Zen and the Art of Speedskating

Posted on 09 Jan 11:35 am

Masters International American Sprint

(minimal time to write, am SLAMMED with so much to do, it’s stupid-silly)

Last march Brett Arnason (the Canadian Rep) & I realized that the momentum from master’s worlds needed to be followed up with IMSSC metric races for the newly energized North American masters community.

In April & June, I made a lot of phone calls to see if an American race was possible.

In August, at the IMSSC summer meeting in Krefeld, Germany, I proposed a new race, and everyone was supportive.

Then in October-November, I worked really hard getting the entry form together. In December, a great bunch of people helped tremendously on the organizational details of actually making a race happen (in fact, they did most of it).

This past weekend, January 5th & 6th, 33 Masters Speedskaters arrived in Milwaukee, and we all had a great time at the first Master’s International American sprint. The Masters International Canadian Open, will happen February 9th-10th in Calgary.

Here is about 75% of us in a group photo from this Past weekend.

Skaters traveled from Washington, Michigan, Maryland, Calgary, Toronto, Utah, Illinois and Minnesota for the event.

Ross Hanham was part of the Canadian contingent that traveled to compete, and he wrote a very kind post about this event on his Masters Newsblog, you can see it here.

Here are a couple of images of the racing. On the top you have Jan Zurcher, who traveled down from Seattle to put some of her sprint power to good use.

Olusegun Sijuwade was the meet registrar, or “meet head” as we affectionately dubbed him. He also skated some really nice races on Saturday. Check out how far back his weight is in this photo!

Interestingly enough, he is skating on a pair of Corey Carpenter’s old Viking blades, with a clap mech welded on

Tom Cole has worked really hard to get ready for his upcoming trip to Germany and Master’s worlds. He is not a sprinter, but has worked himself into great shape, and his form in the last 200m of a 1k looks great.

Ken Anderson, also styling his way through a 1k. Ken is a very talented runner, blogger, and is working hard on his ice technique. Like Tom, he’s riding a nice flat edge here.

Julie Hough was one of the Canadians who made the trip to Milwaulkee. She is in the cool-looking Canadian masters skinsuit.

I’ve always thought in long track metric racing, improving vs yourself is what it’s all about. So I’ve created an award that reflects this. The Most Improved Personal Best award.

Myron Yencha has improved A LOT since I first met him, and skated an excellent PB here in a 1000m. He took about a second off his previous time, and that was good enough for 2nd place in the most improved PB contest won by Bill Armstrong, who knocked 1.46 off his 500m.

There is improving vs yourself, and then there is improving the record books. Canadian Brett Arnason came to speedskating late in life, and along with about 5 other skaters, had a real shot at the sprint samalong record.

However the weather did not provide the right conditions for fast times. It was foggy, humid, warm, rainy, & high air pressure outdoors, so although the ice at the Pettit was good, the air was like skating through a soggy mitten.

I carried my peak over well from US nationals last week, felt snappy, and the times I skated were 1.6 seconds slower than my 500m sea-level PB, and 2.4 slower for my 1000. Ouch… That is some slow air…

Overall, the meet felt like a success, and the Saturday night party at Olu’s was a wonderful gathering of like-minded souls.

A few people deserve huge thank-yous for helping make this happen

Suzy Osum did incredible work getting us meet sponsors Shorewest realty, Barbara A. Smith Home Interiors & Gift and the Wisconsin Athletic Club.

Olu did an amazing job organizing the meet registrations

Carla Langethal was an excellent proofreader of my terrible spelling/grammar, a realistic sounding board, and helped me with the million little things.

Cindy Yomantas at the Pettit was awesome & encouraging in too many ways to mention (and she helped us out with cool Pettit Ice center wear as prizes!). Jeff Edwards & Jeff Brand took care of officials, volunteers, & timing.

In the last second, Jen Kraynick, Mike Anderson & Steve Desotell stepped in and helped calculate the awards and final samalong points, as our masters categores made the official computerized results unhappy.

And even though he was not here, thanks must go to Dr. Volker Serini, in Germany, for starting the IMSSC

11 Comments »
Filed under: RACE DAY

USA Sprint Nationals –video

With many young teenage sprinters starting to skate “man-fast”, US sprint nationals in the men’s category was incredibly competitive. And in the women’s racing, if you wanted to win, you would have had to beat Elli Ochowicz, who was ON, skating several PB’s that weekend.

You can see the Men’s results here, and here are the women’s.

The soundtrack I chose is a song by the Black Crowes, “Twice as Hard”. It fits.

It was a rough competion, as I was warming down after my last race, I saw some spots of blood on the warmup track, the fact that it could have been from quite a few different people gave me pause.

Click here for the high quality quicktime, or press play for the YouTube.

When I see friends crash, in pain, or have bad races, I often question if I should publish the footage I have.

Kip Carpenter opened nationals up with quite a horrifying crash, and Richard Gregersen got a GREAT video angle of from the stands. Kip didn’t mind it being published, so it leads off the video. Thanks Richard!

Jessica also added some clips here as well.

Kip cut his ankle pretty badly in the crash, and had to have stitches. When I mentioned that I had this pic, people wanted to see it, so here it is, with the expert hands of Dr. Eric Heiden sewing & stapling it up.

Kip raced all 4 events of nationals on it. Ouch. Thanks to his fiancé Inge for the photo.

p.s. is there a YouTube samurai out there that can give me compression/upading/quality hints? I’ve tried MANY differnent formats, read endless forums, and it’s not as good as I wish it could be, slo-mo looks great, but the normal shots are often fuzzy

p.p.s anyone have a copy of Final Cut Pro (for an intel-mac) they could share with me? I think it’s compression methods are better than iMovie.

12 Comments »
Filed under: Audio/Video

Posted on 01 Jan 04:14 pm

US LT Allaround Champs, video

As I was starting to go through my footage from this competition, I suddenly realized how many clips I had of skaters with their parents. Even though speedskating is an individual sport, no athlete steps to the starting line alone.

I often see families in the stands soar & suffer right along with their kids on the ice. There is a lot of that at US national championships. This Guns & Roses anthem just came to my mind as the natural soundtrack.

Press play to start the youtube, or click here for the high quality quicktime.

I have a knack of catching Mike Blumel on video right after he takes himself to the limit in a 1500m. He had a great race here, good enough for 4th place in a very competitive field.

Mike is a pure sprinter, and has to go out scary fast, and then pay for it in the finishing lap. I did ask his permission to include his waltz with the garbage can here, because I know his folks are readers.

It is a testament to how much focus speedskating takes, that you can be getting your armband, or stepping to the start line, and hear someone puking behind you because of EXACTLY what you are about to go do-

and you go race hard anyway…

11 Comments »
Filed under: RACE DAY, Audio/Video

US LT Champs, Day 1 & 2

You can see the results for the Men’s allaround & the Women’s allaround at the new DESG website (check out their ability to track individual skaters time progressions in each distance over their career, very cool! even though it does not account for indoor/outdoor races).

A 2-time Olympian once told me:

“Look, there are a LOT of different training philosophies in use around the world. The Canadians go fast, the Koreans go fast, the Dutch & Norwegians go fast, the Japanese are amazing, all of them train in radically different ways.

So there absolutely is more than ONE way to train & be good. The important thing, really, is to believe that your way is the best way for you.

This was never proved more clearly than by the results of US LT nationals 5k, check out this list.

3 guys who train mainly on the short track, 2 inline/ice mixers, 2 who train the “conventional long track ice way”, and from what I understand, the winner Shani does a pretty even split of long & short track.

Also notable in this result is the “coonpup” Justin Stelly. His mom picked a great week to come up from Louisiana & see her son announce his arrival as a true force in US distance speedskating.

Speaking of Shani, he and Catherine Raney were absolutely dominant in the allaround. Catherine was even training through this competition, as her true focus is the world championships. She said she was tired, but certainly did not skate that way.

Many ways to go fast! in 10th place in the 5k was my friend Keith, in a huge achievement representing an astounding amount of work. If Keith skates the qualifying time (you must do both a top 10 at nationals and skate faster than a time standard), he earns Cat I next season!

Here he is, smiling, giving the “10″ sign, or maybe its just “8 V’s of victory”.

When I start in the inner lane, this is what the scoreboard reads, it’s good for a laugh on a stressful race day. I was in a pretty early pair, and after this race, Justin Stelly & I got to be on the top of the leader board for a while. A nice feeling.

National allaround team member Ron Macky & I have had a running joke this year. When he beats me in the 500m, he takes away my “sprinter card.” When I beat him, I get my “sprinter card” back. We have been within .1 or .2 of each other every weekend.

Look what happened in the final results from the allaround 500m!

What do Ron & I do? Do we both have sprinters cards now? Or do we have to split it?

Unfortunately the next day, Ron developed a serious fever, and was not allowed to finish the allaround. This was his 10th year skating US LT nationals.

Kaari Cox & Charlie Mahoney were skating their very first USA nationals, congrats to both of them in how much hard work it takes to get here!

Kaari is 44, coached by Matt Vraa & skates in Minneapolis. Charlie works with Bob Fenn in Milwaukee. Skating for Bob makes you tough (or dead tired), and Charlie skated tough.

Caleb Eaton, also in his first nationals, got the ferocious cold that was going around. Train your brains out for several years to qualify, and wake up the day of the races feeling like dogcrap. Life can sometimes suck.

He skated some tough races in his homemade green skinsuit.

There was a lot of holiday public skating going on, so the Utah oval did not shave the ice down, so times really were not fast like crazy fast ice can make them.

Kate Ortega traveled down from Alaska to the lower 48, to watch her son Liam race.

There was A WHOLE BUNCH of short track nationals skaters who raced LT nationals. Probably the most successful being Charles Leveille & Ryan Bedford.

Leveille is just so dang strong. I love the curve of his back, like a spring that puts a ton of pressure through the back part of his blade. When I bent the back 2 inches of my left blade crashing earlier this season, entering corners is when I felt it the most. Leveille is a 2006 Torino Olympian, he was 3rd overall at US short track champs, and 4th in the LT Allaround.

There is no award or term for that, but maybe there should be-

Carla Langenthal is sitting next to me as I write this, and she mentioned that she felt like at Nationals this year she ended up watching people for more the quality of their skating, rather than just watching times.

Our first Nationals was 5 years ago, and maybe Carla & I had the most fun at that one, as we were just so happy to be there. Since then, we expect RESULTS from ourselves.

It changes the game.

Erica Lanser, pure guts & glory & pain & the last lap of a 3k! She misunderstood what lap was her last one, so her finishing sprint to the line was quite a bit longer than she had planned on.

She was coughing so much the remainder of the day, her brother did not want to leave her alone at the restaurant during lunch, he was so concerned Erica would cough & choke on her food.

Some of the people I like look to for skating quality are April Medley and Maria Lamb, this is what you call a LONG PRESSURE MOMENT, these skaters just hang on their edges a physics-defying amount of time. Mia Manganello is chasing Maria here.

Rather unusually for a speedskater, Maria does a lot of training on skate skis. THAT is a wonderful sport, almost as much fun as cyclocross!

My body is fried like a burnt egg after 4 days of racing. But my brain is fine, and I’m working on the sprint entry & videos for both competitons right now, much more, very soon.

4 Comments »
Filed under: RACE DAY

Posted on 29 Dec 11:04 am

2400mg

In years past, I only competed in 2 of the 4 days of US nationals, it’s SO much harder to report/blog about nationals while competing in ALL 4 DAYS (and working too)!

Even so, I popped off a great (for me) 500m today, 37.12, in some pretty slow ice conditions. That time was much faster than I thought I would skate this year.

It’s only good enough for 16th place of the 34 sprinters. But in the race vs. myself, I am quite satisfied. Long track is weird like that.

I was hobbling away from the ice today, & a little worried about how much crunchy pain was happening in my right ankle, but then saw Kip Carpenter also limping along next to me.

Kip sliced up his ankle quite badly during a top speed 500m crash. He did a 500m reskate, and then raced the 1000m with stitches, staples & blood soaked tape holding his foot together. (do I post a picture of it? I’ve got a painful one).

Then kip went out & won the 1000m!

I asked Dr. Eric Heiden what the legal drug-test limit for ibuprofen is, he said it’s 2400mg, in 3-800mg doses. Good to know, otherwise Kip & I would be tempted to marinate ourselves in a 55 gallon drum of the stuff.

So many stories happen, even in a sport as simple as skating a 400m frozen hamster wheel as fast as you can.

I have shot over 6 GB of video, and am working on other stuff.. More… soon..

4 Comments »
Filed under: RACE DAY

Blogging or sleep?

It’s late, I need sleep, 2 days of racing down, 2 to go. I could blog for hours about what has happened so far, and I will (videos too) but I need sleep right now to be at my best tomorrow.

There is always time to write, but only a few chances to race.

You can see the full results of the US Long track championships here at the growing website Speedskatingresults.com

But results on a scoreboard are only ashes from the true fires, only part of the human stories that created these simple numbers.

There is far more to this sport than just results, robots don’t skate these times, a unqiue collection of people do, and I think maybe my place in speedskating is to do my best to capture the bits & pieces of their story.

Like Nancy Swider-Peltz Jr.’s skates, ready to blast off the line for a very strongly skated 3k.

Note the Viking logo printed backwards, I think this means they are a custom pair from their factory.

Why they do this is beyond me, but it never fails to make me grin when I see it.

Much more soon…

6 Comments »
Filed under: RACE DAY

Posted on 25 Dec 12:25 pm

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Right now I am testing some new, super-secret aerodynamic headgear, sure to take the speedskating world by storm.

The furry tassel at the end smooths the airflow over your back, and as it swings from side to side, it improves your weight transfer.

Actually, my right ankle has been in a lot of pain, one of those “It hurts to walk” kinds of pain. It’s a chronic injury I’ve had for years, and it’s flared up again.

Combining ibuprophin with wearing silly hats makes it feel better. LT nationals starts in two days!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!

6 Comments »
Filed under: from home

ST nationals 1000m

The men’s & women’s 1000m races at short track nationals were oddly similar, the strongest skater in each field just took the lead & said “here I am, try and pass me” cranked their speed up to maximum, and no one could pass.

Here is the men’s 1000 final, Click here for the high quality QuickTime, or press play for the youtube

Here is the women’s 1000 final, Click here for the high quality QuickTime, or press play for the youtube.

1 Comment »
Filed under: from the coffee shop

Posted on 24 Dec 12:22 am

Natuurijs

If there is a kind of speedskating that is on the opposite spectrum from short track, it is natural ice distance skating.

Instead of all corners, it’s no corners.

THERE IS ICE IN HOLLAND RIGHT NOW… for the first time in a LONG TIME, this is a country that is crazy about distance skating, specifically outdoors on the canals.

Imagine if the USA’s relationship to baseball was hampered by the fact that baseball diamonds only rarely appeared, and sometimes, not for years on end.

There are lots of clips on Youtube, showing what the sound, sensation, & magic of this is. Just click here and see the search results for yourself.

There are LOTS of clips (ignore the first one in the search results) the only constant between the clips is the sound of skates on Naturrijs (how do you pronounce that?)

For example:

Older fellows skating quite fast

Is there a mysical, aspect to skating in quiet places?

This guy climbing out after falling in the water

I like a particular follow shot of this this fast lady, even if I have to crane my neck to watch the first half (they do get it right for the second bit).

I wonder what they are talking about… Probably not about people, many thousands of miles away, watching in amazement, & listening to that unique sound.

11 Comments »
Filed under: from home

Men’s 500m final

This was an amazing race, with human-dragster hybrid J. P. Kepka ripping off the line in the same style that saw him set a US national 500m record earlier in this day.

Apolo Ohno and Jordan Malone ran him down and then…. the finish got a little bit messy.

Messy like my car gets messy after a cross country road trip.

I’d love to hear the opinion of the knowledgeable and experienced short track minds on the final passes, and do you support the call the ref’s made?

Music for the slow-mo is by Susanne Vega. Click here for the high quality quicktime, or press play to start the Youtube below.

I do want to call attention to one moment of perfection in this race, just as Apollo passes J.P., check out this extension & incredible compression.

To find this skating position at the end of a short track race, while at top speed, with nationals on the line..

It awes me the same way as when a baseball player hits a 550 foot home run, or a quarterback throws a ball 70 yards, and a receiver catches it with one hand on a dead run.

And goes…. ALL… THE… WAY!!!

3 Comments »
Filed under: RACE DAY, Audio/Video