Lots has happened since I last wrote after the altitude camp in Canmore. Lots of ups and downs to report, but I'll start with the most recent events. The canadian fall world cup trials were this past weekend here in Calgary and there were many interesting results.
Trials didn't go as well as I would have hoped. I didn't qualify for either the 1000m or 1500m this fall. Its disappointing. I was skating really well in September, I've improved technically on ice, physically off ice and in the lab but I got into quite a dip for the first 3 weeks of October that I couldn't get out of in time for trials. My results for the weekend were.
1000m: 7th, 1:10.25
1500m: 5th, 1:47.60
Both results put me as the second alternate for each distance so I'll be close to home for the fall and won't be travelling to world cups. As I mentioned, I was skating really well in September so I was optimistic of my chances of qualifying. The first few weeks of October were pretty tough. I lost much of my 'feel' over the last weekend of september and just couldn't get it back. Those few weeks were tough, spending time trying to recapture the feeling and figuring things out, only for things to get worse.
This probably doesn't make much sense. Skating is a very technical sport, in fact, some may argue that skating is mostly technical. Skating technically well can make up for many shortcomings like lack of physical or mental strength. It doesn't guarantee anything, but it is easier to make up for a lack of strength than making up for weak technique. Sometimes, technical feel just disappears and you don't know why, and just can't fix it. And, the more I try to fix it, the more difficult it gets.
A chapter in "What the Dog Saw" by Malcolm Gladwell gives some insight into the type of skater I am. The story is called "Late Bloomers". Late bloomers are always hypothesizing, testing, analyzing and repeating to find and perfect the technique that works best for them. Often the process is long and arduous, and many quit before every finding their perfect result, but for those who stick with it, at some point, everything just 'clicks'.
You can read the whole story at: http://www.gladwell.com/2008/2008_10_20_a_latebloomers.html
For me, I've had many flashes of brilliance at one point or another. I've skated a 'perfect corner'. I've done a perfect opener. I've done a perfect straightaway. All of this has happened in the last month. I know what all of these feel like and now I have to put the puzzle together. I'm still in the hypothesizing/testing/analyzing stage for whatever reason.. and I want to get out of it once and for all, but everything really does happen for a reason, I just don't always know why.
I am really disappointed. I could have skated at world cups in Holland, Germany, Norway, China and Japan and I am good enough to be skating at the world cup level and qualifying for the Canadian team. But, maybe it is best that I didn't qualify. What if my dip happened one month later? It might be even tougher trying to get out of a dip at world cups. I have a poster by the Dalai Lama called "Instructions for life" and point #4 says
"Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck"
Since I won't be travelling, I will have ample time to get my feeling back, and figure things out. Instead of over analyzing things, it sometimes helps to get back to basics, and focus on the little things. That doesn't mean trying to micromanage every little movement, but rather, paying attention to the feeling of specific movements and using that feeling to get my technique back in order. Ultimately, skating fast requires automaticity and it has to feel natural. It can't be robotic because there are too many things to remember. Being home for the next 2 months gives me plenty of time to do this.
