Oh my gosh I DID IT!!!

I can't quite believe it.  I keep trying to give myself reasons why it didn't count, or didn't even happen, but the fact is... I did it.  I skated 25 laps in 5 minutes.

I made my laps.

[I should warn you now. I'm going to use ALL the memes.]

The funny thing was that I wasn't expecting to get them at all.  My last laps post was back in August, when I scored a new personal best of 23.5 but since then I've been pretty much stuck there.  There was this one crazy session when I skated 24-and-a-bit laps but I've been more or less stuck on that plateau for over 5 months now.  23.5 every single week.

For the last two weeks I'd not had any skating due to a bout of mental not-wellness and then NSOing at the Heartlands Final the following weekend.  On top of that I missed the first week of our Mins Skills testing due to a change in the team's schedule, so I really wasn't thinking that this was the week I was going to bust through the plateau.  I enjoy doing laps, I like the simplicity of 'Just skate as fast as you can until I say stop' but after a while of not improving at all you don't expect to go any faster and so you skate consistently, but at the speed you're used to.  I wasn't thinking I'd be any quicker than usual.

It was a really weird laps run too, because I was doing it wrong.  I've been trying to do constant crossovers all the way round the track, but recently I'd realised that crossing over on the corners has meant I've been using the straights to catch my breath and not pushing as hard as I could. Specifically, I'd not been fully extending my pushing leg when I stride.  There was maybe an extra foot of push I could get out of each leg, and when I use it (normally during drills to get clear of the pack when I'm jamming) I can feel the acceleration.  So for some reason I did my usual dead-wheel sprint start, then set myself to extend my stride on the straights, coast into the apex and do one solitary crossover coming out of it.  Normally it takes me 6 or 7 moves to get round the track.  This time it was taking me 5.

On top of that I had a collision!  Kat, who skates at 26+ lap-speed, was coming up behind me and tried to overtake me on the outside as we both came out of the apex.  Maybe she cut in too close, maybe I drifted out too far, but whatever the reason we caught wheels when our nearest skates were off the ground.  She fell and I didn't, but of course you can't stop so I had to yell "Sorryyyyyyy!" and keep going.  Pippa, my counter, was great at helping me collect myself to keep going.  Kat caught me up again a lap later and this time we managed the undertake successfully, which was great because then I had someone to chase!  She's a smidge faster than me round the apex but on the straights my extended pushed were keeping up with her crossovers! It felt amazing!

As usual there's the final 30sec warning when we all sprinted for dear life.  I crossed my line exactly as the whistle went, not knowing how many I'd done.  When Pippa yelled my score over to me and I'd confirmed that I'd heard what I thought I'd heard I think I just screamed in response.  There was a hug and lots of pats on the helmet, and the advanced team on the other side of the hall (after hearing my yell) came over to the dividing fence and gave me a Mexican wave which made me very happy.

Now I know I can do it, that should help with the mental block on my speed and hopefully over the next few months it'll become a more frequent phenomenon.  But of course now I know I can do it, I've got to do it again. Forever.  Next up is my 27-in-5.

Good job I like laps :P