1000 was almost four seconds slower.  Last year's early season workouts were marred by slow laps, incomplete workouts, and PVC's (heart arrhythmia).  This year, thanks to doing 2007's easier workouts rather than 2010's more challenging ones, I'm able to complete the workouts as written, which should allow me to train more consistently.  The PVC's seem to be losing their "triggered by exercise" pattern and settling back into their normal "triggered by post-exercise and a couple other things, but not by exercise" pattern, which is absolutely fine by me.  My thyroid is behaving itself, and I'm back to my normal med timing.

So now, with, finally, a "normal" start to the season, I can focus on normal stuff: when should I go to Milwaukee for a time trial?  How will I integrate CrossFit workouts with skating?  How will I schedule my skating around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays?  How are my lap times and what should my goals be and how fast will I be this season?

All nice normal questions for my somewhat abnormal skating obsession, and I'm very excited to be, finally, in a place where I can ask them again.