Zen and the Art of Speedskating

(the following words have NOTHING to do with speedskating)

Yesterday my wife did the Ogden Valley Triathlon. I try not to blog about her out of respect for her privacy, but she was quite proud of doing her first triathlon, so I was given the go-ahead.

The day started with a moment that I will remember till the day I die. 6am; I am monosyllabic/brain dead & fussing with my morning coffee. Jessica is out walking the dog. We will be on the road driving to the race in minutes. The wind is rattling the house. Jessica comes in the door with a sly smile and smacks me in the chest with A SNOWBALL!!!

Its frigging snowing/sleeting outside! A perfect day for her first triathlon!

Here is the view as we were driving to the race. Not a lot of accumulation, but it was sloppy & NASTY out there.

After we arrive at the race site, we discover the triathlon has been changed to a Duathlon. A run-bike-run instead of a swim-bike-run. This is because even with wetsuits (mandatory for this event, Jess had rented one) the 35 degree air would freeze athletes after the swim if they started the bike ride soaking wet.

So a slight change of plans, and one that bummed Jess out a bit, since she likes to swim, is good at it, and had trained for 10 weeks (on a plan I designed) to do a TRIATHLON. But I guess now one should call this a “multi-sport” event.

In bad weather it matters a lot to be mentally positive, and as the weather did the western boomerang from snowing one minute, to sunny the next. Jess reformulated her pacing plan, and executed it very well. She went easy for the opening 1.25 mile run. For a nearly 2 hour event, it can be awful if you rocket off the starting line.

Jess then turned on the power on the bike. On the 18 mile windy & rolling course she moved up 100 places in the overall classification, happily passing many “skinny runner types” who have karmically passed her countless times before.

Here she is, spinning into the transition to the final run. Smiling after an excellent ride. For the sake of both warmth and aerodynamics (she goes fast enough for aerodynamics to matter) I put my LAS short track helmet on her. For her dad, she competed in one of his old bike Jerseys. I suffered through so many time trials on these vintage 1991 scott areo bars, I think she is having more fun on them than I ever did.

She charged onto the final run course, cramping in her right calf, headed right at the snow capped mountains (that is Jess in the orange hat). She discovered in that incredibly experiential way, what makes triathlons/multi-sport so hard. The final run can be an absolute monster as the body rebels against what the brain asks.

She did a lot of hard work to be prepared for this moment, and had reduced her training volume in the final week leading up to the race.
She was ready, and through some serious ouch, ran that final 5k within 15 seconds of her 5k personal best running time!!! She was happily surprised to finish smack-dab in the middle of the women’s overall results, and the middle of her age group.

Walking through this world always on the prowl for interesting contrasts, here is a fun pair of images.

The transition area, full of bikes. All the athletes are on the course doing the opening run. (click for a full sized image)

Less than a half hour later, here is the same area, all the bikes are now being ridden.

There is some metaphorical truth here in this pair of images.

Much like long track speedskating, for most participants, Triathlon is a preparation sport, and athletes are really racing against themselves in the company of others. Jessica felt like, on this day, she won.

I am so proud of her.

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Filed under: RACE DAY

Here is an image from a recent practice; Japanese Skater & Torino Olympic veteran Eriko Seo leading American Nate Defranco during an endless lap workout. Eriko has wonderful technique, and I really appreciate it even more in the slow-mo video I grabbed these images from. Like many elite skaters, she truly sinks down into each push, whereas many intermediates start low, but step up into each push. Sinking into a push is difficult, but creates more pressure into the ice. Except for Erben Wennemars, you tend to
see this more in distance skaters than sprinters.

Now one might guess from this picture that Eriko is on the shorter side. She actually is average height for a Japanese woman, but the visual impression is skewed by the fact that Nate is 6’5” and about 235lbs (that’s two meters and 106kg for you metric folks).

Interestingly enough these two illustrate the truth about ice long track speedskating that there is no ideal body type. Larger athletes are usually stronger, but being larger also creates increased frictional forces on the ice, and a bigger frontal area creates more wind resistance. Studies say these factors EXACTLY cancel out the increased power a larger individual will have, and if you look at a broad cross section of gold medalists from the past several Olympics, you have quite a selection of sizes & body shapes.

Many think this is not true in short track, people say at the elite level being shorter & lighter is an advantage because of the G-forces they face in every turn. Also being smaller means you can pass through smaller gaps. There are exceptions to this of course, tall & very lean can work too, but in general short trackers are on the short side.

In another note I am sending an international hello to the folks at http://www.israel-rollers.net. My web gnomes tell me many visitors have followed a link from within that site to this one. Despite a wonderful month I once spent in Jerusalem, I have no command of Hebrew. So I could not figure out where the link was, even in the English version.

Utah and Colorado feel much like many parts of Israel in terms of the climate & topography. No only did my time in Israel change me profoundly, but it also personalized many of the world events going on. Every death or injury could be someone I met or know. It makes me thankful to live in the complicated shade of the Pax Americana.

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Filed under: from home

Yesterday was the first long-track race of the season at the Utah Olympic Oval, and the atmosphere was very much like a spring training baseball game. The races really didn’t matter, and the coaches were urging their athletes to skate technically well at a controlled effort level.

However, put a bunch of truly competitive athletes on the starting line, turn the electronic timing system on, and people tend to try hard.

I have fast enough qualifying times, that often when I line up for races, there is a fellow wearing a USA in the lane next to me.

It always gets my adrenalin going to be racing one of those guys, and I have a ton of respect for every single one of them. Someday, if I keep working very hard, maybe I can earn those three letters too.

For this first race of the season, in the 500m I was paired with national sprint team member Tyler Goff. I am an uncannily consistent skater, and Tyler is absolutely a big-race skater, who can pull off huge races when it counts.

(Tyler is in the red & blue USA skinsuit, and that’s me in my deep navy).

We were paired together last year at the fall world cup competition, and he squashed me on that day by over a second in the 500. But today, since nothing was on the line, after 500m I crossed the line first.

However, as a two time Olympian once told me:

“You must race in your own lane, and I mean that mentally as well as physically”.

Even from within my own lane, I am really happy with how this first race went. My opening 100m was ugly & spastic, but the snap and power was there. Even my own personal technical demons of relaxation, knees together, absolute top speed, and handing that scary final inner turn, all seem improved.

My final time was a 37.77, A good deal faster than the 38.44 I skated at this race last year. I say I am scary consistent, for example; on Friday I skated a 400m tempo at 27.1 seconds. I always seem to do a Saturday race very close to my Friday pre-race tempo time, in the race I skated a 27.2!!!

Here is another example of scary consistency in 500m racing:

2003-04 season
First Race 40.1
Season PB, 38.69
Improvement 1.41

2004-2005
First Race 39.08
Season PB 37.41
Improvement 1.67

2005-2006
First Race 38.44
Season PB 36.72
Improvement 1.72

This year, 2006-07
First race 37.77
I have a goal to skate sub-36 this year, so my spirits are lifted by hard numbers showing that I am on the right track.

I also raced a 1500m as well, but the less said about that race, the better, as it was mostly “an exercise in relaxation“, like relaxedly wading into a pool of molten lava, How people enjoy this distance is as far beyond my comprehension as what it must be like to walk on the moon.

Afterwards, I went over to my coach and said: “OOUUUCCCHH!!” and Scott deadpanned “You are welcome”.

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Filed under: RACE DAY

Life is good, training is hard, and the taste of fall is in the air. Jeans and sweaters are emerging from closets, and speedskaters all over the world are eagerly anticipating the race season now only a few weeks away.

Also, in Utah, now it’s possible to now to stand outside at noon without the high altitude sun feeling like a propane blowtortch.

Thanks to all who commented on my last post. Maybe I shouldn’t try to write when exhausted, but I have come out of it pretty well, and my fitness & speed are improving every time I step on the ice.

Here are some briefly noted items in the news:

US speedskating found a new allaround coach in Chris Shelly, he arrived today in Salt Lake, and I had a nice chat with him, as we are both Lake Placid folks.

US speedskating is also very close to a major sponsorship agreement with dutch bank DSB. And if that deal goes through, it would solve MANY conflicts. How many bank websites have a speedskater on their home page? This one does.

Speaking of DSB affiliated skaters, Chad Hedrick not only one of the world’s best speedskaters, he also passed the Lilly test extremely well. He is very much a dog person, and was Lilly’s best friend in a few moments. Lilly was quite abused before we got her, and is often frightened of new people, especially men.

For most Homo sapiens, Chad’s accomplishments pre-dispose a positive reaction to him. But for a Canis lupus familiaris, a gold medal means less than a dog biscuit. Lilly can be one finicky dog to impress, but within a few moments of this photo (and a few biscuits), she was sitting on his feet with complete trust.

In other interesting tidbits, I came across this cool video shot from the middle of a huge paceline of older guys doing nighttime endurance skating at the Haarlem oval in the Netherlands. I think they are crusing along relaxedly at 22-23mph

(let me know if this video link gives your browser trouble, or screws up how the blog loads, you can acesss it directly here.)

This video struck me because I was speaking with a teammate of mine about nighttime skating this morning. Although her associations are from the Minnesota Roseville 400m oval and mine from Lake Placid, we agreed that there is a wonderful feeling when the lights come on, and how on certain mild evenings, one can truly feel flight, and simply want to skate forever.

When the session ends, and you step off the ice, it often feels like one is leaving something temporary, beautiful, and magical behind.

We also agreed, when it’s brutally cold or blizzarding, then nighttime skating can be pretty awful, but we prefer to remember the beautiful evenings.

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Filed under: from the coffee shop

It is always good to see friends who “knew you from way back when”.

I know many of the good folks of the Rochester skate tribe, from racing & training in the blizzards of Lake Placid, and also from a dryland clinic I ran for them two seasons ago.

This week three of their members, Tim Doherty, Lisa Floryshak-Windman, and Jim Cornell, flew out to Salt Lake to attend a level 3 speedskating coaching clinic. They had an absolutely fantastic time, and on Saturday morning got to taste the fast & furious ice at the Utah Olympic Oval (it’s a huge shock if you are used to natural ice, or the oval at Lake Placid).

You can see their speed-addled grins here. Well, actually, this bunch is usually smiling. They also have a great sense of humor, and gave me this yellow shirt.

I have skated dozens of inline and ice Marathons, but I sure as heck am not training for them anymore. I think I could survive maybe 5k of a marathon, and then my fast twitch optimized self would simply crumble into tiny flaming bits.

People wring their hands about the state of the sport, the future of this or that. Usually this is talking about the upper orbits inhabited by a tiny number of international caliber athletes & coaches.

However with dedicated volunteers like Tim, Jim, and Lisa (who spent their own money to fly out here and take the course) and so many other folks like them in the 133 clubs that US speedskating has listed, I think the sport will be ok.

(and Lisa, good luck running the Ice Marathon National Championships, I will post a link here once you get your website up & running)

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Filed under: from home