Zen and the Art of Speedskating

Some of the readers of this blog have seen me skate in years past, and understand that I am fundamentally a bulldog in lycra. For years I have scampered down the track with my knees far apart, relying on strength & quickness to go fast instead of actually skating with the proper physical geometry. In short, I skate ugly, sometimes a fast ugly, but still f-ugly.

Bringing my knees together, and having patience during the weight transfer to create proper pressure into the ice has always been a huge weakness of mine, so you can understand how this series of images from today’s practice makes me incredibly happy.

By no means is this perfect technique, I will never reach that, (who will?), but this truly is a vast improvement, and proof that a summer of dryland is the forge of good technique in the winter. Now if I can just do something about that left elbow sticking out unnecessarily into the wind…..

I need to sleep, 3 hours this morning, lifting this evening.. oh joy!

Filed under: sweat