Zen and the Art of Speedskating

Posted on 28 Aug 01:05 pm

Rochester Skate Tribe

It is always good to see friends who “knew you from way back when”.

I know many of the good folks of the Rochester skate tribe, from racing & training in the blizzards of Lake Placid, and also from a dryland clinic I ran for them two seasons ago.

This week three of their members, Tim Doherty, Lisa Floryshak-Windman, and Jim Cornell, flew out to Salt Lake to attend a level 3 speedskating coaching clinic. They had an absolutely fantastic time, and on Saturday morning got to taste the fast & furious ice at the Utah Olympic Oval (it’s a huge shock if you are used to natural ice, or the oval at Lake Placid).

You can see their speed-addled grins here. Well, actually, this bunch is usually smiling. They also have a great sense of humor, and gave me this yellow shirt.

I have skated dozens of inline and ice Marathons, but I sure as heck am not training for them anymore. I think I could survive maybe 5k of a marathon, and then my fast twitch optimized self would simply crumble into tiny flaming bits.

People wring their hands about the state of the sport, the future of this or that. Usually this is talking about the upper orbits inhabited by a tiny number of international caliber athletes & coaches.

However with dedicated volunteers like Tim, Jim, and Lisa (who spent their own money to fly out here and take the course) and so many other folks like them in the 133 clubs that US speedskating has listed, I think the sport will be ok.

(and Lisa, good luck running the Ice Marathon National Championships, I will post a link here once you get your website up & running)

Filed under: from home

6 Responses to “Rochester Skate Tribe”

carla, on August 28th, 2006 at 6:16 pm Said:

Heyyy!! It is good to see them in a picture, too. (And hopefully this winter in person!)
Lisa, on August 29th, 2006 at 5:32 am Said:

Thanks Andrew and Jess (Tim and Jim too) for being a part of my fantastic weekend. Just one quick note, while I would love to skate with such an awesome club (Rochester) I live 6 hours from that neck of the woods. I coach at Newburgh Speedskating which is downstate a bit.

See you on the Hampster wheel!!!
Lisa
Jim, on August 29th, 2006 at 11:24 am Said:

Thanks for everything Andrew! It was great watching your Scott Koons put your training group through a grueling workout.
Tim Doherty, on August 29th, 2006 at 12:04 pm Said:

Hey Andrew

Thank you, to Jess & You again for the trip to Park City, awesome.
The abilty to be the voyeur, & watch the actual training workout of Scott’s,Ryan’s, & Michael’s groups, really gives us a fresh outlook to work with for the upcomming season. You are the best. We do expect more requests for the Yellow Rochester Speed Skating, Nightime Marathon Training shirts, now that they have been released in the southwest.
Tim
Craig Pielechowski, on August 29th, 2006 at 12:19 pm Said:

Our coaches are the greatest! They extend themselves in every way. We appreciate them more than they know. Thanks fellas. Go Rochester!
Kelly P, on August 29th, 2006 at 1:42 pm Said:

LISA!!!!! Glad to see you made it to SLC!! Hey- we have to hit Mocha Lisa’s again next time your in town…nice to share a cup of Joe with ya!!
Good to see Tim & Jim too…you two are traveling everywhere!
See you all soon!!