indoor inline

today i did inline indoor with mark and co...was so cool...some interval with a realy , some start and pack agility things...i love it... i was also trying my new shoes custom for the 1st time...they fit perfect...

1st divisie marathon: 4th place

yesterday i was then in groningenland...the place where i 1st train in ice in 2005 with egbert post... i raced the 100laps of the marathon in 1st divisie. it is good for me to prepare the 5km in EK cause most of the time i train alone so i miss to get speed from other skaters.
so 100 laps in the middle of a group is perfect for me, it give me good feeling cause it remember me inline.

so what about the race...i start easy, just enjoying to be in the middle of the pack, trying to relax my technic in the straight line and pushing my corner. somethimes i look a bit in front to see what happen so i m sure not to miss the right breakaway.
laps after laps i get more feeling in the corner, i can feel i need to put more body weight on my left leg...and push longer...
in the middle of the race...a group seems to go away so i make more speed and come back...we are about 15 skaters and it was a good move cause we lapped the pack...so i can relax again in the middle ^^ and think about technic.
after 60laps i start to get tired...not feeling so good bpm goes to 190...are stay there^^...i m alive ^^ ...but then i took more time to skate and rythm get down to 170 again which is easy for me.
10 laps to go...it is the sprint for the pack so i get ni position 10 about so i don t get suprise by some guys...and bingo...direct after this sprint 2 guys try to go away but i m just behind so ..... i want to keep the thinks compact a sprint is better for me...
few guys try again but ice is fast so not so easy to go away...
3laps to go ...i g onear place 5 ....1 lap to go i go in 2nd place...let one guy 3m in front so he don t block me but still get some draft...
300m ...it is time for me to pass ans take the lead, i try to keep the guy close so i pass him just before the corner to block the other...but he died so timing went wrong...anyway i m first in last corner...and....stupid me i go to much inside too close from the protection...and i m too carefull on this bad ice to built speed....so not enougth speed out of the corner and i can see 3 guys passing me like rockets^^....hehe damm i m 4th....

good evening anyway...perfect training and correct result.

training training

so now big focus on european ... i will need to improve my 5km for sure cause i didn t work this so far now...only raced few 3km at begining of the season. my knee is so so but better than few weeks ago anyway. so i will need more laps in my training so i decide to start on marathon race 1st divisie tonight in groningen ... 100 laps at good speed in the middle of a pack of 100 skaters is perfect for me... then tomorow i will go indoor for a inline training so i can do some real short interval session till legs burn full with a high pulses frequency...that is what my body need to react.
on the 30 i will race the mass start in heerenveen...a 40lap race with 20 best top divisie marathon and 10 long track skater.... perfect to get good race speed...

thanks Arno for the picture

the answer is...

...is MAY BE....it s gonna depend from my result in january competition so ...EK european championship in hamar 9 and 10 january and may be world championship sprint in japan... so i can keep training hard and see what happen.

anyway today was good day for my knee...i try my old shoes and i had no pain in it...then i put back my new marcheses and the pain came back...so i put agian my viking and the pain was gone suddently...strange...i can t understand why but the fact is that at least i can skate with no pain with my viking shoes....so i go for this now...

today is the day???

today 22 is the day. i should now in the evening if i m at the oG or not. the french olympic comitee and co will decide today which athlete go to the games...

so far since last week being back from salt lake,i..... rest and sleep a lot, i was so so tired from jet lag and all the races my body needed to rest. it was also good for my knee. i just did some easy aerobic training and little weight training. just easy things.

now i m back in holland to prepare european championship in hamar.

1000m ...finally

today i finally beat the french record 1000m from cedric kuentz.....i did 1m10.41 with an almost crash in my first lap again...but i got lucky to stay on my skate....split time are 17.2 26.2 26.9.....so pretty ....why couldn t i do this in my 1500m 2 days ago??? i don t know ...

anyway i m happy with this time even if it could be better....i was out of the french talbet for record last week when alexis beat by far my 1500m record...but i m back in the business with this 1000m...

1500m and 500m

yesterday 1500m was terrible, my body still dont like altitude at all....ice is faster but i m going slower than at sea level cause i can t breath and my pulses are just super high all the times....so 1500m was painfull 1m49.03...i m going slower when most of the skater go like 3 sec faster.... anyway i think i save my spot in the top 40 for olympic....so now i will just wait the decision of cnosf to send me or not...i hope they will understand that my body will work better in vancouver at sea level than here in salt lake. also then i hope i will fix my knee problem.

and then i got picked in the doping control of course...so i give a little more blood and pie stop^^. good to have control, but come on...why controling a guy who finish 23rd in B group....random technic....ok but i think they should always control people on the podium as we do on inline....

anyway today was 500m...so normally short enought so i dont die from altitude effect even if my power is affected too....so 500m was ok new personal record with 36.51.....i opened 10.4 then 26,09 in the lap wich is good...that is what i m supposed to open in a 1500m but....ok next time.

blood test

today we had blood test. then we train after. this training i focus on looking for best option for my knee. i decide to change my setting to try to make it easier for my knee. on the right skate i moved the front little more to the center and the back more to the right. it seems my knee got less pain like this.
so i warmed up, skate 8laps then did all this setting things....then 200 300 400m...then 400m again but not full trying to focus more on technic, building more pressure. then few more easy laps and 15min bike.

the strange thing for me in salt lake is how my body react. when i could down my heart rate was still 170bpm. not normal at all, way to high even if it is easy skating. my body don t adapt so much to this place. i don t know why,but i always get this super high pulses here....may be the mix of altitude and dry air....so i drink lot of water.

tonight will be drawing for 1500m...cause tomorrow is my last chance to get a performance in this event in world cup.

in salt lake city

i m now in salt lake city...last chance to qualify for OG...i m ranked 37 for 1500m and there are 40 spot...my knee seems better after 2 days rest...so tomorow i will restart to skate. the ice looks wonderfull and fast...

3rd day hummm same

Yesterday I raced 1000m and same story continu. My knee was about 5% better
so I could sit little more. In the start I felt my groin muscle in my right leg, c
but opening was correct 17.3 then In my first inner corner I slipped and stop to skate for
a while. Lap time was still ok 26.3 but I lost too much speed so then I arrive at the crossing at same moment
as the other skater and had to slow down to let him go... Worst scenario possible. Final time 1.11.6 ...

In the afternoon i went again too Aaron nardella to fix m'y knee. This guy is really great. It nice to meet people like this
in life. I hope I will be able to help other people as much as he do.

Now I m in airport in Denver... It is pit stop on the way to salt lake... Last chance to qualify for olympic.
One race one opportunity.

today 500M bis

i wake up this morning, still pain in my knee...i really don t know why , i don t know what i come from....i train since 20 years now with almost no knee problem and now...during one of the most important week end on my road to vancouver...this right knee give me trouble...
it could be....i nerve in my back that don t like to be between my 2 spines bones...
it oculd be.... an over load in the training
it could be.... my right lateral armsring that is too small, and limitating the rotation from the hip, so the it occur in the knee...that don t like to do it^^
it could be.... the setting of my skate....

so anyway i go warm up, for 500m ...4lap, 1 accel, 4lap i leave the ice cause too much pain i can t warm up on ice. i keep warm up by running and i force my knee to get warm to work ok for 36sec about...


the race...i start 10,4 ...i do 36,83...slower than in training last week on faster ice...was ok technicaly again, but no power...i finish race without behind really tired which is not normal. but it show i can t use my power. same as the 1500m where i should be full of lactact after...here nothing...so i don t develop power, so i can t really get tired.

after this 500m of course, knee is not more happy...so i call again Aaron nardella a chiropracter form calgary that help me. we fix appointement at3pm...and workon all option for 2h....tense, ultrasound, massage, smashing...all we what we can to fix it ok for the 1000m tomorow.

after this 1000m i will have to stop few days and hope it is fixed for the 1500m in salt lake on friday...last chance to qualify...

1st unlucky day

friday was one of the most unlucky day i could. first i did 500M...felling goodbefore the start, just my right knee is still painfull so i cant really flexand push full but not really enougt to stop me. 10,3 opening then lap was good....till my opponent from australia slip in the inner last corner, run to my line and almost take me out in the middle of the corner, i had to stop skating totally from 350m till finish line....and i did 38,04sec...grrr i could get a restart but i didn t really wanted to do 2x 500m before the 1500m from the evening

i check my skate then and i can see the edge of my right blade is broken inside...grrr no way to skate like this, i spend 2h to fix the problem... then i went back to the track...

later my knee start to give me more pain. at the warm up 1500m i feel something is wrong , now i almost can t flex my leg at all, and if i do...i can t push at ...so not really the best for a skater, specially a ice one. in the race, technicaly i m good , but i can t push on the right leg, i can t sit either...so i can t really get the speed i need...26,7 first lap...almost 1sec from what i should do...my opening was also 0,5sec too slow with 24,3...then my laps are ok , like i lost only 1,6 second between the 2 laps...but not enought speed at the start. i finish with 1m47,5....and i just can see guys i beat since 3 weeks doing 1M45 or 1M46...
after the race i m really in pain with my knee...

i can t really rest or give up...i have to race cause OG qualification will be in this race or salt lake city...so i have to skate whatever happen this week end.

my favorite picture

this is my favorite picture of me skating. it has been made yesterday by Arno, one of the canadian coach from calgary. he is coaching lot of skaters from differente country and specially danemark. yesterday he was there, and the good light in the oval too. he took this super cool picture. thanks Arno.
what i also like in this picture is the lines...the blue line of the track...the red line in the back. i love the reflect of the blue of the skinsuit on my right blade...and how the red viking bridge shine.
if you look my face you have to know what i was thinking at this exact moment. i was doing 4laps in 30sec average. i was tired, my legs was burning and i was not feeling super good. i was thinking of this pain, and i was thinking that i have to keep doing long push, using lot of ice. when i see this picture i m happy , i can see that i m using correctly my left leg, with a good extention. this picture change my day, i felt really happy when Arno came and give me this surprised.

visit oval bis

visit calgary olympic oval

come with me and visit the olympic oval in calgary...discover a little part of canadian speed skating history...

picture from skating bar in hamar

the skating bar changed location in hamar...they copy and move their famous wall with signature from skaters from all around the world....

2 days from the race...

yesterday i run in the morning, and i skate 4x4lap in 30sec with 2min rest. good feeling in straight line during the cool down.
in the evening i went again to the chiropractor. it help a lot for my back and my knee.

1500m is in 2 days now...

2nd day test

Yesterday I did again pb in 500m with 36.53 hehe 0.01 faster but mainly was that for 1st time I did correct start 10.26
opening so much better than my 10.5 from before. My lap was not super 26.3sec.
In 1500m 1.48.4 season best so far...

Then I went again to doctor to fix my low back and my knee that hurt me a bit. Mainly I lose a lot of power in my right leg...so he use kind of acupuncture technic putting big niddels in my back and in my legs. It works really good. I will try to do video of this :-)