Well, I've just got back from London after what was a semi successful day, although not in terms of race results - but what I learnt during the races!
Before I start, Congrats must go to the Woodham girls, Maya destroyed her Cat with 3 wins, and Louise raced extremely well tactically in her final race to clinch an overall victory for her! both my stand out performances of the day!
Right... onto my racing!
As soon as I got to the track, I knew I had to try and find some way around my inability to warm up my legs properly, and it seems even an hour on skates beforehand isn't good enough!
Basically in my 500m heat, 500m losers final and the 3000m, my legs felt heavy, stiff and quite frankly incapable of ANY speed, as evident by my results. I'd be lying if I said it didn't put me down, because it did - all the training I've done recently only to turn up to a race with legs feeling like two lead poles! and ooooo! what was next? a 10k points? fantastic.
Well actually it kind of was, about 5 laps into the 10k my legs suddenly felt a lot better, almost as if the stiffness just got flushed away - it would seem that the high intensity of the previous races was what they needed to finally loosen up! and I actually didn't race too badly finishing the distance and then going on to win the "fun" mixed relay at the end of the event.
So, the first learning point: Work on warm up!
Linking onto the fact my legs took so long to warm up, it lead me to think about my rest days before the race. Usually I have been training 6 days a week, with Saturday as my designated rest day, however this week (leading up to the race) I decided to taper the training down, reducing the amount/intensity right up to the competition day. This, going by today's performance, I feel was the wrong decision for me, as I suspect my legs became too relaxed contributing to how stiff and "useless" my legs felt. I mean how could I feel physically better on Monday, where I cycled 19 miles in the morning and then skated with the club in the evening, than I did today after several days of resting? it seems that inactivity of my muscles is a major no no, and I need to maintain what my body is used to doing, when leading up to an event.
Learning point 2: Stick to the one day rest! (try at Birmingham!)
The last aspect of my racing performance that became apparent, was my wheel choice. My team mate Robert, hit the nail on the head when he asked "don't you find those too soft?" Well yes I did, however since returning to the sport, those wheels are all I have... skating is a hard sport, however poor equipment choices doesn't help the situation. I think Santa is going to have to get his elves to conjure up some wheels for next season!
3rd learning point: Buy more wheels! (because, well unfortunately Elves don't exist...)
Well those are my thoughts on my performance, overall it wasn't bad, but wasn't great! the important thing for any skater is to recognise where they need to improve - so I'll work on my learning points and keep skating, cycling and working out, to get stronger and fitter!
Jon
