Sunday, October 10, 2010

New levels

I've been pretty hit or miss with the blogging of late. Our ref group has been going through some restructuring, which has been a bit stressful. But we've finally got things sorted and are making significant progress.

My skating has been taking a back seat to the hubbub and so has reffing. My endurance has tanked and track time minimal, but things are turning around.

The past couple weeks I've been getting on my wheels at least 2 times a week and usually 3-4. I'm lazy, I'll fully admit that, and often the hour before practice is filled with "I don't want to go!". But I'm working out again, staying with the diet, and rolling consistently.

Today I really felt it pay off. I don't know that my speed is in anyway improved, but my skating otherwise sure has. All of sudden I got that lean, the angle you get when gracefully gliding and not pounding through. Yeah graceful, that is exactly how it felt today. I have no idea how it looked, but that's how it felt.

So there is this whole thing when you skate on a rink where you are going in a slow oblong circle. What I was not getting before was how my body needed to be angled. I had finally gotten to the point where I lean a little in, but I did not realize I need to lean, ever so slightly, forward too.

Also I feel more stable and it's because I'm finally thinking about using my leg muscles during cross overs. Instead of them sliding around and my feet catching up, I'm tensing my legs to control it. It feels fucking fantastic!

Oh and I can skate both ways. Now that I have the lean thing down, I can crossover the other direction smoothly and comfortably. Drunken sailor's are kind of my favorite thing!

2 comments:

  1. I'm glad I'm not the only one! I'm lazy, and dread practice. I have to talk myself into it, the entire day coming up with excuses and shooting them down. I'm okay once I'm there, and love the feeling of accomplishment when it's over, but I feel like an oddball because so many team-mates are posting on facebook "I can't wait for practice" and that is definitely NOT how I see it.

    WTG on both ways with crossovers!!

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  2. I'm with you both. I always struggle between wanting to be f'ing fantastic and not wanting to do the work to get there. Once I'm on wheels I wonder why I whined and waited, but I'm also a pull-the-covers-over-my-head kinda girl. Can't I just take a nap first? So I need the reminders of how amazing it feels to be leaning in and finding your stride. It's awesome! Congratulations!

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