skating

Still skating, a lot.
I had been sticking with the, two days Inverness, three days Ocala practices, but I just quit the Inverness team, team 'f.a.s.t.', transferring over to the Tampa Bay Sprinters. Not sure how my schedule will look now, hopefully a lot more outdoor!
I'm very happy with the change, I liked a lot of the skaters in Inverness, they're great people. But I would never have gotten better there. I like the idea of being on a team where I am one of the slower skaters, it gives me something to work for. I had nothing to 'aim for' while at rollerbarn practices.

Practices are going amazingly well (baseline) if I'm lucky, I can hold onto Jacob's draft for a 10k. IF he leads the entire race, and pauses after hills to let me catch back on, then I might be able to stay on for a 10k.

I have a long, long way to go. But I'm overjoyed at having something to work towards!
My goal is to lead more and more, while still trying to stay with Jacob when he goes off on breaks. I'm still really far away from being able to stay with him if he tries to drop me, even further away from actually being able to challenge him in an actual race lol.

A great thing about Renee's practices is how it is NEVER dull, you have no idea who will be there.
It might just be Jacob, the Hebsons, and me.
Or, it could be some random assorted world team members, and we could have twenty people at practice, over half of them faster than me!
I love it

I'm really looking forward to the next outdoor race, I think there will be one in February.

Training over the past few days

Sunday started at FIVE AM
that sucked
I was with most of my family, so the first order of business was to wake them all. we ended up getting to the skating rink at 6AM to get registered and all. we did races until noon.
I made third in one race (indoor).

Outdoor (2 PM) we had a few races, first was 400 meters. I made a stupid mistake, got stuck on the outside and finished in fifth out of like twenty =/
then we did a 10k... all of my reasons for exhuastion+ stomach aches from that food caught up to me, I gave up-took the easy way out Should have kept pushing, but I didn't. The leading pack finished about 1.3k ahead of me... lol And I tripped a good friend, he ended up falling. That sucked :'(

not sure if it was my fault, but he still fell either way. So it's sad...


Monday
Had an outdoor practice in ocala, it was good. We did a few different things, then a 10k. I learned a bit about skating with someone (drafting and such). I pushed myself quite a bit harder in this practice than I did at the real race lol.


Tuesday
Today I didn't do much, just a few miles on the roads by my house. The roads suck around here. There is one semi-nonbumpy part by the main entrance of the niehboorhood. I skated back and forth on there for a while working on form.

It was fun seeing the expression of an old guy on a motorcycle when he saw me hammering up a hill though :D

long time

• I haven't been on here in ages..

Well, skating is taking up more and more of my life. I train about every day.

Monday is outdoor at the baseline trail in Ocala

Tuesday is just school

Wednesday is indoor in Inverness 7:30-9pm

Thursday is definitely outdoor at Baseline

Friday is 6-11 session indoor

Saturday is, outdoor from 9-11am at westport,

then I work at the rink from 6-11 pm.

Sunday is another indoor practice, 7:30-9 pm

My latest record on the indoor (90 meter slippery track) was about... 9.65 I think, it was a while ago.

regular day

I did a bit of road skating today, kept a good pace for around twenty minutes and quit. It's hard to focus now, I had to get up fourteen hours ago and drive around the city most of the day. I did go to the Christian Skate Night at the Roller Barn tonight though. It was a short session, only two hours. Fairly uneventful, I managed to do two laps on one foot. I also won the race, I was put 20-30 feet back but I still made it to the first turn in 2-3 place. I was on the inside so I ended up in second for the first cone, then I passed on the inside on the next straightaway and took ti easy for the rest of the lap, won it easily :(.

Ouch

The practice went well tonight, My hands still hurt!

Started with seven laps, I won, alex had a loose frame :P.

1 x 3 laps.
I won the first, second, coming through the first turn on the third race I slipped and went down on my hip (and hands, always).

I got up as quick as I could and sprinted after the three leading skaters. I didn't catch them, but at least I wasn't in last place (fourth out of five). The next race was the 10,000 meters... Needless to say I did not do well. I hung on in 1st/2nd place for thirty-ish laps then had to drop off. I ended up getting lapped by Alex four times.



One more thing, Happy Birthday Johnny!!!

The bigger picture

Today is the big day, the day we (Alex and I) will break the two-digit barrier. In preparation for the Disney marathon we will now race 100! laps to end every practice.
At the end of Wednesday's practice we did 70 laps, which it still high for me. We alternated leading every five laps for the entire race. (this is a great way to keep yourself from dropping off, if not for this I would have dropped from the lead half-way through) But I did learn a great lesson from this, racing really is 30% physical and 70% mental (or something close). With about three laps left to go Alex asked if I was "ready." I really didn't understand what he meant until a few moments later. He sprinted the last three hundred meters. That may not sound impressive, but we had just kept a hard pace for 6,700 meters!

I was expecting a push from both of us to cross the line first, but nothing like this.

We were both ready to drop, but he truly embodied the lyrics,"you gotta search within you, you gotta find that inner strength and just pull that **** out of you."

Remember, any racer with quick feet can win a 100m, those races are about 99% physical. But for Marathons, you really have to pull that stuff out of you.