photo by Steve Penland

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Short Week

It's been a short week of skating, and it looks like the odds are about 50/50 that it will get even shorter.

Usually I skate Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, and then race one or sometimes two days on the weekend.  This week started out well with a surprisingly fun skate on Tuesday. Surprising because 1) I didn't expect much after my sluggishly slow races in Milwaukee on Saturday and 2) because I had, just as I did last year, forgotten my jacket on the coldest night of the year (also my neck gaiter and warm gloves).  So I was expecting cold and slow.  What I got was 6 OK laps by myself, then 8 super-fun laps with Cop Guy and Aussie Boy and 60's Boy, then another 6 laps that started with the guys and ended well behind the guys...and then I got cold and slow.  So I quit a bit early, but it was a good skate.

Wednesday, though...Wednesday barely got started.  My hamstring, which has been bugging me off and on for a couple weeks, decided to go with "on" for Wednesday, and after three warm-up (i.e., "slow") laps, in which my left hamstring cussed me extensively every time I fully straightened my leg and pushed off the ice, I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and I headed for home.  In keeping with the "if you don't use your mind your whole body suffers" theme, I decided to completely skip tonight's workout.  I'm signed up for a 500 and a 3K (got to get right back on the horse again, right?) for Saturday morning, and I don't think my hamstring will be happy with me if I don't give it a rest.  It might not be happy even if I do rest it, but it seems like my best shot. I almost changed my mind about taking tonight off, though, when I saw a weather report...4 to 8 inches of snow possible by the end of Saturday?!  We just got 15 inches last Sunday (why, yes, yes I am sick of the phrase "Winter Wonderland," why do you ask?  Although, to be honest, it is a winter wonderland and I'm thrilled that we'll be having a white Christmas.  And that the leaves that have been blowing onto the oval ice for the past month are now safely secured under more than a foot of snow.  But I digress).  I figured that if I might be missing Saturday's races due to another Snowmageddon, I should probably get out there and skate tonight.  But then I saw another weather report and this one said maybe one inch of snow for Saturday, so I figure I'll likely be racing and thus tonight I should be resting.   So here I sit.

Oh, and I got my thyroid labs back.  Levels are within range, which is good, but not nearly as high as they were in September, which I find a bit ominous.  Hopefully they're stabilized and won't continue dropping.  And, the levels are consistent with the range in which I have to time my fast-acting med relative to my workouts--so my recent issues with timing have made sense.  On the down side, if my thyroid levels are roughly appropriate, then I need to find another reason for my current state of slow, fat, and cranky.  Any ideas?  Any cures? I mean, other than "skate more, eat less, think positive."  That one clearly is not working out so well for me...

6 comments:

  1. You have snow up there? I have new, untried skis and no meaningful snow yet this season.

    With any luck, next time you're in Milwaukee we'll end up doing a 3000 quadded togther and you'll have someone you can lap during the race.

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  2. We have tons of snow...it's great! As for the 3k, it would be fun to skate with you but I'm not thinking the lapping would happen...

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  3. Well, you have a half lap on me. Your times last season would give you a full lap. So I guess the question is whether you can resume being as fast as you were recently sooner than I can become faster than I've ever been. Today, though, I'm just glad they didn't decide to quad me with Chase Reichmann and Jeffrey Swider-Peltz, because I don't think anyone really would have wanted that. Except one of the coaches, grumbling that if they quad anyone they should quad everyone, it gives everyone practice with the speed differences. Right, um, dude, they'd have gotten to the point where they'd be thinking, huh, there he is *again*. Being passed once each by two women is fine, twice each by three men might just be more than is necessary. Plus I had my first fall in a race. Today's theme: That would have been a great race if it wasn't for the big screwup.

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  4. Michael, at this point I'm putting my money on you getting faster sooner than I get faster again! As for racing fast people...I had to do a 1000 once with Nick Pearson (at Roseville). I was afraid he'd lap me...yes, in the 1000. He didn't, but it was close. As my hubby used to say when we raced dirt bikes and I was really slow "just hold your line, it's their problem to get around you." Still not fun...

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  5. Kaari, there is no WAY I would ever skate in the rain. I'm a baby that way. So kudos to you for going out there. I know it's frustrating for you to be slower than you were before but I just want you to know that I strive to be like you. I love your passion for the sport and if I ever reach the point of being as good as you, I'll consider myself a success.

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  6. Sharon, you'd be surprised at what you can get used to. Thanks for the kind words...I really needed them today! (And just remember--you've done something I've never had the guts to do...you've raced short track. So don't sell yourself short!)

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