LondonSkaters Speed Team - Speed Skating & Rollerblading Club in London

Mikey-two-Names · Joined: 24 Feb 2004 Posts: 4108

If you're getting back pain through weak core muscles (the usual cause of skating pain), intervals are a great way to strengthen that specifically for skating. If it's something else causing your pain, then all bets are off.

I also get the impression you have the wrong idea about intervals. They are not just about sprinting, they will make you faster over long distances too since you can train with much more intensity for longer than you can with steady state skating, and your technique will change to get more efficient at speed too. You'll also get much better recovery so you can survive the surges in pace in a particular paceline, and that means you'll be able to hang onto a faster paceline that you'd otherwise be capable of staying with, plus it'll be easier to jump to other pace lines.

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5914

Making more sense now. I sprint from time to time in general skating but I won't structure it deliberately into my training though as my training is essentially unstructured anyway. Interestingly I have been skating less and slower over the summer due to heat and the need to maintain body fluids so I have been pretty lax in the speed area.