Zen and the Art of Speedskating

I have had a very reliable alarm clock. Mark Chrysler is a USA speedskater competing here, a longtime friend of Boris’s, and we train together occasionally in Salt Lake. Mark works nights (he is an intensive care medical specialist), so Norwegian time is Mark’s normal workday. He has been my reliable knock on the door getting my sorry jet-laggin butt to breakfast, and has been great conversation as I slowly caffeinate myself towards reality (or at least as close as I ever get). He dragged me out of some really nice dreams this morning, but hey, there was racing to be done!

First of all, here is a picture of the outside of the Vikingskipet. Click on it if you want the big version (I have it on my desktop right now!) It’s truly huge, there are tiny cars parked up to the left of it. I debated photoshopping this a little to bring out details, but I left it true to the real Norway grey!

To my eye, this is not an upside down Viking ship, this looks more like a prehistoric sea creature, or maybe a shot from a Godzilla movie, as Godzilla’s new thickly plated rival scuttles across the Norwegian snows to do battle!

Anyway, warmup went well this morning, I had power, technique, but not much pop to my skating, and I am still somewhat numb after the emotional rollercoaster of Olympic Trials. It was hard to get myself “ready” to race again. But there are over 100 masters athletes from Norway, Germany, Italy, Holland, Romania and Russia here (As well as Mark and I, the lone North Americans). It’s quite a different scene from Olympic trials, and it took a while for me to get into it.

The speedskating records I am trying to break in the men’s 35-40 Masters International records are 38.63 for the 500m, set by Norwegian Ivar Njos, and a 1:18.31 in the 1000m by Dutch Skater Ledo Beeksma. I have skated much faster than both, but on the scary fast ice of salt lake, not on Euro sea level ice.

The IMSSC has put on many races over the last 9 years, and there have been some quality skaters who have thrown down good times. Not world cup times, true, but hey, we are folks with JOBS!!!

I had no pair for the 500m, but that’s fine. I was doing the “easier/less dangerous” 500m with the inner lane start/outer lane finish. The gun went off and I got off the line with a small slip, but I hit my stride quickly, and went 10.5 for the first 100m (should be faster…..), first turn was ok, but I nailed the backstretch with the afterburners raging and felt that sweet sensation and windroar of top speed. I had a shot! I entered the final outer turn, and made a mistake, in Salt Lake, since the speeds are so high on the world’s fastest ice, one gets in the habit of leaning very deeply.

Hamar is at least a second slower per 400m than Salt Lake due to the thicker & damper sea level air. So I entered the final turn a little close to the blocks, leaned over at my normal salt lake lean angle, and suddenly was millimeters from stepping on the inside lane markers and flying into the wall. I didn’t miss a step, but I cut off some of my power through the apex of the turn, barely avoided crashing, made it to the final 100m straightaway and tried to groove & drive. You can’t gain speed on the final 100, all you can do is not slow down, and today, I didn’t!!…. I crossed the line and saw 38.17!!!!!!!!!!

I felt happy in a calm, solid, full-meal kind of way. All sorts of European skaters came over to congratulate me on my age group WORLD RECORD! Here is a picture of the final results sheet.

Officially this is not a World Record, the ISU does not officially recognize masters “World Records” even though they are in negotiation with the International Masters Speed Skating Comittee to do just that, but they recognize the IMSSC as the people who should put on races designed to bring the best older skaters in the world together.

So I usually try to be cautious and always call this by the proper title, a “Masters International” record. But ALL the European skaters who congratulated me called this a “World Record”. So maybe, in my heart, I can let it be that, even if my mouth says something else.

After a round of conversation & back slapping, I got back to the business of warming up properly for my 1000m. It’s really easy to just sit around and chat, and after good races, that is what you want to do. But rinks are COLD, and the body needs to shake out the effort you have just made. So I like getting on the stationary bike, and doing 2-3 maximum RPM sprints & break a brand new sweat. Also it gives you a chance to do the mental visualization of seeing yourself execute perfect technique in the perfect race, over and over.

So now its time for the 1000m, They call myself and German good fella Jens Kroll (I know him from my first trip to Europe) to the line. There is a lot of oxygen in this lowland atmosphere. It’s time for another try at the “skate-to-die” maximum effort!

The 1000m is simply a sprint that is just a little too long, like the 400m running race in track and field, you have to start super hard, and then maintain maximum speed as your legs explode into a thousand flaming bits, it usually hits me about 200 meters to the finish .

When the gun goes off, I get off the line well, hit the tricky first corner and snap through it perfectly. Two arms till 250 meters, then one arm and drive, second corner goes well. I am at maximum speed in the backstretch, in the third corner it starts to hurt. The picture here is from my fastest 1000m at Olympic trials, but at basically the same moment.

Unusually early pain! crap! When I feel it in the 3rd corner, that is not good. I make myself sit lower and drive. I get the bell for the final lap. The 4th, and second to last corner is crucial in the 1000m, spectators can’t see it, but a radar gun would tell you this is where most skaters begin to slow down. So you have to really nail this turn like the race ends right there. I try, and it’s a ragged effort that somehow gets power into the ice.

There are so many masters racing here, they have had to run another pair of racers at the same time. It’s called a quartet start. I come out of the turn, and I am already catching the quartet who 200 meters behind me! My legs are cooked, I miss full weight shift on a few of the strokes, the final corner is completely ugly, and tunnel vision is taking over for the final 50.

I cross the line and there is no time on the scoreboard!! They are not running electronic timing for the 1000m! It is many long minutes till someone announces the time 1:15.71!! Another record, and this is 2.9 seconds faster than the previous record! I am thrilled! And happiness floods me in a much stronger way than after the 500. This truly has been the season of the 1000m for me. Here is the final results sheet. Mark Chrysler had an excellent 1000, super solid technique, and finished first in his age group, and 3rd overall. We Americans are pretty good sprinters, at all ages. I am coughing from this effort for the next several hours, it always amazes me how much you can wreck your body in a shade over a minute.

A European Master congratulates me and says “Your first 200 was very solid, but you were somewhat stiff in the last 200.” Ha! Every 1000m is like that for me!!

Oddly enough, this very respectable Hamar time would have landed me 12th of 19 in the 1000m Norwegian Single Distance Championships, very similar to the 12th of 17 that I was at the US Single Distance Championships in Milwaukee this October!

Thanks for reading, I race again tomorrow, and since this is a single distance competition, tomorrow I am simply gonna take ever risk I can in that 500m final inner turn, and try to go faster!

Filed under: on the road, sweat