I am tormented by an everlasting itch to race. Only vigorous competition on in-line skates can sate the restless craving but, like a rose, the welcome irritation returns relentlessly, more robust with each passing season. It's been 11 years since I began scratching the bite. I draw blood each time. Every weekend between March and October, the want hits me like a recurring fever. So long as I get to fire up the engines and let 'em rip in competition, no distance is too far, no expense too great.

My tortuous desire first flared up in Holland. There, skeeler wedstrijden (in-line races) are like a day at the Coliseum, where a festive atmosphere reigns in spite of mass carnage. In my first race, I was torn apart and thrown to the lions - humiliated by men more than three times my age - but it didn't matter so long as I tried my best. Dutch onlookers know and appreciate an honest effort when they see one. Who cares that I was floundering off the back of the pack, desperately trying to regain the draft? The crowd still leaned over the barricades and beat on the advertising placards yelling, "Kom op! Hup! Hup!" (Come on! Go! Go!). Their bloody racket kept the flame alive then and still does when I think of it now.

Whether your own itch to compete is just being kindled or already fully inflamed, satisfaction is always only a race away. Here are some pointers to help prepare for the big day.

The Joy of Skinsuits
When I first started racing 10 years ago, I swore off lycra clothing. I showed up to the start line in Holland wearing fancy skates but baggy clothes. As soon as I tried on a sleek skinsuit like the other boys, however, I discovered its joys. I was the boy aviator in Maurice Sendak's Night Kitchen, losing my doughy clothing in a vat of milk. Part placebo, part irrefutable wind-tunnel evidence, a skinsuit will elevate your racing through the glass ceiling. There are dozens I know, of all sizes and abilities, who after years of avoidance have finally put on a suit and never felt faster.

Race Often
There's nothing like a race to dispel the anxiety of performing in a competition. You'll find it's really not as bad as you think. I have plenty of friends who want to race but are afraid to because they think they're out of shape. I tell them that they've got to race to get into race shape!

Don't Race Too Often
Assemble your bag of racing tricks day to day by practicing the individual parts of a balanced race on separate days of the week. Try long slow distance on Monday, sprinting on Tuesday, tempo training on Wednesday (anaerobic threshold work), explosive plyometrics on Thursday and more endurance work on Friday. The idea is to keep your workouts separate and distinct, so your different energy systems have enough time to recover for the next time the following week. By resting on Saturday, come Sunday you'll be firing on all eight cylinders. You don't even need an actual race to satisfy the urge. Just go out and chase bikes - and the race is on!

Work on Your Angle of Attack
The most aerodynamic position is one where the upper body is so low as to be parallel with the ground. Don't be fooled, though. Speed has more to do with how deeply you can bend your knees (this translates into a longer push) than how low you can go with your upper body. It burns to sit low, so go easy at first and work up to lengthy bouts. Try getting comfortable with two minutes of getting down before attempting more and more and more.

Be Stealthy
Practice the art of sneak attacks. Don't broadcast your moves by making them too audible, because that just primes the competition for a quick neutralizing response. Try adding power quietly to your skating strokes instead of quick choppy ones for the initial pickup. Set your skates down as softly as possible when making a move, to get a good jump on the competition. The faster you go by an unsuspecting pack, the quicker you can create a gap and deflate their aspirations of winning the race.

Wear Glasses
My shades never leave my head, ostensibly because they don't pinch my temples. There's a hidden truth, though. They conceal the specter of cardiovascular distress. When the heat is on, the hurt is visible and, since the eyes are the most sensitive barometers of physical discomfort, I choose to mask the pain with sunglasses. Raccoon eyes, you say? Who cares? As long as my opponents think I'm smiling instead of wincing, I've got the mental edge- and I'm that much closer to beating them.

Use Your Lucky Socks
It may sound silly, but if you have a lucky pair, then by all means wear them! I don't have just one pair of lucky socks, I have two. I wear a thin, lightweight liner that I pull up over my calves for support and outrageous looks, plus a standard thicker pair over the top. The idea behind this double layer approach is to protect my feet from blistering by letting the liner sock take the heat of friction from the outersock and boot, not the skin underneath.

Know Your Motor
Redline is a state of heavy pain, but you'll need it for racing. If you go as hard as you can steadily for 30 minutes when well rested, your heart will naturally find a rate at which it can work without blowing you up. This is your anaerobic threshold (AT), and it can be expressed in terms of blood lactate levels or as a specific heart rate. The better shape you're in, the higher your tolerance will be to withstand high lactate in your blood, the better you'll be able to deliver oxygenated blood to firing muscles, and the higher your anaerobic threshold will climb. Highly trained athletes can have an AT just five beats below their maximum heart rate (at 25, I used to be able to run forever at 194 bpm).

Working with a heart rate monitor is mandatory until you get to know your motor. After a year or two of religious devotion to the monitoring consciousness, you will be able to correlate how you feel with your heart rate. For example, chatting while training = 143 bpm. Not being able to talk anymore while hammering = 186. Lead-heavy arms from sprinting uphill = 199) I was born and bred to race. My blood has not lost the memory of having to run like the wind to catch my dinner. The very marrow in my bones still longs for the thrill of the pursuit and the terror of being pursued. The tools I use for the hunt may have changed, but the visceral need stays the same. I must race - on in-lines - or die.

Eddy Matzger satisfies his need to compete with TWINCAM bearings, Explore Wheels, Salomon skates, PowerBar, Transware sunglasses and Wigwam Socks. For more racing tips and an archive of Eddy's articles, check out www.skatecentral.com