"barefoot girls sitting on the hood of a Dodge, drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain"

Bruce nailed that one. A soft rain and mist that made for almost perfect conditions tempered the warm humid conditions. The turf was soft and the grass had almost the perfect glide. No one was complaining about the weather, that said I expect to hear some griping about arm and hip flexor soreness. The return of the rope was greeted with great enthusiasm by all. We engaged both upper and lower body muscle groups with such a simple thing as a rope and only a fraction of the trash talking we normally get.

There are some points that we need to address.

  • Hand placement and angles. We need to "act out" the pole plant. Too many look like the queen waving to her subjects.
  • Lower shin angles. Everyone can improve on that score. An acute angle places the body in weight forward posture without the need to bend at the waist.
  • Rotating forward around the hips. This is the big technical glitch for the majority of skiers. The art of keeping your glide going by rolling over your ski (foot) is a tough one to master but gets you extra glide and propels you into the next stroke. Much more to come on this.

Our 1st soft Lactate Interval was greeted warmly. Although only a couple minutes long it once again proves that when in the red zone……your brain is not the boss.

I am impressed with the general conditioning level out there. I think that if we focus the conditioning with proper skills training we can really get somewhere this season.

WE GO AT 5:30PM NEXT WEEK UNDER THE LIGHTS. Bring water, dry clothes and cameras and a margarita for Dr.Chris, the Pony Whisperer.