Team Yukon speed skaters are upping the tempo despite a lull in their training schedule.

That lull is a gap between the Edmonton Winter Classic in December and the upcoming development camp for Yukon and Alaskan speed skaters at the Canada Games Centre from Jan. 28-30.

Whitehorse's Troy Henry and Mengyao "Maggie” Qi will run the camp, which falls more than a week before Team Yukon heads east to Halifax, N.S., for the Canada Winter Games.

The Games are a competition Henry knows something about after having competed in the 2007 Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse and in four Arctic Winter Games, starting in 2002. He currently trains at the Olympic Oval in Calgary.

One of his best performances came at the 2008 Arctic Games in Yellowknife where he won bronze as part of the junior relay team and four gold medals in the 500 metre, 777m, 1,000m and 1,500m.

Qi was once one of the top short track speed skaters in the world as a member of China's National Speed Skating Team, capping off her career by winning gold in the 3,000m relay in the 2006 World Junior Championships.

She came to Canada in 2009 and since then has been coaching high-performance skaters with the Calgary Speed Skating Club.

Not bad company to be in before Team Yukon – Donald Fortune, Heather Clarke and Shea Hoffman – head to the Winter Games on Feb. 11.

Fortune welcomes the pointers expert coaches from Outside offer.

"You can definitely see an improvement,” said Fortune, who will turn 18 at the end of the month.

Clarke agreed, adding that she improves from hearing other perspectives of her technique.

"Every coach has different thoughts and tips and advice, so it's good to get advice from a bunch of different people and put it together,” 16-year-old Clarke said.

Debby Fisher, Speed Skating Hall of Fame coach and consultant at the Olympic Oval, was the last expert voice to visit in September.

Clarke is hoping this month's camp will help her get back into training after she suffered a minor concussion while competing in Edmonton last month.

The 16 year old crashed into the mat when she fell in the semi-finals of the 1,000m race, forcing her to sit out the rest of the events.

"I haven't really had anything like that (happen) before; that's really my first big crash or big injury. The worst part was just not being able to skate the rest of my races while I was there. I only did two races, and then I had to sit and watch the whole time.”

She took two weeks off from skating after that and, following doctor's orders, gradually started training harder, especially in the past two weeks.

"I just remember, after I fell in Edmonton, my first thought was: ‘I'm going to train so hard after this,' and it was just discouraging to come back and realize that I actually couldn't train so hard after. Tonight I feel really good and back on track, so it just feels good to be back,” Clarke said at the Canada Games Centre last night.

"It's kind of been a long process; there hasn't been a day where I come back and feel, ‘Oh I'm good again,' it's kind of been going based on how I feel; so when I started back each practice I'd push myself a little bit more and my head wouldn't hurt and I'd feel fine so I'd just keep going and it just felt great to be back on track again.”