Analytical Life; It’s not just a phase mom! This is the real me
Analyze the ice
The weather is warming, and spring is upon us. But what about the skating? WILL NO-ONE THINK OF THE SKATING!? Well unfortunately as we leave behind the cold, so too do we put away the skates until next year. So as we enter the transition between the icy winds of winter and the gentle breeze of spring in anticipation of what warmer weather may bring, let’s take this winter in review… I mean…. Was it good?
As a lover of all things cold I must stay due to the tumultuous nature of the weather this season, I was somewhat disappointed by this winter. Winter seemed to almost start early this year, with freezing temperatures in mid-late autumn, and as a result my regular bike riding schedule was severely displaced. So I waited. I waited for the snows to come and the rivers to freeze. I waited for the rinks to open and the ski lifts to run. And I kept waiting, until finally a reprieve from my boredom came to me in a dream. The Rink of Dreams to be more specific! Opening in mid-December in front of Ottawa’s city hall I was finally free to lace up and go skating for whenever I wanted! (Provided I wanted to go skating between the hours of 6am and 11pm). And Skate I did.
Every day I was able, I walked to the rink and laced up to strut my stuff. Occasionally joined by a roommate or two, I would skate to my heart’s content, making sure my legs and cardio were ready for the great challenge ahead. Round and round the rink I went, backwards, forwards, sideways, dodging fledgling skaters and dancing around to music all the while training. Each time, trying to push myself a little further, skate a little faster, turn a little harder, and scare fewer children. Then finally, shortly into the new-year that fateful day came. The Rideau Canal Skateway was open!.. But the conditions weren’t very good so I waited an extra couple days until they were better. Thus began my climb to the top.
Using Strava to track my speed and distance and compare my results with other app users on the canal I had my eye on the leaderboards! Two sections of the canal peaked my interest in particular because they were short distance, high intensity sprint sections, and as a hockey skater, were right up my alley. Since many of the other people with high placement on the leaderboards were speed skaters, I certainly had and uphill battle, and the long distance segments were almost impossible to maintain the same pace. But on the sprints the playing field was more level since in short bursts I could surely reach the same speeds.
So with my segments chosen I was ready to race. I researched the leader-boards, to see how much speed I would need to claim top spot, and determined an average segment speed of approximately 30km/h would be needed. Having previously found my top-recorded speed to be 46km/h I told myself this would be no problem. This was certainly a problem, three problems stood in my way in order to get the fastest overall time. The first problem was that I shared the canal with other skaters, large clusters, small children, and weak stragglers meant I was often unable to take an optimal line for the stretch, of I had to make last minute adjustments, this made my time suffer tremendously. Secondly, despite website predictions the ice surface was often marred with ruts or rough and bumpy sometimes making it dangerous to go too fast at risk of face planting. And the final problem was me. Maintaining a high speed for the duration of the 1km segment was no easy feat, and after several attempts and training my seasonal records were among the top two spots, but I wasn’t looking for seasonal, I wanted all-time triumph.
This year the Canal was open for 35 days, of which only 13 of them had conditions worth recording on. In this timeframe, on my chosen segments I managed to place 6th and 9th on the overall leaderboards with average speeds of 27.7km/h and 28.5km/h respectively. Despite falling short on my goal, I did manage to place 2nd on the seasonal leaderboard. But next year will be a different story I will train hard, analyze harder and come back with a vengeance! But for now, I’m just waiting for the snow to melt and the salt to be swept away so I can get my bike out and ride into the sunset, recording and analyzing all the way!
Follow me on Strava, and check out my website to find out what leader boards I will be attacking in future! by e-mail if you want to ride or skate with me!
