Welcome! My name is Michael Gilday and I am a Short Track Speedskater from Yellowknife, NWT, Canada. I currently train at the National Training Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I've created this blog primarily to let family and friends know about competitions and travel. I also hope to educate a bit about short track and maybe even entertain. Enjoy!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

National Team Trials WrapUp

Well since I promised it, here it is. But first let me say that I don't feel any obligation the blogosphere to put this out just since I said I would. or maybe I do... either way read on!

I guess the first two days are fairly self-explanatory. I don't think that I need to explain how good I was feeling because two wins and two world records in polar opposite distances speak for themselves.

Monday was a different story though. I was still strong physically obviously (just so you know, great form doesn't come and go from day to day, you have it for longer than that), but I had an incident where I was taken out in the quarter final of the 1000m. This threw me off a bit, but nonetheless I made it to the final handily. In the final I was in good position, but unfortunately, I experienced what we skaters called booting out (you skate boot hits the ice more than you blade causing you to fall). So down I went on my own. At the time I fell I was leading the race with just under 5 laps to go, a position that I would consider the best place to be. But instead I got to watch the rest of the race from far behind. But that short track, thats the way it goes.

In the 3000m I decided to try and lap the pack, which proved a futile effort. After chasing for about 5 laps, I headed back to the pack where I held on for a solid third place (out of 8), finish, which I consider good because I had basically sprinted the first 5 laps while everyone else just sat there.

A good competition for me in which I won the overall (a first for me, and I know the top guys weren't there but hey, you gotta start somewhere) and gained a bunch of confidence for the rest of the season.

So why so on fire this weekend you might ask. Well basically Jon and I have been trying a few new things over the fall. Nothing drastic but we have been trying to put in place some different methods of training and trying new amounts of training. Apparently its working...

If anyone is interested in watching video from the weekend, please check out the Brickhouseent's youtube channel here.

If this is the last time I post before the holidays, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all of the readers of this blog!

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