The Desert Classic: Who Thinks I'm Ready to Race?
Racing is fun, but it's only August. I can't believe I signed up for the Desert Classic. This means that tomorrow morning, I will be racing the 500 and 3000 meters.
The fact that I'm already racing is especially funny because our team has yet to do any intensive laps or intervals. So far, we haven't done any sets of laps faster than 37 seconds, and we've only done one training session involving short tempos (the first tempo workout of the season is almost always a complete disaster, and mine was certainly no exception!)
My only goals for tomorrow involve proper execution of race strategy, pacing, and technique, as well as skating the track correctly. I should be pleased with about a 40.5 in the 500, and a 4:25 in the 3K, though I know that somewhere in my twisted mind I won't be happy unless I break 40 and 4:20 (both of which are completely unreasonable expectations at this point).
In the 3K, I hope to maintain steady lap times, with 34 being the magic number. After all these years, I still am not confident in my ability to skate a 3000-meter race correctly. If I'm on a bad one, I'll start with about a 33-second lap, but it will feel hard, and by the time I have 4-5 laps to go, I'll already be sure that it will be "one of THOSE races." If I'm on a good one, I'll start with a 31-second lap and it will feel easy, but then the monkey jumps on my back and the lap times slowly creep up after that.
In both of my best 3K races so far, I hit the wall with exactly one and three-quarters lap left to go in the race. I'd see the lap board showing me 2 laps to go, make it around the turn to the backstretch, and then, suddenly..."BOOM!" I'd enter the tunnel of pain: Besides the usual lead legs and arms, my peripheral vision darkened and I saw blue and yellow stars in front of my eyes. The worst part was knowing at that point that when I'd reach the finish line, I still had to go around one more time.
Who knows what will happen tomorrow? I just might totally embarrass myself! (How bad could it be? After all, I did skate a 4:54 a couple of seasons ago.) Who cares? It's only August. To add to the laughs, I intend to race the Desert Classic in my 2002 Olympic forerunner suit.
Racing is fun, but it's only August. I can't believe I signed up for the Desert Classic. This means that tomorrow morning, I will be racing the 500 and 3000 meters.
The fact that I'm already racing is especially funny because our team has yet to do any intensive laps or intervals. So far, we haven't done any sets of laps faster than 37 seconds, and we've only done one training session involving short tempos (the first tempo workout of the season is almost always a complete disaster, and mine was certainly no exception!)
My only goals for tomorrow involve proper execution of race strategy, pacing, and technique, as well as skating the track correctly. I should be pleased with about a 40.5 in the 500, and a 4:25 in the 3K, though I know that somewhere in my twisted mind I won't be happy unless I break 40 and 4:20 (both of which are completely unreasonable expectations at this point).
In the 3K, I hope to maintain steady lap times, with 34 being the magic number. After all these years, I still am not confident in my ability to skate a 3000-meter race correctly. If I'm on a bad one, I'll start with about a 33-second lap, but it will feel hard, and by the time I have 4-5 laps to go, I'll already be sure that it will be "one of THOSE races." If I'm on a good one, I'll start with a 31-second lap and it will feel easy, but then the monkey jumps on my back and the lap times slowly creep up after that.
In both of my best 3K races so far, I hit the wall with exactly one and three-quarters lap left to go in the race. I'd see the lap board showing me 2 laps to go, make it around the turn to the backstretch, and then, suddenly..."BOOM!" I'd enter the tunnel of pain: Besides the usual lead legs and arms, my peripheral vision darkened and I saw blue and yellow stars in front of my eyes. The worst part was knowing at that point that when I'd reach the finish line, I still had to go around one more time.
Who knows what will happen tomorrow? I just might totally embarrass myself! (How bad could it be? After all, I did skate a 4:54 a couple of seasons ago.) Who cares? It's only August. To add to the laughs, I intend to race the Desert Classic in my 2002 Olympic forerunner suit.
posted by Eva at 4:49 PM
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