.24 & .39 of failure
I went as hard as I could, threw down my best race, and missed the 1000m Olympic trials qualifying time by .24 on Sunday, and .39 seconds on Saturday. It hurt, a lot, and I am not talking about race pain.
I will have my final chance to qualify next weekend. I know I will be skating faster than the qualifying time of 1:16.08 soon, but maybe not soon enough.
Pictured below is my transition into corner #3 on Saturday. Given my 27.2 second lap time, this is roughly 33 mph. Shoulders square, good lean & drive. Technically, this was about as good as I can do. I did have a lactic-acid train wreck on the last 200m of this race, but that is the 1000.
I should not be as hyper-competitive about this as I am. Only 22 men in the USA have skated faster than the qualifying time this season, and they are all full time athletes whose job is speedskating.
I do work a lot, and have Daddy responsibilities on top of that. But yaknow, the forces that drive athletes spring from irrational wells within us. My mind knows I’m only about 1 second slower in the 1k than I was when I was training full time. My heart, however, is stupid.
It’s not age, I’m sure of that, this season more than ever. The hard thing is creating the time to train & prepare the very complex puzzle pieces that create a fast speedskating race.
One really good thing about being a Dad is that after the races, when I was feeling like burned crap, I hear this familiar squeak from the edge of the rink. I went and picked up my daughter, and skated a lap with her, making zoomy airplane noises.
She was so happy, and did not want me to stop. It lifted my spirits hugely. Thanks for being there RZ, your joy is so much more than any skate-induced pain.
Filed under: RACE DAY
Hang in there–we’ve all had those days! At times like this I sometimes visit one of my favorite websites:
http://www.despair.com/fail24×30pri.html
The posters are good for a laugh, and for putting things in perspective.
I assume you are still trying for Olympic Trials 2 / Nationals in December? No worries?
Heidi,
that poster is a spirit lifter, in it’s wierd way.
I have already qualified in the 500m, and will skate it.
As for December, US Speedskating has this insanely weird rule, where you must qualify for DECEMBER BY OCTOBER 12th.
going against years of precedent, you cannot qualify in the time before December trials.
Weird, eh?
crapus maximus, that means i have ONE chance to skate a qualifying time; this weekend, at pettit time trials. the catch: i’ve only skated ONCE this year! this will be cold-turkey, all-or-nothing, skater instinct/cyclist fitness effort…my hopes lie in the 3K; anything shorter requires too much speed technique practice that i don’t have right now…
for you, it’s lacking enough time to be as competitive as you want, and for me, it’s lacking time to even consider myself to be a competitive speedskater at all!
so i totally understand where you’re coming from, as far as lacking training-focused time!
so congratulations on the race you have qualified in, stay positive and hope for the best when it comes to the 1000, and keep up the awesome attitude you are blessed to achieve thanks to RZ!
Andrew,
1.16.08 is a Hell of a fast time and being so close is a terrific achievement.
Be positive for next weekend..
I’m sure there’s a lot of us readers out here (like me)who will be with you in our minds, hoping you’ll get it next weekend!
Oh wow, I didn’t know about the Oct 12th rule. Why bother running two Olympic trials, then?? I know there must be some convoluted B.S. explanation, but at the end of the day, it’s still probably B.S. Thank you US speedskating, for ensuring that Minnesota- and Lake Placid-based skaters have no place in US speedskating. My season is (motivationally) over before it even started…
There’s still a shot after this one? Awesome!
Van,
right attitude.. and given how friggin awesome I felt at practice today, it is the right attitude. I am just one or two subtle changes away from the time I need.
Heidi,
I agree, I have confirmed this with US speedskating’s Chris Weaver, he said the USOC views December as a continuation of the October process.
I still think its NUTS, and totally discriminates, as you rightly point out, against Minnesota & lake placid based athletes.
I will email Chris, and ask him to clarify.
I too heard this from Chris, and I think I was the first one to bring it to his attention, because he didn’t believe it when I told him (he had to go look it up). When he read the rules and saw that that was indeed what they said, he said it was undoubtedly a mistake and he’d get back to me after clarifying. When I got back to him, he said that US Speedskating had had a conference call and decided that they “had to stick to the rule they had written.” Personally, I wonder if the rule as written was actually an oversight–that they just cut-and-pasted the October rules into the December info, and didn’t realize the date issue. Whatever happened, it is indeed unfortunate for those of us with limited ice time! I’ll be curious to see if anyone gets further clarification…
And Andrew–good luck next weekend!!
ah, Andrew,
thanks for still bein’ fast.
n evertheless.. i think yer left arm was a wee bit too stiff,..like stickin’ out? and ye hooked that left skate in a wee bit too fast.. ain’t hindsight great from the peanut-gallery coaches?
i love ye, man
git yer s..t together if ye want te make the qualifyin’..?
[…] Love’s most recent entry is .24 & .39 of failure. If it was up to me, I would name the entry .24 & .39 of inspiration; I do work a lot, and have […]
Andrew- I think we all know how hard it is when we are oh-so-close. We play it over and over at nauseum what we could-a, should-ve done to grasp those few precious seconds. Keep plugging- you are an amazing skater and it will happen.
Now, from the famous line from “Moonstruck”; “Snap out of it!”
Get your ass on the ice and skate like the wind!
See you at trials!
Oh don’t get me started.
“Guarda la luna, la bella luna. It’s Cosmo’s moon!”
Him: “A bride with out a head!” Her: “A wolf without a foot!”
“You’ll eat your meat bloody. It’ll feed your blood.”
“Don’t break the house!”
And so many more… GOD I LOVE THAT MOVIE!!!!!!
Lucky little girl go zoooommm!
How amazingly thrilling it must be to go so fast, so close to the ground, and so completely safe with Dad.
Be ware of that go-fast thing - last weekend my little girl flew a plane for the first time!
kate
Hello from Russia!
Can I quote a post in your blog with the link to you?