She might be getting it

With my work schedule and the fact that we live 1 hr from the speed skating club, we don’t always make it on time to do some off-ice training before the practice session begins. This past week was one of those weeks, I knew that beforehand, so I asked my daughter, last Monday, if she wanted to go do some off-ice training to make up for it. She was eager to do so, and her brother and sister wanted to join us. I tried convincing my wife to walk while we did our thing, but she made other plans. Maybe next time.

The location we went to is frequently used by people for indoor walking, so I expected some people to already be there. I informed my kids that they need to pay attention to the others around, and to stay on the outer edge of the walkway when running, and on the inside edge when walking. The walkway is marked accordingly, but it doesn’t hurt to re-iterate the fact to the kids. Show respect, get respect.

We started off with 1 lap walking and the followed it up with 1 lap light jog. During the jog, speed skating daughter stayed in front with a faster than I wanted pace. Her older sister had problems keeping up, and I had to keep calling out to her to slow down. My son would start off in a full run and then stop after about 20 seconds, so I would walk with him until he was ready to start up again. We did that until the lap was complete.

We followed that up with crossover runs, 1 full lap. I made them face one way for half the lap and then face the other way for the second half, so to work both legs evenly. For those that don’t know, a crossover run is when you face 90 degrees from the direction you are going and you start running sideways. Instead of side stepping, your back leg crosses over in front of your front leg and then behind your front leg. Essentially your hips are doing a twist while you run. It really teaches balance while improving your push-off strength. The point of this one is to start off slow and increase your speed as you become comfortable. Speed skating daughter is getting pretty good at this one, while the other 2 kept getting confused on their stepping.

After that, we did a 3 step kick drill. I encouraged my kids to start off walking and once they got the motion, to try it while jogging. Speed skating daughter took this as more of a jog with the occasional kick, and since she was too far ahead (due to me sticking with my son),  I could not correct her. Oldest daughter was getting it while walking, but had some difficulty doing it while jogging. With time they will all get it.

Next up was stairs. The good thing about where we were doing our exercise is that in each corner of the “track” there are 2 flights of stairs. My suggestion was to walk to the corner, do a flight of stairs and then continue walking, repeating at each corner. By the time my son and I reached the first set of stairs, speed skating daughter was done (she kinda ran to the stairs), so I told her to do a 2nd set, which she did happily. On the following corner set of stairs, I suggested she try to do them using crossovers. I also asked that she hold on to the railing so to no fall. Again, she did them two times and only commented that it was hard, but she was still happy. For the 3rd corner set, I ask that she hop up each stair with both feet at the same time. Again, two times with a smile. The last set were done normally and again she wanted to do them two times. It’s hard to say no when she asks if she could do them again.

By this time everybody was getting tired, but I didn’t think we were done, so I asked if they could do 1 more thing. Other than speed skating daughter, a few groans came out. This time I suggested a slow jog around the track with each step over extended to the side. This drill really works on your push off as you focus more on going side to side instead of directly forward. I have to say, this was much harder than expected.

At the end of that lap, speed skating daughter wanted to do a fast lap, while the other two were getting tired. I said OK and told her to keep going until the lap was done, but I would stay with the other 2. Oldest daughter tried to keep up with speed skating daughter, but you could tell that that wasn’t going to happen. Speed skating daughter was becoming faster and had more endurance than her older sister. When I commented on that a little later on, at home, speed skating daughter was all smiles (yes she is very competitive with her sister and brother).

We finished off the training with a cool-down walking lap, and all 3 mentioned that their hearts were beating fast, but all still felt good. My heart rate was definitely up as well.

If anyone is interested in some off-ice training exercises, the Midland Speed Skating Club offers some good ideas, with training videos. Check them out.

Since our off-ice training session, I’ve been encouraging speed skating daughter to work on doing crossovers. She said to me that she wants to wait until next year before trying, but last practice found her giving them a try on several occasions.

I think she is getting it.