PHOTO CREDIT: KAI YORK
THE ICE MAIDEN are 10 competitions a year- European championships, World championships and then a series of 8 World Cups throughout the year, plus lots of long haul travelling and we would be away for 6 months of the year.
I mentioned that it is such a tough sport and we would train for 6-9 hours a day when we weren’ t competing.
The day would start by measuring our heart rate first thing in the morning and then heading to the rink around 6.30am to sharpen our skates. We would warm up as a team off the ice for around 45 minutes and our team had quite a military style. For example if you didn’ t bring your heart rate monitor with your heart rate on it then you got sent home! Not being allowed to train is the worst thing ever and there are so many other rules- as I became an older member of the team and one of the better performers I had to lead by example because you have to show the younger athletes that by doing things well you get better.
As part of the warm up we would do some general mobility and activation drills, then lots of skating specific drills, lots of single leg work, we also used cords and bungees to add resistance to mimick the G-forces as you go around the corners.
Then we would spend a couple of hours on the ice and most sessions would be‘ to the death’. You don’ t get off the ice with much left. In the break we would be feeding all the time and would also spend a lot of time doing video analysis- all sessions were videoed and would be replayed on a big screen. The coaches could zoom in to analyse the specific angles of joints or zoom out to a distance shot when looking at tactical manoeuveres such as over-taking.
Then we would have a gym session and another skating session later in the day, depending on the time of season. Usually two on-ice sessions and one gym session per day.
Every little thing you do and every thought you have is just to save your legs... I wouldn’ t even walk to the shops! Everything was about being able to perform at the next session. I would eat over 2000 calories just for breakfast because I was so scared of running out of gas if we had a 200 lap session to do. And I couldn’ t let anyone beat me in training, maybe it was just a mental thing but I used to think that they would never try to beat me in a race if they couldn’ t even beat me in training.
ML: Needless to say it was a fairly competitive environment then? SL: We were all members of the same team at the end of day, but everyone still wants to perform well and win, I guess it’ s kind of an ego thing too. I was unbeaten in this country for 10 years and of course you don’ t want the younger athletes taking over, but by being competitive it makes everyone better.
We have a current team member called Elise Christie who has come through the ranks, she will be competing at these Olympics and she is probably the greatest speed skater GB has ever produced. She is just incredible, an absolute freak of nature. She never quite beat me before I retired but she should have. That competitiveness has set her up to raise the bar even higher and as a result she is going in to these Olympics as the reigning world champion and world record holder. She is my little prodigy, we shared a room for 6 years, she is absolutely bonkers but she is exciting and certainly one to watch.
ML: What did your gym sessions look like? SL: Again this would depend on the time of year, but it was all legs haha. I don’ t think I did an upper body exercise in ten years as a professional skater- that’ s just extra unnecessary weight to carry around the track. We
MARCH 2018 / MUSCLE & FITNESS 119