Road Rash Chronicles

Myself and the core group of racers met yesterday at 6pm for an informal practice session with Dom the bomb as part of our 4-2-1 program.  Much appreciated for sure!  Free session with one on one commentary and advice...who wouldn't want that.  

But here's the thing.  I want to skate!  Let's skate already!  I am such an impatient person sometimes and even though I KNOW I need to hear the mental side of things, I have dealt with that over a lifetime of tennis competitions.  I totally get the sports physcology side of things but nothing compares to actual skating.  At least for me.

I am not diminishing the importance of the mind in this sport, don't get me wrong, but as the sun was setting I was itching to get up and hit the trail.  After 50 minutes of chatting about "stuff" I was just about to say "excuse me, can we skate now".  

Like I had mentioned to Dom early on in our sessions prior to yesterday, I am a very "do or do not" kind of guy.  Sitting in a circle talking about "stuff" is not going to make me a better skater.  (or at least I don't think it is).  What I want is technique, skills and feedback.  I think I am just getting antsy about the 21k in Montreal.  I want it to be perfect.

On that note, I got some from Greg on pronating again.  Argh.  Will work on that frame even more today.  But I am starting to think it is just me not being 100% comfortable on my new skates.  The group ended up doing about 25km in a pack and it was really fun.  We had a reasonable speed and my back pain was at about a 7 out of 10.  Slowly getting better.  2 more weeks to go!!

Distance wise, that is 50kms in 2 days!!  Not to mention the 8 hours of tennis I have played in 3 days.  On top of that, I have 2 hours of tennis after work today and then I have to drive to skate practice at the NRC.  Christ, I better lose 10 pounds after all this!!!  I am surprised my legs are supporting my weight at this stage of the game.  I have to remind myself not to go to the gym when I am skating 20+ kms on the same day.  Ouch.

And one last thing.  I love my 4-2-1 team.  I trust them all and I really enjoy our fit together.  We can totally get faster but for now, things are on the right track.