Lets use myself as an example:
I have been racing for about 2 1/2 years. I started out skating (training) for 5-6 days a week and got a lot of my workout ideas from my Cross Country running experience. When summer ended so did my training. After 1 1/2 years I realized that I have to do all sorts of training in the off season if I am going to reach my goals as a skater and I have only a year to get the ball rolling. I felt that I was in pretty good shape so I took on the task of using Eric Heiden's Olympic training schedule as a guideline just to see how it worked for me. I used his schedule for about 3-4 months and in the mean time I was asking anyone about what they do for training. I also gathered advice for Personal trainers and my good friend Frank Fedel C.E.S. who most of you know. And I feel that after all this effort I can establish that I know a little something about training to skate fast. My last race of the season and first 25K ever was an NPC event in which I took 11th overall with a time of 42:44 which was a faster pace than my PR 10K race from the year before. There has not been a season in the 2 1/2 years that I have not gotten dramatically faster. You may say well "he is just has a knack for skating", I realize that I do have a talent for skating that some people may not have BUT....listen to this. What I have not told you is that I started my own outdoor racing team the year I started racing with some old friends that I had known from indoors. There are 15 skaters on the team I coach ranging from 7-37...of that 15 we have 8 guys constantly under 18 minutes (2 of which are only 13 and one is 35) and 3 women that are under 20 minutes one of which is under 19 min. with the same consistency as the men. We have taken home well over 200 placements in the last 2 1/2 ears....and everyone on the team is from the same town of only 20,000 people. Since the team does so well as a whole many people inquire to me as to what we do for training and some have actually come to experience it. I am going to release on this site sections of what we do and what goes on with our team in hopes that it will help you the same way it has helped us get press coverage, sponsors and the all important faster!!!!!!!!! Remember there is no perfect training program so don't be afraid to experiment....and if you have any ?'s at all e-mail me.
