Zen and the Art of Speedskating

Snow has been pounding Utah for the last week, but today the clouds parted, and the peaks, wreathed in white, stunningly appeared against a perfect blue western sky. This is the Wasatch Range looking east:

And the very different mood of the Oquirrhs (pronounced like the plural form of the color “ochre”) looking west:

Gosh, its so beautiful out here, and I needed to see this as I drove to the rink. Nature can remind you of the your proper miniscule place in the universe when you are stuck within your own selfish crap. See, I have hit a speed plateau in my skating, and have been frustrated recently.

I probably seem like a reasonable, thoughtful person in this calm & wordy format. But sometimes on the ice I can be quite different; intensely competitive, monomaniacal, focused, obstinate, and angry with myself when the technical flaws I have been working to correct for years keep coming back over and over. Boris deserves a medal for dealing with me these last few weeks, or at least I should buy him a good bottle of vodka. I think a few of his grey hairs are now indisputably my fault.

But the mountains today made me feel better. But all is still not well at the oval, arriving at the rink, I notice my friend & fellow Lake Placid refugee Donald Stewart hobbling around. On Monday he was doing a simple 200m accel, nothing crazy or dangerous, and Donald both felt and heard something go snap-crackle-pop in his left foot. He stood up, and said to Chris Needham who was skating with him, “hey! I think I just broke my foot.”

And he had, in three places actually, two bones in the forefoot and one in the heel. He had a cast put on Monday, and today he cut the cast off and tried to skate. He borrowed tape from me, and this was the result, a wild blend of hockey tape and duct tape. I thought it was quite funny that the tape seemed to match his boots.

He just briefly touched the ice, and was in quite a bit of pain, although he put a brave face on it. 28 days to go till Olympic trials is not a good time to break your foot!!!

There are quite a few people who are hurt or sick at the oval right now, intense athletic demands exacts an intense price. All of this reminds me to be happy for the few things I do right when I skate, the mountains, a coach who puts up with my crap, and my overbuilt-clydesdale solid skeleton!

3 Comments »
Filed under: from home

I am in a post-Calgary skating-induced exhausted-soul hangover, so it’s a perfect time to post my interview with the indefatigable, energetic, always entertaining coach Bob Fenn! I taped this interview November 20th, the final day of the Salt Lake World Cup.

When I first skated indoor long track ice at the Pettit center in Milwaukee, I was just another inline-to-ice convert windmilling & waddling my way down the ice. One of the first people to come up to me, say hello, and give me some technical tips, was Bob Fenn. I had no idea who he was. Now I am aware of the amazing athletes he has coached, and the decades he has invested in this sport. This man’s open hearted nature lead him to be that same welcoming voice to other converts like K.C. Boutiette and Derek Parra, as well as countless junior skaters, who even if they never reached the skating stratosphere, will always have fond memories of Bob “Roscoe” Fenn.

This interview is broken up into 4 parts, so audioblog’s video converter does not throw up all over the place. Its vintage Bob, press the play button and enjoy!

Part 1
Here Bob reveals how many years he has been involved with skating, what he does for his day job, the list of notable skaters he has worked with, his connection to George Steinbrenner, and the many people who have touched him over the years.

Part 2
Bob theorizes on why he thinks Shani Davis is successful, his most powerful memories of the 1988 games, the single most amazing thing he has ever seen on skates, his own proudest moment as an athlete, and what the most important ingredients are in the coach/athlete relationship.

Part 3
Bob forgot to thank an old friend, Eric Hendricksen.

Part 4
The Zen 10 Speed Round!!! Short questions ranging from the best legs Bob has ever seen on a speedskater, to what song he always sings along with on the radio.

Thanks Bob!!

About an hour after we finished this interview, one of Bob’s current skaters, Shani Davis, set the 1000m world record!

Here is Bob celebrating!

(and I was in the stands, celebrating along with them as well…. this pic is from dutch TV)

13 Comments »
Filed under: Audio/Video, Zen 10 Questions:

I am writing from a hotel room in Calgary, this is my 4th thanksgiving in a row “on the road” away from family pursing skating, and my 4th time in Calgary itself (3rd time racing the Can-Am). It does suck to be far away on turkey day, but like any moth doggedly battering itself on a porch light, once I made my choice to pursue skating with every ounce of commitment, a lot of other choices cascaded from that, including missing thanksgiving these past 4 years.

However, unlike in years past, when during the traditional american communal feasting I would sit in my hotel room alone eating things like Wendy’s, Asian take-out, or just a big pile of deviled eggs (one of my “comfort foods”), this time my Brother has joined me in Calgary!

He decided that this was a good excuse to visit a part of the world he has never seen, and it’s been great hanging out with him, even if he picks on me all the time. His blog posts about his woes traveling here, & my issues with airports, and then other posts about my general/systemic lack of a clue, are only a tiny portion of the grief I am getting from him. It’s great to hang out with someone who shares so many of my own faults & eccentricities, and even takes them to a new level.

For example, today we drove from Calgary up to Banff, and as we were winding among the mountains in our rental car, we come around a corner and are blown away by this view.

After a long moment of awestruck silence, I begin this Obi-wan Kenobi quote, and David and I are both shouting it by the end.

That’s no moon, it’s a space station!

(bonus points if anyone can name the other movie & context where someone says this to great effect)

David has posted a ton a wonderful photos from Banff today, you can see them on his blog here. I lived in Colorado for 8 years, and thought I would be jaded to see more (yawn) huge mountains. But Banff is absolutely spectacular beyond any words or jpgs. A huge thank you goes out to my cool in-laws who told me I really needed to see this, Thanks Peg & Lore!!!

Hanging out with my Bro has distracted me quite well from the fact that I felt pretty crappy both times I have skated here, I should be reaching my highest speeds of the year right now, but something is not clicking. 4 days away from the ice when the World Cup was in Salt Lake, and also adjusting to a new pair of skates (more about my “death star disco skates” in a week or so) and I feel like I have slipped backwards somewhat. I got a really nice email from coach Boris though, a giant bullet point list of things for me to mentally rehearse & visualize during each phase of each race. The final bullet point of technical instructions for what I should do as I cross the finish line states this:

• as usually, look at the clock and celebrate life.

I could not agree more. Just someone remind me of that if I screw up my races, and am all pissed off.

9 Comments »
Filed under: on the road

Chad got to hang his name on the wall of records at the Utah Olympic oval. They brought out a lift, and Chad was hoisted up to add his name and 1500m record time to the wall of honor.

In other observation of the world cup, in the words of some of the best US skaters, the German & Chinese women “skate like dudes!”. One of the Chinese female sprinters looks BIGGER THAN ME!! In both height and muscle. Of course that is both flattering and unflattering to say… But they seem very different than the American, Canadian, & Japanese skaters, who do beat them often, but somehow seem more like women in stance, style, & body language.

I don’t think they “Skate like dudes” because of chemical assistance, although that was certainly true in the past. It’s more likely that the Germans & Chinese follow a completely different, mega-power based approach to skating… They must lift 5 times a week!!! Even more importantly, I bet their sport philosophy idealizes a different kind of athlete, a big, strong, monster power athlete as the “ideal skater”. I bet the Canadians & Americans gravitate to individuals who display “technical feel” for the ice, and the Japanese idealize & promote skaters who are “Cheetah’s” of natural fast twitch aptitude.

Heck, in the USA, long track speedskating is so small, we gladly accept ANY people! Cheetahs, Wildebeest, Rhinos and Giraffes, if you are alive, come on out and skate!!!

(all of this said, German superstar Anni Friesinger is HOT, a beautiful woman in every respect, the pictures linked here do not do her justice, but she still skates with the power of a Dude)

I also got to hang out with some cool Dutch fans. They knew rising star Ireene Wust, and came from the same small town she does. I felt quite comfortable in this friendly ocean of orange.

Here is the unique body position of Norwegian Peter Andersen, the Dutch joke that he practically “licks the ice” as he skates, as his unique personal body geometry brings his shoulders very low. I love watching this 10 year veteran of the world cup attack races. The crucial thing to notice is that even though his shoulders are weirdly low, his extension is tremendous and his hips are perfect in their position. Everyone has an individual style, but there are elements of technique that remain essential. Andersen exhibits a whole lotta style and a ton of essential.

Also at today’s world cup the men’s 500m and 5k world records both fell…. Both incredible races… Sven Kramers last 2 laps of his 5k were 28.8 and 28.1. That is like a runner popping off two 4 minute miles at the end of a marathon… wow. Chad was pissed his 5k WR was gone. I am sure it will be more fuel in his psychological fires, that man is a total competitor.

Here is a photo I took just before Joji Kato’s 500m world record, He is paired with good guy, and Zen 10 interviewee Joey Cheek. There are many layers of “seeing” here. The skaters are focusing down the track, gathering a lifetime of training & focus into this race, the crowd is focusing on them, the television camera is focusing on Joey’s fast feet, and through that lens, televisions throughout the world see this race, & skaters will see this race captured on tape, over and over, and finally, there is me and my camera, capturing this image & the ideas swirling about it, all leading to the final viewer, you and your computer screen.

30.3 seconds after this pic was shot, 20 year old Joji Kato became the new 500m world record holder. Wanna see it? Download a .zip file here that uncompresses to a realplayer video from Dutch TV. A skater told me that once Joji’s blades were damaged on a plane trip to a race in Herenveen, so he borrowed a pair from a team-mate that were waaay too short. He has such a feel for the ice, he skated one practice on them, & won the next day anyway!

Joey is such a class act, he realized what just happened, and congratulates Joji. If you want a larger version of this pic for your desktop, click on it. Just don’t sell it… or if you do, send me some $!!!

ok, its 11:15am, and now I have to go watch the final day of racing…

5 Comments »
Filed under: from home

The skating world is buzzing about Chad Hedrick’s 1500m world record, and it was an astonishing thing to watch. He is the first man in history to go under 1:43. Incredible. He swallowed more pain during that last 400m than most can even conceive of, the picture here, 120 meters from the finish, tells some of the story.

There is even more of a sense of unreality that I had to come home and update Chad’s website, and post my video of his race! It’s an emotional thing, to see someone you know do something so almost….. otherworldly….. I wonder how it feels to be Chad!!

I have work to do, I have been on edge all day today, and my energy is crashing, so here are a few pics of the world cup vibe. Since much of this race was televised (and on the internet, you can usually get realplayer format world cup videos here) I just watched, cheered my heart out for the athletes, and took a few offbeat pictures.

Gotta love the Dutch fans. I should have asked this guy if I could pose with the hat. Also deserving honorable mention were Jannicke & her singing Norwegian friends.

Skaters Mark Chrysler, Ron Macky, and Rodney Kopish approached today as if it were a football game; they were tailgating in the parking lot beforehand, and were quite drunk by the time the races were happening.

Drinking? In Utah? Check out the folks getting blitzed at the VIP liquor bar, while my friend Eva Rodansky races her heart out in the last corner of the 1000m. I wonder who these people were? Some said that they were foreign journalists, but whatever, it felt oddly rude to me. Only one face is even turned to see Eva go by. Check out the waiter in black tie on the left of the pic. Yep, VIP liquor, not skating fans.

A local security guard, preferred to turn his back on the real action, and watch the Dutch TV feed, he is even eating as he was watching.

Japanese skater at the start line, notice the lump of her hair, in a very, uuuh, left centered spot under her hood. There was much conjecture from our group wondering if this balance helped her turn left.

Maybe this is a bit of a depressing entry, but there was Olympic Class talent putting on incredible displays of effort, on the fastest ice on earth, and most US high schools play football to bigger crowds than were here.

1 Comment »
Filed under: sweat, from home