Zen and the Art of Speedskating

I am exhausted, happy, and it’s late… so this will be short…

Many of the folks I talked to agree that there is more tension & intensity in this weekend’s races today than at Nationals last year. An Olympic year changes everything. What will Olympic trials be like?!?!?

Full results from todays events are here. Casey Fitzrandolph broke the 500m track record, and Shani Davis broke the 1500m.

I need to go to bed, but I am very happy, In my day 2 500m I skated a 37.77, within .02 of my own PB here at the Pettit, and it felt fast. 2 of my 3 races here were quite satisfying, close to the maximum of what I can do right now. Thanks to everyone who wished me well here in the comments section, and in personal emails. It really means a lot to me. I might never skate at warp 9 like the Olympians do, but warp 7 feels amazing, and is enough. I will fly home on Monday satisfied.

Maybe I am guilty of setting myself internal goals rather than external ones. Maybe I am racing emotionally “in my own lane” just like I physically race on the track, only occasionally crossing the path of others.

There are some skaters who are going to bed tonight probably pretty upset that they were not in that top 5 that makes the Fall World Cup team, upset that they have spent a huge chunk of their lives on this particular skill, and today did not measure up the way they wanted.

I don’t envy them. Maybe it’s because I had 31 years of life before I ever touched long track ice, maybe it’s because of different expectations, but I am quite content with my 14th place of the 22 500m racers today, in both my 500m races, I lined up against guys wearing the USA, and even though I lost both races, I was there, and belonged there (my pair today was Tyler Goff, and hey Tyler, nice race, fantastic backstretch… you have improved a ton this year, and I know you read this blog!).

After watching the 500m races, and seeing skaters blast through the final inner turn at insane velocity and lean angles, My friend Kirk’s dad said “wow, I know way too much about physics to watch this”

Filed under: on the road