First training session 2006

Yesterday was the first training session for 2006, but we were late for half an hour because a friend who was supposed to drive Ruri to the skate rink couldn't make it. We had to drop in on the paceline without warming up, that sucks!

But, we quickly settled into the routine. We had the "one-lap burn", followed by "slow corner in 2-3 crossovers", "start" and "relay". Ruri clocked 13.6 seconds for the lap and I clocked 12.6 seconds. This was quite impressive for Ruri. Three months ago when we took the speedskating clinic, Ruri's graduating lap time was 19.2 seconds, and mine was14.7 seconds. Considering she just started regular training a month ago, this is good progress. With this pace, Ruri will beat me in a couple of weeks. The coach has recommended Ruri to get prepared to go to the nationals, and I've also arranged a few private session with the coach to give her a boost as she missed most of the first two months training.

The "slow corner in 2-3 crossovers" is our new pain exercise. The human body is incredible, it will adapt to the training so quickly. Things that make you pain first will not do so after a couple of training sessions, but the coach knows how to change the exercise to give you new "pain". But I like it.