http://services.datasport.com/2015/velo/maradolo/LANDH.HTM
138km, 4230m
Rule #1: Believe in Yourself
8 years ago
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
...è qualcosa di più...
Chiunque può provarci:
http://services.datasport.com/2015/velo/maradolo/LANDH.HTM
138km, 4230m
http://services.datasport.com/2015/velo/maradolo/LANDH.HTM
138km, 4230m
Friday, September 30, 2011
Spring and summer, 2011
Well I did not write too much about Peter's training during the spring or the summer... I'll try to recap a bit now:
There was a slight rest after the last race (Celje, Slovenia, end of March), then came training on inline skates (the ice rink in Szeged closes by April). Long steady distances and lots and lots of technique. Although there were 3 inline races in the spring-summer interval that our club wanted to attend, but none of them were given top priority. Luckily enough, 2 races were held here locally, so we didn't even have to travel at all :)
The first race, the student's olympic brought only fair success. I know, we did not prepare much for it, but in several cases our girls or boys missed the podium only by a narrow margin. It was very disappointing but we must learn to get over it, like some bonze in meditation, because the kids had a long and tiring shorttrack racing season behind them. Peter came in 4th both on his distances, and it was clearly visible that he got unused to the harsh and violent races in inlines, like getting a push or knock at the start... instant penalty in shorttrack...
Early June our club was given the opportunity to show off skating in a big multi-sport festival in Szeged, where several thousand people could see and several hundred could even try out skating (on inlines). Well we tried, but it was quite hard to promote ice skating in 30+ Celsius... :)
We were on holidays in the second half of June, in turn the second local race was held in that time. So I cannot even tell much about that - but the sea is nice and good :) Only 1 week after we've gotten home, there was an Europe-Cup race in Tatabánya, but it would have been useless to race there after 2 weeks of lack of training.
Mid-July the kids attended a dryland training camp in Budapest-Normafa for one week, just like in the previous year. It was brutally hot then, Peter fell every 2nd day and earned war scars during the forest runs, so he did suffer this time. :( Then came 1 week of well-earned rest and again a period of 5 trainings per week.
We've managed to travel to hols again early August for a week, then Peter attended a 5-day training camp on ice in Budapest. From this point inlines were forgotten, just to not mix the two different skating styles. At the end of August, yet again 2 days on ice in Budapest, only to make school start easier :D
September was very tense and intense: 5 dryland trainings each week with running, working on stairs, imitation, cord-assisted imitation... and on 2 weekends head to Budapest, the ice rink, 2 ice sessions in 2 days. This is how we've reached the end of the month and today, when we start and drive to Zagreb, Croatia for our first race of the season.
There was a slight rest after the last race (Celje, Slovenia, end of March), then came training on inline skates (the ice rink in Szeged closes by April). Long steady distances and lots and lots of technique. Although there were 3 inline races in the spring-summer interval that our club wanted to attend, but none of them were given top priority. Luckily enough, 2 races were held here locally, so we didn't even have to travel at all :)
The first race, the student's olympic brought only fair success. I know, we did not prepare much for it, but in several cases our girls or boys missed the podium only by a narrow margin. It was very disappointing but we must learn to get over it, like some bonze in meditation, because the kids had a long and tiring shorttrack racing season behind them. Peter came in 4th both on his distances, and it was clearly visible that he got unused to the harsh and violent races in inlines, like getting a push or knock at the start... instant penalty in shorttrack...
Early June our club was given the opportunity to show off skating in a big multi-sport festival in Szeged, where several thousand people could see and several hundred could even try out skating (on inlines). Well we tried, but it was quite hard to promote ice skating in 30+ Celsius... :)
We were on holidays in the second half of June, in turn the second local race was held in that time. So I cannot even tell much about that - but the sea is nice and good :) Only 1 week after we've gotten home, there was an Europe-Cup race in Tatabánya, but it would have been useless to race there after 2 weeks of lack of training.
Mid-July the kids attended a dryland training camp in Budapest-Normafa for one week, just like in the previous year. It was brutally hot then, Peter fell every 2nd day and earned war scars during the forest runs, so he did suffer this time. :( Then came 1 week of well-earned rest and again a period of 5 trainings per week.
We've managed to travel to hols again early August for a week, then Peter attended a 5-day training camp on ice in Budapest. From this point inlines were forgotten, just to not mix the two different skating styles. At the end of August, yet again 2 days on ice in Budapest, only to make school start easier :D
September was very tense and intense: 5 dryland trainings each week with running, working on stairs, imitation, cord-assisted imitation... and on 2 weekends head to Budapest, the ice rink, 2 ice sessions in 2 days. This is how we've reached the end of the month and today, when we start and drive to Zagreb, Croatia for our first race of the season.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Bont Jet review
Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Almaty, Cologne, Paris, Budapest, Szeged - that is a 7250-mile trip that my new Bont Jet 2010 (3pt 100mm) has travelled. But it has finally arrived in 5 days!
Upon receiving I opened the box like a kid opens a Christmas gift. The boots, frames, wheels, bearings were all separated, there was a wrench included, too. Yohooo, Lego! :) Oh and a small gift, a wrapper for a soft drink plastic bottle that helps it make cool. Cool :)
It was fun to put all the parts together but when I put the boots on I quickly realized that they needed some melting before first use. Another strange thing I've noticed was the opening of the boot was quite narrow so putting my feet in them was not easy at all.
I was excited to put the boots in the oven. I have to admit I was also a bit nervous as I have never done such a thing before. I was a little bit worried not to overheat the boots so I kept on checking them every 3 or 4 minutes. After 20-22 minutes I decided to put them on. The next challenge was to stand in low position for quite some time. Nevertheless a chair in front of me helped to stay low for long enough but still it was almost a good static thigh-workout :)
I put the frames on again, in a neutral position and took the skates on a ride. However my first test session was plagued by my injury I have suffered the previous week when I fell on gravel. That's caused big pain in my os sanctum and it still made it hard to push my right leg properly to the side. However I simply couldn't wait and so I managed to skate about 2 miles. The test was good enough to make me sure that I had to melt the boots again. My main problem was in my left foot around my navicular bone that sticks out a little bit more than normal - due to my mid-serious flat foot. This time I've tried to put more pressure on the inner side of my feet to make more space for that bone.
The next test drive was much more enjoyable. Although the boot still annoyed my navicular bone - it went away after 5 minutes, I think mostly because I tried to skate as much on the outer edge as I could.
Generally I feel this is a brutally good piece of hardware. Due to the 3-point styling the centre of gravity remains very low. I was worried of the 84mm->100mm change beforehand, but it was literally impossible to tell the difference, as the skates are so stable, not wobbling, not showing any kind of shakiness! The length of the frame makes me go back and re-learn skating, but as this was the shortest frame, I should try to skate better :)
Now I am after the 4th melting already, I've put a small foot arch support in the left boot. I've cut off the toe- and the heel part of it, so it should affect only the (missing) arch of my foot, without lifting my foot in other areas. I still feel that damn navicular bone after longer skating sessions, but I am a little bit at a loss what I should do. Maybe I'll try to heat only that area with a hair-dryer and then push that certain point out some more.
Oh and due to my imperfect technique I've already rubbed off the nice white leather on the inner sides of the boots, so there are smudged red and black stains on it now. Well I did not buy them to be put on a show in a museum, but to use them instead. I've put 400 km in them already and I enjoy it quite a lot!
Upon receiving I opened the box like a kid opens a Christmas gift. The boots, frames, wheels, bearings were all separated, there was a wrench included, too. Yohooo, Lego! :) Oh and a small gift, a wrapper for a soft drink plastic bottle that helps it make cool. Cool :)
It was fun to put all the parts together but when I put the boots on I quickly realized that they needed some melting before first use. Another strange thing I've noticed was the opening of the boot was quite narrow so putting my feet in them was not easy at all.
I was excited to put the boots in the oven. I have to admit I was also a bit nervous as I have never done such a thing before. I was a little bit worried not to overheat the boots so I kept on checking them every 3 or 4 minutes. After 20-22 minutes I decided to put them on. The next challenge was to stand in low position for quite some time. Nevertheless a chair in front of me helped to stay low for long enough but still it was almost a good static thigh-workout :)
I put the frames on again, in a neutral position and took the skates on a ride. However my first test session was plagued by my injury I have suffered the previous week when I fell on gravel. That's caused big pain in my os sanctum and it still made it hard to push my right leg properly to the side. However I simply couldn't wait and so I managed to skate about 2 miles. The test was good enough to make me sure that I had to melt the boots again. My main problem was in my left foot around my navicular bone that sticks out a little bit more than normal - due to my mid-serious flat foot. This time I've tried to put more pressure on the inner side of my feet to make more space for that bone.
The next test drive was much more enjoyable. Although the boot still annoyed my navicular bone - it went away after 5 minutes, I think mostly because I tried to skate as much on the outer edge as I could.
Generally I feel this is a brutally good piece of hardware. Due to the 3-point styling the centre of gravity remains very low. I was worried of the 84mm->100mm change beforehand, but it was literally impossible to tell the difference, as the skates are so stable, not wobbling, not showing any kind of shakiness! The length of the frame makes me go back and re-learn skating, but as this was the shortest frame, I should try to skate better :)
Now I am after the 4th melting already, I've put a small foot arch support in the left boot. I've cut off the toe- and the heel part of it, so it should affect only the (missing) arch of my foot, without lifting my foot in other areas. I still feel that damn navicular bone after longer skating sessions, but I am a little bit at a loss what I should do. Maybe I'll try to heat only that area with a hair-dryer and then push that certain point out some more.
Oh and due to my imperfect technique I've already rubbed off the nice white leather on the inner sides of the boots, so there are smudged red and black stains on it now. Well I did not buy them to be put on a show in a museum, but to use them instead. I've put 400 km in them already and I enjoy it quite a lot!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
4th. Tour de Tisza-tó
57km skate around the Tisza lake again. Last year it was almost fun.
Starting from Szeged at 06:30, we've arrived at Tiszafüred at 09:30. Registration, change to race dress.
This time organizers have provided a bus to transfer us from the finish area to the skaters' startline, about 5 miles away, near Poroszló, and they've even taken our shoes back to the finish so we did not have to paddle around in socks :) This worked great - almost, as it wasn't that great to stand there with skates laced tight from 11:00 to 11:30, feet getting numb. The bikers field stretched very long, we could have started after the first 10 minutes and not wait for all the young kids on bikes, cycling slowly...
We skaters were many more compared to last year, all in all 28 according to the results list. After the start I've started at 90% pace, not too exhausting, leaving time to get warmed up properly. I was surprised to see that Raimo & co. did not get away at all, so I jumped up to them with a little sprint and travelled with them in the following 7km. There was a light rearwind, the 6 'experienced' worked together flawlessly, changing lead from time to time, and we 2 with KP enjoyed the ride at the tail of the queue. I glanced back but there was no-one in sight - uh-oh, SSz, FZ, where did you drop??? At the 50km sign MZ left the queue (she was complaining already at the start about being ill the last few days) and we 3 got dropped a bit consequently. I thought we would group together and work on but this did not work, so I was left alone. The lead group was gone, thinking about it now I should have stayed with them longer :(
I was skating alone and started to feel warmed up now, then I caught a biker guy and we had a little talk - he told me we were doing 26km/h. This seemed OK, we even had some faster straights here and there. We caught & left a lot of bikers until we got to the dam near Kisköre. The refresh there was a bit quirky, as I did not brake at all passing the mass of cyclists having some water there, but luckily everyone jumped away :) I suffered a bit goind up to the dam, looking back I saw KP about 300m behind me. Going down from the dam the concrete is useless, I had to flounder in the dust on the edge of the concrete.
On the next few kilometres I did not find my tempo at all, so KP caught me with a friend of her on a bike. Then came the horror, Abádszalók. The asphalt there is so awkward that it is almost an art... by the end of that 1.5km my butts were in a cramp... but then it ended at last, I couldn't even see KP ahead. And what did follow? Turn North, right into the headwind, that got strong enough by then. Although the speaker at the start was quite happy with the weather and the lack of wind, I've checked the meteo after the finish and it showed 22km/h wind from NNE.
The last two experience was too much together - the bad asphalt and the headwind. But as the bike field was huge, I could find a biker easily to travel behind him and have some rest. In fact I had a 12km rest there... Meanwhile I followed a strict diet of glucose every 15mins and cyclist CH gels every 45mins, but during this rest my water got low. So I was eager to reach the 2nd refreshment station where I could drink some water and also fill some in my bottle. I started towards the finish quickly then, this time together with KP and her biker mate.
The last CH gel however made me feel almost high. At the 5km sign I've almost attacked but kept myself back. But at the 4km post a pair of bikers came in with good tempo so I've launched a small sprint and chased them down, leaving KP behind. We've reached Tiszafüred soon and I stayed with them until the last zig-zag. I've tried to push a bit solo (you know, a good finish photo...) but the bad asphalt shaked my brain like a mixer... I've finished with 2:40:55.
I wasn't as worn off as last year. I've taken off my gear, picked up my finish pack, went down to the podium area, phoned home and then saw SSz finishing. After the podium ceremony and some loiter got in the car and drove home. By 6PM I was already home, we even had time to attend the astronomy day observation night with the fam to check the Moon and the Saturn.
Next day I had some muscle strain in my butt but nothing serious. Thinking hindsight:
- should have travelled with Raimo's group longer
- after the Kisköre dam I should have picked up tempo quicker
- got to do something with the awful asphalt near Abádszalók - either in technique or in my head, dunno
- the K2 belt I wore wasn't really good, it didn't feel comfortable putting my hand on my back
- the new Bont Jet skates worked great, but after 2/3 distance I began to feel the muscles holding my ankle getting tired, causing some form degrade. Got to work on that endurance.
I was expecting a finish time of circa 2:30 but the headwind made it worse. I am a bit frustated for this, the mistakes listed above should be eliminated and then I can make it, for sure. Next year :)
GPX of the route
Starting from Szeged at 06:30, we've arrived at Tiszafüred at 09:30. Registration, change to race dress.
This time organizers have provided a bus to transfer us from the finish area to the skaters' startline, about 5 miles away, near Poroszló, and they've even taken our shoes back to the finish so we did not have to paddle around in socks :) This worked great - almost, as it wasn't that great to stand there with skates laced tight from 11:00 to 11:30, feet getting numb. The bikers field stretched very long, we could have started after the first 10 minutes and not wait for all the young kids on bikes, cycling slowly...
We skaters were many more compared to last year, all in all 28 according to the results list. After the start I've started at 90% pace, not too exhausting, leaving time to get warmed up properly. I was surprised to see that Raimo & co. did not get away at all, so I jumped up to them with a little sprint and travelled with them in the following 7km. There was a light rearwind, the 6 'experienced' worked together flawlessly, changing lead from time to time, and we 2 with KP enjoyed the ride at the tail of the queue. I glanced back but there was no-one in sight - uh-oh, SSz, FZ, where did you drop??? At the 50km sign MZ left the queue (she was complaining already at the start about being ill the last few days) and we 3 got dropped a bit consequently. I thought we would group together and work on but this did not work, so I was left alone. The lead group was gone, thinking about it now I should have stayed with them longer :(
Alone
I was skating alone and started to feel warmed up now, then I caught a biker guy and we had a little talk - he told me we were doing 26km/h. This seemed OK, we even had some faster straights here and there. We caught & left a lot of bikers until we got to the dam near Kisköre. The refresh there was a bit quirky, as I did not brake at all passing the mass of cyclists having some water there, but luckily everyone jumped away :) I suffered a bit goind up to the dam, looking back I saw KP about 300m behind me. Going down from the dam the concrete is useless, I had to flounder in the dust on the edge of the concrete.
On the next few kilometres I did not find my tempo at all, so KP caught me with a friend of her on a bike. Then came the horror, Abádszalók. The asphalt there is so awkward that it is almost an art... by the end of that 1.5km my butts were in a cramp... but then it ended at last, I couldn't even see KP ahead. And what did follow? Turn North, right into the headwind, that got strong enough by then. Although the speaker at the start was quite happy with the weather and the lack of wind, I've checked the meteo after the finish and it showed 22km/h wind from NNE.
The last two experience was too much together - the bad asphalt and the headwind. But as the bike field was huge, I could find a biker easily to travel behind him and have some rest. In fact I had a 12km rest there... Meanwhile I followed a strict diet of glucose every 15mins and cyclist CH gels every 45mins, but during this rest my water got low. So I was eager to reach the 2nd refreshment station where I could drink some water and also fill some in my bottle. I started towards the finish quickly then, this time together with KP and her biker mate.
About 15km to go
The last CH gel however made me feel almost high. At the 5km sign I've almost attacked but kept myself back. But at the 4km post a pair of bikers came in with good tempo so I've launched a small sprint and chased them down, leaving KP behind. We've reached Tiszafüred soon and I stayed with them until the last zig-zag. I've tried to push a bit solo (you know, a good finish photo...) but the bad asphalt shaked my brain like a mixer... I've finished with 2:40:55.
I wasn't as worn off as last year. I've taken off my gear, picked up my finish pack, went down to the podium area, phoned home and then saw SSz finishing. After the podium ceremony and some loiter got in the car and drove home. By 6PM I was already home, we even had time to attend the astronomy day observation night with the fam to check the Moon and the Saturn.
Next day I had some muscle strain in my butt but nothing serious. Thinking hindsight:
- should have travelled with Raimo's group longer
- after the Kisköre dam I should have picked up tempo quicker
- got to do something with the awful asphalt near Abádszalók - either in technique or in my head, dunno
- the K2 belt I wore wasn't really good, it didn't feel comfortable putting my hand on my back
- the new Bont Jet skates worked great, but after 2/3 distance I began to feel the muscles holding my ankle getting tired, causing some form degrade. Got to work on that endurance.
I was expecting a finish time of circa 2:30 but the headwind made it worse. I am a bit frustated for this, the mistakes listed above should be eliminated and then I can make it, for sure. Next year :)
Results
GPX of the route
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Jet-ways
You sure remember when I've melted seeing the new Bont Cheetah skates, right?
Well time has passed since then and now I can report I've ordered a pair of Bont 2010 Jets for myself. 100mm, AL frame, 3 pt.
I am very excited about it, checking the FedEx status several times a day. The pack has been to China, to Kazakhstan and now is in Cologne...
Well time has passed since then and now I can report I've ordered a pair of Bont 2010 Jets for myself. 100mm, AL frame, 3 pt.
I am very excited about it, checking the FedEx status several times a day. The pack has been to China, to Kazakhstan and now is in Cologne...
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Santa Claus Cup 2010, Budapest
The program started with the longest distance, 500m for Peter. There were 8 racers alltogether, divided into two semifinals. Peter started well in his race and traveled quite comfortably behind TA for most of the distance, advancing to the A Final easily. His time was 58:500~ish but it was declared NOTIME for some techical difficulties.
500m semifinal
Anyway he has to learn this aspect of racing, too. Referees, decisions, points of view...
Coach TT helped him get through this mental shock (first DQ in his life) and analyze what went wrong - and to concentrate on the next distance.
500m Final A
222m semifinal
222m Final A
On Sunday Peter started with the 333m semi-final, where he showed quite a good start. But then he didn't have a good transition speeding up in the first turn and that left a good choice for SzÁ to take him over. From then on it was a nice combat, Peter looking for takeover opportunities but never really finding a good one. He almost managed to finish an attempt in the last lap but it didn't come true. No problem, he got in the A Final again.
333m semifinal
333m Final A
His skating looked good and he showed good form throughout the weekend. Official results here.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Frustrated
I've planned to run a half-marathon the last weekend in Siófok.
I've dedicated most of October and November to set up for this race properly. Ran 30-40 km a week following a training plan, aiming at 1:50 or even better time to achieve.
Then came Friday last week, 2 days before the race. A rest day. And it hit - met some virus: sore throat, voice gone, general 'down' feeling. Then spent most of Saturday in fever. Classic pharyngitis.
So no half on Sunday, that was quite sure :((((((((((((((((((((((((
Now there's a 'hole in my soul', I think I am
I've dedicated most of October and November to set up for this race properly. Ran 30-40 km a week following a training plan, aiming at 1:50 or even better time to achieve.
Then came Friday last week, 2 days before the race. A rest day. And it hit - met some virus: sore throat, voice gone, general 'down' feeling. Then spent most of Saturday in fever. Classic pharyngitis.
So no half on Sunday, that was quite sure :((((((((((((((((((((((((
Now there's a 'hole in my soul', I think I am
REALLY FRUSTRATED
Maybe I should check if there's another HM nearby I could run. Oh btw by Tuesday I was fine again :s
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
1. Winter Jász Cup
On the 13-14th November there was a shorttrack competition in Jászberény that we attended. The aim of it was to set up a short series for the novice racers in Hungary, so that they do not have to travel far for racing opportunities, maybe even in towns where there are no shorttrack clubs. Well this year the latter is not true but the Union is planning to enhance the series the next years so we may see that happen, too. This year the series consist of 3 stages, 1st in Jászberény, the 2nd in Szeged early January and the closing stage in Budapest, late January.
Racing in Jászberény was interesting as it is the only open-air competition this season. Peter for example has never raced on open-air ice before (in shorttrack). We were happy to have this race in the schedule as the planned race in Trnava was cancelled and the Szeged race was moved to January, so without this race there would have been no racing in November at all.
Poor TR fell ill Thursday so we travelled only 5 - 2 racers (CD and Peter), two parents and coach TT. Spent Friday night in a student hostel, about 400m from the rink, so we could get up relatively late. The weather was very nice, quite hot for a November day - it was about 15C and clear midday. The ice melted quite fast so racing had to end about 12:00 both days.
Peter had 3 distances (500m, 222m and 333m). He started the 500m semifinal very strong and was leading clearly when he fell in a turn, 1.5laps before the end. Even though he got up and started again, his legs locked up completely so he was overtaken and finished 3rd, that meant he could not race in the A final.
In the Final B he was racing almost alone as he lapped his only competitor in the last lap. His time wasn't too good this way, it must have been much much better if he really raced someone.
Later the day he took part in a relay but with quite novice skaters from other clubs and so it was considered a good training only.
On Sunday he ran a quite strong 222m semifinal first, then grabbed 2nd in the final. He managed a new personal best in the semi - his start is really fine!
Then a new PB in the final, too - 26:42, 1.5 seconds shaved off the old PB!
Then he ran a similarly strong 333m semi, again a PB (38.90 - 2.5 seconds better than before).
In the final he was in 1st place for 1.5 laps but couldn't handle the fact he was in front and did not skate a nice style, so he was overtaken by TA easily.
Still he finished 2nd here, too, so in overall he gained a bronze medal!
Coach TT was quite satisfied with him minus the last final, it is still early season, so it all points to a good direction if he can evolve so fine.
CD had only one opponent in his age class, FT - also from Szeged. They've fought nice battles in all 3 distances and while CD finished 2nd each time he was really competent and skated much better style than FT. Again, a promising form for the season.
Ah and this race was the premiere for the new racing suits - black, green and silver.
The boys looked fine wearing them - what do you think?
Racing in Jászberény was interesting as it is the only open-air competition this season. Peter for example has never raced on open-air ice before (in shorttrack). We were happy to have this race in the schedule as the planned race in Trnava was cancelled and the Szeged race was moved to January, so without this race there would have been no racing in November at all.
The rink at noon
Ice - ice?
(C) Gémesi Balázs
500m semifinal
Later the day he took part in a relay but with quite novice skaters from other clubs and so it was considered a good training only.
500m Final B
222m semifinal
222m Final A
333m semifinal
333m Final A
Cat F boys podium
Warm-up
CD had only one opponent in his age class, FT - also from Szeged. They've fought nice battles in all 3 distances and while CD finished 2nd each time he was really competent and skated much better style than FT. Again, a promising form for the season.
Ah and this race was the premiere for the new racing suits - black, green and silver.
(C) Gémesi Balázs
(C) Gémesi Balázs
PS:
The new boots worked perfectly, according to Peter. And they did not hurt his ankle at all!
Friday, November 12, 2010
Shiny new boots
We've bough a new pair of boots for Peter, his first 'real' shorttrack boot.
He's been using a Powerslide R2 junior model so far both for inlines or ice. Recently he has been telling us that the boot was bit too wide and it touched the ice in the turns. Add to that the fact that coach TT has also told us Peter would need a new boot soon so we had to look & shop around.
In the end we chose a handmade model from Hungary, produced by ex-shorttrack skater Balázs Knoch. He's living in Pécs and produces either standard, semi-custom or custom boots for skaters along some accessories, too. We drew around the outline of Peter's feet on a paper, measured the biggest length and width (his left foot is 4mm bigger than his right one...) and sent that drawing to Balázs. We agreed on phone that the size was right between 33 and 34 and we'd choose the bigger one for practical reasons - a kid can jump 2-3 shoe sizes in a year if nature decides so... But Balázs told us he'd also make a size 33 boot, so we can also try that.
While there are several models to choose from, we picked the cheapest model, again for practical reasons. It costs only 150 € and made of leather & some kind of compound, in black/silver. There is a 300 € model with stiffened ankle section and then you can have a full custom carbon boot starting from 600 € - something definitely not aimed at kids :)
2 weeks later we were driving to Pécs to try and take away the boots. Peter tried them on in the morning (size 34 fit perfectly) and then Balázs told us they would be ready in the afternoon. So we spent some time wandering around in the town and then late afternoon Peter was the happy owner of the new boots. You surely know that smile one can not get rid of when he receives a new toy :) He even put it next to his bed when we arrived home, so in the morning he could keep looking at it...
The first training with the boots on was Tuesday and he was very satisfied with the feel. He said the boots worked very nicely in the turns and helped him get on the outer edges easier. He can point his knees further down & forward so it generally helps getting lower in basic position. Coach TT told us that the boot would also help in finishing the push movement properly, too.
As the cuff is much higher than that of his previous boots it was quite evident there would be some initial 'suffer' period and of course it arrived by the end of the training. There was a red swallow area over both of his ankles that we iced 2 times that day and tried to apply some magic cream (comfrey) to help heal them. Next morning it was quite a torture to put the boots on again but the afternoon we repeated the above cure. Came Thursday morning and the swallow was not as big after the training than before, still applied both ice and the cream later the day. By Friday morning it seems it is getting normal.
This weekend there will be a competition in Jaszbereny, the first round of the Hungarian Novice Cup (3 stages). I really hope Peter's legs will be able to cope with the stress and that he can use his new boots successfully during racing. I am really curious to see how it works, will report back of course. Until then, some pics of his new boots:
He's been using a Powerslide R2 junior model so far both for inlines or ice. Recently he has been telling us that the boot was bit too wide and it touched the ice in the turns. Add to that the fact that coach TT has also told us Peter would need a new boot soon so we had to look & shop around.
In the end we chose a handmade model from Hungary, produced by ex-shorttrack skater Balázs Knoch. He's living in Pécs and produces either standard, semi-custom or custom boots for skaters along some accessories, too. We drew around the outline of Peter's feet on a paper, measured the biggest length and width (his left foot is 4mm bigger than his right one...) and sent that drawing to Balázs. We agreed on phone that the size was right between 33 and 34 and we'd choose the bigger one for practical reasons - a kid can jump 2-3 shoe sizes in a year if nature decides so... But Balázs told us he'd also make a size 33 boot, so we can also try that.
While there are several models to choose from, we picked the cheapest model, again for practical reasons. It costs only 150 € and made of leather & some kind of compound, in black/silver. There is a 300 € model with stiffened ankle section and then you can have a full custom carbon boot starting from 600 € - something definitely not aimed at kids :)
2 weeks later we were driving to Pécs to try and take away the boots. Peter tried them on in the morning (size 34 fit perfectly) and then Balázs told us they would be ready in the afternoon. So we spent some time wandering around in the town and then late afternoon Peter was the happy owner of the new boots. You surely know that smile one can not get rid of when he receives a new toy :) He even put it next to his bed when we arrived home, so in the morning he could keep looking at it...
The first training with the boots on was Tuesday and he was very satisfied with the feel. He said the boots worked very nicely in the turns and helped him get on the outer edges easier. He can point his knees further down & forward so it generally helps getting lower in basic position. Coach TT told us that the boot would also help in finishing the push movement properly, too.
As the cuff is much higher than that of his previous boots it was quite evident there would be some initial 'suffer' period and of course it arrived by the end of the training. There was a red swallow area over both of his ankles that we iced 2 times that day and tried to apply some magic cream (comfrey) to help heal them. Next morning it was quite a torture to put the boots on again but the afternoon we repeated the above cure. Came Thursday morning and the swallow was not as big after the training than before, still applied both ice and the cream later the day. By Friday morning it seems it is getting normal.
This weekend there will be a competition in Jaszbereny, the first round of the Hungarian Novice Cup (3 stages). I really hope Peter's legs will be able to cope with the stress and that he can use his new boots successfully during racing. I am really curious to see how it works, will report back of course. Until then, some pics of his new boots:
Monday, November 8, 2010
XI. Pick Street Running Festival
Early October there was a running event in Szeged named after the local salami trademark, Pick. You could choose from a 6km distance, a 3.4k or a 1.2k family group run. And of course there were several fill-in programmes in between, and some lottery at the end, all the usual stuff.
I opted to run the 6km as I knew beforehand that the 3.4km would be very crowded to achieve any decent time. And of course I was feeling kinda running-pro (Gebre beware) so there was the übermensch feeling of 'yeah I run the long one' added, too :) I've entered Peter and myself for the shorter one, too but as Peter had a training that time it was obvious we would skip running together this time.
In the morning it was quite chilly but clear so I was a bit uncertain what to put on - I chose the long outfit however. It later turned out to be the perfect choice, sometimes it was wee bit too warm but in a minute it would cool down due to the wind. Ah yes, the wind was quite strong, 18km from the North. But at least it was not raining :)
Due to organizational problems I had to solve this event all alone, so there were no cheer-girls (Moira and Aniko) this time. Too bad, they could have made quite a few photos entitled 'Daddy suffering' or 'Dad is dead'...
Drove there, warmed up, had a light jog and some gymnastics - and bang, The Urge hit me: where is the looooooo... only 10 minutes left... trick or treat... or is it dare to win?... nah, let's be brave, no time for such crazy things. Got near the starting line where many of the folks were facing the wrong way??? Something I did not know of before, some late changes to the route??? I've taken a place at the second part of the field and then in a moment the organizers told the majority that they were facing the wrong way - yessssss, I was right \o/. So I found myself in the 6th or 7th line at the start :)
Off went the gun and we were running. I tried to keep calm and chose a pace I knew I was OK with. Some early birds left me of course but I knew I could not run that pace so I did not bother. When we reached the river and turned North on the quay the headwind hit us. I was using good old cyclist tactics, hiding behind someone for some time and then leave him/her and jump up a position. You may call this opportunism or un-ethical but I've learned this all my youth and it was a race after all... I've run this way till the first turning point and then almost enjoyed running tailwind, but started to feel not-so-good. Running didn't feel comfortable at all. Well I've climbed the ramp up, left the quay and then soon came another turning point and I was quite afraid of the headwind quay section waiting for me. But at this point I've just reached up to a man and decided to start the headwind section behind him. And in fact I traveled there from this point onto the finish line, suffering badly.
Right before the last turning point that was positioned at the end of the quay (so you even had to run up the ramp) we've caught a tall girl (FSz, I know she's been running for quite some time) and later I learned she was the 6th in the women's race and even she couldn't keep up our pace. Then about 300m from the finish we caught the women's 5th and 'my rabbit' and she seemed to know eachother, as he told her she was 5th and keeping that pace would finish under 25 minutes. Now I looked at my watch and was really shocked to see it was true - too bad the heart-rate was blinking at 100% :) Well we finished soon, and I thanked my rabbit the help immediately. Too bad there is no official ranking for outside-top-10 finishers so I don't know his name :(
I felt completely tired and exhausted but tried to keep on walking. From time to time I glanced at my watch and couldn't believe: 24:54??? I slowly came to realize it was only a little bit worse than 4 min/km pace. OMGWTF, I hoped for a 28:00. Yet I felt very tired, completely useless but very happy. This whole event didn't feel good at all. Mid-distance I was like 'ah forget it, stupid me, just ease off and walk away'. But still somehow managed to finish and achieved such a good result. Wohooo!!!
Then I had a choco bar and some water and met an old classmate from secondary. We talked a bit though talking didn't feel right either and it was getting chilly again, being wet. Then I jogged to the car and drove home. Up the stairs it was very hard but later the day I've regenerated completely, so next day I could do an almost 15km run at 5:40/km pace with Peter following on bike, talking. Superman, right? :D
I opted to run the 6km as I knew beforehand that the 3.4km would be very crowded to achieve any decent time. And of course I was feeling kinda running-pro (Gebre beware) so there was the übermensch feeling of 'yeah I run the long one' added, too :) I've entered Peter and myself for the shorter one, too but as Peter had a training that time it was obvious we would skip running together this time.
In the morning it was quite chilly but clear so I was a bit uncertain what to put on - I chose the long outfit however. It later turned out to be the perfect choice, sometimes it was wee bit too warm but in a minute it would cool down due to the wind. Ah yes, the wind was quite strong, 18km from the North. But at least it was not raining :)
Due to organizational problems I had to solve this event all alone, so there were no cheer-girls (Moira and Aniko) this time. Too bad, they could have made quite a few photos entitled 'Daddy suffering' or 'Dad is dead'...
Drove there, warmed up, had a light jog and some gymnastics - and bang, The Urge hit me: where is the looooooo... only 10 minutes left... trick or treat... or is it dare to win?... nah, let's be brave, no time for such crazy things. Got near the starting line where many of the folks were facing the wrong way??? Something I did not know of before, some late changes to the route??? I've taken a place at the second part of the field and then in a moment the organizers told the majority that they were facing the wrong way - yessssss, I was right \o/. So I found myself in the 6th or 7th line at the start :)
Off went the gun and we were running. I tried to keep calm and chose a pace I knew I was OK with. Some early birds left me of course but I knew I could not run that pace so I did not bother. When we reached the river and turned North on the quay the headwind hit us. I was using good old cyclist tactics, hiding behind someone for some time and then leave him/her and jump up a position. You may call this opportunism or un-ethical but I've learned this all my youth and it was a race after all... I've run this way till the first turning point and then almost enjoyed running tailwind, but started to feel not-so-good. Running didn't feel comfortable at all. Well I've climbed the ramp up, left the quay and then soon came another turning point and I was quite afraid of the headwind quay section waiting for me. But at this point I've just reached up to a man and decided to start the headwind section behind him. And in fact I traveled there from this point onto the finish line, suffering badly.
Right before the last turning point that was positioned at the end of the quay (so you even had to run up the ramp) we've caught a tall girl (FSz, I know she's been running for quite some time) and later I learned she was the 6th in the women's race and even she couldn't keep up our pace. Then about 300m from the finish we caught the women's 5th and 'my rabbit' and she seemed to know eachother, as he told her she was 5th and keeping that pace would finish under 25 minutes. Now I looked at my watch and was really shocked to see it was true - too bad the heart-rate was blinking at 100% :) Well we finished soon, and I thanked my rabbit the help immediately. Too bad there is no official ranking for outside-top-10 finishers so I don't know his name :(
I felt completely tired and exhausted but tried to keep on walking. From time to time I glanced at my watch and couldn't believe: 24:54??? I slowly came to realize it was only a little bit worse than 4 min/km pace. OMGWTF, I hoped for a 28:00. Yet I felt very tired, completely useless but very happy. This whole event didn't feel good at all. Mid-distance I was like 'ah forget it, stupid me, just ease off and walk away'. But still somehow managed to finish and achieved such a good result. Wohooo!!!
Then I had a choco bar and some water and met an old classmate from secondary. We talked a bit though talking didn't feel right either and it was getting chilly again, being wet. Then I jogged to the car and drove home. Up the stairs it was very hard but later the day I've regenerated completely, so next day I could do an almost 15km run at 5:40/km pace with Peter following on bike, talking. Superman, right? :D
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Zagreb Trophy 2010
As mentioned earlier, after 1 week on ice we've already been to a competition that was scheduled quite early in the race calendar, at the first weekend of October. The Zagreb Trophy was the first station of the Alpe-Adria Cup, which was planned to have 4 stages but now it seems there will be only 3. The original plans included Zagreb, Delnice, Sarajevo and Celje, but if you look at the calendar these days, the Sarajevo leg in February is missing :( Too bad, I really would have enjoyed a trip there and look around in the Olympic stadium.
Anyway, Zagreb. Luckily it is not a long drive from home so with an early-afternoon start we've arrived to the hostel at a reasonable time. Next day we got up at 6am and had breakfast, then went to the rink at 7am for the training. The rink, placed next to a hippodrome is called Klizaliste Velesajam and looks quite impressive from the outside, and is very friendly inside, too. There are many large, warm dressing rooms, a nice coffee bar, huge panoramic windows, and everything was quite warm - though it may have helped that it was nice fall weather outside. One could comfortably get around the rink without a coat, contrary to some deep-freeze rinks :)
The racing field size was not big at all but it matched the team's aims perfectly: early-season 'training' competition, to get in the mood of racing. And who knows, if we race in all the competitions of the series, we might get a good overall result anyway. While mostly local racers, there were kids from Slovenia, Bosnia, Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech and even from Kazakhstan. We've entered 3 competitors, TR (cat E), CD (cat C) and Peter (cat F).
Peter's field was only 3, with JP from Szeged and the local TK, who was obviously a real beginner, so it was down to a 2-men battle. Peter had beautiful starts in every heat but could'n skate in a good form in the first day at all. It was clearly visible he missed time on ice and could show some decent movement form only on the second day. That day he fought much much better but fell 2 times - no luck. His best time on 500m was only 1 second slower though than his PB from the last season. 2nd in each distance he grabbed a silver medal this time.
TR was the youngest of her category and she's been racing only for 1 year now, so it was obvious she would not win yet. Anyway she did not finish last and managed to better her PB on 2 distances.
CD only missed 3rd overall due to a big tactic error (not paying attention who is taking over) and a disputable penalty in the superfinal. He also managed to get a new PB on 500m.
After a lengthy ceremony we headed home but this time the travel seemed to take much much longer - still we managed to get home quite early. It was a good competition with a friendly attitude, quite some early-season-form errors and mistakes to analyze and correct. Let's hope the upcoming legs will be as useful as this one was at least.
No videos this time (you know, will publish only those that are worth it...), results are here. You can find quite some photos around on FB.
CD only missed 3rd overall due to a big tactic error (not paying attention who is taking over) and a disputable penalty in the superfinal. He also managed to get a new PB on 500m.
No videos this time (you know, will publish only those that are worth it...), results are here. You can find quite some photos around on FB.
Friday, October 15, 2010
On ice again
Short entry:
the local rink in Szeged is open again since late September. Quite early compared to the previous years.
Our team has 3 trainings on ice per week at the moment.
One week in training we've already been to a competition, more on that soon.
Oh how I missed handling cold, dirty mats... :)
the local rink in Szeged is open again since late September. Quite early compared to the previous years.
Our team has 3 trainings on ice per week at the moment.
One week in training we've already been to a competition, more on that soon.
Oh how I missed handling cold, dirty mats... :)
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Summer ice training
Following the dryland training camp and some more dryland workouts in the next 2 weeks, the team took part in a short ice training camp in Budapest early August. There were 7 sessions during 4 days, ie 2 trainings in a day.
Each participant stayed in Hotel Pilon, about 400m from the ice hall, which proved to be a very good selection especially in the mornings: The daily schedule was something like getting up before 5:00 and walk up to the ice hall, then at 5:20 start 40-50 minutes of dryland before getting in the hall and onto the ice. The ice sessions were 1-1.5 hours long and the kids only got to eat the breakfast after that. Then they spent the rest of the morning in laid-back style and had lunch in a nearby restaurant. Then they had some more rest (and occasional nap) before doing another dryland/ice training. Then back to the hotel, eat some and get into bed early.
As it was August, there was a high contrast in temperature (~30C outside, 5C in the hall) so the clothing part was tricky but manageable of course. The 'wake up early' part of the camp was a real killer but the kids at least learned to pre-fetch the clothes they wanted to put on the next day.
There were 4 kids (CD, TR, NB and Peter) from our club plus coach TT, 4 from Pécs and their coach, and a lot of girls from Jászberény. I am quite an outsider in ST but I could see huge differences in technique and dryland work of the different teams (and I think our kids are on the better side). The last day 2 of our Olympians (R.Darázs and B.Heidum) joined and helped the kids a bit in the dryland part - it must be a good and positive impulse for them to get help from the sportsmen / sportswomen they saw racing in Vancouver on TV just some months ago...
The camp was very tiring but it was useful for sure. Too bad we won't have ice time locally until October and so we must grab every occasion to train on ice, yet it will mean lots of travel. Coach TT says it will be a busy September...
Working in 2 age groups
Rest
As it was August, there was a high contrast in temperature (~30C outside, 5C in the hall) so the clothing part was tricky but manageable of course. The 'wake up early' part of the camp was a real killer but the kids at least learned to pre-fetch the clothes they wanted to put on the next day.
Relays start
There were 4 kids (CD, TR, NB and Peter) from our club plus coach TT, 4 from Pécs and their coach, and a lot of girls from Jászberény. I am quite an outsider in ST but I could see huge differences in technique and dryland work of the different teams (and I think our kids are on the better side). The last day 2 of our Olympians (R.Darázs and B.Heidum) joined and helped the kids a bit in the dryland part - it must be a good and positive impulse for them to get help from the sportsmen / sportswomen they saw racing in Vancouver on TV just some months ago...
Dryland exercises
The camp was very tiring but it was useful for sure. Too bad we won't have ice time locally until October and so we must grab every occasion to train on ice, yet it will mean lots of travel. Coach TT says it will be a busy September...
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Dryland training camp
Peter and the team has spent a week in a dryland training camp in Budapest mid-July, together with the local Sportország SC team. The setting was beautiful as it took place in the hilly section of Budapest, in Normafa. Cool forests, pathways, and lots of elevation change. The climate was terrible though, each day it peaked around 33-35 C so it was no fun at all.
The camp consisted of 3 days work, then 1 day off, then 3 days work again. Each day they had two training sessions, the first one from 9 to 11:30, then lunch and some rest time, then the second session from 15:00 till 17:00 or so.
In the morning training they had runs, imitations, sprints - usually uphill. Then in the afternoon they did more imitations, with or without non-elastic band and some more running. This all sounds very simple but the fact they had BÁ, the well-know ST trainer train them shows how serious work they had to do. The aim of this all was to prepare them physically for the upcoming ice season.
Peter lost 2.5 kg in one week, and 4 cm from his waist. And his muscle definition looks fantastic. Now I wish he could transform all this technique he learnt now onto ice when racing...
They stayed in a one-star hotel on the Pest side of Budapest but it was quite clean. And after all, they went there to have sleep - and in fact they did not care where to sleep, only to get some.
We visited him in the last 2 days with Moira and Anikó, to support him a bit and also to celebrate HR's and Peter's birthday with a nice cake in the last evening. They were born only 1 day apart so the cake was half pink and half blue, with '9' candles on each half.
Poor ones - they still had trainings on the next day...
End of warm-up football
The camp consisted of 3 days work, then 1 day off, then 3 days work again. Each day they had two training sessions, the first one from 9 to 11:30, then lunch and some rest time, then the second session from 15:00 till 17:00 or so.
Peter in red T-shirt
In the morning training they had runs, imitations, sprints - usually uphill. Then in the afternoon they did more imitations, with or without non-elastic band and some more running. This all sounds very simple but the fact they had BÁ, the well-know ST trainer train them shows how serious work they had to do. The aim of this all was to prepare them physically for the upcoming ice season.
Imitation
Peter lost 2.5 kg in one week, and 4 cm from his waist. And his muscle definition looks fantastic. Now I wish he could transform all this technique he learnt now onto ice when racing...
BÁ and Peter, working on technique
They stayed in a one-star hotel on the Pest side of Budapest but it was quite clean. And after all, they went there to have sleep - and in fact they did not care where to sleep, only to get some.
We visited him in the last 2 days with Moira and Anikó, to support him a bit and also to celebrate HR's and Peter's birthday with a nice cake in the last evening. They were born only 1 day apart so the cake was half pink and half blue, with '9' candles on each half.
The cake
Poor ones - they still had trainings on the next day...
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Student Champs 2010
This year's Student Championships were held in Tatabánya. Our small team traveled there one day earlier so the kids could rest and not spend the morning getting up early and travelling 250 kms. The stay there was fine and cheerful as it was coach TT's birthday - so there was champagne, cake, candles, chips and lots of fun in the evening.
Next day we went to the track at about 09:30, got through all administration and such and after some easy laps we decided to spend the upcoming hours doing lazy things, not to sit by the track while the amateur races were being held. So we visited the Turul statue towering over the city and the Szelim cave nearby. We spent some time walking there and got back to the track by 12:30 as we were advised the opening ceremony would start at 13:00.
But it was all wrong. The amateur races were still on - the pros did not start until 15:30. Damn it was a long wait and we could smell disaster when looking at the race program. It was quite sure it would not end in a 'normal' way...
Peter had to run a semi-final for the 200m. He started well and stayed right behind the first guy throughout the whole distance. It was pretty obvious he made it to the final. However when they lined up for the final he was given lane #6. W0000t? He skated 3rd fastest time and got lane 6? We couldn't protest immediately as the official timings were not published until several days were gone :((( Now I'm pretty sure he was put in lane 6 so he wouldn't be close to the local guy GyD :(((
In the final he started OK and was in 3rd place and he could have grabbed 2nd as PK almost fell in the last straight. I was quite worried he would fall and Peter would tip over him but luckily it did not happen. So it was 3rd place on the shorter distance, not a bad start at all.
On the 500m he started cleverly and skated in 2nd position. Then came an attack from behind, Peter accelerated but got pushed sideways a bit by someone, almost fell but escaped that. He dropped back to 4th position, but advanced one place in the next straight. 1 lap still left, he was in 3rd place and attacking the local guy ÁB when in the last turn ÁB punched in Peter's face with his elbow. Poor Peter started crying immediately and stood up, and so lost the chance to overtake AB (which seemed to be almost completed) and almost dropped one place again. Luckily he reached the finish line in 3rd position so another medal was earned. The referee did not see anything???... later a neutral parent told me even he could hear that punch Peter has suffered, from 50m away - quite interesting that a referee standing in the turn did not see anything unusual :(((
Now that I write these lines I am upset again. These kids are 8-9 years old - is this kind of aggression acceptable from then? I don't think so. But when they don't receive any punishment for being aggressive, when a referee doesn't take care of these things, they won't learn not to do it. Looking back at the races that day no referee interaction could be noticed. No warnings, no DQs, no new starts, nothing...
Peter couldn't join any relays so our race program was over. But the awards ceremony was still far ahead. I think it was after 20:00 they started calling the medalists and it was definitely after 22:00 when it was finished. Remember: this race was organized for children, most of them even had to travel home after the race. Simply unacceptable.
So while Peter showed good form, fought clever and strong, he could 'only' earn two bronze medals, both of them in questionable races. I find these things very sad.
Organization was one of the worst I've seen so far - no results published on the place, huge delays, no pre-race calling for the racers, minutes spent sorting out who's starting, minutes spent waiting for a late bird - completely rubbish. Was it happening in a kitchen, Gordon Ramsay would be yelling 'get out of my f* kitchen NOW'.
We won't be able to race in any other inline track races this year in Hungary due to transfer regulations - and I don't think we miss it at all.
Next day we went to the track at about 09:30, got through all administration and such and after some easy laps we decided to spend the upcoming hours doing lazy things, not to sit by the track while the amateur races were being held. So we visited the Turul statue towering over the city and the Szelim cave nearby. We spent some time walking there and got back to the track by 12:30 as we were advised the opening ceremony would start at 13:00.
But it was all wrong. The amateur races were still on - the pros did not start until 15:30. Damn it was a long wait and we could smell disaster when looking at the race program. It was quite sure it would not end in a 'normal' way...
Peter had to run a semi-final for the 200m. He started well and stayed right behind the first guy throughout the whole distance. It was pretty obvious he made it to the final. However when they lined up for the final he was given lane #6. W0000t? He skated 3rd fastest time and got lane 6? We couldn't protest immediately as the official timings were not published until several days were gone :((( Now I'm pretty sure he was put in lane 6 so he wouldn't be close to the local guy GyD :(((
In the final he started OK and was in 3rd place and he could have grabbed 2nd as PK almost fell in the last straight. I was quite worried he would fall and Peter would tip over him but luckily it did not happen. So it was 3rd place on the shorter distance, not a bad start at all.
On the 500m he started cleverly and skated in 2nd position. Then came an attack from behind, Peter accelerated but got pushed sideways a bit by someone, almost fell but escaped that. He dropped back to 4th position, but advanced one place in the next straight. 1 lap still left, he was in 3rd place and attacking the local guy ÁB when in the last turn ÁB punched in Peter's face with his elbow. Poor Peter started crying immediately and stood up, and so lost the chance to overtake AB (which seemed to be almost completed) and almost dropped one place again. Luckily he reached the finish line in 3rd position so another medal was earned. The referee did not see anything???... later a neutral parent told me even he could hear that punch Peter has suffered, from 50m away - quite interesting that a referee standing in the turn did not see anything unusual :(((
Now that I write these lines I am upset again. These kids are 8-9 years old - is this kind of aggression acceptable from then? I don't think so. But when they don't receive any punishment for being aggressive, when a referee doesn't take care of these things, they won't learn not to do it. Looking back at the races that day no referee interaction could be noticed. No warnings, no DQs, no new starts, nothing...
Peter couldn't join any relays so our race program was over. But the awards ceremony was still far ahead. I think it was after 20:00 they started calling the medalists and it was definitely after 22:00 when it was finished. Remember: this race was organized for children, most of them even had to travel home after the race. Simply unacceptable.
So while Peter showed good form, fought clever and strong, he could 'only' earn two bronze medals, both of them in questionable races. I find these things very sad.
Organization was one of the worst I've seen so far - no results published on the place, huge delays, no pre-race calling for the racers, minutes spent sorting out who's starting, minutes spent waiting for a late bird - completely rubbish. Was it happening in a kitchen, Gordon Ramsay would be yelling 'get out of my f* kitchen NOW'.
We won't be able to race in any other inline track races this year in Hungary due to transfer regulations - and I don't think we miss it at all.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
LifeInLine - Michalovce 2010
Just one week after Prievidza we were attending another race in the LifeInline series, this time in Michalovce, in the Eastern far end of Slovakia. This time only Peter and me were able to travel from our club so I've invited SSz and FT to join us in the car. We spent the night in the flood-hit area of Satoraljaujhely - the flood was gone but many signs of it were still left everywhere, especially in smaller villages or rural areas.
Waking up Sunday morning I heard a sound that grasped me with fear. Wind - heavy wind. Now that was something completely lacking from the meteo forecasts. By the sound of it is was about 15km/h with strong gusts. Anyway we packed in the car and had a painfully slow car drive to Michalovce - about 50km but took us more than 1 hour to get there. It was quite hard to find a parking place near the event but after two rounds in town we decided to park the car in a plaza parking place and walk 400m.
We built our small 'camp' on the side of the road, just beneath some big trees, as - in spite of the wind - it was totally sunny and hot.
The race route itself was a 1.010m long triangle-like route around a small park, asphalt was OK, patches marked as usual. On the back-leg we were given 1 closed lane from a 4-6 lane motorway, while the start/finish straight was a 4-lane road totally closed. The most tricky parts were the end of the start straight with a small ascending turn up the motorway and the start of the finish straight where there were numerous surface errors so you had to plan your way ahead.
The wind was blowing hard when Peter's race started. The field was smaller than in the previous week and he gained a 15m lead by the time they were to turn left to the motorway. Then I lost his sight behind the trees but when I saw him again on the end of the backstraight he was leading with a comfortable 50-60m. Then he zoomed down the next 2 turns and crossed the finish line with 12 seconds' advantage. He was very tired though and complained about the strong winds.
Then we saw FT racing in the 5km race. He is in base-building period for the shorttrack season so while he could easily skate with the others and had no difficulty with the tempo, he surely lacked sprinting speed and couldn't attack for real in the last lap. Nevertheless he earned 3rd place and said it was a good warm-up for the 21km.
Waking up Sunday morning I heard a sound that grasped me with fear. Wind - heavy wind. Now that was something completely lacking from the meteo forecasts. By the sound of it is was about 15km/h with strong gusts. Anyway we packed in the car and had a painfully slow car drive to Michalovce - about 50km but took us more than 1 hour to get there. It was quite hard to find a parking place near the event but after two rounds in town we decided to park the car in a plaza parking place and walk 400m.
We built our small 'camp' on the side of the road, just beneath some big trees, as - in spite of the wind - it was totally sunny and hot.
The race route itself was a 1.010m long triangle-like route around a small park, asphalt was OK, patches marked as usual. On the back-leg we were given 1 closed lane from a 4-6 lane motorway, while the start/finish straight was a 4-lane road totally closed. The most tricky parts were the end of the start straight with a small ascending turn up the motorway and the start of the finish straight where there were numerous surface errors so you had to plan your way ahead.
Race track
The wind was blowing hard when Peter's race started. The field was smaller than in the previous week and he gained a 15m lead by the time they were to turn left to the motorway. Then I lost his sight behind the trees but when I saw him again on the end of the backstraight he was leading with a comfortable 50-60m. Then he zoomed down the next 2 turns and crossed the finish line with 12 seconds' advantage. He was very tired though and complained about the strong winds.
Peter 20m from the finish
photo (C) J. Meriac http://jaminline.rajce.idnes.cz
Then we saw FT racing in the 5km race. He is in base-building period for the shorttrack season so while he could easily skate with the others and had no difficulty with the tempo, he surely lacked sprinting speed and couldn't attack for real in the last lap. Nevertheless he earned 3rd place and said it was a good warm-up for the 21km.
FT in 3rd place
photo (C) J. Meriac http://jaminline.rajce.idnes.cz
Then after the 10k race came the half marathon, 21 laps to cover. FT decided to start there, too. SSz and me positioned ourselves perfectly in the starting field (read: rolled to the last line) and at 14:30 we started.
I was quite happy to find IC from Presov, Slovakia and travel in his draft for the first 7 laps. The 7th lap was for some reason 20 sec faster than the previous ones and I immediately felt tired. So in the finish lane I dropped from IC's draft and from then on it was pure hell. Alone against the strong winds (nice memories from Bratislava...) - and by this time the finish straight was having wind from the side, not from behind. So it meant that you: tempo all along the higway section in headwind, turn left and roll some in the relative wind-free small straight, then you drop onto the finish straight and meet some wind here, too.
By the 12th lap I was seriously considering giving up the race and sit down next to Peter, who was acting as a photographer in the finish straight. But then came lap #14 and I thought "hey only 7 is left which is almost equal to 1 lap on the route where I practice usually..." So I started to convince myself and in the end it paid off.
In the final 4 laps I was able to catch two elder guys and sit in their draft again. This was a real life-saver and I did not think much about the aesthetics of drafting all the way to the finish. I came in in 59:12 which is seriously worse than last week's result but this time I had to fight the winds alone for quite some time, unlike last week. SSz finished some 2 minutes ahead while her son FT skated a 42:44, that is quite a good one if you are in base-building period IMHO.
IR from Tatabanya has won this race! This is his first win in this series and he was obviously very happy with that. He told us the leading group wasn't driving a fast tempo so he could sprint away from them in the last few hundred meters, using his good technique in the last 2 turns. He won by 10 meters ahead of a Czech and a Pole guy.
Travelling home was a quite uneventful 5-hour drive. I had some time to think about and re-live the race. Main mistake was dropping from draft - it would be so much easier to cover the distance if I could just stay there. Lesson learned (again).
Results here.
IR from Tatabanya has won this race! This is his first win in this series and he was obviously very happy with that. He told us the leading group wasn't driving a fast tempo so he could sprint away from them in the last few hundred meters, using his good technique in the last 2 turns. He won by 10 meters ahead of a Czech and a Pole guy.
IR finishing
Results here.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
LifeInLine - Prievidza 2010
We traveled to Bojnice, near Prievidza, Slovakia early on Saturday so we didn't have to drive a long way at dawn, Sunday. It proved a good idea as we couldn't follow our planned route due to the floods hitting the area, but drove bit more westwards and headed North from there. We could see the devastating effects of the flood gone by near the roads in Slovakia, sand bags, flooded fields, suction-pumps working everywhere.
Bojnice, Pálfy Castle
Bojnice is a cosy small village with a fantastic, Disney-like castle in the middle. There is also a zoo and a spa there so it isn't an average place at all... We stayed at the edge of the village in a resort area in tangible silence. But of course before sleep TT assembled his old skate in ephemeral 3 hours while we were busy laughing and whinnying. Recycled WD-40, clap frame, loose or completely locked bearings with outrageous sounds - you know that for sure :)
Next morning we went to Prievidza after having a lazy breakfast. The race route was a 2x2 lane avenue, closed from traffic, with nice green reservation in the middle with grass and trees. A U-turn on each end (quite bad, melting blacktop patches), so one lap was about 1.4km. Organizers marked every surface error carefully, the asphalt itself was that grippy type and as the Sun was shining on it, it became more and more grippy. (This is an excuse here why I wasn't any faster...)
First on the line was Peter, there were about 25 opponents. The route was shortened a bit in the kids' races, there was a U-turn about 40m from the start. Peter started from the second row but exited the U-turn in 3rd place (I did not see how he's done that but maybe it's better this way), and then he skated fine after a local guy, but soon they disappeared in the distance. He exited the 2nd U-turn in 2nd place (a Czech lass was 1st, she looked so professional), but he kept looking back bit too much at they guy following him. As a result that guy passed from behind and although Peter tried to squeeze him to the side in a Schumacher-like move, the guy beat him with 1 wheel's length in the finish. No problem, a silver medal is quite fine!
Peter sprinting
There were 2 more kids racing from our club, TR finished 7h in her age category on 3 km (this was her first race in such a long distance), while CD came in 4th on the 5 km. By the time their races finished weather turned hot, so we walked around a bit, then pitched our 'camp' in the reservation green in the middle of the avenue, in a shady place. Lunch, kid's ceremonies, and then we watched the 10km race where the top riders pulled brutal times.
OB, me, TT and CD
It was time to warm-up (and it was then I started yawning, as the mid-day nap was due by then - Red Bull consumed), and then we lined up for the start. OB and Raimo was there from Hungary, too.
14:30, starting gun fired! TT and CD got ahead fast, and I started to skate (slowly), too. It was quite clear from the beginning I would not win this race either, so I tried to skate in a relaxed, constant pace. There was a light breeze, only wee bit troublesome, but I did not like the U-turns, it was no fun re-accelerating 30 times all in all. After 3 laps an 'old' man, UMR came past me (he was born in 1949... let's say I've waited for him, OK?) and I hid in his draft immediately and I think it was my best decision throughout the whole weekend :D Even this way lap #5 and lap #10 felt critical. But after 12 laps I even started to feel like the end could be something good :) Sometimes I've managed to skate feeling fine, with nice long pushes to the side, I almost started to enjoy it - but stayed in UMR's draft just to be sure :) I tried to drink a bit once, but they handed water in plastic cups and after 2 gulps my side started to twinge a bit so I decided to skip that.
UMR in white, me ahead...
I felt like the distance was decreasing quite fast. In the end I ran home in 54:28 (personal best!) OK I was quite worn by then. We talked a bit with UMR and another Slovak guy, analysed Raimo that he surely arrived here from another planet... and then we said goodbye to eachother. It was time then for Aniko to take care of me, she poured a gallon of isotonic drinks into me (I may have looked bit bad based on that). And of course to admire the chamomile collection of Moira who was busy picking them throughout the whole length of the race :D
CD drafting
We changed clothes and it turned out CD earned first place in the M1 age category (41:38), he deserved it as he was racing in a clever and good way, spent most of the distance hiding in big men's draft (see above). Anikó was even complaining she found it quite hard to take photos of him... TT was literally dead after not having raced such a long distance for at least 8 years (44:54), his lower back was stiff and aching, so we took an extra-slow lower-back-rehabilitate jog with him. Raimo ran some stellar time again (41:02), OB finished somewhere in the 46-minute region.
Packed up, had pizza near the castle in Bojnice, checked the Ferraris parked there, then got into the car at 18:30 and headed home. The kids fell asleep soon, but we were in Szeged by midnight.
It was good and fine, results are here.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Spring sum-up
This is to sum up my intensity phase for this spring:
I've spent 34h 43m burning 21024 kCals during 31 sessions. The training included skating 271 km, running 75 km and plyometrics 6 times - this time Bill Begg's 'Offskate Plyo Specific':
| - | Plyometric Menu - Offskate Plyo Specific | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Jogging slowly for warm up | 5 mins |
| 2. | Stretch (static, ballistic) | 5 mins |
| 3. | Skipping | 2 mins |
| 4. | Vibrations 30 sec with 30 sec rests | 4 times |
| 5. | Frog jumps 15 sec recovery | 8 times |
| 6. | Crossbacks | 1 min |
| 7. | Stride jumps, extend legs to back & side | 1 min |
| 8. | Gunthers, dryland skating, looping the leg back in D shape | 2 mins |
| 9. | Heal taps | 1 min |
| 10. | Control hop 30 sec with 15 sec recovery | 4 times |
| 11. | Imitation jump 30 sec with 15 sec recovery | 4 times |
| 12. | Sheer power 30 sec with 15 sec recovery | 4 times |
| 13. | Swing hop 10 sec with 15 sec recovery | 8 times |
| 14. | Pulsing up & down 10 sec, hold 30 sec, then pulse 1 min, 30 sec recovery | 2 times |
| 15. | Bounding 15 strides, 1 min recovery | 6 times |
| 16. | Sprints 30m, 1 min recovery | 6 times |
| 17. | Low walking, with knee to ground | 2 mins |
| 18. | Wall sitting, legs at 90 degree, back straight | 2 mins |
| 19. | Slow jogging & light static stretching to cool down & check if body is OK | 10 mins |
In the last 2 occasions the plyo program felt almost easy to complete. That means I advance bit by bit :)
I've raced in the DOM Cup with a less-than-satisfying result and completed the Tour de Tisza-tó, which was more enjoyable.
I have 2 LifeInLine HMs coming up early June, before heading for the beach. I really hope to improve my PB in one of them, though I haven't been able to skate as many interval sessions as I'd planned, so there may be problems with my speed. We will see...
I've raced in the DOM Cup with a less-than-satisfying result and completed the Tour de Tisza-tó, which was more enjoyable.
I have 2 LifeInLine HMs coming up early June, before heading for the beach. I really hope to improve my PB in one of them, though I haven't been able to skate as many interval sessions as I'd planned, so there may be problems with my speed. We will see...
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