A skater practices on a hockey-sheet, you know 100ft. each of the 2 long sides, and 85ft. across twice. -

A skater who's learned to stroke somewhat dependably, obviously takes more time,
than a skater taken power-classes, and learned other advancing skills.
I'm not talking about Speed-skaters either; just regular skaters. Have they ever been timed?
Do you know how fast you can skate around your rink's circumference once?

A skating friend who's watched me skate, is giving me challenges to progress with.
Her latest: "bet you can't skate around once, in only one minute"
and
I said: I surely hope I can skate it in about 40-seconds " - is this realistic? lol

Just wondering if there are statistics already, that you know. Thanks!
.

I've just been challenged to a sponsored skate. 30 laps in 10minutes. There's a bit of me which goes 30 laps - I'll have a heart attack, but I'm also thinking that it doesn't actually sound that difficult (especially if you cut corners).

I think when I used to skate club and we were challenged to do lap times, 40 sec for a lap was a realistic number. I'm sure most of the tiny tots with no power were able to do a lap in under 1min.

I don't have any definitive statistics though, just memory of what I think numbers being called out were. Most of the timings I remember were for doing ladders (skate red line to blue line, back, then to the red line and back, blue line and back, and then finally full rink and back). I'm sure the best skaters were doing that in about 40sec.

Fun question!

I looked at a video I took while doing forward power stroking (aka Russian stroking) and it took a little more than 30 seconds to get around. Our rink is only 190 x 85 feet, so scale the numbers appropriately.

Without the zig-zagging of the power stroking, times could be lower.

__________________
Bill Schneider

Hi

Well, this is an interesting question. I have never timed myself either, so perhaps should try it when I go skating next time, after my return from London, in early Dec. Will get back to you by then.

londonicechamp

Well, 4 patterns of the Killian make up 2 laps, which takes I think 36 seconds, so.....yeah.

I've dated plenty of hockey players in my day, and while they always had me on speed up and down the ice, if we were doing endurance laps, I always beat them. Kristi Yamaguchi is married to an NHL player and I've heard her say the same thing.

I've never cared much about timing myself just because we have so many other things to worry about when we skate aside from sheer speed (form, looking pretty). Hockey players can sprint down the ice looking like total fools and no one cares as long as they get to the puck first.

__________________
2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

Hi,
Thanks for your reply!, tho that link doesn't open here; and 'power'-stroking? - I don't have power-anything, lol
so
most likely it will take me lots...longer.

Enjoy a nice Thanksgiving!

Bill's correct link is here: http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~schneidw/...prw_stroke.avi

__________________

Hi,
Thanks for you reply too; tho my question wasn't about endurance, either.
Even when I was a sprinter as a small girl, I never did have 'endurance' then.
And I'm still working on getting the extension on my strokes right, so *pretty* is a future-goal I have.

Mine is a Beginner's question of just being able to skate around the rink, a bit faster

Enjoy a nice Thanksgiving!

Hi,
Thanks for your reply too!
This is the 1st. mention I've heard of 'ladders'; and if the BEST-skaters have that as a time, AND
'tiny-tots' (that's 4 yr. olds, right?) can navigate a lap in less than a minute, AND
never mind '30-laps': I'd surely be dead long before then

The most I've ever skated in an entire-session is a little over 12 laps, and
that's without Cross-overs : once I add them, for all intents & purposes, I'm at a standstill, lol

My good friend (knowing that work-related, I've only been able to practice twice this year), is trying to Positively-encourage me, to incrementally help my confidence grow... and I'm not giving up, no matter what!

I think that any person, with dreams & goals can make them reality (which is how I raised my daughter too); so I'm going to keep practicing... and being happy! learning. I'm this little eternal optimist

Enjoy a nice Thanksgiving!

Hi
I'm sure you're another Super-speedster like most skaters posting in this forum.

I believe I can skate this month. -- Usually, after months away, I wonder will I think Skating is a novel-experience , and
managing to remember what it is like, I am always soo happy! to be on the ice - And SPEED?, well, I'll just keep working at it...

Have fun! wherever you are, icechamp

Thanks for catching that. Typo[s are my bane.

I fixed the original link.

__________________
Bill Schneider

I wouldn't worry about the speed at this stage. Just keep enjoying skating for skating's sake. whether next time you skate you get around the rink a little faster or just manage an extra lap, it's progress.
Crossovers come with time as well. Just keep working on gliding and nice extension.
One thing I had demoed by a very old coach (he was about 70 at the time) was to push off on one foot and see how far you could go. he could glide the length of the rink. He wasn't fast, but he could hold the posture perfectly still to keep gliding. I thought how great that was. Power won't help you do that, but that sort of balance and control will help with power.

Great, re 'pushing off, right':
For a long time, I missed that you push-off with the Free-foot
also
When I practiced twice weekly, I got to holding my glide, 2/3 the rink-length; and
I am working my way back up to being able to practice, hopefully daily... lol

Ok (sans crossing-over at the ends), I thought 1-minute is an ok-thing to try

Thanks for your kind encouragements!
.

ok, that was kewl, lol ... zig-zagging, is right THANKS!

I wonder how much speed, the Cross-overs at the
ends, add? - do you know? those infernal!! skills

Personally, I always found crossovers at the ends of the rink to be somewhat awkward. I LOVE crossovers when the circle is tighter and I can really push into them. Then I gain huge speed from them.

The turn at the end of the rink is so gradual though that the crossovers are - well, forced. I can't push as much into them.

At my skill level, doing them at the end pattern means that I probably won't gain any speed, but I won't lose it either.

__________________
Bill Schneider

Speaking of going 'round and 'round and 'round on laps, I had an awesome workout I used to do in grad school when we had a pretty empty rink to skate on most of the time. It requires knowing the steps to a lot of ice dances though.

I made a dance CD that had a high/faster/more endurance dance, followed by a lower, easier dance (can't remember how I cut it, it may have been 1 min-1:30 for each track, with about 15-20 sec in between to move to the next starting spot). So for example, I'd have the Starlight (killer endurance dance) followed by the Cha Cha, then it would go to something like the Silver Tango and back to the Dutch Waltz, and so on.

This created an interval workout (varied heart rate, burns more fat). The goal was 30-45 min of continuous skating. While I tried to do the correct steps as much as possible, I didn't focus as much on pattern/correct form as much as just skating, since this was purely a cardio workout. (Obviously earlier in the workout, I tried to do dances I was on or had passed more "properly", didn't worry so much about pre-gold and up where I only knew steps and had never had a lesson on those dances).

I guess you could do the same thing with a stroking workout and just vary music tempos. I just figured I'd get bored doing that.

It was a KILLER workout and much more fun than a treadmill. Only downfall is that it requires an empty session where you can take total control of the sound system or a rink that lets you wear an iPod.

Disclaimer...I wasn't taking lessons or testing dance at the time, so I don't know if this would potentially lead to developing bad habits because you're focused lesson form and more on just keeping your body moving.

__________________
2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

Hi again,

Dances??: not a chance! - after I saw all the
STEPS, in minutia traced in a book, that turned me right OFF.
and
yes, not having one blessed skill, I used to get bored, but
last year I got to where I tried, enuf skills I ENJOY practicing (another thread)
--- also
I found at 1st. that stroking to MUSIC-beats, required more control I then had; but
I kept trying it, and now for some seconds it just seems to click, but not yet sustained.
(yes, I understand the 4-stages of unconscious/conscious competence, as far as learning a skill);
so it's the Skate more often, and it will come faster-wisdom, right?
too,
as I'm not in lessons presently, fortunately I have no schedule, so I skate a little of this, and
then practice some of that. Alas, practicing Edges, with Hops, with other skills, doesn't do a blessed thing for my Speed... lol
--- oh well,
tomorrow I'm going to skate, and check the time on my watch.
And so long as no-one laughsAT me, I might share.

THANKS for each of your kind ideas, to help me grow...

Hi again,
You saying FXO's don't really help you gain speed, at both ends.

As much as i shy-away from them, &
forcing anything is not my idea of FUN,
we'll just keep ignoring them longer ; works for me LOL

Funny this topic came up on the forums. Yesterday at my lesson, my coach decided that I needed to build up more speed in the program before the next competition in January. (She is totally right, by the way. )

Anyway, the last 5 minutes of every lesson are now dedicated to power stroking. She timed me doing one lap forward w/crossovers at the ends, and then the goal was 2 laps in under 1 minute w/ crossovers at the ends and each lap had to go around the red dots. (No cutting corners) I made it in 59.93 seconds. Then it was crossover patterns, both forward and backward, and both clockwise and counterclockwise.

I know it will definitely be worth it in the end, but right now

__________________
~Always Dream!~

Check my progress at www.freewebs.com/sk8tegirl06

That sounds like an excellent idea just for the endurance and cardio aspect. Yeah, I could see it might develop bad habits, but bad habits also seem to form more when you're FOCUSING on the steps. Then it's ingrained in your muscle AND psychological memory. If I knew more dances, I would definitely give something like that a try. In fact, I'd LOVE to try that. Too bad I only know the dutch waltz.

And yeah, I find crossovers around the corners at high speeds annoying too. It's too flat. Honestly, when I'm just power stroking or stroking to get warm (not to warm-up, I have specifics for that, but when I'm freezing my butt off during Holiday rehearsals), I just do pumps with my outside foot to get around the ends of the rink. What can I say, cold and lazy.

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Youtube Videos

Hi there,
At this point still, I find crossovers more than annoying, scarry is more like it. -
I just keep stroking -> nothing like how you do it; but
I get around without falling, and I'm skating a bit faster each time.

Hi there,
Thanks! for sharing your time, for reference.

As I said in the OP, I'm not 'power'-anything, lol
I'm also just now learning to skate back-wards, so I'm still a beginner which is ok!

Today, before being warmed-up, I skated next to the barrier,
around the 1st. time in 90-seconds (w/ 2 pauses too); and the 2nd. lap in 70-seconds.
And
I believe that when I skate 1/2-way towards the center, around the red-dots,
that my time should decrease accordingly,
also as my strokes get longer from being warmed-up.

Anyway, I'm going to TREAT myself again to more
sessions, especially as tomorrow is my Birthday - and
hopefully I can skate well enough to feel really Happy!
.

Sounds like Dance Club or a dance interval on those rinks that still have them (all too few, these days). That is a great workout, you know you've taken exercise after an hour of compulsory dances at various levels!

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Mrs Redboots
~~~~~~~~
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

That's a fantastic idea!!!!! I sometimes skate on a session that's often just me--I'm totally going to do that. It would do me a lot of good--stamina is my weakness, and I've got the Starlight coming up. Thanks for sharing that!!