High 5 Takes the Ice: Now the Real Training Begins
Friday, July 1, was the first official day of ice training on the 400 meter track at the Utah Olympic Oval, where the High 5 team made its on-ice debut at the 3-5 PM session. Most of the team were a bit rusty on the old blades. Some had trouble skating in a pace line. Minor adjustments to blade set-up had to be made.
Though some of my teammates were discouraged by their first day on the ice, I am already seeing some hints that Boris's coaching on dry land has started to take effect. Andrew watched a video of himself and seemed quite excited to see that he was bringing his knees in closer and straighter on the recovery.
I, for one, felt great to be back on the ice. After Boris saw me skate a few laps, he commented, "It looks like you never left." My timing felt a little bit off, but that is to be expected on the first day. Besides, I feel like I'm going to have to adjust to the new power that I have gained!
As I suspected, I am coming into this season much stronger than last year. I began pre-season training on a higher level, and the additional work has really paid off. I am much stronger through my core, and can hold a deeper skating position with less strain because of all the dryland skating drills I have been doing with a weight vest.
As soon as I stepped onto the ice and began building into my warmup laps, I immediately thought, "This is going to be good!" I knocked off 6 laps with 6-stroke straightaways, without too much effort. Overall, the first on-ice practice of this season was very encouraging. I get the feeling that someday, when I'll be staring down through my microscope at those surly little clumps of HT-1080 cells, I'll look back on my 2006 Olympic season as one of those "good times we can't repeat!"
Besides the fact that ice training has begun, this part of the season is important because anaerobic training will begin this month as well. For readers of The Protocol, this can mean only one thing: I will probably become mellow and brain dead!!! Anaerobic training will most likely take up all of my anger and all of my mental concentration, and I wouldn't have it any other way. (I'm sure this comes as a great relief to some...)
And so, I will sign off for tonight, with a "High 5 Salute" to all. Onward and upward!! Here's to the next part of the season.
Friday, July 1, was the first official day of ice training on the 400 meter track at the Utah Olympic Oval, where the High 5 team made its on-ice debut at the 3-5 PM session. Most of the team were a bit rusty on the old blades. Some had trouble skating in a pace line. Minor adjustments to blade set-up had to be made.
Though some of my teammates were discouraged by their first day on the ice, I am already seeing some hints that Boris's coaching on dry land has started to take effect. Andrew watched a video of himself and seemed quite excited to see that he was bringing his knees in closer and straighter on the recovery.
I, for one, felt great to be back on the ice. After Boris saw me skate a few laps, he commented, "It looks like you never left." My timing felt a little bit off, but that is to be expected on the first day. Besides, I feel like I'm going to have to adjust to the new power that I have gained!
As I suspected, I am coming into this season much stronger than last year. I began pre-season training on a higher level, and the additional work has really paid off. I am much stronger through my core, and can hold a deeper skating position with less strain because of all the dryland skating drills I have been doing with a weight vest.
As soon as I stepped onto the ice and began building into my warmup laps, I immediately thought, "This is going to be good!" I knocked off 6 laps with 6-stroke straightaways, without too much effort. Overall, the first on-ice practice of this season was very encouraging. I get the feeling that someday, when I'll be staring down through my microscope at those surly little clumps of HT-1080 cells, I'll look back on my 2006 Olympic season as one of those "good times we can't repeat!"
Besides the fact that ice training has begun, this part of the season is important because anaerobic training will begin this month as well. For readers of The Protocol, this can mean only one thing: I will probably become mellow and brain dead!!! Anaerobic training will most likely take up all of my anger and all of my mental concentration, and I wouldn't have it any other way. (I'm sure this comes as a great relief to some...)
And so, I will sign off for tonight, with a "High 5 Salute" to all. Onward and upward!! Here's to the next part of the season.
posted by Eva at 7:54 PM
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