Sharpening My Pencil

Sharpening my pencil.
These are the words that my coach, Xiuli Wang, used to describe what these World Cup races in Salt Lake City are for. I had to keep that in mind today, after my 500m and 1000m races.

This is the first big competition in over a month, and although I’ve been feeling good, it’s hard to tell what that will translate into, at a high level of racing.

I’m really happy with my 500m today. I had a really good start, for me, in fact my best ever (10.67), and didn’t feel like I was running those first 100 metres (like I normally do)! I was able to build good speed in the first corner, and skate the rest of the race pretty well. I skated one of my fastest laps ever, from my fastest start ever. So, of course I’m thrilled to come away with a new personal best of 37.59!

I was really excited and nervous to race the 1000m today. I felt calm and confident before my 500m, but after racing that time, I started thinking a lot about the 1000m World Record. I tried to bring my focus back to the technical elements, and execution of the race, but that WR was still taking a bit too much attention in my mind. Needless to say, I didn’t get a World Record!

Although I didn’t race a perfect race, and I didn’t break my teammate’s (Cindy Klassen’s) World Record, I tied my fastest time ever. On one side, I was disappointed, because I didn’t start (in the first 200m) as quickly as I have been this year, and I think I should have had a faster first lap. But on the other side, this is exactly why I’m doing these races. I need to remember that I’m using these races to “sharpen my pencil” for the World Sprint Championships next week in Calgary.

I have been skating consistently well in my 1000m races over the last couple of years, and after having a good 500m race today, my coaches and I decided that it’s a perfect place to wrap up this weekend. I’m heading home to Calgary tomorrow morning, in preparation for next week! I’m looking forward to it, and I hope my pencil will be sharp!

Christine