Zen and the Art of Speedskating

I turned 38 today.

I’ve never been successful at writing about getting older, and that’s odd because I’m pretty good at talking about it-

but I do have one picture I am happy with.

This is me, the day I turned 36, skating during a global warming inspired evening at Lake Placid. It must have been 50 degrees and skating was comfortable with no gloves or hat.

It was so beautiful, the lights, 1980 Olympic buildings & the sky reflecting across drenched ice. The skates were throwing roostertails of water like powerboats.

I just kept skating and skating.

My family was in Placid too, and I knew that the moment I stepped off the ice, I’d be having dinner with them & the whole assortment of excellent people that is the east coast skate tribe in town for the Jack Shea races the next day.

(and we were singing in the rain all weekend, this link is probably the best skate video I’ve ever done)

So instead of putting on the macro-lens & trying to gain perspective, I am zooming the focus the other way.

This one moment, this one day, this one life, this sensation of flight that completes me & the good people I have met while pursuing it. I will let this moment stand to explain all others. It’s good.

(post written while baby-wrangling; RZ, you complete me too!)

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Filed under: from the coffee shop

The allarounders will get their video soon, but the sprinters are out of the gate first. I honestly had this song “Seven Nation Army” running through my head as I was watching the skaters whiz by.

Here are the complete results for the men, and the results for the women.

Click here for the high quality quicktime, or start the youtube below.

Complete Shotlist

Clay James Cholewinski, 500m start
Matt Shanahan being chased by Chris Needham
Trevor Marsicano stepping onto the ice
The warmup lane & pads at the Pettit
Elli Ochowicz & Heather Richardson, 1k
Tony Sargent, 500m start
Mitchell Whitmore, 500m
Christopher Needham, 1k start
Shani Davis & Brent Aussprung, 1k
Michael Stein-Stewart, 500m start
Rollshot just after warmup
Rebekah Bradford, 500m corner
Ashlee Barnett & Erica Lanser, after a 1k
Parker Vance, whoosh!! 10.06 opener
Bob Fenn – High 5!
Heather Richardson, 500m start
Tucker Fredricks, 1k start
Shani Davis, 500m
A really nice camera, & my cheap one.

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Filed under: Audio/Video

I don’t have reliable Internet access, so this will be an incredibly quick entry, on a few moments of the many amazing races today.

So many stories in every event. Here is Lawrence Ducker leading Ryan Bedford entering the final turn of a 500m. I am pretty amazed at what Lawrence is doing here, as his left skate push is cleanly threading the tiny space between two blocks as he is traveling 33mph.

Shani & Chad showing some extended glide-time during extended pain-time; 3 laps to go in the 5k. They were paired together for both 500m and 5k, and it was incredible to watch these world champions/Olympic medalists go at it.

Whereas Chad & Shani were pushing each other, Trevor Marsicano was 3rd in the 5k by a whisker, a fantastic race, just himself vs the track. Here he is in the last few meters of pain, again, in a glide moment.

So many stories: Justin Stelly has spent most of this season recovering from injury. He is certainly not skating near his potential, and that is a psychological battle that he needs to go through to get back to the top of his game. He fights with heart here in the last 200m of his 5k…

and pays for it after the finish. As a pure sprinter, I totally respect the effort & toughness of the true allarounders.

Ashlee Barnett & her clipped, powerful style, is shooting through the final turn in the 500m, earning a highly respectable 2rd place finish. I think this is her first senior long track nationals medal. Go A-Barn! (Note & correction: she has several she earned as a junior, but this is the first in some time, and one she quite happy with.)

3 happy women on the podium after the 3k. Maria Lamb, Nancy Swider-Peltz, and Catherine Raney-Norman.

Ok, must run, my brief moment of internet connectivity is fading fast, more tomorrow if I can.

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Filed under: RACE DAY, on the road

What is the heart & soul of speedskating? What is the essential bedrock of this sport?

It’s a hypothetical question with many right answers. But I found some of the best answers I’ve ever seen during a low-key practice I just skated with the Garden State Speedskating club;

Here are the skates of East Penn Speedskating coach Hence Bollinger and one of the organizers of the Middle Atlantic Skating Association, Al Harding, relaxing after a solid practice.

Without committed grass roots volunteers like Hence & Al, speedskating dies.

Without good folks like Bill Jamin & Glenn Hukins who welcomed me warmly (as they welcome all) to practice with the Garden State Club, speedskating is in serious trouble.

Although our national team members, and the folks who win World Cups & Olympic medals deserve lots of love, so do the grass roots. Like these two young skaters, flying past duct-tape scarred pads.

Wouldn’t it be a wonderful project to try and skate with every short track club in America during a season? My best count from the US speedskating website is that there are 64 of them. A doable number if that goal was your overwhelming goal. I remember over 100 clubs when I started 8 years ago.. hmmm….

I would link to the US speedskating club finder, but that website does not support incoming links, or the back button, or… (the list goes on & on)….

It’s really easy to look at the national caliber programs in Salt Lake city, and anoint this group as the be all & end all. Indeed, that is where US Speedskating’s 1.3 million dollar a year budget goes. The Elite do need support, no question about that, it’s the only way they can be competitve.

But they are only the tip of the pyramid, and the height of that tip is greatly dependent on the width & health of its base. That base is right here in all these volunteer run clubs full of good people, scattered across the USA.

After this one practice, in the locker room, it seems as if the East Penn club had their cookie exchange the week before, and there were still reams of cookies flying around from East Penn skaters up to skate in Jersey. I ended up with a good-sized stack, these 2 immediately fueling my post workout bliss.

Dustin, what did you put in your gooey butter cookies? A half-ton of butter dusted with cocaine?? wow… Hence, did you say those were hand ground almonds? omigosh I could not stop eating them….

But seriously; let me say an overdue public thank you to Joel Boyd & the Binghamton short track club. I don’t think they exist anymore; but in my first 2 seasons of skating, they had a huge impact in getting me started, and helping me fall in love with this sport.

Thanks Joel, and thanks to all the volunteers who make this sport possible.

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Filed under: on the road

There are so many stories happening at races all across the world. But I am just one camera & keyboard, and here is the story I saw at the races on Saturday.

I’ve written a few times about Tony Sargent, a really nice guy who moved to Utah from Oklahoma to try and qualify for Olympic trials. Tony inline speedskated as a kid, and has competed at the elite levels in Golf. Here is a story his local paper ran.

Tony skated a qualifying time late last year for US championships, but this year they lowered the qualification times significantly. These new times were faster than he has ever skated, and although he has improved, his times were not enough to qualify him for nationals or Olympic Trials under the new times.

So his coach changed his training, and peaked him for this weekend. This race was his last chance to qualify for his first trip to nationals, & he needed to skate a sub 39 second 500m.

Coming around the last turn, his long legs and torso churning, he must have known he was on a great race, and how close it was going to be.

38.93 !!!

The eruption of cheers from his teammates, friends & coaches echoed through the whole oval.

In one moment he had qualified for both US national championships this year, and Olympic trials next year.

I speak often of how this sport can break your heart, but when it’s good, when you skate that PB on the day it counts, it’s a feeling like….

Well, Tony, how do you feel?

I’ve called my whole family up, and I pretty much broke down in the locker room, it’s just a huge weight off my shoulders. Huge.

A kid from Oklahoma skating Olympic trials! It’s a good thing! On the Ice! Not something we have much of there.

This is right up there with my best golf days, it feels like I just won a tournament, even though I will be dead last at US championships.

Before I hit a golf ball in a big tournament, I tell myself that I am the best golfer out here, and I know I am going to hit a good shot and I do.

So, before my race today, I told myself that I am the best one out here, and even though I did not skate the best time out here today (note: 13th of the 20 skaters)

I skated my best time, better than I have ever been before. The best Tony that I have ever been.

Congrats Tony! I looked at some of your earliest times, and that kind of improvement is truly remarkable.

From a 47.24 second 500m to a 38.93 in two years takes a stunning amount of hard work!

You would have beaten your first race, head-to head, by over 80 meters.

(check out the cool graph on this German website, DESG, and in english, all of Tony races)

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Filed under: RACE DAY