Scraping by#

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 14:20:50 +0000

I don't know if this is a sensible analysis of possible problems with my skating style, or just a self-indulgent way to spend a lunch hour, but I have just been back through all my blog entries to find every time this year I've had a serious stack (I think I've mostly been pretty good at writing them down), where "serious" is "anything in a race, or anything needing first aid treatment", and why, and what I ought to do about it. In chronological order, then

• Sardinia, March: snowploughing from speeds too high for it to be sensible
• Berlin 1/2 marathon, April: clipped skate in paceline
• Le Mans, 2 July: weight too far forwards in a corner, landed the skate wrong
• Tatem training 25 July: relay push before I had time to brace
• LFNS 28 July: came unstuck on diesel patch while snowploughing downhill
• LIM 6 August: clipped skate in paceline
• St Gallen: skater fell in front of me and I was too tired to react in time. Should have eaten earlier
• Berlin: first fall, tripped by someone trying to join line. Second fall caused by skating like a mong.

• The first point that strikes me is that there are actually far fewer falls in there than I was expecting - averaged over the year, less than one per month
• it took one fall too many to learn when not to snowplough
• a lot of it is paceline argy bargy. I think I could get a lot more aggressive about defending my place ("arm on the shoulder of the guy in front"-style) when people are trying to join the line, instead of assuming they know what they're doing when they try to slip into a gap that's not there.
• don't forget to eat (no danger of forgetting that one) - now I do every race with an energy drink for hydration, not plain water
• avoid relays. That one may not be entirely tenable, I think I will probably need a better coping strategy there.