Zen and the Art of Speedskating

Racehorse trainers knew for DECADES before human coaches about the dangers of training monotony. Through timing horses in training & competition, horse trainers figured out that a wide variety of training speeds, systematically applied, is the best way to improve the speed of a mammal (reptiles are quite different). Sure, it’s important to go hard, but it’s also important to go easy & shift the training load around the various energy systems.

So, mercifully, the high 5 speedskating team had a really easy 3 hour bike ride this Sunday. Everyone rode shoulder-to-shoulder in the early morning Utah sun (meaning: not hot yet) and chatted. It’s often psychologically easier to hammer than it is to go slow & introduce the physiological training variety that is essential for improvement.

The mood of the group was goofy at times-

The riding was tabletop nice, and the scenery quite a bit different than the rolling green verticality of upstate N.Y. The Kennecott Smokestack on the left is HUGE! 380 metres/1215 feet high! On the far right you can faintly see the gold domes of the Salt Air resort, here is a really cool 360 panorama of the resort & Salt lake-shore, if you have high speed, check out this 1.5mb version, & see if you can find the rotting bird embedded in the salt flat mud.

Kirk, Eric and Arnim are here, goofing at the front of the group. That is Antelope island, 50 miles away & across the salt lake, in the background. Kirk is such the qwadzilla, I threatened to hook turncables to his bicycle, and make him tow the whole group unless he went slow. Peer pressure worked, and afterwards he claimed our jocular jaunt was “the easiest ride he has ever done”. Good!

Filed under: from the coffee shop