Zen and the Art of Speedskating

To the right of this entry are images I’ve taken of European Masters athletes, what photos can’t convey are the warm & friendly conversations I have had with many of the good folks pictured here.

This year, World Masters Speedskating Championships will be in Calgary, Canada from February 22nd to the 25th.

Registration opened October 10th. The Canadians have already filled their quota of 91 skaters, the Dutch are sending 70, 50 Norwegians will participate, as well as a “bracer” of Germans, a “blizzard” of Finns, a “precision” of Swiss, and an “enthusiasm” of Italians.

The USA has been offered 51 starting spots, and so far, according to Ross Hanham’s excellent Masters speedskating newsblog, we have only filled 11!! December 10th is the absolute deadline!

My fellow Americans! Let’s show up and rock!! I can think of at least a couple dozen American skaters, who represent the best of this sport (in both soul and speed) who really ought to be on that starting line.

From a technique & fitness perspective, I think American Masters stack up very well with the rest of the world. You can download the entry blank and find more information on the Calgary Oval website.

Masters Worlds are a truly unique opportunity to line up with skaters from other countries in a “world-cup” style atmosphere, and share in the wonderful camaraderie that results.

Many say that Olympic sports are unique because athletes “do it for the love of the sport”. I would argue that this is more true on the masters level than any other. With the multitude of obstacles older athletes face, to step to the start line when you are over 30, usually means you simply just LOVE to skate.

In this spirit, and essential to these events are the large group banquets that happen. English seems to be the default language that the Europeans use to communicate with each other, so even for the average monolingual American, it’s easy to chat with folks.

I have just been offered the position of US rep to the IMSSC, the organization that runs these events, as Mary O’Donnell is stepping down, and I have truly enjoyed the half dozen Masters International races I have been to. Usually I go to the sprint classic in Inzell or the Masters International in Milwaulkee, but I just can’t miss this Calgary race, even though it’s an allaround meet, and my 5k will be good for a laugh for anyone watching. 12.5 laps!! In a row!! ouch!!

When you really come down to it, racing is one of the most effective memory making machines there is, and some of my best memories are from Masters International Events.

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Filed under: from the coffee shop

There is some color now in Salt Lake, no true leaf piles to speak of, but underneath certain trees one can shuffle along ankle deep in the leaves, or relax in them and watch the squirrels overhead madly preparing for hibernation.

Hibernation would be a good idea if winter sports weren’t such a blast. Ever since I was a kid freezing my butt off at crack-o-dawn outdoor hockey practices, fall & winter has always meant sports.

Mom & Dad, thanks for driving me to all those pre-sunrise practices & games. As a kid, I selfishly expected nothing other than total parental devotion. As an adult, I realize how much that must have sucked. My brother and I agree you are some of the best parents ever…

I am still using many of my hockey skills on a daily basis, not the checking or the slapshots, but everything else, as for those skills–

Ya’know you are in for it, when the coach brings the trash can right out to the ice, opens the lid, and announces before the workout “some of you may need this today”. This created some nervous laughter in our group, because he was right…

That particular day was one of the hardest things I have ever done on skates, and although no one puked, many (myself included) were dazed & retching between sets.

Scott has promised our group some of the hardest weeks of training of our lives. Often as the “old fart” on a team of extremely talented young guns, I wonder how my body will recover on a daily/weekly basis from the volume & intensity we do. Even though I am older than the parents of some of my fellow skaters, so far, so good. In fact, I feel stronger than ever.

But all work and no play makes a man a dull, so this past weekend I went to see the Australian Pink Floyd show with some friends. Jannicke took these pictures, and gave me permission to re-print them.

I have seen the REAL Pink Floyd twice, and this is my second time seeing the Aussie Floyd Show, and they are just as good.

How good are they? I have never seen a 75 foot tall angry gyrating pink Kangaroo before, and I bet you haven’t either. There also was a giant floating pig with glowing eyes, the first time I saw Aussie Floyd, they had an airplane crash into the stage just like floyd does.

Over 8,000 people were there, most of us singing along with every word.

Why is it that some music just bypasses all your defenses, and resonates right with your guts? Floyd hit my soul like a bomb when I was 13, and even though 22 years have passed since, it still moves me like nothing else.

If you should go skating
On the thin ice of modern life
Dragging behind you the silent reproach
Of a million tear-stained eyes
Don’t be surprised when a crack in the ice
Appears under your feet.
You slip out of your depth and out of your mind
With your fear flowing out behind you
As you claw the thin ice.


The thin ice, from the Album “The Wall”

Pink Floyd’s music is not woven from the happiest stuff, but sometimes neither is real life.

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Filed under: from the coffee shop

In possibly the best odd skating picture ever, this is Mike Kooreman, coach of the New Edge Short track team out here at the Utah Olympic Oval, doing a warp-speed pivot with a cup of coffee in his hand.

2 great things that go well together! I should try this sometime on the long track, maybe with a huge mug of coffee in hand I could finish a 5k. Mike said that this actually was surprisingly hard, as the coffee cup was quite a bit of drag when it touched the ice (and yes, that is a Thundercats sticker on his helmet).

I first saw this on my friend nick’s blog (and thanks Nick for the nice things you say about me there) and I asked for permission from the New Edge team to republish the photo here.

Any short tracker wanting to take that next step, I highly recommend Mike’s coaching and this program, they just found some local sponsors, and are rocking!

Also on the web, 4 days after the competition was over, they finally posted the results of last weekend’s world cup qualifier races. You can see the men’s results here, and the women’s here.

On my first day back on Utah ice, as I was doing some very dejected laps (legs are fine, but my heart has seen better days) I chatted with Mike, he said he missed 5 world cup teams by tiny margins, and knows exactly how I feel.

Although we did not talk about it, it’s part of skating recent history that Mike lost 2 years in the prime of his career because he BROKE HIS BACK taking his luggage off of the baggage claim at an airport in China. He was there for a world cup short track race, and from what I heard of what happened, just grabbed something heavy at an awkward angle.

I have no idea what THAT horrid experience must feel like, except that there is a true lesson in there about being thankful for every day of health one has, no matter the result of “races” or other measures of “success” in life. As a friend said to me once “health is wealth”.

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Filed under: from the coffee shop

Do one thing everyday that scares you.
-Eleanor Roosevelt

Everything is sweetened by risk.
-Alexander Smith

Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.
-General George S. Patton

If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.
-Mario Andretti

Sometimes you just have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down.
-Kobi Yamada

Thanks to Jannicke’s cool Mum Carolyn, for these images.

Sorry for the silence over the last few days; I feel both an obligation and internal desire to post regularly here, but I had a hard time recovering properly from this past weekend’s races.

I feel great now, but I think that when too tired to carry on proper conversation with anyone other than the dog, blogging is a bad idea.

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Filed under: from the coffee shop

Life is good, training is hard, and the taste of fall is in the air. Jeans and sweaters are emerging from closets, and speedskaters all over the world are eagerly anticipating the race season now only a few weeks away.

Also, in Utah, now it’s possible to now to stand outside at noon without the high altitude sun feeling like a propane blowtortch.

Thanks to all who commented on my last post. Maybe I shouldn’t try to write when exhausted, but I have come out of it pretty well, and my fitness & speed are improving every time I step on the ice.

Here are some briefly noted items in the news:

US speedskating found a new allaround coach in Chris Shelly, he arrived today in Salt Lake, and I had a nice chat with him, as we are both Lake Placid folks.

US speedskating is also very close to a major sponsorship agreement with dutch bank DSB. And if that deal goes through, it would solve MANY conflicts. How many bank websites have a speedskater on their home page? This one does.

Speaking of DSB affiliated skaters, Chad Hedrick not only one of the world’s best speedskaters, he also passed the Lilly test extremely well. He is very much a dog person, and was Lilly’s best friend in a few moments. Lilly was quite abused before we got her, and is often frightened of new people, especially men.

For most Homo sapiens, Chad’s accomplishments pre-dispose a positive reaction to him. But for a Canis lupus familiaris, a gold medal means less than a dog biscuit. Lilly can be one finicky dog to impress, but within a few moments of this photo (and a few biscuits), she was sitting on his feet with complete trust.

In other interesting tidbits, I came across this cool video shot from the middle of a huge paceline of older guys doing nighttime endurance skating at the Haarlem oval in the Netherlands. I think they are crusing along relaxedly at 22-23mph

(let me know if this video link gives your browser trouble, or screws up how the blog loads, you can acesss it directly here.)

This video struck me because I was speaking with a teammate of mine about nighttime skating this morning. Although her associations are from the Minnesota Roseville 400m oval and mine from Lake Placid, we agreed that there is a wonderful feeling when the lights come on, and how on certain mild evenings, one can truly feel flight, and simply want to skate forever.

When the session ends, and you step off the ice, it often feels like one is leaving something temporary, beautiful, and magical behind.

We also agreed, when it’s brutally cold or blizzarding, then nighttime skating can be pretty awful, but we prefer to remember the beautiful evenings.

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Filed under: from the coffee shop