Breakthrough!!!

I wish I could have blogged about my breakthrough sooner after it happened but I've been too tired, and also too busy getting to the oval any chance I get to practice the new technique.  I wish I could have blogged sooner because I haven't been that excited about my skating in living memory and it would have been fun to capture that fresh "oh my gosh" feeling.  On the other hand, a blog post written immediately after the breakthrough likely would have consisted of incoherent excited babbling--and exclamation points.  Lots and lots of exclamation points.  Anyway, on to the breakthrough!

On Wednesday, I had a straightaway technique breakthrough that dwarfs my "cornering epiphany" from earlier in the season.  I've always, even after my technique improved pretty dramatically in the late summer of 2011, felt like my straights were missing something.  I was trying hard, but still never really felt like I was putting much power to the ice; I always felt stiff and awkward and, well, "all force, no grace."  After I improved my corners it was pretty apparent to me that I wasn't skating at the same level in my straightaways as I was in the corners...but I had no idea what was missing.

Then came last week.

After my lackluster races in Milwaukee I took Monday off from working out.  Sprinter Boy (somewhat of a student of the art of speedskating) knew that between my "the Governor closed all the schools in the state because of cold" day off work and my day off from working out, I'd have a bit of time to kill, so he sent me a link to some articles on skating technique.  He particularly recommended this article, so I dutifully read it.  And, of course, didn't understand a word of it.

So when my school was closed again on Tuesday because of the cold, Sprinter Boy and I decided to try the afternoon speedskating session on the oval.  (Yes, a typical Minnesotan response to "it's so cold we've closed most of the schools" is "let's go outside and go skating.")  Since we were both coming off a weekend of racing and I had just finished a CrossFit squat workout three hours before we skated, we decided to do drills rather than a workout.  Specifically, we decided to focus on the technical tip from the article.

The next paragraphs will be a (likely boring and somewhat incomprehensible) description of the technique I was working on.  Feel free to skip them.

In 20011 I had a significant technical improvement in my skating when I learned (thanks to my friend Mel) to do a proper (more or less) recovery stroke.  What that means is, after you push with, say, your right foot, and are gliding on your left foot, you have to get your right foot back into position to be set on the ice.  This getting back into position is called the "recovery."  In the past, my recovery had consisted of bringing my foot more or less back in from the side; what you're supposed to do is swing it around in an arc and have it end up with the thigh vertical and the shin horizontal.  From there, as you begin to push with the foot you are gliding on, you drive your knee forward and set your foot down to become the gliding foot.  Clear?

Now, it's this "knee drive" that turned out to be the breakthrough.  I've heard people say "drive your knees" for years, and I always wondered "where?"  It just didn't make sense to me.  Once I figured out the recovery stroke in 2011, though, I thought I had also figured out the knee drive.  Not so, it turns out.  What Sprinter Boy showed me was that the knee drive continues on from simply driving the knee forward to set the foot down, and actually becomes a "drive the knee up under your chest" before setting the foot down.

Well.  I had never heard about nor noticed that before.

This concludes our technical discussion.  We now resume our regularly scheduled excited babbling.

So we got out on the ice and I tried the "drive the knees up under the chest."  It felt pretty good; at the very least, it felt like I understood the concept and could successfully execute it, both of which are rare for me when I get a new technical skill to try.  But I was sore from the squats and it was cold (about 0 degrees at that point), and we were just doing slow 100 meter drills of the technique.  I left the practice feeling moderately optimistic about my ability to execute the technique in actual skating, and feeling hopeful that it would have a beneficial effect on my skating.

Then came Wednesday night.

Wednesday night was cold...like -7 degrees.  Still, I didn't want to miss my endurance workout (we have a 10K planned for Feb. 1 so I need to get the laps in), and I was anxious to try the new technique in some nice relaxed laps.

I started with a slow warmup, focusing on the "knees under the chest" technique.  It was feeling pretty good, so I started my first of 4 sets of 5 laps.

HOLY MOTHER OF SPEEDSKATING, BATMAN!!

Suddenly I felt like, for the first time ever, I was skating a straightaway like a "real" speedskater.  I felt like, by executing that one aspect of technique, several other "problem areas" suddenly fell into place with no effort.

I was lower, both the shoulders and the butt.

My hips were tucked under.

I had more "carve" to my glide, which helps build pressure into the ice.

And, best of all...I had power in my push that came from pressure into the ice and weight transfer, not from pushing hard.

Well.  I was elated.  (And cold and covered with frozen snot, but who cares?).  I don't think I've grinned that much while skating since...well, actually, ever.  Suddenly I felt like "hey, I can SKATE!"

And as I continued skating, I continued feeling great.  I also discovered that skating the straightaways correctly leads to an easier time entering the corners correctly, which was another nice bonus.

Then Hawkeye Boy (an excellent technical skater) came by and asked if I wanted to join him for a few laps, and I had an idea.  I wanted him to skate behind me, but without knowing that I thought I'd improved my technique.  I wanted to see if he noticed anything.

So after I followed Hawkeye Boy around for 5 laps (and I was delighted to see that my technique breakthrough allowed me to now match his stride, which I had struggled mightily to do before), I casually said "hey, how about if I lead a couple now?"

Hawkeye said sure, so off we went.  I tried very hard to execute the knee drive, and when I pulled up after two laps I held my breath (figuratively, of course...after two laps I need oxygen!) and waited.

"Wow," said Hawkeye, "I've never seen you skate that well.  You've really improved."

I exhaled.  Awesome--it wasn't all in my head!

"So you noticed?"  I asked.  "Sprinter Boy showed me some stuff about the knee drive and I think it's made a big difference."

"Oh, yeah,"  he said.  "You look very different, and it's not a subtle change.  It's dramatic."

He then went on to tell me that I need to execute a similar drive with my right knee when cornering--a comment which I dimly heard through my happy daze of "I think I can maybe, actually, skate properly now!"

I owe Sprinter Boy huge for giving me that tip and for being able to explain it to me in a way that I understood.  I have some great skating friends who have been extremely helpful to me...between Sprinter, Mel, and Hawkeye's advice I think my skating has improved 100% in the past couple years.

So it was a great night.  I ended up frostbiting both feet under my heels, where the bolt head that hold the blade on is (Hawkeye frostbit his ankles), but so what?

I consider a little frostbite a very small price to pay for finally learning how to skate.