Spring in the air#

Sat, 25 Mar 2006 12:00:00 +0000

This post fails to link together the following fairly disparate themes

• it's officially Spring (no, "Vernal Equinox" is not an STD) and this morning had temperatures to match: the first time I was able to skate without boot covers this year (except in Sardinia)
• the clocks go forward this weekend, so LSST moves into "summer" mode for regular training sessions: sprints on Sundays and Tatem Park on Tuesdays
• I'm experimenting with dryland training, some of which involves springing in the air

In that order, then. Richmond this morning: station -> park -> roehampton gate, plus one lap, plus a bit of gentle wandering through the middle of the park. Quite pleased to be able to get out at all (and in the sunshine, too), but really wasn't feeling on top of things, hence the slightly piss-poor distance covered. Headwind not helping: lack of breakfast probably also a contributory factor. After about 11am (which is when I got there) there's a lot of traffic. Still, achieved the primary goal, which was to take the seam off my new wheels before I use them in Berlin

I can't remember quite how I talked myself into the idea of joining the Sunday morning masochists doing sprints on the Serpentine Rd tomorrow, and the thought that 9:30am will feel like 8:30 is not a welcome one either. But my acceleration sucks, and I still have no armswing worth speaking of, so it's sorely needed. Tatem Park on Tuesday I will probably do and ignore the argument that I should be tapering for Berlin: it's not as if the Berlin half-marathon (assuming I do get to race in it) is a major season goal, it's more of a chance to rack up some more racing experience.

Why we call our offskate training "dry land" I don't know, given that dry land is what we skate on anyway, but I suspect it's a hangover from ice. Anyway, went out on Thursday night to prance about a bit in Lincon's Inn Fields after work: the goal right now is to find a length/intensity that will do me some good but won't leave me hobbling, and I can safely say that the answer right now is somewhere between Thursday's session (which I coudn't even tell I'd done on Friday) and the Sardinia session (which I've already whined about at length).

I am oddly tired right now ("oddly" meaning I can't think of a good reason for being this tired, given how little I've done this week, not that I'm tired in an unusual way). Long bath and early night called for.