After I recovered from my knee problem, I'd been off the ice for 4 months, and only poking around delicately at skating for 2, when I realized I had the leg muscles of yogurt. Now age and weight wise I'm probably at the extreme end of 'people who skate'. But I've noticed a lot of skaters (kids included) don't skate continuously. They do a few elements, then stop and do a few more. Only the most determined are continuously on the move.
So a couple of weeks ago I started lap skating. This means continuously skating, no breaks for an hour. Forwards, mostly, due to crowding on public. But if it's light, I'll go backwards.
When I get off the ice, I'm like this:
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| It's really exhausting |
But on the other hand, after the third session, I was delighted that not only had my leg strength returned, but my power and skating skills were better too.
The downside of lap skating is the tedium.
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| Hey! I'm passing the gate again! |
But I notice that I now skate with more power and better confidence.
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| Hey! Going faster now! |
The trick to lap skating is having a playlist to set the beat for your stroking if your rink will let you wear earphones. Run through your music collection until you find music that makes you do this:
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| Don't make it too fast. Remember you're in it for the long haul of an hour. |
You can also check the
Podrunner website for some free podcasts cut to specific beats per minute.
What am I listening to now? Some Queen, a couple of Kanye West songs, some Hans Zimmer soundtracks, and some workout music cuts. Whatever you like is what suits you best.
Just remember there's only one rule for lap skating: Don't Stop!
