LondonSkaters Speed Team - Speed Skating & Rollerblading Club in London

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

Herewith the schedule of long slow skates. These will run providing the weather is dry. The only notification for cancelled sessions will be a post here and on the equivalent topic on SR.com

Where: The Beach, Hyde Park. http://tinyurl.com/4th62
Cost: Free to LSST members, £5 otherwise.
Dates and times:
Saturday 5th Jan, 14.30-15.30
Saturday 12th Jan, 14.30-15.30
Saturday 19th Jan, 14.30-15.30
Saturday 26th Jan, 14.30-15.30
Saturday 2nd Feb, 14.30-15.30
Saturday 9th Feb, 14.30-15.30
Saturday 16th Feb, 14.30-15.30
Saturday 23rd Feb, 14.30-15.30
Saturday 1st Mar, 14.30-15.30
Saturday 8th Mar, 14.30-15.30
Saturday 15th Mar, 14.30-15.30
Saturday 22nd Mar, 14.30-15.30

Where: Battersea Park, Carriage Dr. N. Clicky for map.
Cost: Free to LSST members, £5 otherwise.
Also required: LED bicycle lights since it's dark and there will be fast commuter cyclists about.
Dates and times:
Thursday 10th Jan, 18.30-19.30
Thursday 17th Jan, 18.30-19.30
Thursday 24th Jan, 18.30-19.30
Thursday 31st Jan, 18.30-19.30

(There will almost certainly be more of these, but I want to setup just these to make sure the formula works. I'll edit the post in a week or two.)

What's involved:
----------
We'll start off by skating gently as a warmup, with a little technique work. We'll then progress to some technique drills that will work both your muscles and balance skills, and will finish off with further long slow skating and some gentle stretches.

Long Slow Skate with Technique Intervals
----------
A long slow skate involves skating slowly for a relatively long distance. It's super important to stay slow because when you skate too fast, you'll fall back into older bad habits. The sort of speed I'm after is one that you can easily maintain for an hour, and at the same time chat to a companion. If you go fast enough to experience *any* of the following symptoms, then you're probably going too fast:
Shortness of breath
Needing to time your sentences with your breathing
Red face
Excessive sweating
Lactic burn in your muscles.

Seriously, the whole idea is to build technique and fitness together. The most important part of both technique and base fitness is to work on them at low intensity. You can get incredibly fit doing long slow skates. Of course high speeds and power come from interval work, but that's outside the scope of these lessons.

Technique intervals are done whilst skating slowly. Skating technique is incredibly complex with high emphasis on timing and efficiency. That makes it really important to work on only one element at a time, so that one element can be focused on and practiced as perfectly as possible. For example, for one run we will work on just touching knees together on each and every stride. When we regroup back at the beach, we'll move onto the next technique item.

Turn-arounds
----------
Clearly everyone will skate at a different speed based on their own particular fitness and technique. In order to stay together for at least part of the lesson, we'll all start off together at the beach, and skate towards Hyde Park Corner. Everyone should turn around as soon as or slightly before the fastest skater gets to Hyde Park corner, which should ensure that we all arrive back at the beach at about the same time.

Just to re-iterate, it doesn't matter if you're slow or fast, this session is designed to work for skaters of any speed or fitness level.

Safety
----------
* Recognise your own limits and stay within them. That may mean strategies such as keeping sufficient between yourself and other skaters, staying extra slow when approaching pedestrians, etc.
* It's important to listen to your body and if experiencing discomfort then stop the exercise.
* Stay slow, else you'll lose the benefit of this session
* Skate on the left side of the road, and leave space for oncoming traffic.
* Slow down and stop if there's any doubt on possible conflict with pedestrians, children, dogs, and other hazards.
* If there's oncoming traffic approaching, be sure to point at the space you intend to go through with both arms in front of you and palms held together. Again, slow down or stop if you feel at all unsure of the direction the oncoming skater/cyclist/other traffic is likely to take.
* Keep an eye out for twigs, stones, etc. and point at them for the benefit of any skaters behind you.
* Please remember it's not a race, faster is not better. Usually those skaters who force themselves to stay slow to work within the bounds of best technique get the most out of these sessions.
* Try to slow down and give plenty of clearance any horse riders we encounter. It's best to call out a "Good morning" or something, as much for the benefit of the horse so they realise we're just humans and nothing to be afraid of.

What skating prerequisites:
----------
You need to be able to skate forwards, turn, and stop, even if only at a fairly basic level and slow speed.

What health prerequisites:
----------
You need to be averagely healthy and able to do an hour's gentle aerobic exercise. If you have any doubts, best consult your doctor before attending one of these lessons. The sort of thing that should cause concern are pre-existing injuries, a long period of sedentary lifestyle, any heart issues, etc. It's your call on whether you're healthy enough to take part.

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

I'm going to pass on tonight, as I'm not feeling too great, and the weather looks pants anyway.

JamesM · Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:39 pm Subject:

Bummer Mike - sorry to hear you are not feeling well.
I was just about to leave the office. I guess I'll do some paperwork instead.
get well soon

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

It's probably too wet to skate anyway.

Xia · Joined: 06 Apr 2004 Posts: 874 Location: Geneva (Suisse)

yep a tad too wet....
cycling home at 18.00... I couldn't see where I was going and the roads where flooded!
Get better Mike!

dan_b · Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 2428

Hope to be there tomorrow if Mike's well. And probably there anyway if he's not

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

I'm good to go thanks people! Let's hope tomorrow and Sunday's weather is better than today's.

Natasha · Joined: 09 Jul 2004 Posts: 2973 Location: Basingstoke

I hope to make it tomorrow too.

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5914

I don't know about everyone else but I am feel older than usual at the moment and want to kick off the year without sustaining more injuries.

Anyone facny getting there a bit early tomorrow for a warmup? Say skates off warm up at 13:50 do some stretching and jogging then skates on at 14:10 for a cruise prior to the LSS?

Natasha · Joined: 09 Jul 2004 Posts: 2973 Location: Basingstoke

Yep, I'm up for that.

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

I'm going to have to cancel tonight's LSS I'm afraid guys, sorry.

Natasha · Joined: 09 Jul 2004 Posts: 2973 Location: Basingstoke

Rats! It is really nasty conditions out there though, I wouldn't skate in this Sad

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

and cancelled again due to the weather. Grrrrrrrrrrr!

dan_b · Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 2428

If weather permits and I'm awake in time (neither is entirely certain) I will be LSSing tomorrow on serp road before the Stroll - about 12:30 or so. This is not an official anything, it's just me and anyone else who wants to turn up who already knows what they need to practice.

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5914

Looks like we will be on for tonight. Have my gear and feeling might stiff after having to stay low for most of the hour last night so looking forward to some slow movements. Mike, I'll bring your FISS pack along.