1:16.66
Tried as hard as I could, had a good race-
dove headfirst into the pain cave till my legs locked up completely (and my knee bend was much less than this) and was still .58 too slow for the Olympic Trials qualifying 1000m time.
Oddly enough, I am ok right now. My “brother-by-another-mother” Kirk last week gently reminded me how blessed my life is. I have an amazing kid, a great wife, I love my job, see the sunrise over the mountains driving to work. Etc, etc.
Yeah, speedskating matters, but other things matter more. My glass is 99% full, and not just with coffee or wine.
Will I feel a pang watching the 1000’s at Olympic trials instead of racing them? Of course I will. But I will miss being around RZ more during my stay in Wisconsin. My daughter is figuring out walking now. Such a determined little girl.
Chad Hedrick’s little one started crawling this week too.. Babies are everywhere!
So many awesome athletes, people who train their friggin brains out & live for speedskating, missed qualifying for Trials by tiny amounts. I started writing a list, but it was too long.
I understand why one should have qualifying times for a prestigious competition, but is the current list of times performing it’s job, or are these times making an already small sport, even smaller?
Filed under: from the coffee shop
Andrew, sorry you didn’t make the 1000! I’ll give you another thing to be grateful for, though–you DID qualify in an event. Good luck in the 500!
And now, since it’s cold and snowy here and that’s making me think longingly of skating–but the Oval has been closed for inlining for the past 5 weeks and won’t open for ice for another 4 weeks–I’m going to wax philosophical on you. (That’s another thing to be grateful for, by the way–you have ice! I’m sick of dryland, and am missing my skating-adrenaline-endorphin fix badly!). Anyway, you ask if the current time standards are a good or bad thing. I’m responding from the standpoint of someone who wanted to make the qualifying time but didn’t (not even close). I qualified for the US Championships in the 3K in ‘07, and during that meet skated a 5K that was only one second slower than the (then) qualifying time. So, I set qualifying for the Olympic Trials this year as my next goal. And then US Speedskating dropped the qualifying times–a lot. That, combined with some physical issues last season, put achieving a qualifying time well out of my reach.
I don’t know if it’s a good or a bad thing for the sport, but from my selfish standpoint, it’s unfortunate. Skating the US Championships was the coolest thing I’ve ever done, athletically. I’m old (46 in a week), and certainly was no threat to anyone there–my goal was to not finish last, and I didn’t; tenth out of eleven! So yeah, I obviously didn’t need to be there from a “US Championship” standpoint. Still, there were only 11 women in the allaround–and 3 of us were definitely in that “just happy to be there” category. So–only 8 skaters who were really in contention? I can’t help but wonder whether, if some things were done differently, there might not be more skaters–and more skaters, one would think, would inevitably lead to more FAST skaters. Our sport is small, and seems to be getting smaller…which is a scary thing.
Still, I’m just looking at this from my own selfish viewpoint–I still look back on those races on 07 as one of the high points of my “athletic life” (and your video of that event has a special place in my heart, too–every time I hear “Sweet Child ‘o Mine” I have to stop for a moment and reminisce), and I would love to have another opportunity to make more memories like that. (I know, I know–train harder and get faster and then I can!). Realistically, my goals now are all Masters-event related, which is probably as it should be…but I’m still eternally grateful that I had the opportunity that I did, and a bit sad that realistically, I won’t ever have another opportunity like that…
So, skate fast, and enjoy!
Thanks Kaari,
one argument for making the “Olympic trials/Nationals” tent a little bit bigger, is that imagine 50 more athletes out there, as hardworking & dedicated as Kaari–
then more people will be making a living from speedskating coaching, more people passionately skating helps clubs thrive, more $ for the rinks themselves, the list can be expanded…
It’s “trickle-up”. ..
I don’t want to sound like I am sour grapes about this… I should have simply skated faster. But my own experience is being repeated over and over… I am seeing quite a few very good people, who are the bread & butter of the sport, having a hard time.
Andrew-
Speaking as a newcomer with backgrounds in other sports, I am in the disappointed-not-to-qualify crowd (barring some miracle in the 10k tomorrow by which I skate just under double my PB 5k time). I think that more people being allowed in would bring not just a bigger number of participants, but a much wider exposure, since each of those participants will tell family and friends. This extended group may look casually, or they might watch and cheer. The event might spur them to get involved, or to get their children involved. As we know, speedskating races are addictive and present many things that are right with the sport. In any case, it raises the profile of the sport, which attracts a bigger and better pool of athletes.
It seems odd to me, also, to set cutoff times based on World Championship performances. Wouldn’t it make more sense to base qualifying times on US championship performances? I look at the distance events as an example, maybe because that’s where I have focused. There were only 3 US men who were cat 1 in the 10k last year, based on the world record time. Granted, these are some of the fastest men in the world, but a bigger pool of skaters would increase our chances of producing more men to compete there. Keeping the time cutoff low serves only to keep this small group small, and does nothing to help improve distance skating in the US.
Milwaukee offers a 10k about once a season in time trials, so if you don’t skate it perfectly in your one chance a year to skate the event, you’re out of luck (tomorrow will be my first ever 10k, the first one offered here since I started skating). Raising the time standards would give more people opportunities to skate these events in competitions, gaining experience that can only help them.
Sorry, just the ramblings of an exhausted new parent and master’s skater about a year-and-a-half into speedskating who would have qualified for ‘06 trials with times this year.
Nat–GOOD LUCK!! You had an awesome 5K a couple of weeks ago…just keep remembering that! Oh, and I agree with your and Andrew’s sentiments–the way I look at it, you can’t build a high pyramid without starting with a huge base! Make the base of skaters bigger and you’ll eventually make the elite group better.
Okay, where’s my investors? I keep getting asked how soon I’m gonna get going on building the oval up in Sumas. Nice thing is, it will be in a high visibility location on a busy highway.
How about an oval somewhere in the Northeast? High population density, lots of skaters (figure and hockey). And no visibility for speedskating…
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Okay, I agree with that, too, Nat!
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For future reference, look at your keester in the photographs.
Now look at Brent’s.
Just a thought…
Despite the disappointment (not to mention the goofiness of the trials system), being able to participate at 500 meters is an accomplishment many of us just dream of. Get ‘em.