Speed Skating

Went to a speed skating practice last night at the roller rink near me. I made my teammate go with me for courage. It was a bunch of kids, but these kids were tough. And fast! And very welcoming. Basically, it was an intense workout. I tried so hard to keep up. I think it'll help if I go regularly, maybe not every week. Any extra time on skates is helpful, especially when it's not just a public session. I hate those. I hated them when I was in ice skating, and nothing has changed with wheels. Public sessions are just abysmal.

There was one drill I did well on. Not the first round. Here's my attempt to describe it: It's a race. On opposite corners, each skater sprints, and there are five cones down the line. You skate to the furthest one and have to pick it up with your left hand, skate back to start, and dump it in a bin. Rinse and repeat with the remaining four cones, skating to the furthest one. The first time I tried, I was ridiculous. I was like, how do I pick this up with my left hand, skating so fast, do I straddle the cone, what? Once I fell, not bad, but I only had knee pads on and my elbow slid across the floor, didn't hurt, but I definitely noticed I wasn't padded.

Then I'm standing there after my run, watching, and it hits me what this drill is trying to get us to do. Like in the olympics, when they're skating super fast around the turns, they're so low and leaning in, they can practically slide their left hand along the floor as they're skating. Once I realized that, my second run went much better. And I was matched against my teammate again. And I beat her. I think only because as she came around once to dump a cone in the bin, it didn't go in, and she had to go back and get it in. Them's the rules. But I didn't miss a single cone picking up nor did I miss dropping in the bin. I got low, kept my skates together but staggered a little, leaned in, and slid my left hand along the floor and grabbed the cone, crossed over once, then sprinted as fast as I could. Did the same while dropping in the bin. So I was pleased with that.

Maybe if I go 2-3x/month, for a few months, I'll see some improvement in my speed and endurance.