And to wrap up the current burst of blogging, over the past month I've really been able to push up the weightvest works on skates and at home. The vest is now loaded at 15 pounds, and using it for endurance workouts now too.

Through the spring, I hadn't been doing quite as much weightvest work on skates as earlier, just due to league practice schedule. Before transferring to Central Mass, I'd done my skating weight work at the open rink sessions at Skateland on Wednesdays. With Wednesday practices at CMRD, I hadn't been getting out to Skateland. But I had been doing some weight work at the open sessions at Roll On on Wednesdays or Thursdays right before our practice. I just hadn't been doing as many songs skating with the weights so I didn't kill myself before practice. At Skateland, I'd get in three songs each of knee taps and lawnmowers. At Roll On, I was now getting in 1 or 2 songs of each in a session.

By the start of June it was clear though that the 14# load in the vest was feeling routine, and it was time to add another pound. Remembering how much of a killer it was the last time I added a pound, this time I added the pound the week before I planned on taking it out skating. So I set it at 15# for my regular routine of doing two minutes worth of squats while nuking my afternoon cup of tea. And on Wednesday June 9, our regular practice was cancelled anyway, and I went up to Skateland for a full knock myself out session. Having used the heavier load at home for a week helped. Skating was still a killer, but it was like the second day of skating with it when I'd increased the load to 14#, not the complete killer that the first day skating at 14# was!

Then at the end of June, it was looking like our roster for the Panty Linebackers was going to be really shorthanded for our upcoming bout on July 18. And it was feeling like my endurance had slipped a bit since May, so it was time to really start pushing my endurance work to get ready for the bout!

So starting July 1, once a week I bring the vest to Roll On and kill myself before practice, doing a full endurance set straight through for 40 minutes :P This works out to 10 songs, since the music they play averages about 4 minutes a song. I've been doing 5 songs with the weightvest (3 of kneetaps and 2 of lawnmowers) alternating with 5 songs of long strides. I can't go at full sprinting speed in the open sessions, but I can maintain a pretty good cruising speed with the long strides without buzzing the kids. Pausing only briefly between each song to put the vest on/off, pop off the helmet for a moment and take a quick swig of salt lemonade before getting back on the floor.

And at home, I've been doing endurance squat sets with the vest two days a week. To mimic the rhythm of the game, I've been doing 2 minute rounds of squats with 30 second rests between each one. Not to severely overload my muscles, I've been gradually building up by adding one more 2 minute round each time. The first time I did 5 rounds -- with the 30 second breaks, that's equal to 12 straight minutes on the game clock. Then 6 rounds -- 14 1/2 minutes. Then 7, etc. When I get up to 13 rounds, that will be 32 minutes, one second longer than the longest possible maxed out period of play.

I'm doing between 80-100 squats in each of the two minute rounds, starting out at 80, and the number just gradually works up as I go. And I pushing them deeper from 70 onwards to mimic the hard push at the end of each jam.

Back in February, I stopped pushing for doing speed squats. That was a mistake and I sproinged my back the day I hit 210 in 2 minutes with 14#. Ouch. It's better concentrating on form than speed >.<

I don't know if I'll ever get to play a every jam of a period or not, but I'ld like to be able to. (And right now it's looking like we will have a full roster for the 18th after all.) Watching Dolly Rocket from Charm City play, she's on the floor for practically every jam -- she's my pivot hero!