A Different Approach

The snow is ALMOST all melted. At least at my house. Which is thankful and it is starting to warm up which means outdoor skating has begun not just for myself but even for the people that never do it in the winter. This winter I got a lot less outdoor skating in then I normally do but it doesn't bother me that much because outdoor nationals is so late.

Normally I am gearing up to go skate down south at either Georgia or Tampa. I wish I could attend both of these meets every year but it's just not possible at this point for me and this year I'm actually passing on both which I haven't done in a long time. I was going to go down to Tampa just for the outdoor portion but I think I'm passing on it too. I can already tell you how I would have done, great in the 500, good in the 1500, and pretty bad in the 20k. With that being said I am fully aware that I am not in the type of outdoor shape I wish I was in. So instead of going and racing I decided to stay home. If I don't race then I can believe I am in awful shape, and if I train as if I am in awful shape well then eventually I will be in good shape.

Sometimes I think people race too much and if they race good they lax a little in their training whether is conscious or not. If you don't race as much and you believe you have a lot of work to do then you are in an ideal situation. The best improvement I've had in a year is 2006 and I trained like I sucked. Partially because I couldn't stay on my feet long enough to find out if I was fast or not. But that's what my outdoor season is going to be like. I am not racing a single outdoor race as of right now (except my beloved eastern seaboard series races at trexlertown that I would recommend for everyone). Without racing I have no choice but to assume everyone is faster than I am right now.

Right now I am in poor shape but as my shape gets better I will not notice it as much as someone else because it will happen gradually as I keep skating. But if I continue to think I am in poor shape then I will train harder to get back into shape. And when I am in good shape if I still think I am in poor shape I will train harder further improving myself. This might get confusing but that is what it is all about. You have force yourself to believe that you have so much work to do. And when you go to races sometimes you realize that you might not have as much work so you get lax. But if you don't race then you are forced to train at the same intensity.