The weather has been very strange in this part of the country. We got a couple of warm days in April, then it got cold again and stayed cold for most of the month. My training after Metrodome was limited to occasional outdoor skates, supplemented by occasional weight lifting, and occasional time on the bike. The trend for occasional work outs is a complication of starting a new job and taking care of an infant when my wife and I are not working. At least I am able to get work-outs in, though.
My first time skating outside this year was about April 7. I think I may have gone out once or twice before that but not for very long skates. I took the camera with me that day, and the video is at the end of this post. This video was one of my first skates outside with my new Bont Z boots and 3PF frames. I like this set up a lot, but more on that in another post.
On May 2, we got 14 inches of snow…Yes, that says over 1 foot of snow…In May…
Now that it is getting warmer and the weather is cooperating a little bit more, I am looking forward to skating more. I have added intervals to my on-skate training. It is very different from what I have done before, but I can already feel that it will benefit my skating. I am also back to training on slower gear, basically unbanded wheels (though the G4 Mint Greens are great wheels), and the Bont ABEC 7 bearings, which are good, but definitely lack the free spin and roll of my Adam’s Swiss. More resistance means I have to push harder, and the theory is that this kind of skating builds strength. I have been able to clear 20+mph during my sprint intervals, but I wear out fast. I am also still looking for a good loop course using the local train system. So far, though, I am enjoying what I have found.
Roll for the Roses is the next race. It will be over the weekend of June 22. It is a short 10k as part of a larger festival. I am going to race for fun, but also to get an idea of how the race is set up because I am hoping to get an event started here, also. I will have a lot more on that in the future if it materializes. Besides life being very busy, I am doing my best to keep up with training. Ideally, I am trying to work out 3 times a week. Sometimes that happens, sometimes it doesn’t, sometimes its more. As life settles, I hope things become more consistent.
Regardless, now that the weather is getting better, get out and skate!
Skating has been somewhat frustrating in 2013. In 2012, outdoor skating started in January, thanks to some very odd weather, which also allowed regular outdoor training to start in late February and early March. By the time the Metrodome Inline Marathon rolled around, most of the skaters in the relative south of the United States had been regularly logging miles. Since my wife and I were in Chicago, that included my ability to get to indoor skating practices with Team Rainbo. Since moving to Minnesota, things haven’t been as easy. Last year, after the end of my competitive season, I took about 10 weeks to focus on making the move to Minnesota and to work on functional strength training. I did not get back on the cardio bandwagon until the start of 2013. As I have previously reported, I spent a lot of time on my bike in the trainer working on intervals and target heart rate work outs. Before the Metrodome Marathon this year, I skated 2 times. Somehow, I was able to put down a new personal best marathon time in the Dome. I attribute this to my better overall fitness from training last year, and better functional strength from my time lifting weights. However, I feel like I could have done better with more skate specific training. That is the struggle of the Metrodome, it is so early in the year that if you haven’t been working hard through the off-season, you feel every mile. Reviewing the data from the race, though, I also noticed my heart rate was very high during the entire race. While I generally feel no ill effect from pushing a 155+ beat per minute heart rate for 90 minutes, this metric suggests I am not using my abilities in the most efficient form. As a result, I have decided to get back to focusing on technique in the early preparatory part of the season. I am also adding interval training on skates based on Barry Publow’s book Speed on Skates.
As for technique, I looked at a lot of the pictures I found online from the race. All of the pictures of me skating showed me skating while basically standing straight up. The rest of the technique looked acceptable, at least insofar as my basic push, recovery and under push. However, by standing straight up, I can’t get the benefit of the power from a full leg extension necessary to increase my average moving speed, and hopefully make myself more efficient. While researching ways to better this technique, and trying to find drills that will help, I came across a YouTube channel for some ice speed skaters in Canada called DG Skating. The one video I have found most helpful so far has been on the dry skate video dealing with the fall, lateral push, and skate set-down. The video follows:
If you watch the shots from the front, the demonstration shows the skater holding his foot off the ground as long as possible in the side push before the set-down and recovery. I have typically recovered as part of my outward push so that my recovery leg is on the ground as I am pushing from the side. I think this has been exacerbated to some degree from my work on the slide board, also. As I work on the slide board, I will also work on this delayed set-down. The benefit of this delayed set-down is to maximize the contribution of gravity to the push, using the concept of “the fall” as part of the standard speed skating stroke.
I finally managed to get out to skate outside the last week or two, as spring has finally started to arrive in the northern part of the midwest. So far, I haven’t skated long distances, but I have worked on this particular element of my technique. It generally felt more efficient as I was able to slow my cadence down, get more glide out of my wheels, and apply more power through the push for a longer period of time per stroke. This also helped me stay lower in the skating position, and not skate while standing straight up. I will continue to work on this element of my technique, and hopefully post video soon. I am working on getting some group skates organized, but schedules have been difficult to work out. Now that the weather is getting nicer, I hope I can get some local skaters together for a regular weekend outing. Now, though, I am headed out to skate because this may be the last nice day this week.
The Metrodome Inline Marathon took place on March 9 for 2013. This was called the “Grand Finale” because the Dome is slated for demolition in February of 2014 to make way for its replacement. Since it was presumably the last inline marathon at the Dome, the field was opened for more skaters, and the event organizers instituted a finish time limit on wave 1 of 95 minutes. In order to skate in wave 1 you had to be able to finish below this time limit. The half marathon and full marathon skaters with finish times in excess of 95 minutes were assigned to wave 2. The last race of the day was the Team Time Trial, which is what the Metrodome race is really known for. In that race, teams of five skate together to get the best time possible. The fourth person to cross the line from the team determines the time for the team.
Like last year, I skated wave 1. However, unlike last year, I had an ambitious finishing goal. I wanted to finish in 90 minutes, which, after my last practice in the Dome, seemed like a difficult target to hit. Previously, my personal best marathon time was 1:32:53, set at the Chicagoland Inline Marathon. Going into the race, I knew I was able to finish within the time restriction for wave 1 based on this race and my 43:03 finish at the Minnesota Half last year. With that in mind, I came into the race hoping to finish at or under 90 minutes, but would have been happy finishing below 95 minutes. This especially because of my lack of training overall in February, and only having one month of hard carido training in January after spending two months focusing on weight lifting.
Start order for the race was alphabetical. We lined up on the stairs prior to the race, and the race official called the race participants in order, and released us out on the course one at a time. This is a unique race format, and it is more of a time trial style, which is odd for a pack sport, especially since all the racers are on the course at the same time for this race rather than one participant at a time. It makes the race a pack time trial, which is entirely unique. This is one of the reasons this is a great race, and it is one of the reasons it is such a hard race.
The racers in front of me hit the course, and I stepped up to the line. The race director told me to enter, and I was off. I didn’t want to come out of the gate too fast. This race requires a lot of strategy, knowing how to read your body, and having a plan about when to make the required water stop. I was hoping to have someone to skate with the entire race, but didn’t end up making those arrangements prior to the race. Going into the race expecting to skate alone or to work with skaters I am unfamiliar with. Skating this race alone is a brutal experience because of the monotony of the laps. They never seem to end when you are on your own. When you are skating with a group, it is easier to focus on the skating. Out of the gate, I caught a good line that only had a couple of people. The pace was fast, but I was able to keep up. The line fell apart after only a couple of laps, and I was back on my own. I managed to pick up another line a few laps in, and stuck with them for a while. The pace was solid, and we were at or below my target lap times for the race result I was hoping for. As we cycled through the line, pulling a lap or a little more, I got to the front of the group, pulled my lap, and cycled back. As I rotated to the back of the line, I counted five skaters other than myself.
Race rules prohibit pace lines longer than 5 people. As I moved back in the line, the sixth person meant I could not join the line and continue skating with the group. Outside of the draft, I couldn’t keep the pace, and fell off the line. One of the frustrating things about this race was that the pace line restrictions were either ignored or not enforced. I could have stuck with that faster line for a good portion of the rest of the race, but wasn’t able to maintain the speed they set. For the rest of the race, I bounced around from line to line. I found a couple of other groups to skate with, but nothing consistent. I spent most of my race skating on my own.
The race didn’t go as I had planned, but resulted better than I had hoped. I finished with a new personal best marathon time of 1:32:30, shaving about 23 seconds off my prior personal best. About 40 laps into the race, my arches began to hurt right around the point where the navicular bone joint is located. This is the same point I had a blister on my left foot after skating the Dome earlier in March. It started on the left, but eventually started on the right also. I managed to adjust my technique to compensate, but I am sure the change in form altered my efficiency likely sacrificing some speed. At that point, the goal was to finish the race. By the end of the race, I had blisters on both feet. I need to continue to work on heat molding the new boots or continue with frame adjustments. Either way, I am still breaking my feet into the new boots. I may also need new EzeeFits.
Paul Dyrud won the overall finish of the race. He set a blistering pace, and attacked hard about halfway through, going solo for the rest of the race. He was skating so fast that he passed the rest of the leaders. It was amazing to watch him in the race as he came by me. He was super low in his squat, and pushing really hard. Looking at his form, it is clear to me that I wasn’t skating low enough in the speed squat. This is something I am going to devote a lot of time to for the rest of this season. I think I could have gone quite a bit faster had I spent more time in a deeper squat, elongating my stride to use the power in my glutes, hamstrings, and quads. I am going to incorporate longer low walks and more wall sits into my exercise routine. I have taken a lot of the week after the race off, partly to recover, partly because of new obligations in parenting, and partly due to needing to shovel the large amounts of snow we received here earlier in the week. I am hoping to get back on the bike tomorrow, and be back to weight lifting on Monday, and I am looking forward to having some new direction with my training.
The next scheduled races are the short distance events in June, Roller for the Roses and Grand Old Day. These are short races, 10k and 8k respectively. I expect them to be very fast sprints. The 10k will be good practice for the Chicagoland Tour race in July, which includes a 10k points elimination race. Depending on how things go with my job search, and whether it is possible to day trip the race, I would like to make Apostle Island this year. It is unlikely, but it would be a nice addition to the race calendar.
Race video follows this post, as always. The video only has two gauges on it, a lap count and a gauge for heart rate since GPS doesn’t work in the Dome. It was a great race and worth watching if you have the time. You may want to listen to some music though as most of the sound is wind noise.
Initially, when I was planning my race season, I knew I would make at least four races: the Metrodome Inline Marathon, the Chicagoland Inline Marathon, the Minnesota Half Marathon, and the Northshore Inline Marathon. The goal was to maximize my chances of ranking well in the North American Roller Cup, or NROC. However, last week, news broke that NROC is suspended for the 2013 season. I think this is a terrible loss for the sport, particularly in the United States, as NROC is the only nation-wide sanctioned race series. I don’t know if it will have a meaningful impact on race attendance, but I am concerned that a lot of the Elite level skaters will skip events, and that could cause severe harm to events that use the Elite skaters as a draw for more participants, like the Chicagoland race, which, unless the road conditions improve, will likely be skipped by a lot of skaters, as the course is pretty rough with some big and challenging hills. Since it is my home race, I will do everything I can to make it, but I wonder how the race will fair in the future, as it has seen dwindling numbers, with last year being a low point.
With the loss of NROC, I am left to reconsider my options for races, not because I had any hope of winning overall for my division in Advanced Masters, but because I like having a group of people with a common competitive goal. It motivates my training. Shortly after the announcement about NROC, I learned that the Minnesota Grand Prix series, which is free to participate in, will have a schedule that fits almost the entirety of the races I want to attend. I may get to add in two shorter distance sprint races, also. This is one benefit of the relocation to Minnesota, as this part of the country seems to have a lively inline speed skating community, even if it is all in the Twin Cities Metro area. I will only miss two of the races if I am able to attend every event. The schedule can be found on Inline Skate Minneapolis’s website. If all goes as planned, my season will look something like the following:
Metrodome Inline Marathon, March 8
Grand Old Day On The Go 8K, June TBD
Roll for the Roses 10K, June TBD
Chicagoland Inline Tour, July 21-22
Minnesota Half Marathon, August 3
Northshore Inline Marathon, September 14
I am hopeful it will be a good year. For the MNGP, it means I only miss two races, Rolling on the River in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and Apostle Island in Wisconsin. I may still be able to make Apostle Island because it may be close enough to day trip, but I need to investigate to see if it is feasible. Otherwise, this schedule is plenty of racing, and should give me enough to stay motivated for the season. Hopefully, the Baxter marathon will return next year, and we will get more participation in the sport, particularly if Roller Sports makes it into the 2020 Olympic Games. Really, who wants to watch Olympic Golf?
We are less than a week away from the Metrodome Inline Marathon on March 8, 2013. A couple of weeks ago, I got all the gear out and cleaned bearings. Luckily, it was a day the baby was sleeping well, so I managed to get everything done. I wanted to try using mineral spirits, but decided since I was already set up to clean everything with Simple Green, and I am familiar with the product, so I stuck with it. After getting all the gear cleaned, I adjusted the frame placement under the front toe of each boot. After cleaning and making all the adjustments, I had the opportunity to get up to the Metrodome for a practice at an open Roller-Dome Session. They only had one level of the Dome open for skating. This meant that they had speed and pace line restrictions in place, basically no pace lines, which meant any skating for time would be on my own, and not a very good practice for race conditions. Regardless, I managed to get out and skate a half marathon distance. I finished in about 50 minutes, which isn’t bad for a solo effort. I am hoping that come race day I will be able to skate with a line at a good pace and finish below 95 minutes, but my ultimate goal for this race is a 90 minute finish time. Regardless, finishing below 95 minutes will be a success for me because I finished this race last year in about 98 minutes. I am also testing a new gauge layout for the race, using my Forerunner to count laps. The counter on the far right shows the lap count, which is based on my manual input into the Garmin watch. Since GPS doesn’t work well in the Dome, I have removed the Street Map view, and made the focus the heart rate gauge. Speed is there for reference, so there is at least an idea of what is going on when the GPS works. The video follows. I am looking forward to the race this weekend, and will have a race report as well as a video within a week of the race.
My wife and I welcomed our son into the world on February 5, 2013. This explains the noticeable absence and absent mindedness of posts on “The Pace Line.” We are very happy he is here, and certainly don’t mind that all of our time is consumed by caring for our newborn. The jury is still out on how we feel about the lack of sleep. Life is beginning to calm down, so I hope to have more activity here in the near future, especially with the race season starting on March 8, 2013, with the Metrodome Inline Marathon.
It’s like more cow bell, but not. Since training is limited here, the best option I have for skate specific training is the slide board. I spent a lot of time on the slide board in January and February. So much so that the slide board is now breaking. I contacted the manufacturer about the problem, whereupon he informed me that the slide board was not made for powerful speed skaters. One of the ends has a small tear in the sliding surface and the bumper on the same side has torn and is starting to separate from the board. As a result, I am investigating a replacement.
The video shows some improvement in my body position on the board. Notably, my nose, knees, and toes are in good alignment as I glide from one side of the board to the other. I have been working on this element a lot, and my balance is getting much better while on the board, resulting in the better body position. I need to get lower in the seated position, though, and I could stand to work more on weight transfer and my recovery foot movement also. Since the board is starting to fail, I have to put 50 pounds of weight on the end that is starting to break. I have also taken to lubricating the board with furniture polish. I want to look into getting some other spray on lubricant that is supposed to work as well or better than the furniture polish. Hopefully, we will see spring soon, and I won’t have to replace the board until later this year. Otherwise, I will post the results of the search for a replacement. I am also going to be working on a side by side video to better demonstrate the differences in technique on the board thus far. As always, more to follow.
