It’s hard to believe, but Bluestreak is half over. This week was a mix of success. Monday I just felt klutzy. I stumbled on the treadmill a couple of times, and had issues staying square on my feet on the synthetic ice in the skill zone too. Not sure what was up with that. It was still a good session, I think. I was just a bit off.
Wednesday was really good. I was strong. It was a good day to be strong too because my treadmill session was spent mostly on incline, getting all the way up to 27.5%. This was hard work, but I pushed my way through it. I’ve been getting roped into the treadmill more lately… we all have actually. Beyond the regular harness, there’s another cable that gets attached to the front of the harness that pulls you from the stomach. The coach can use it to help keep you forward so you can focus on moving your arms and keeping your stride going. I used this cable a lot as the grade kept increasing. My legs were pretty destroyed by the time I finished, and it felt great.
Skills was good too on Wednesday. Jimmy’s been giving me more tips on improving my wrist shot, and teaching slightly different variations… and he’s also working with all of us on shooting while skating, which is, of course, crucial.
For weights, I had a modified upper body program this week. Apparently my chest is stronger than my shoulders and it’s causing my arm motions to be wrong while skating. My chest muscles pull my shoulders in, making my arms swing more diagonally than straight out, thus cutting down on how much power I can get from my arm motions. Now I’ve got a cycle of shoulder exercises I can do to strengthen up so I can open up my chest more. I’ll keep working on those even once Bluestreak is done to try and balance out my upper body a bit.
