ELLIS EDGE MASTERS CAMP 2007 - DAY 2

Here's Sheila McGinn's Day 2 report:

Ellis Edge Masters Camp Day 2 – July 27, 2007

Day Two starts with video reviews. Sue reveals her true artistic talents, illustrating the correct body positions right on the screen with an erasable marker. However, she may need to implement a seven second delay on her video replays to avoid broadcasting the, uh, unintended version.
Caleb has managed to get good footage of everyone, and we all have a chance to identify what we’ve learned and incorporated into our technique, as well as what we’ll do differently the next time. Sue doesn’t let us start by focusing on the negative things, but rather the things we’re doing right and want to keep for the future.

We also spend time on reviewing Olympic and world championship footage of both good and bad examples of the techniques we’ll be working on for the day. We see the consequences of both – and it helps to know that even the best in the world make mistakes.

Today we’ll be focusing again on the three keys – chest position with belly to thigh, a tucked butt, and ankle position – and on compacting the position proportionately rather than just trying to get low. We’re still working on our straightaway technique, especially finishing the push with a good ankle snap “down and away” to set up the next push, getting into a good recovery position with the thigh and skate blade vertical, driving the knee through to the chest and letting the ice come up to meet us. We’re reminded of the impact of chest position on the completion of the push.

We spend time on the Techni-Cords preparing for lay-ins and turns. With chalk lines on the floor and the very literal support of our training partners, we repeat and repeat the drills, working on the direction of push, the angle of the lean, and the placement of the landing foot. Later, we’ll practice the same techniques with on-ice bucket drills.
On the ice, our Feelings drills evolve into a Feelings Warm-up, continuously following Caleb through a sequence of walking forward, walking backward, bouncing, hopping, monkey skating, knee-by-mid-calf, hopping to the side, and picking-the-daisies, followed by laps to incorporate the feeling of the movements into our technique.

The bucket drills are fun, and revealing when it comes to technique. Every time we finish a drill and return to free skate focusing on our new feelings, it gets a little easier, and a little better.

The day ends with a barbeque on the Belleisle. The “kids” spend time jostling each other off the swim raft, the guys are great in the kitchen, the sun is warm, the beer is cold, and everyone mellows out after an intense and sometimes overwhelming day.

Tomorrow promises to be even more intense.

ELLIS EDGE MASTERS CAMP 2007 - DAY 1

Sheila McGinn, Ontario representative to the Canadian Masters Speed Skating Committee, sent the following report:

Saint John New Brunswick. In 1926, home-town boy Charlie Gorman won the World’s Amateur Speed Skating Championships right here on Lily Lake, and was immortalized forever in King Square as the local sports hero. Speed skating has a long history in Saint John.

Fourteen modern speed skaters have assembled here for the 2007 Ellis Edge Masters Camp. The next four days will consist of three and a half hours of ice time and four hours of off-ice instruction with Sue Ellis (three and a half hours of ice for four days in succession, in July, what was I thinking?).

We started in truly civilized fashion last night with a wine and cheese at Sue’s house, where we met our fellow skaters from Maine, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, New Brunswick, and Ontario, as well as Sue’s husband Glen, and her assistant Caleb and his mom, Carol. We cringed at the training course in her back yard, especially the hoops clearly designed to be leapt through, and were truly relieved to learn they were for the dog. Phew, dodged that bullet…

Day One was all about Feelings – not getting in touch with my feminine side, though, much to my husband’s dismay – you might know these better as Drills. Feelings associated with the movement – feeling our balls (of our feet), feeling our tongues (of our skates), feeling our belly on our thighs, feeling our body position, feeling frustration when you couldn’t feel it, feeling amazement when you could.

Also, feeling like a seven year old – everybody needs a little fun. However, still being responsible adults and all, we made sure that Sue stayed properly hydrated.

We learned the basics of Techni-Cords – working with our partners, and chairs, and any other help we could get.
This is definitely a technical camp, not a conditioning camp, though my thighs after the Techni-Cords might not agree. At the end of a jam-packed day, we were just punchy enough to come up with some seriously twisted alternate uses for Techni-Cords. Caleb manages to be young, talented and skilled without making us all feel bad, but I think he still has concerns about our intentions with respect to the slingshot proposal.

Quote from the other campers at the end of the day – “Sue Ellis rocks!!!”

OVAL MASTERS CAMP 2007 - DAY 5

While most masters campers were showing the signs of fatigue from 4 days of training, 74 year-old Peter Blokker came bouncing into the track-side warm-up area looking fresh and ready-to-go at 7:15 am. And off we went with an indoor run that wasted no time heading up the stairs into the spectator seating area. Heart rates and body temperature quickly reached active operating levels and after some dynamic stretching and plyometrics, it was time to go on the ice.

The morning ice session focused on corner drills beginning with balancing on the right skate in a crossover position with the left skate fully extended (and off the ice if possible). Interspersed with laps concentrating on corner tempo building, this drill was repeated with a partner allowing each skater to experience leaning into the turn in the crossover position.

Video recording continued for skaters with helpful analysis by camp coordinator and Calgary Speed Skating Association coach Graeme Koelwyn.

The post-ice warm-down session featured home-made authentic Italian pizza outdoors on the picnic table courtesy of Silvia Tassara.

The morning's technical seminar focused on custom boot construction by Calgary boot builder James Lewis.

Prior to the afternoon outdoor warm-up, campers posed for a group photo adjacent to the Gaetan Boucher sculpture on the patio outside the Oval. Then it was off to the soccer field for a friendly masters-only game. Some campers elected to rest under the shade of the adjacent trees.

Finally, the last ice session of the camp was structured as a pre-race day program including a few warm-up laps, accel's, corner builds and a 400m tempo, ending with both flying and standing starts. Despite the suggestion to hold something in reserve for tomorrow's racing, many masters continued focusing on technical improvements with helpful coaching by Neal, Abby and Kevin.

Ten skaters will return to race tomorrow morning where they have been seeded into pairs for 500m and 1500m time trials. For many others, farewells were exchanged as they headed for home or other adventures of various destinations.

Many thanks to Silvia who organized and distributed contact information for all participants.

OVAL MASTERS CAMP 2007 - DAY 4

This morning's 7:15 am warm-up run inside the Oval proved a little more challenging as the route took campers up and down the aisle stairs through the spectator seating area. Then, it was onto the ice for one hour where participants did 2 laps on / 2 laps off x 5, 1 lap on / 1 lap off x 5 and 100m on / 300m off x 5. During the ice session, skaters were video-recorded in the front straight and corner for later review and coaching.

Todd McClements was, once again, the morning's presenter of a seminar on the interesting, but complex, subject of Decision Training as opposed to Behaviour Training. This provided the masters present with some new coaching theory concepts and ideas to take back to their respective home clubs.

During the afternoon warm-up, many participants opted to play soccer in a pick-up game where masters tied the home team 2-2. The final and deciding shoot-out was about to commence when Coach Neal called the masters to head back to the Oval for the afternoon ice session.

After an on-ice warm-up of laps and accel's, each master was timed in a 400m tempo skate to help seed competitors for the coming Saturday morning time trials. Additional video-analysis was completed to be added to a CD to be made available to campers later in the week.

Finally, a session of standing starts ended the day with additional coaching by Olympian Kevin Crockett.

OVAL MASTERS CAMP 2007 - DAY 3

This morning's pre-ice warm-up included more straight-away technique imitations in front of the big trackside mirrror following a few laps of running and dynamic stretching. Then, it was on to the ice for the first set of longer intervals - 4 x 4 laps or 4 x 8 laps with a focus on consistent lap times.

Todd McClements presented the day's seminar on Recovery & Regeneration covering warm-downs, nutrition, massage, contrast baths and monitoring including the Rusko Test.

Cor Zwaal re-hydrating and restoring his electrolytes

Following some mid-day practical application of Todd's advice, it was back to the soccer fields for the afternoon pre-ice warm-up including running, dynamic stretching, accel's and dryland start imitations.

Applying Todd's recovery technique

The afternoon skate session including laps of skating SFL (super %#&^(!*@ low) combined with accel's and flying (transition) starts. Additional coaching was provided by 1998 Nagano Olympics 500m bronze medallist Kevin Crockett who gave extra advice on corner entry, corner tempo and flying starts. Kevin, who will be assisting to coach for the remaining days of the camp mercifully withheld comment on the first flying starts of the season, but promised to be more outspoken in the days ahead.

OVAL MASTERS CAMP 2007 - DAY 2 (DOING THE DANCE)

"Doing the dance" has emerged as the camp's underlying theme as the phrase keeps surfacing during instruction on cross-overs and skating imitations technique.

This morning's warm-up session featured dry-land straight-away imitations in front of the big trackside mirror with emphasis on weight transfer and body alignment. This focus reaped visible benefits for all skaters in the on-ice session that followed immediately after. The morning ice session consisted of progressively challenging balance and gliding drills interspersed with a pyramid of laps in which to apply these new and re-discovered technical skills.

Today's informative seminar, led by Neal Zaluski, focused on equipment including sharpening, rocker, bend and set-up. Although denying any artistic ability, Neal's drawing skills on the whiteboard combined with practical demonstrations and answers to questions made clear the basics for camp participants.

Coach Neal Zaluski demonstrating rocker measurement.

Following lunch, it was back outdoors under blue Calgary skies for another warm-up run and dynamic stretching in preparation for the afternoon on-ice session. Back on the ice assisted by coach Abby Ennis and former national team sprint coach and Olympian Sean Ireland, skaters were led through a progression of cornering drills combined with sets of laps and 200m accelerations.

OVAL MASTERS CAMP 2007 - DAY 1

It was a great day to be on the ice in Calgary's Olympic Oval as outdoor temperatures reached into the 30 degree C range under clear blue skies. That didn't stop coach Neal Zaluski from leading many skaters outdoors for a short warm-up run and dynamic stretching around, and on, the nearby soccer fields prior to the afternoon ice session.

The day began early with registration and introductions followed by a brief indoor run on the track surrounding the ice surface. In the warm-up session that followed, skaters introduced themselves as well as their home ice location and led the group with a stretch of their own suggestion.

The 19 masters skaters, in attendance, had come from destinations near and far including British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Wisconsin. Many of these were participants in the 16th Masters International Speed Skating Games from last February including Silvia Tassara from Italy.

Silvia, who's attendance has given the Oval Masters Camp a new-found international flavour, made her patriotism evident when a video of Enrico Fabris was featured in today's seminar on straightaway technique. The session was well-presented by Olympic Oval Program Long Track Coach, Crispin Parkinson.

Seminar presenter Crispin Parkinson (left) and camp coordinator Graeme Koelwyn

Also adding international representation was Cor Zwaal who has been visiting in Calgary for the past 4 months but makes his home in the Netherlands.

Prince George, BC was very well-represented by 4 skaters including Lyle Dickieson who has attended the masters camp for the last 3 consecutive years.

It was also good to see some of our American friends from Wisconsin who normally make Milwaukee's Pettit Center their home oval, but came to Alberta in search of ice after Pettit open speed skating was cancelled on April 12 of this year.

Also in the group are some of Canada's top masters skaters including Jo-Ann Johnson of Calgary Alberta who holds 6 Canadian and 2 North American records for Women 40-49 long track and Peter Blokker of Vernon BC with 1 Canadian and 4 North American records for Men 70+ short track.

The day's two 1-hour ice sessions were intended to re-familiarize skaters with the ice and their equipment after the Spring rest. It was properly back to the essentials with basic position, balance and gliding drills interspersed with some easy laps focusing on technique.

Many of these same basic drills could be seen in the Canadian, Japanese and American national team early-season practices which preceded and followed the masters ice sessions.

With great weather in the forecast and a great group of enthusiastic masters and coaches, the camp promises to be a huge success for the remaining 4 days concluded by Saturday morning racing.

MONTREAL 24 HOUR INLINE - FLYING FOSSILS

Stephen Fisher, of the Toronto In-Line Skating Club, organized a +55 year old team called the Flying Fossils for the Montreal 24 Hour In-line Challenge. The grueling event took place this past weekend in Montreal's Parc Jean Drapeau.

Stephen forwarded the following report from his team-mate, Cale Carvell:

Bonjour! Monsior Cale here with a report from the pain train that was the Montreal 24 hour marathon. The experience began when Margo, Jan, Tom G., and I landed in beautiful Montreal, Canada. The Canadian version of France, where all the signs are in French, most the people speak only French, and finding your way around is no easy project. We did, however, with our rent a car, find our way to the hotel and did some shopping for the experience that was to follow.

With much excitement and some apprehension, and after getting lost first, we made our way to the Formula one race track where the race was to begin at 1:00 PM. We separated as I found my "Flying Fossil" teammates while Jan, Tom, and Margo went to find their team "Skate Log.com". From hear on out, you will be reading about the Flying Fossils and my experience as part of this team of old farts all of who were 55 and over. Our median age was 58.

After setting up our paddock (basically a 20 X 20 ft covered area) with water, coolers, chairs, tables, food, extra clothes, air mattresses, and skate supplies, and being sure we all had our Flomax, denture creams, glasses, hearing aids, Depends and other personal supplies; we had our strategy meeting. The race was to begin at PM and we decided that each skater would skate one lap (3 miles), and then hand the baton off to the next skater and continue like that until 10pm when we would split into two teams of 5 and let one team sleep from 10pm-2am and then switch with the others who could then sleep from 2am-6am and then we would all regroup to finish from 6am til the finish of the race at PM.

The course was a 3 mile circuit with numerous turns, one very gradual up hill, a long gradual down hill and a hairpin right turn that led into a 1 mile straight away that finished in front of the paddocks where everyone had to pass off there baton to the next skater. Many teams had many different strategies as to how to best do this for 24 hours. There were no rules about how many laps anyone had to skate in a row or in total. The excitement was growing while the music was blaring and the announcer was yapping and yapping about who knows what, because most of it was in French. Everyone was in high spirits, full of energy and ready to go.

All 800 skaters, together, did a slow skate around the circuit while the official stopped us at certain places to say something in French and then in some form of English that was impossible to understand. Finally the countdown began 5..4..3..2..1.....And each teams first skater was off. Alan Marcossan was our first skater with me being second. The first few hours were nothing but fun with everyone sharing their lap stories and talking about the laps to come.

We had a few problems with some of the passes, a few dropped batons, but we got it down pretty good. We were at the end of the hand off lanes which were only wide enough for two skaters to be side by side. It was often hard to see your teammate through the maze of skaters, so getting started on each lap could be quite an adventure. Alan and I were doing laps in the 8min 35-45 sec level and our teammates were in the 9 to 10 minute time frame unless you were lucky enough to be able to draft with someone who was a little better than you, which was rare. I was lucky enough to have jumped on a pro team and had our fastest lap (just under 8 min).

All was going pretty well until about 6 PM when, wouldn't you know it, the forecasted scattered showers began scattering on us, and the wind started howling. The track got slippery, the times got slower, the rain stopped, things dried up, the rain came back, things dried up, and back it came again. It was getting pretty ugly trying to keep the wheels rolling, dealing with being soaked constantly, putting on saturated skates and then it got dark.

To say the least, visibility was terrible. They had some portable spotlights out in a few areas of the track, but it was just barely enough to see where you were skating. Lots of people wore head lights on their headlights, but I decided that it wasn't worth the hassle. Because it was so dark at the hand off area, many skaters wore blinking lights, so the person they were handing off to could tell it was their teammate as they came in to hand off. There were so many different types of blinking lights, ropes, flashers, on bodies, skates, helmets etc, that it seemed like Christmas in July.

Finally the rain stopped around 10pm. We were running in third place, 2 laps behind a french Canadian racing club team when 10pm rolled around and it was time for the first group to sleep. I was in the first group and I tried, really I tried, but after a 45 minute kind of half conscious nap in a chair, it was hopeless. The adrenaline, red bull, gels, sport drinks and Snickers were too much to overcome, so I announced that since I was skating some of the fastest lap times and I felt good, there was no reason for me to not continue. I would replace one of our team and wake him up after 4 hours if I needed to sleep.

So now I was skating every 5th lap starting around 11:30pm. Of course as soon as I started, the real rain began. For the rest of the night, it rained steadily and as the laps piled up, the uphill got steeper, the downhill got shorter and the wind, which blew right in your face as you rounded the hairpin turn for the 1 mile home, blew harder. Fatigue began to settled in and the old guys bones were creeping, but we kept up the pace.

For some reason, as the night ground on, I actually began feeling better and better and when it was time to wake up the other 5 guys, we only woke up 1 and I just kept on skating. From 11:30pm til 6am, I skated every 5th lap. By 6am when everyone was up again, we had moved up to 2nd place only a lap and a half down from the "Rapid Lap Dogs" (How's that for a name).

Now you haven't lived until you see bunch of exhausted old guys wake up after not enough sleep and have to get it together to skate as hard as they can. The creaking bones, gas noises, various smells, moaning and groaning were an experience I wouldn't wish on anyone but us. Our spirits were high, however, and after a little while, we were excited, and the adrenalin was doing its thing. I had however had no sleep and was starting to feel the effects, however I'd be damned if I was going to admit it. I figured that as long as I did not sit down for long, I could keep going.

The rain had stopped and the course dried up and the sun came out and I almost broke out in a song. We all kept hammering as hard as we could, we kept our lap times up as high as we had, and we were closing in on the Lap Dogs. As the 1pm finishing time got closer, the spirit at the race was electric. All the pain, all the struggles, all the effort was coming to an end. Everyone cheered for every skater as the finished their last laps.

The air was alive with good feelings, camaraderie, sense of accomplishment, joy, and friendly competition. There was no controversy, no arguments, everyone helped each other, and the compliments were many. No one left the starting line until every skater finished their last lap.

We could not catch up and we finished 2nd, but it didn't matter as we gave it everything we had and really put a scare into a much younger group of quality skaters. They were thrilled with the competition and admitted that we had them seriously worried and forced them to push themselves as hard as possible. The Canadian team that we passed congratulated us in broken English and hugged us and it truly was a Hallmark moment.

I know that this has been long, but so was the race. I could go on forever about each lap I did. I have never pushed myself any harder, or skated any better than at this event. The experience was something that I hope to do again and would challenge any of you to participate in. There were skaters of every conceivable level who all had one common goal. There were even skaters who did the entire 24 hours ALONE.....Unbelievable.

Thanks to my teammates Alan Marcosson, Larry Griffin, Peter Moynihan, Ken Huss, Ed Duncan, Bob Harwell, Robert Stroud, John Altwater, and Stephen Fisher (our Captain who had the idea...thanks for calling me). The accomplishment was exhilarating and my teammates and I have a bond that will never disappear, even when we race against each other................Cale "Team Rainbo and a Flying Fossil too" Carvell.

Stephen Fisher provided the following editorial comments on Cale's report:

The "Canadian" team he mistakenly refers to is in fact French, the Cannes Rollers, last year's fitness/advanced winners. Pic is taken by my phone. The team that beat us had been in elite last year. This year there were 3 elite teams, including members of the Olympic speedskating team, so keeping up with them was unobtainable. Including the elite and everyone else, we finished 5th out of 76 teams, 2nd in our division about 10 minutes back. I was pretty happy...

MASTERS RECORDS UPDATE

Speed Skating Canada has recently updated statistics viewable at Canadian Records.

Congratulations to the following masters who set new records as follows:

CANADIAN LONG TRACK OLYMPIC STYLE

Women - Masters 2

Jo-Ann Johnson, AB: 500m - 46.71, 1000m - 1:31.29

Diane Silzer, BC: 1500m - 2:21.27, 3000m - 4:58.35

Women - Masters 3

Lyse Fournier, QC: 500m - 52.08, 1000m - 1:45.32, 1500m - 2:40.65

Women - Masters 5

Agatha van der Starre, BC: 1500m - 3:50.26

Men - Masters 1

Jeff Bakal, AB: 1500m - 1:54.52, 3000m - 4:06.76, 5000m - 7:09.04

Men - Masters 2

Patrick Kelly, ON: 500m - 37.71

Benoit Lamarche, QC: 1500m - 1:53.85, 3000m - 4:06.76, 5000m - 7:11.38

Men - Masters 3

Bob Laurence, ON: 500m - 41.34, 3000m - 4:23.56, 5000m - 7:33.92

Bob Irvine, AB: 1000m - 1:22.70 - Calgary 3/16/2007

Bill Hoyne, AB: 1500m - 2:03.70

Men - Masters 4

Ron Johnston, AB: 1000m - 1:28.88 - Calgary 3/17/2007, 5000m - 8:23.74

Men - Masters 5

Maurice Gagne, QC: 500m - 49.33

It's worthy of note that all Canadian Olympic Style Long Track records, except for 2 indicated, were set on Calgary's Olympic Oval at the 16th International Masters Speed Skating Games during February 22 to 25, 2007.

CANADIAN LONG TRACK MASS START - OUTDOOR OVALS

Men - Masters 3

Bob Irvine, Calgary AB: 1000m - 1:27.87 - Red Deer 1/20/2007, 1500m - 2:14.51 - Red Deer 1/20/2007

Brett Arnason, Winnipeg MB: 3000m - 5:03.07 - Roseville 12/10/2006

CANADIAN LONG TRACK MASS START - COVERED OVALS

Women - Masters 2

Jo-Ann Johnson, Calgary AB: 500m - 47.42 - Calgary 1/14/2007, 1000m - 1:35.13 - Calgary 1/14/2007, 1500m - 2:26.60 - Calgary 1/13/2007, 3000m - 5:17.98 - Calgary 1/14/2007

Men - Masters 1

Rejean Lavoie, Calgary AB: 1000m - 1:23.08 - Calgary 1/14/2007

Marco LeBrasseur, Calgary AB: 3000m - 4:32.74 - Calgary 1/14/2007

Men - Masters 3

Bob Irvine, Calgary AB: 500m - 42.38 - Calgary 1/13/2007

Mickey Kupchyk, Regina SKU: 1000m - 1:24.02 - Calgary 1/14/2007, 3000m - 4:30.86 - Calgary 1/14/2007

Men - Masters 4

Ron Johnston, AB: 500m - 43.89 - Calgary 1/14/2007, 1000m - 1:28.92 - Calgary 1/14/2007, 1500m - 2:14.21 - Calgary 1/13/2007, 3000m - 4:49.04 - Calgary 1/14/2007

NORTH AMERICAN LONG TRACK MASS START - OUTDOOR OVALS

Women - Masters 1

Leela Braun, MB: 1000m - 1:44.23 - Winnipeg 2/3/2007

Women - Masters 2

Jo-Ann Johnson, AB: 500m - 50.49 - Winnipeg 2/3/2007, 1000m - 1:43.99 - Winnipeg 2/3/2007

Women - Masters 3

Jan Zurcher, US: 1000m - 1:26.80 - Winnipeg 2/3/2007

Men - Masters 3

Mickey Kupchyk, SK: 1000m - 1:19.81 - Winnipeg 2/3/2007

CANADIAN SHORT TRACK

Men - Masters 2

Tim Cooney, Lethbridge AB: 500m - 47.96, 1500m - 2:35.50
Note: Both of Tim's times were set at the 1st Annual Masters Ice Racing Challenge in Canmore AB during December 29 to 30, 2006.

Reg van Drecht, Fredricton NB: 1000m - 1:46.86 - Fredricton 1/27/2007