And So It Begins (sort of)...

I think the 2013-14 season started today.  It really isn't scheduled to start until Tuesday, when we launch into the first real dryland workout of the new season--but I think I'm declaring today as the official "back in the saddle" day.

When you have two workouts in one day, I think you can safely say you're back at it again.

I went to short track this morning (and by "morning," I mean 5:30 a.m.).  A local rink offers early open skating on Wednesdays, and will give speedskaters their own rink so they don't have to vie for space on the ice with hockey players or figure skaters.  Sprinter Boy has been attending these sessions frequently and since I'm in the middle of spring break and won't work again until next Monday, I figured I'd give it a try.  It's not an official short track practice so there are no pads, but this is pretty much offset by the fact that there are no other skaters, either (well, except Sprinter Boy, but he never gets in my way).

Here's the rink, looking just the way I like my short track ice: completely deserted.

And fortunately, it remained completely deserted for my first 10 minutes of skating, because I apparently forgot how to skate in the four weeks since long track ended.  Oh, I did skate last Friday--in hockey skates, at another one of The Hubster's beginner hockey games.  Here I am, displaying a certain lack of balance, grace, and any skating ability whatsoever--in fact, I'm managing to combine ankle skating with that fetching "I'm about to fall over backwards" look.  I'm in the dark jersey and black pants; that's Mel in the green.  Yes, we got Mel off the speedskates and into hockey skates.

 Once she got the helmet adjusted, she did great.

So anyway, the first few minutes on short tracks were ugly.  By the time Sprinter got there, though, I was at least making it around the rink without continuous horrible scratching noises emanating from my blades as I attempted vainly to find an edge, any edge.  We did some sets of 3 laps on/2 laps off, and they went fairly well.  By "on," of course, I simply mean "skating in some semblance of the correct posture;" the lack of pads on the boards joined forces with my usual wimpiness and I found myself having to coast many corners just to keep my speed down to where I felt comfortable.

This is more a statement about my fear threshold than my speed.

As we neared the end of the session I asked Sprinter to videotape me for a set of 3 laps.  And I was actually somewhat pleased with what I saw.  Sure, I have to coast a lot to keep my speed down, and there are a million things wrong with my technique--but overall it looked a lot better than I expected.  Here, see for yourself...

Sorry for the unfortunate camera angle. Just remember--we do, indeed, make the rockin' world go round.

So short track was fun.  So much fun that, after realizing that I won't be able to do it again until mid-June unless I try it on a school day...I decided to try it on a school day.  Maybe.  When I get closer to the end of the school year.

As for the second workout, well, short track isn't really a workout for me.  I simply can't skate hard enough to get tired--at least, not without risking hurting myself.  And I did crash at the end of the session (or, more accurately, I fell down.  It was pretty non-spectacular).  So I'm not at all tired from the short track, and since the first official dryland--all 25 minutes of "down time" of it--is scheduled for next week, I thought it would be prudent to do a couple very short dryland workouts first, to avoid that lovely "my glutes are on fire and I can barely walk" post-first-dryland experience.  So Sprinter Boy and I, and anyone else we can round up, will do a 5-minute dryland workout later today or tomorrow, and then a 10-minute dryland at the end of the week.  And I'm actually excited about it; I think I have a good plan for the season, and I'm anxious to get going on it and get back in shape.

And so the season begins.