Dryland Training and Blasting Expectations

     I just finished up my dryland training for the summer and am feeling so, so ready for the skating season to start. For those of you who may not know what dryland training is, it’s training on dry land as opposed to on the ice, so skaters work their legs and aerobic and anaerobic capacity to get in the best shape possible before the season starts. The picture here shows me working on one-legged squats called Wooders, one of many exercises that give us speedskaters those thunder-thighs of which everyone else is so jealous. 🙂

     But seriously, the idea between training over the off-season is so that once the season starts, you’re in the best shape possible when you hit the ice. If you don’t train off season, it can take half the season just to get back into shape, and you might not really start working on technique before then. With dryland training, technique work starts on Day One.

     I think generally there are low expectations for Masters skaters, both on ice and off, certainly more so in the United States than in the Netherlands, so I was really happy to do the summer training right alongside those in their prime fitness and blast any low expectations out of the water. I’m proud of the sheer volume of hard work that we’ve put in all summer long, and I’m thankful for my family, which put up with, encouraged, and even joined in on many workouts.

     Now a few weeks off before it’s back to the ice.