22 May 2013   Frame test results coming soon

Recently I've been testing various frames, I thought my findings might be helpful. Watch this space for the results soon...

Cadomotus DualBox5                              Bont S-Frame 7 - 3 point

EO M2 Carbon                                         Powerslide Vi 1 Carbon

21 April 2013   Spreewald - Team Training Race

The best reports are when the skaters speak for themselves, so below are the reflections of the skaters.  The other info you need is; Sara won the marathon and half marathon, Maria was 3 and 4th. Klaus won overall "Skater King"! And I won the 8km Individual Time Trial.  A great start to the season. The team work was great, the communication was good. Considering this was the first race of the season for most of us, and we were not really prepared for high intensity work yet, we are very satisfied.

Sara:
My reflections:
Focussed and regular training WORKS! This was proven to me at the weekend with success on so many levels. 7 months disciplined training has given an aerobic foundation and technique that made the race manageable, both tactically and physically.

Maria:
For the time trial, I must say, I was a bit nervous before the happening. Don’t really know why, but maybe cause of the unknown racing method. In the race, I didn’t feel at all nervous. I was only thinking about, how to get the course done as fast as possible. On pure instinct, I cut the corners, for the shortest distance around, I tried to keep a steady pace and not to go dead before the finish line. I thought about taking the most efficient strokes, and at some point, hearing my coach in my ears saying: shoulder dip, push into the asphalt etc.

Ok, for the first time in my racing time, I had the experience of following the front pack from the beginning to the end. That in itself was a pretty amazing feeling. I have always been in the second or third pack, and there practicing my small strategies, and planning for the sprint, but that I did alone, meaning no teammate or team strategy. This time in Spreewald, I was not only following the front pack, but also had a teammate. That was pretty amazing too. For the first time, I didn’t have to rely on other skaters mistakes or “kindness”, but had an actually plan to fulfil and stick too. That gave me somehow a relief, and a focus point. I also found within myself a more aggressive side, that I didn’t know existed… I wanted to “protect” my teammate and also do what ever it took to complete the strategy…during the race I had the experience, that I was “with” somebody and not just on my own….
Personally I thought the marathon was the best race, I followed, and completed the strategy. For the half marathon, it was a good teamwork too, but I didn’t complete the strategy for the finish sprint. I see many reasons, why I couldn’t  follow the lead-out made for me, but my tired legs simply couldn’t push anymore…
Sincerely, Maria

Thomas:
I dag var jeg til mit første race!
Min løbs karriere startede i 2009 samme år som jeg købte mine første speedskates. Det er blevet til en del løb siden men i dag kørte jeg mit første race! Løbet i dag blev til en åbenbaring for mig. I dag gik det op for mig at tidligere løb har været mere en trænings session end et reelt løb.
Løbet i dag var fyldt med meget andet end bare at gennemfører på en god tid. Det handlede meget mere om at eftersætte udbrud, lukke huller og vurdere om dem der stak af skulle hentes eller bare afvente at de gik døde og blev hentet igen.
Udover disse nye ting at forholde sig til viste det sig også at vinterens mange trænings sessioner kom til udbetaling. Hver eftersættelse blev gjort med teknikerne som er blevet trænet igen og igen hele vinteren. Om det var den rolige lukning eller en hurtig spurt så viste de mange timers træning sig at virke. Min deltagelse i et maraton blev til et race!
Mvh. Thomas J

Klaus:
Reflections from my second trip with Sk8skool to Spreewald;
To begin with we have trained very regularly all winter, and to what purpose…?  To get in better shape, get better aerobic base performance, and to get better technique!  One thing is to skate all winter and get personal coaching to improve, but something completely different to RACE, and not least learn tactics in a race. Because, you can be super-fit, but you won’t last long in a race if you burn everything from the beginning! And that is where the trip to Spreewald is so different; here we make tactics from home, and change tactics, if necessary on the race day. And even change it again in the race! And I can't say how much this means for my skating, since this means so much more than just a guy saying do this and that, and don't see what happens in the races, for my sake it's Sooty that teaches and gives advice before and during the races.

So in short: Who would give you advice DURING and before a race, and not least give away the hard learned tactical knowledge?

That is why I really love this trip WITH SK8SKOOL :)
Sincerely, Klaus

We'd like to welcome a new member in Sk8skool. Chris Rojo (40) comes from Long Beach, near Los Angeles, California. He skates for "So Cal Skaters" (South California Skaters) and has been skating for 30 years as a fitness skater, and the last 6 years has been on speedskates. He's had some good results in the US, notably 11th twice at Duluth Inline Marathon. But Chris says he wants more, and is prepared to do the work! This is a great attitude, and definitely someone that Sk8skool can work with. (In fact, I think Chris's application email was one of the best, and most motivating I've ever read. It just made ME wanna go out and train!)

Chris works as a personal trainer, so his physical strength and condition is pretty good, so one of the main areas we will be working with is refinement of Chris's technique on skates through video analysis and drills. However, we'll also be looking at his sports specific conditioning program and fundamentals for a more long term perspective of development.

I will be visiting Chris in Los Angeles at the end of May where we will train together, and maybe even travel to Napa Valley inline Marathon to race. (It's been over 10 years since I raced in America! Gonna be fun!)  At the same time Jeffery (Neal) will be in LA, so the three of us will train and race together. Bonus!

(Photo's and more details coming soon.  .... watch this space)

Today we say goodbye to Tore, Benny and Lars N. They felt they could not commit to the group due to many other priorities in their lives. We wish them well in their future skating.

We are half way through the winter training season. The days are now officially getting longer, although we can't feel it yet, mentally it helps to know that it won't get any darker.  Many in Sk8skool have trained really well so far this winter, building up their sport specific aerobic foundation outdoor ON SKATES. I'm very proud of those people that have been out "in all weather", today it was just Klaus, Maria and myself. But others HAVE been there on many other days. (Notably, Thomas and Sara).  Today was a tough one, high wind was pushing us around on the road, but it made the 3km stretch of road that we used a VERY fast training, great for drills, flowing speed and stability, without pushing the heart rate too high. We were surprised how much grip there was, the asphalt had been "washed" by all the snow melting last week. All the mud and oil had gone. GREAT!   (Oh, ye, coming back the other way was a bitch.) But we survived.  After about 90 mins, so much snow had gathered that it was icy, so we switched to bikes and cycled 90 mins more.

It makes me laugh when people say (in Denmark) "You can't skate outside the whole winter".  What they REALLY mean is "I don't want to skate outside in the winter", so why don't they just say that? We've skated outdoor twice a week, every week since Berlin. (we only missed one week because of deep snow, but we still cycled). I have over 85 hours in the aerobic zone since Berlin Marathon. So it is possible.

Anyway, it is, of course, their choice, but if you want good performance in the summer then you have prepare during the winter, and you have limited choices;

1. Long track ice (but the ice is only in Copenhagen for a month or two, and .... it's in Copenhagen)
2. Go out on your bike for many hours (but it's just as wet and cold as skating, right?)
3. Spin indoor on your bike in front of the TV. (but can you really do this for 3 or 4 hours? probably not)
4. Skate indoor - will not give you so much aerobic foundation, because most clubs just do intervals, races and short/high intensity training - i.e. "race season" training)

We do skate indoor twice a week. Indoor is AWESOME! ... but let's be honest, indoor is about skills, speed, intervals, power and more...   But it's not contributing to your aerobic capacity in any significant way.

So this is what we do, and it gives the results we want.... Satisfaction.  Satisfaction immediately after the training when we congratulate each other that "we did it", and "One more session in the bank", "well done guys".  And satisfaction in the summer when we achieve the results we want, and other people are left wondering why they didn't.

Days like today are hard, yes.  But they also build a unique bond between the people that battled and survived in pursuit of a goal.  It builds deep respect for your training partners, friends, team mates.  And only those people that battled through the hard times will understand how much it means to achieve those goals in the summer. Everyone else simply won't 'get it', they can't, they have no experience to compare it with.

Thanks to Klaus and Maria for being there today, and to the others who are normally there despite the bad weather. I have enormous respect for you guys, and I will do everything I can to help you achieve YOUR dreams this summer.

Happy Christmas.
Sooty

Those that train regularly, no matter what,
whatever the weather,
no excuses,
no reasons,
no talk,
no 'if's',
no "but's"
...   they get what they deserve in the summer.

Others, simply will not.

Today we welcome back Andreas who has had a break from Sk8skool but decided to return. We also welcome a new member, only 12 years old but already fast enough to 'hang with the fast guys' at indoor training.

Sk8skool now has 18 active skating members, this means we are now bigger than ever before in our 4 years history!  :O))

Today we say goodbye to Lukas, Oliver and Mikael.  Lukas is going home to Slovakia to continue his school studies after his 9 month stay at Sk8skool, Oliver is focussing on ice Speedskating this winter so leaves us after 4 years in Sk8skool, and Mikael would like more free time so he is stopping after 16 months with us.  We wish them all good luck in their future endeavours.

A fantastic set of results from a skater who has worked conscientiously all year and been dedicated to his sport; 8th overall in the EIC Final in Geisingen and 2nd overall. More details coming soon....

Today saw 3 new skaters come and try Sk8skool training. After a session with some new drills, video analysis and a 42km focussed on shoulder/upperbody involvement at aerobic foundation pace, they all 3 decided to become members in Sk8skool. We say welcome to Benny Orloff (VRK), Helle Fjord (ORK) and Lars Øritsland (ORK).  Pictures coming soon.

We now have 16 members in Sk8skool, this is the biggest it has ever been. It's nice to have so many positive people with energy and motivation for skating.

The track seems to be pretty technical;  Simple but technical. It's all about diving in to those corners, holding your speed and running out.

A quick update...  Oliver placed 4th over the finish line in the and secured himself a top 10 finish in the Cadet 3000m points final. We are awaiting official confirmation of the result. But it looks good so far!

Mads + Nick have been racing in the 300m + 500m (Mads)  and 3000m points heats (Nick).

Report from Mads:  "Jeg kører på G13 F2/F1 mixed. Det er klart bedre end rent F1, da du har brug for at stå helt stabilt midt i svinget. Umildbart slider asfalten ikke så meget. Den er rimelig hurtig, og det der gør banen en smule langsommer svingene. I dag tog vi ud til banen ret tidligt i forhold til hvornår vi skulle køre. Alt blev hele tiden udsat pga. regn, så det tog noget tid at komme ordenligt i gang, men da det først var i gang gik det også ret stærkt med at få løbene kørt. Min 1000m gik ikke helt godt. Blev slået i starten af en serber, som var ustabil, så da jeg endelig kom forbi ham, havde de forreste fået et hul på nogle meter, som jeg så aldrig nåede at hente. Glæder mig til udskilsesløb i morgen."

From Oliver:  "Selve banen brænder ikke men det at pakket står ind i svinget og accelerer ud gør det hårdt asfalten er nogenlunde. Lidt rug måske (af en bane at være).  jeg blev tier i pointløbet. Lige nu kører jeg RoadWar turbo."

Today we begun on a new testing period and a new training period. The training cycle begins from the start again with base training building a foundation in the next few weeks, then continuing with a few weeks AT training before tapering down before Berlin Marathon.

The testing today was for the first time with gas analysis ON SKATES. The perfect and most accurate way to judge training zones and giving guidance as to where a particular athletes weaknesses lie. We can use this equipment on track, road circuit or road. Today I was testing on road because the information I want from the test is about marathon skating.

We will in the future be testing the Elite Team and the Masters to see where THEIR weaknesses lie. Then we can more accurately target their training programs.

3 July 2012   Le Mans 24 heures Rollér

5 Sk8skool members participated in the year’s biggest skating challenge “Le Mans 24 heures Rollér”.  The 4 masters skaters from Sk8skool (Tore – team captain, Thomas, Mikael, Klaus) participated in the “Veterans Prestige” competition, on the Rolling Vikings Veterans team, and Sk8skool’s Coach (me) competed in the 5 man Endurance competition on the London Skaters Enduro team (www.londonspeedskaters.com ).

A total of 625 teams entered Le Mans 2012, in several different categories (Prestige 10man - Senior or Veterans, Enduro 5man, Duo or Solo - all in both womens or mens divisions) That's a total of over 7000 skaters!

Firstly a BIG congratulations to the Rolling Vikings, they achieved their goal of getting on the podium! 3^rd place in their category and 12^th place overall. This is a result that will be respected by all in the skating community along with many outside. It seems all their training, planning and preparation has paid off, and a tribute to Tore’s insane enthusiasm for the sport of Speedskating. They truly deserve their moment in the spot light, and it was clear to see from their smiles (and the noise from their thousands of supporters) that they were overjoyed. It was wonderful to see, and made me proud that I know some of those guys up there! They have a wonderful team spirit and social perspective on sport that carries them a long way.

The Vikings got a good start with Tore leading off in a 7:41 lap. Impressive. This put them in about 15^th place, then over the course of the race they clawed their way back, overtaking one team then another, using Tore’s tactical knowledge and experience and the pure power and determination up to 12^th place overall. A very impressive result. They skated 744.9km in 24 hours, so there were definitely some tired legs in the bus on the 20 hour ride back to Denmark Sunday evening. But well worth it, I believe all will agree.

We also achieved our goal by placing 2^nd in the 5 man category. It was unrealistic to expect to beat the winning team (ex-world champion Pascal Briand with 4 senior skaters. …. Our team is 62 years older, ha ha! ). There is no 5 man veterans category, so we had to race against mainly seniors, despite the fact that ALL our team are between 35 and 45 years old. Never the less, we battled through and our speed and experience brought us through to a great result. With just 5 old men we skated 740.7km in 24 hours, that’s 148km each! … at an average speed of 32km/h.

The race in general was as expected, except the start and finish. The atmosphere in the first hour and last hour was amazing. Thousands of skaters, like-minded people, all with a sense of expectation, shouting, screaming for their team-mates and generally going ‘nuts’. Wonderful! I have to mention that there were few teams out there in the ‘duo’ category, and also a few “people with mental problems” that did the ‘solo’ category…  24hours alone or with just one team mate! I can’t even comprehend it. I have so much respect for those guys even though I can’t understand it. I want to say a personal congratulation to André Unterdoerfel and Martin Thaler who won the ‘duo’ category and skated 715.6km in 24 hours. They are great guys, great skaters, and deserve the win and the new record.

But the stars of the whole show (and the whole world) were the 2 Powerslide teams; “Powerslide Ligne Droit” (Pro World-team) and the “Powerslide since ‘94” team. Of course the pro team won. But most of you won’t realize that the names on the second Powerslide team reads like an all-star team from 1994, and achieved 2^nd place in the overall competition. Matthias Knoll (owner of Powerslide, European champ medalist from the 90’s), Kalon Dobbin (multiple World Champion recently, all-star in the 90’s and STILL a world class pro!), Arnaud Giquel (one of the top 5 greatest skaters of all time), Luca Bagnolini (European Champion and more in the 90’s), and also Alan Negré and Olivier Babonneau, Carlo Scalera, Marco Nuvolara… all world class skaters from the ‘90’s, and others….  Really showed their class and proved that “if you can skate, you can ALWAYS skate”. See the results + statistics here: Le Mans 24 Roller Results

A personal perspective….

The GREATEST rollerskating event in the world? ... no.
A great event? … YES, it is a great event! I highly recommend it.

Immediately after the event on Sunday afternoon MANY people asked me; “So, did you have fun?” or “What do you think about the event?” … and to be honest I had a very hard time answering that question. There were so many complicated thoughts about the experience that it has taken me 2 or 3 days of internal dialogue and evaluation to find my own personal opinion about Le Mans. For sure it has left an impression on me. I can see why some people love it. From a sport scientists (coach) point of view I can see that I need to put more threshold training in to my training program. From an “extreme race” point of view I can say that it is not the hardest thing I have done on skates, not by a long way. I never reached a point where I thought I might not finish. I never thought “this is too hard”. From a strategist or tacticians point of view I can see the attraction with the lap times analysis, setting a schedule, catching teams and trying to stay ahead of others on the screen in the pit, using the hill or the wind to break people. But for me a 10,000m points race is far more strategical than an enduro event. It’s immediate, it’s split second decision making, it “how to beat the Italians lead out”, it’s speed and skill and race politics. From a humanist point of view I think I would have had a more social time on a 10 man team (it was clear the 10 man teams had time and energy  for ‘chat’, ‘jokes’, ‘fun’, and social contact. The nature of a 5 man event mean you only get a 25 min break (just enough time to get back to the pit, put clothes on, eat, drink, talk about the lap, put your feet up for 5 mins and then get ready for your next lap.  … maybe I need to try the 10 man team experience?

The bottom line was, that I was on a great team with 6 great team mates, most of them I have known for over 20 years. (Adrian W – team captain, Errol, Mac, George and our pit crew Jill and Mike). We had a great team spirit, great communication, we had some laughs, it was fantastic to work with guys who I haven’t worked with since the 90’s, and we got the job done, we achieved our goals and more… AND, I have been skating and competing for 31 years in all different types of races, countries, environments and styles of skating….  And I just had a totally NEW experience this weekend! GREAT!

I want to thank ALL the people from London skaters club. They are so friendly, open people and passionate about their sport. They were a pleasure to be with. I especially want to thank my team mates, and Adrian Wordsworth (www.AWspeedskating.com) and Frederic Houinato, chairman of London Skaters, for inviting me to be on the team. www.londonspeedskaters.com

And so to answer those questions:

Did I have fun? Yes, I think so.
Would I do it again? Yes, probably, under the right conditions.
Was it a great experience that I will remember? YES!
See you next year???  ….. Errrrm???

Cadet:                 Oliver 2 Gold, 2 Silver and relay Gold
Nick, 4 Bronze and relay Gold

Junior B:             Mads, 1 Bronze and 1 Silver

Masters:             Klaus 4 Gold
                             Maria 2 x 6^th, 2 x 7^th (mixed races)

It was a sad day today, 125 students left Gerlev Idrætshøjskole at the end of their stay.  2 of those students were Max and Lukas who have been Sk8skool elite team members since February.  It has been an honour to work with these two happy, helpful, funny, positive and hard-working guys. They’ve really developed both technically and physically, and they seem to have learnt a lot ‘knowledge-wise’ also. I am sure if they can apply themselves to their training when they get home they will develop in to really great skaters. BOTH have potential to do so.

The good news is that Lukas will return to Gerlev and Sk8skool in August for another 9 weeks training and learning. Max has said he would like to come back and is considering how to do so.

The British Championships were held this weekend at Tatem Park in North London. The very fast track produced some good times, particularly in the sprint races. Many British records were broken. As far as Sk8skool was concerned the highlights of the weekend were the longer races and relay. In the 10,000m points race I was able to take the gold with Max taking the Bronze medal. In the 15,000m we were able to work together for Max to take his first British Senior title and I took the silver. The relay was a super-fast race, Max, Dan and myself attacked from the gun and basically sprinted all the way during the 3000m relay. We took the gold and broke the British record, skating 3km in 4:09 min, an average speed of 28mph (or 44km/h).

The National team beckons for Sk8skool athletes Oliver Lindenskov, Mads Erikson and Nick Volter. Oliver was selected int he first round of selections and Nick and Mads made it int he final cut. They will use the next 3 weeks making final preparations for the 6 day long competition on track in Hungary from 23rd - 28th July.

Below the picture shows the 10 best skaters in the country! Young skaters with potential to be super stars in the coming years.

Another great day in Dijon, nice weather, nice crowd, MANY MANY skaters and spectators.

The AK 30 marathon was first to start a couple of hours before my race.  Klaus in his debut at EM looked pretty good the whole way, but there were many attacks from a strong field of skaters. A breakaway of one French skater and one Italien skater succeeded, winning by  4 minutes! Klaus finished in fine style claiming 12^th place in the final sprint. (Time 1:10)

The AK 50 marathon started next. Lars T looked so relaxed and cool, as usual. He followed in the pack with ease. The race was won in a time of 1:12, which is easily within Lars capability. When the sprint came, Lars position was good, but he lacked the raw top end speed to accelerate past, so he ended in 5ht place. The finish line is a little bit up hill, so this is a good result for Lars who is a big powerful skater, but maybe not really designed to go up hills.

107 Masters lined up in the AK40 men’s marathon. I’m sure I was the most tired, I’d just flown from New York the day before. But my attitude was “Just start the race, and see what happens”. I’d learnt my lesson from Masters Worlds; don’t chase anything, sit in the pack and wait, let the TEAMS fight each other. This worked well, only 1 very strong French skater got away and won by about 30 seconds. Respect to him.  I won the pack sprint, easily passing the Italian lead-out. Silver for me today, in a time of 1:08.

Maria was the final Sk8skool member to start, she followed the pack over half distance but then the constant attacks wore her down. But, she still managed to get an 8^th place, in a time of 1:22.

AK40 - Maria, Tore + myself

The defining moment of Maria's race was unfortunately a "fitness/fun skater" who she was overtaking who wobbled, kicked out and hit Marias skates. As Maria herself commented after the race "SLAM, and I was down".  Maria was staying with the lead pack of AK40 women until this point about 18km in to the race. "After that it was just a race against time, there's no way I could catch the lead pack again".  Maria finished in a respectable 9th place at only her second World Championships. "I'll be back next year on bigger wheels!" said Maria who is changing to 110mm after this season.

Marias words: "Jeg var bare SÅ klar, og havde haft en god opvarmning. Forberedelserne kunne ikke være bedre, hverken træningsmæssigt eller madmæssigt. På dagen stod jeg med de andre kvinder og da vi ikke var så mange, kunne jeg med lethed stå helt foran...Fed fornemmelse. Start skuddet gik og jeg var med helt fremme. Første runde gik fint og der var ro på packet. Jeg tænkte at, tempoet var lidt højt, men jeg havde ikke problemer med at følge med. Vi overhalede AK30, så det var også lidt fedt. Efter første del af anden runde angreb 2 tyskere, og jeg ville for alt i verden ikke efterlades i 2. pack, så jeg sprintede med dem. Det gik godt, men desværre da vi var næsten forbi hele packet, ramte jeg sammen med en anden kvinde og vi røg begge to ned.....øv øv øv....Packet forsvandt og jeg tænkte det var så det....nu kunne jeg lige så godt trille i mål og vente, men da jeg
kom til 3. runde, var jeg kølet lidt ned, og tænkte at
jeg lige så godt kunne gøre det færdigt."

My own race went well. I've had a serious back injury for 14 months (on and off) and it re-occurred to a worse degree after crashing while diving for the line at DM indoor on March 3rd.  So it's been a real battle to deal with that injury while still trying to develop my performance in time for such an early Worlds. However, my rehabilitation finally went well in the last few weeks. 

During the race I knew I had to be pro-active. Racing alone is about looking for and even making opportunities happen and exploiting them. I knew I was the strongest in the race and the fastest. I just had to avoid their team tactics against me. I chased down many attacks by the German team among others. I felt I was in control of my work rate. But it's hard to avoid difficult situations when racing against a team of 5 organised Italians and a team of 8 organised Germans. I read the race correctly, got in to a good position in third place with 2km to go, then the lead out started for the finish line. With 1000m to go I moved in to 2nd place, and with 350m to go I took the race on and went for the line.  I was leading the sprint finish, with good speed, then 50m before the line an Italian pulled my hips back so his team mate could win by 0.07s.  However, I am satisfied with my own performance, and I am satisfied with the race I raced my race.

AK50 - Mikael + Lars

Mikael had a great race, and followed the main pack to the finish line. He came in 26th out of 46, in a time of 1:16, only 8 seconds behind the winner. A little more top speed and he'll be right there among the top 10.

Lars had a little higher expectation, with his experience and previous results. The whole race went well, full control over the pack and positioning. But in the final lead out to the finish line he lost his position and got stuck behind a slower skater, boxed in with only 900m to the finish line and the speed was already high. This delay let the other favourites dominate to the line. Lars finished 9th.

We are very happy to say that after a few test sessions with the SK8skool Elite Team, Andreas has decided he would like to take his skating to the next level. Andreas is a talented young guy who has only been skating a few years. He fits in to the training group very well, he's motivated to skate and learn, and is developing his discipline and structure. We hope we can help him achieve his dreams. Welcome to Sk8skool, Andreas.

Today Sk8skool is officially 2 years old. (Although the development of the group happened 8 months before). It's been a great 2 years, Sara and I have enjoyed it immensely, it's hard work sometimes and takes a lot of time and effort, but those special moments when a student achieves a goal, wins a race or just learns something special make it worthwhile. We continue training and teaching all we can, and in the next 2 weeks we will be watching the internet videos and results from Junior/Cadet European Championships. GOOOO  Denmark!  J

A successful weekend of racing for Sk8skool students again with many medals from the Danish Championships on road. Oliver got his hands on some gold, twice! and Mads proved to be the best sprinter with a gold in the time trial and a silver in the 500m. Asta skated well to get a handful of silvers and Naija had twice 4th place, so close to that illusive bronze medal. Nick placed strongly in the longer races taking a silver and a bronze.  I had food poisoning early in the week, so couldn't race Saturday, Sunday I felt 90% ok, so raced the senior 1500m and 10km points, taking gold in both races.

The total medal count is incredible for such a new group, we've only been training properly for 2 years and already the good results are showing both in Denmark and abroad. We will continue developing and I am sure after a few more years training and with a little more race experience under their belts they will achieve great things on a high international level. Excellence takes time, hard smart work and dedication...

It is worth mentioning that Naija took 4th place 6 times this year, sometimes only a few cm from a medal. A fantastic performance considering she has only been on skates 3 years and that she has had 2 knee operations in the past 18 months because of a genetic problem. Now she is healthy and we look forward to see her REALLY develop her skills, speed and fitness ready for the 2012 season.

51 medals at Danish Championships: 11 Gold, 27 Silver, 12 Bronze

National Gold :  11

Sooty - Road - Senior -1500m
Sooty - Road - Senior - 10000m p
Mads - Road - Cadet - 200m
Mads - Road - Cadet - 1000m
Oliver - Road - Cadet - 500m
Oliver - Road - Cadet - 10000m e
Mads - Track - Cadet - 300m
Mads - Track - Cadet - 500m
Asta - Track - Cadet - 300m
Sara - Indoor - Senior - 3000m p
Asta - Indoor - Cadet - 1000m

National Silver :  27

Michael - Road - Junior - 1500m
Oliver - Road - Cadet - 200m
Mads - Road - Cadet - 500m
Nick - Road - Cadet - 5000m p
Asta - Road - Cadet - 200m
Asta - Road - Cadet - 500m
Asta - Road - Cadet - 1000m
Asta - Road - Cadet - 5000m p
Asta - Road - Cadet - 10000m e
Michael - Track - Junior - 1000m
Oliver - Track - Cadet - 3000m p
Oliver - Track - Cadet - 5000m e
Asta - Track - Cadet - 1000m
Asta - Track - Cadet - 3000m p
Asta - Track - Cadet - 5000m e
Sara - Indoor - Senior - 500m
Sara - Indoor - Senior - 1000m
Sara - Indoor - Senior - 2000m
Michael - Indoor - Junior - 1000m
Michael - Indoor - Junior - 3000m p
Michael - Indoor - Junior - 5000m e
Asta - Indoor - Cadet - 500m
Asta - Indoor - Cadet - 2000m p
Asta - Indoor - Cadet - 3000m e
Nichlas - Indoor - Youth - 500m
Nichlas - Indoor - Youth - 1000m
Nichlas - Indoor - Youth - 2000m

National Bronze :  12

Michael - Road - Junior - 500m
Oliver - Road - Cadet - 1000m
Oliver - Road - Cadet - 5000m p
Nick - Road - Cadet - 10000m e
Michael - Track - Junior - 15000m e
Mads - Track - Cadet - 3000m p
Mads - Track - Cadet - 5000m e
Michael - Indoor - Junior - 500m
Mads - Indoor - Cadet - 500m
Oliver - Indoor - Cadet - 3000m p
Nick - Indoor - Cadet - 2000m p
Nick - Indoor - Cadet - 3000m e

Sk8skool went to the World Masters Championships today and it went very well indeed.

Sooty Atkins  Gold medal AK40
Nadine Cj  6th place AK40
Lars Thomsen  6th place AK50
Maria Carstensen  10th place AK40
Jeffrey Neal  49th place AK40            ... read the whole story below.....

Gerlev International Skate Camp is a Speedskating experience you'll never forget!  We offer masses of exciting activities, training, games and challenges to those people that would like to develop themselves, be in good company and relax after a hard days training. Sk8SKOOL's home is Gerlev Sports Academy  and is only 5km south of  Slagelse in Denmark.  The school has fantastic facilities for a wide range of sports including Speedskating training.
Need I say more?

It’s a tricky year for Sk8skool as 6 out of 8 of our elite team are ”first year” skaters in their respective age category.

However, they still managed to perform well. I’m very proud of their dedication to their sport and their professional way to handle the challenging situations.

Michael Deleuran (1^st year Junior B - NIK) skated to a 4^th place in his C final in GG, and placed 26^th in his ‘A  final’ race at “The 3tracks”. He’s really developing fast and we look forward to each race that he is in.

Oliver (NIK) and Mads (Ods.) had a tough time in the Cadet category but Oliver managed to finish overall 20^th at GG with his best result 18^th. He’s still “first year” so of course it’s a tough category.  Mads finished 21^st overall at GG and had a good 16^th place in the 1000m.

Nichlas (SIK) looked very promising in his first race at GG but unfortunately crashed only 3 laps before the end, but the injured shoulder meant that he could not race again. Naija Olsen (Ods.), also “first year” cadet and only in her second international competition fought really hard and finished 48^th out of 64.

A good start to her career. She’s on the way up! Nick Volter (1^st year Cadet - NIK) in his first international race, and only his second Speedskating year raced well in my opinion. He learned a lot from his experience at GG and will go on to improve with each race.

But the star of the show for Sk8skool was Asta Thorgersen (1^st year Cadet - NIK) who skated just fantastically. In GG she was 16^th out of 64 skaters! (Her best result was 9^th, but she “fell asleep” in the elimination and thus was eliminated first.  …  I think that’s happened to every skater at least once, right?) Then at “The 3tracks” she really “grew in” to the racing, and in her last race was 10^th place giving her an overall result of 11^th out of 80 skaters. Well done Asta. Fantastic!

I look forward to the races in July and August, we have planned to be at our best then.  It's obvious to see that in April we are only just beginning out climb in performance, the skaters get better every week as each race (high quality training) has an effect.  ROLL ON JULY!  :-)

Finally spring is on the way and Sk8skool cleaned the track ready for the outdoor season.  MANY MANY thanks to the parents that came and helped us clean the track. We had 15 people, so we washed it TWICE.  The weather forecast for tomorrow is +8 degrees, so we are "breaking out the sun cream" and skating on a very white clean grippy track.

6 March 2011   National Indoor Championships

Back row:  Michael  -  Sara  -  Asta  -  Maria  -  Naija
Front row:  Oliver  -  Mads  -  Nick  -  Nichlas

Both Sara and I are very proud of our skaters, especially since we have been busy doing other sorts of training, so we have had almost no preparation for this event so early in the year. We've chosen to focus our training toward the Euros qualification races in May and Outdoor Nationals/Euros in June and July. We had no expectations of good results this weekend, and we were surprised to get so many medals.

Youth:
Nichlas (SIK) is a success story this weekend, he has been battling with pre-race nerves since last April, but since Nichlas started in Sk8skool in June we have worked intensely with his mental processes during Sk8skool personal coaching sessions and Sk8skool Sports Psychology classes and now Nichlas seems confident, mentally strong and FAST. He’s only 1^st year youth, but managed to take home silver medals in the 2000m, 1000m, 500m. Well done Nichlas!

Cadet:
Asta (NIK) won the 1000m and took silver medals in the other 3 races! This was a fantastic performance form this 1^st year cadet who only 20 months ago admits “I wasn’t really focused on skating”. Now she seems to be motivated and “focused” enough, and on the way to greater things if she can find that “power button” when she needs it.

Naija (Ods.) has had a difficult winter, she has had an operation in both knees in the last 12 months because of a problem she was born with. However she has worked closely with Aktivt Velvære physiotherapists, she has been dedicated to her rehabilitation training, core training, upper body training and mental training homework assignments. This has meant that she was working very hard even when she couldn’t do any leg training or skating, sometimes for many months in a row.  BUT NOW we can truly say she is on the way back to 100% again. She managed to beat many fully fit girls, some of them 2^nd year cadets (Naija is only 1^st year cadet).  Her 4^th and 5^th place results were especially pleasing both to her and us. Congratulations Naija. You have showed your dedication and determination all winter and now you showed how good you can skate!

Mads (Ods. 2^nd year) Oliver (NIK 1^st year) and Nick (NIK) had a tough weekend against a strong group of cadets. Mads picked up a bronze medal in the 500m and 4th place in the points race (but video footage showed that he actually got enough points for a bronze medal). Oliver performed well to receive 1 bronze medal. Nick (1^st year) had an unexpected nationals, 2 bronze medals in only his second race season. Nick (NIK) has been in Sk8skool for only 7 months but has worked consistently every week. This guy never seems to get tired, he’s an incredible “work horse” and I think this will pay dividends in the future. When I spoke to Nick after the event he was very satisfied with his races.

Junior:
Michael (NIK) is only 1^st year junior but took 2 silver medals and 2 bronze medals; this was just an AWESOME performance form a young man that has really changed himself over the last 6 months. Michael came to Sk8skool 16 months ago as a B skater, not especially fit and was only training once a week. He has transformed himself mentally, physically and technically. I personally am most impressed in his discipline, focus and the “drive to succeed” he has developed. He truly deserved his medals this weekend.

Senior:
Sara (HIT) managed to come home with 3 second places and 1 win. A good performance from a skater who has not raced for 5 years. A very welcome return to the sport Sara.

Masters:
While Tore was away in the sunshine in Texas, Maria managed to win the overall "Masters B" title. Well done Maria.

If I had one wish following this weekend, it would only be that we get some reasonable weather this March so that the students can continue their fantastic work in warmish dry conditions.  We have some work to do, but we knew that and it is part of the plan….  Did someone say “interval training starts tomorrow” ?  ;o))

It's Danish National Indoor Championships in 5 days time, so the students started to taper down just a little bit for only 5 days. They were allowed to miss their usual strength training session before skating today. So they had fresh legs for skating fast. Unfortunately this left me alone in the strength training room. Damn! But training continues for me. I will not be racing DM because my peak is planned for later in the year (sept/oct) so I can not use time on high performance in March. My first race will be in May.  After the training the atmosphere was good and we reviewed the times and there were many personal record over the last 2 days, and many moreover the last month. It's been a good winter training, we look forward to start with outdoor training on Monday!

Training alone, boring, but necessary. (I miss my Sk8skool students.)
(Squatting on the ball with a 18kg weight vest and 36kg in hand weights = 54Kg)

In early December last year, Sk8skool and Frederik Jimenez of Inquisitive Photography, made a winter photo-shoot, it was minus 4 degrees, a crisp cold winter day with winter sun shine, and we skated until after the sun went down.  Here's the first image for you, just as a teaser of more to come later...   hope you like, enjoy ....

Today Mads Eriksen (1st year cadet) and Michael Deleuran (1st year junior) were selected for the national squad. Congratulations to both of them, they have deserved this because of their dedication to training AND because both of them have successfully changed their life-style, their focus and the mental skills.  Well done to both. The next step is to re-asses their goal setting for this coming summer season, we'll talk tomorrow and "up-prioritise" the national team qualification races in April and May; Gross Gerau, 3 Tracks, and Heerde Skate Off. To date Sk8skool have 4 skaters on the national squad, this we are very proud of.

Even though Sk8skool had not prepared for competition so early in the season, it was still a successful weekend for most of the students. However the most stunning performance came from Mads Eriksen who won 2 races in support of his overall victory in the cadet boys class. A fantastic weekend for a boy who has only been "in training" for less than 2 years. Other notable good performances were Naija Olsen who skated her heart out in the relay with Asta Thorgersen. Well done Naija!  Asta had a good weekend in her individual races, only being beaten by 2 top class German skaters.  Michael Deleuran showed he has worked hard and disciplined himself this winter. He looked sharp and ready and skated well in all races.  Oliver Lindenskov had a return to form after a difficult period before Christmas, but he seems to be on the right track now and is improving almost every week. Nichlas Åkesson came on the podium in the Youth class and again looked promising, he's really improved since last summer and proved he is ready. Nick Volter had a bad weekend, but he has learnt from his experiences, he is new to the sport and needs some race experience (which he got this weekend). Look out for him in the very soon future, he'll be back with the right wheels, the right expectations, the right tactics and more experience.!!!

We are very happy with the results, especially considering ALL our skaters (except Mads)  are "1st year skaters", meaning it is their 1st year in their respective categories, so they will still be in that same age category next year also. It looks like 2011 will be a good year, but 2012 might be simply AMAZING!

The serious training video here:                                                                         And the "not-so-serious-training" video here:
 

While on holiday in Egypt we developed a ".pdf" download for you guys. It's our stability and core training program. Click on the picture of Sara to go to the Danish download page, or on the picture of Sooty to go to the international download page. It will take a long time to download because of the high quality pictures, and it is 27 pages. But it's worth the wait. Have fun training!

Today Nichlas moved up on to the ELITE team in Sk8skool. He has worked hard for the past few months, and the last few weeks he has shown determination, skill, team spirit and raised levels of will. He has thoroughly deserved his place on the ELITE team.  ... NOW the hard work begins!  ;)  Congratulations to Nichlas.

Oliver showed them that he liked the track and in the first race (a money reward race) he took all the spurt rewards plus he came in first with more than 50 meters ahead of number 2. Nick fought with the rest of the pack and ended as number 8 in the first race among 12 skaters. In the Cadetten Jongens there was skaters from Belgium, France and Denmark. Second and last race on the track ended like the first with Oliver way in front of number 2 and this time with Nick as number 6.

Sunday started with rain, on a closed circuit in Hombeek. As they went around the circuit for warm up it was obvious slippery, very slippery. The rain stopped before the road was washed clean, so as the races started the road was still very slippery in the corners. To save time to make the circuit dry out, the girls and boys raced together so the group was 26 skaters. The race started well and all skaters paid attention to the wet corners. On the last lap in the last corner Oliver felt, he lost grip in the tarmac and crached. Even though he was fast on his feets again his lost his firstplace and ended fifth among the boys. Nick ended first. A scratch was to be seen by a paramedic, but Oliver did not want to have plaster on. Second race was again a money reward race, and Oliver once again showed he was superior and took all the rewards. Oliver also helped Nick advancing during the race and took the spurts for himself. The best girl also learned to follow Oliver so they raced together. Third and last race was a short race and because Oliver had not taken any firstplaces he hit the front from the first lap and spurted so nobody could follow. He got the last and final victory on road.

Every money reward gave 2,- Euro each, and the overall winner also received 10,- Euro plus a nice cup. Nick ended as 4^th overall and was rewarded with 7,- Euro. Besides money and rewards the trip also gave many new friendships, especially the Reko Zemst skaters would like to see Oliver competing again in 2011, like this the invitation was announced at the prize giving.

Today was a great day for Oliver Lindenskov, and for Sk8skool. Put very simply, Oliver won Zandvoorde Grand Prix! There was a high standard of competition, with a total of 16 medallists form the recent EM in Italy, and many more national team members. Oliver looked very strong all weekend, he finished in the top 3 places in EVERY race, and he won 2 of the 5 races. There were over 30 boys in the competition, his main competitors were Gerri van Lingen from Holland and Tim Seigl from the German National Team. Before the final race all 3 boys were equal for the overall competition. They all had 8 points from 4 races. Whoever won the last race won the overall!  It was VERY exciting and Oliver was obviously very nervous. But we had a talk, and made a plan. Oliver dealt with the pressure very well. (The pressure comes mostly from himself inside.) He stuck to the plan, was confident in his decision making on the track and executed his tactic with expert skill.  He hit the front with 1½ laps to go, then just hit "full gas" and no-one could come past him. This was a 'composed' and 'precise' performance from a young athlete who has worked very hard and REALLY developed his talent over the past 2 years. He is really growing both mentally and technically, as well as tactically. We are all so proud and pleased for Oliver. He has earned this win!  Well done Oliver!   :O))

The trip was a very relaxed trip, there was some nice social times, time for fun and laughter and even some shopping!! (skate wheels, skate frames and skate bags of course). I would like to say thank you to Lis Deleuran, Pia and Gert Lindenskov for their help and support. It's the support from the parents that makes this all possible. This group of skaters and parents were a delight to be with! Can't wait until next year....

Patrick in action on the track in the 300m TT.

We (Naija, Asta, Patrick and myself) just arrived home with smiles on our faces and new information in our heads! The Inline Clinic was informative  and fun. The most focus was on structure of race preparation, content of training and specific exercises for speed, endurance and strength. The racing we took part in was great, the track was smooth, fast and very technically challenging. The Colombian skaters were very fast, and showed the difference between Colombian racing and European racing. It was a great thing for the SK8skool students to see and experience at such a young age. We will certainly be planning our winter strength training, and our competition preparation after te Colombian method. It's exciting, racing specific and challenging.

In the free time we had we saw some of the beautiful city, visited many cafés and saw the Tour de France on TV (of course).

On the last day we all took a "training tour" along the beach cycle path, about 30km, in to the city park in Göteborg, then we had a picnic and relaxed.  Thanks to Monika, Ivan and Leo for making such a great event.