Zen and the Art of Speedskating

The US national cross country ski team was doing some sprint workouts at the Utah Oval today. Just as some ice speedskaters skate on inlines in the off-season, XC-skiers use wheels to accurately simulate their sport before the snow flies.

This picture is not evidence of levitation, this is world-class sprinter Andy Newell, double poling with such effort he is getting air between strokes.

Actually getting air helps them go faster, as the snow is not creating slowing friction when they are up, and they “fall” into the poles the same way speedskaters use their hips to “fall” into each stroke. In the 1500m sprint event, Andy earned the first world cup medal for the US men since 1983.

Fantastic stuff, he also is an independent filmmaker as well, and can do backflips on his skinny skis! I wish him and the rest of the US ski team studs success in the upcoming season.

What does it look like? To see one of the world fastest ski sprinters ripping out some double pole speed? Skiing like this is an important skill to master, as this is how you have to start a race in the cramped quarters of big packs. Click the play button to watch.

It was an interesting day; USA national team speedskaters & skiers respectfully watching the other sport go through workouts. A couple of the skiers remarked to me about how insanely fast we go. What I noticed watching them is how complete their athleticism is, they have both endurance and power, and balanced upper and lower bodies. Ice speedskaters tend to be scary imbalanced, to the extent that our left legs even grow slightly bigger than the right, since we just turn left.

XC skiing is a wonderful sport, both classic and skating. My Madschus skate skis are waiting in my garage for me to pay some attention to them, as it’s been a few years (hmmm, about the same amount of time I have been crazy serious about the ice).

Sigh, so many cool ways to move through this world, and only one lifetime available.

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Filed under: Audio/Video

Do one thing everyday that scares you.
-Eleanor Roosevelt

Everything is sweetened by risk.
-Alexander Smith

Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.
-General George S. Patton

If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.
-Mario Andretti

Sometimes you just have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down.
-Kobi Yamada

Thanks to Jannicke’s cool Mum Carolyn, for these images.

Sorry for the silence over the last few days; I feel both an obligation and internal desire to post regularly here, but I had a hard time recovering properly from this past weekend’s races.

I feel great now, but I think that when too tired to carry on proper conversation with anyone other than the dog, blogging is a bad idea.

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Filed under: from the coffee shop

After a long search, US speedskating has hired Chris Shelly as US All-around National Team coach. Chris has quickly made his easygoing personality an important part of the community at the oval. I have enjoyed many conversations with him on a broad range of subjects.

In one of my rare moments of clear thinking, I concluded he would be an ideal person for the next Zen 10 interview! Welcome Chris!

These pictures are of Chris competing, some years ago, in both Austria & Montana! They are from the Baystate speedskating galleries; where they grant permission to use these images “respectfully” (I hope this qualifies!)

Chris is very funny, and he made me laugh here and there as we did this interview (so forgive my giggling behind the camera). This interview is a gold mine of information about skating, training, and Chris’ memories from his decades in the sport.

Click play to listen to each interview section:

Part 1
Chris talks about his own unique path he took towards becoming a national team coach, his experiences in Canada & how the Canadian system is different than the American one, and his opinions on old school training vs. modern training.

P.S. turn your computer volume up to max, my little camera has a fairly crummy microphone, and even though I edited the audio track on this interview extensively, Chris is a bit quiet.

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Filed under: Audio/Video, Zen 10 Questions:

Part 3

What rocks about lake placid? What sucks? What is the single most incredible thing Chris has ever seen a human being do on skates? How does the emotional challenge of being a coach differ from what athletes go through?

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Filed under: Audio/Video, Zen 10 Questions:

Whither goest thou, America, in thy shiny car in the night?
-Jack Kerouac

I think I have published that Kerouac quote here before, but there is so much inside those few words, it’s worth repeating.

And where are we going in those pre-dawn hours; In this long night of individual and national awareness, in our overly technological, sealed & car-encapsulated life?

Fall is in the air, frost is starting to glitter in the grass, the mountains are touched with snow, and in my own thoughtful car I drive to the Utah Olympic oval for a long weekend of racing.

Arriving at the parking lot & looking into the lit windows of this crazy building, I can see Canadian, Japanese and American national team skaters jogging & stretching; shiny cars from all over the world, many nights.

My weekend of racing went well, when all was said and done, you can see the results here.

In the past two seasons, I have consistently started the first month of racing with 10.5 to 10.7 for my opening 100 in the 500, and the first 200m of my 1,000’s in 17.8. This weekend I did 10.32 and 10.31, 17.47 & 17.35. If I follow my usual freakish consistency with skating, I should drop both of those times (or maybe I am already at my physiological & technical maximum already, just earlier in the year.. hmmm..). My final times were 37.39, 37.14, 1:15.14, 1:15.21. I am pretty happy with that, especially considering that both 500m races had significant corner mistakes that cost me speed.

Here is my 17.35 1000m start, paired with the previously mentioned “gentle giant” Nate DeFranco.

When you are doing it, a 1000m start feels as rushed & hard as sprinting up a staircase. But with the stop motion of video, one can see so many small (& not so small) correct & incorrect bits of technique.

Nate’s back curl, leg extension, driving the knee forward in front of the ankle, and arm swing are miles better than mine. The things I have going for me is my skate blade direction is a little better, and oodles of fast twitch fibres snapping me around that first turn very quickly.

It’s easy, so easy, to nitpick, but judging by our split times, the two of us accelerated from zero to 32mph/50kph within 200m, so we are doing something right…

‘Doing something right, in that shiny car in the night…

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Filed under: RACE DAY