Faster...a little bit at a time

The season is winding down for us. This weekend is the last meet of the season, and the practice is getting to instill the concept of going fast at any cost. So yesterday's practice is to force everyone to take 7 crosses at each corner. Then two corners and three corners. This was really interesting for me. I am forced to plan to step a lot earlier because otherwise you wont make 7 crosses (more like 3 or 4 if you hang around the entry pylon. Anyway, as part of this exercise coach timed each of us. I was surprised to skate a 11' flat, and Ruri skated a 10'7.

10'8

I think Ruri might have skated under 11s but today she was timed to have skated two consecutive laps in 10'8. Way to go! I think she might be able to push a 3x100+90 easily to 10'5 or even lower. Any way, her outdoor skating is getting better...I took some video today as we were skating around at Microsoft Campus...

Lessons learned

I had high hopes for this years SFIM. This is my third official Marathon. The first Marathon was the first SFIM last August, I had a whole summer training on bicycle (going over old La Honda to Half Moon Bay) and I was fit. I managed to stay with the pro-Veteran group (Roger Olson and the Fresno Flyers group) for 9 out of the 17 laps, I skated by myself in the wind and finished with 1:38m. Then came March Madness (2008/3), again I tried to stay with the same group, and this time, I was able to hang with them for the entire race. Roger Olson sprinted pass me at the last 20 feet, and I finished with a time of 1:28. So coming into this Marathon, I was feeling pretty good, and I was looking for better results.

I choose pro race, which is the race all these pro-veteran's are entering. Off the start, I was in the front and was able to stay with them as no one is sprinting or anything. I felt pretty good so I wasn't letting anyone to just pass me by. After a couple hundred feet, it split into two parallel group. I jumped onto the one with a teammate, whom I usually can't keep up with. But I was aggressive that day:-). Thus started my struggle to start with the group that is just a little bit out of my reach for now. I didn't do too badly as I stayed with them for 3 laps. At the uphill just before the turnaround, my left calf started cramping but when I looked back, there was no one for a mile at least. The thought of skating by myself was so unbearable. I kept pushing. Towards the end of the hill, I got dropped despite my effort. I felt so bad...in previous races, skating by myself wasn't so bad, but now, I just lost a lot of will suddenly. I struggled another lap, then got caught by the pro-veteran group, and Roger asked me to jump in. I thought I could ride this pack to the finish. Unfortunately, two of them decided that they want to break, so I went with the two, and for about two laps. Finally, my left calf started really bothering me (cramp) and I gave up after lap 7. I have never given up on a race so far, but I was so demoralized after I could not stay with the Pro-veteran pack (which I was able to last Marathon), my will just collapsed.

This was a lesson for me. The good part is that I know I could skate in the pack with the pro-masters (the first laps was 20m/h, then went to about 18-19m/h average). I just need to get more pack drafting practice and endurance in. My three week long trip since March really messed up with my conditioning, so I need to get back in better shape. The bad part I learned is that I must not skate beyond my ability in a long race. I should kept to my plan (staying with the pro-veterans) rather than went aggressive with the pro-masters. Oh well, let's get ready for my next race..may be NAPA valley.

Finally, a photo of me struggling to stay with the pro-masters pack.

Ruri's track and field

Ruri started track and field this year: 60m hurdle and long jump. Today was the last day of the season, but still I missed her hurdle race. She run a 11:6s, up from 12:4s last meet. On Tuesday, after her meet, we had a long and hard skating practice, but strangely, she did better than usual. She threw a few passes during her practice races, which is something she rarely did. Her acceleration was a lot better coming out of the corner. At the three back to back to back 300m races, she did the best lap at 34:1s, which is about 11:3 lap. When I asked how she got better, she think it was the out door practice that helped her. I wasn't sure, but I think both track and field, outdoor skating will help her a lot. I'm not going to argue with that, so more outdoor skating...check out the photo I took of Ruri long jump.

SFIM08

The San Francisco Inline Marathon 08 was a great event overall, smooth course, good food, nice atmosphere, great prize. Ruri wasn't planning to skate it but last minute other kids were planning to go so she went with them. As usual, she did her best and got second out of 13 skaters for Female overall half-marathoner (kids/adults together). This is the first time she tried to skate the half (last one was 10k, which she finished in 56m). One interesting observation was that she skated the last two laps with her hands on her back, which is something I tried to get her to do but failed. It turned out that she was given a water bottle by the staff and she didn't know what to do with it after finish drinking it:-) Skating with hands at back forces you to get on edge and set the skate under your center of gravity. I should recommend this to our coach as a training tip because the kids still tries to skate outdoor in indoor form, which tires them out very quickly. Here is a photo with Ruri skating with hands at back.