Not Exactly Greased Lightning

Well, the summer is almost over and my dry land training has been less frequent that I would have hoped, but there is still some fun to be had. Three of the older men in the Rochester Speedskating Team, Don Ducharme, Jerry Roberts and I raced a 5k on 8/30 for the Veterans Outreach of Rochester, called Pound the Ground for Vets. A near perfect morning for a race...cool, sunny, no humidity to speak of....and a very nice turnout of perhaps 160-170 for the organization's first race on a nice course in Genesee Valley Park. The good news: finished the race. The bad news: have some conditioning to do before ice season starts in a couple of weeks!

2009 Desert Classic in Salt Lake City, Pt. 2

Thanks to Teri Willingham for allowing use of the photo below, taken during the 1000 meter time trial in Salt Lake City on Aug. 22 where her 01:37.4 gave her the opportunity to go to the Olympic Time Trials. Teri took the two to the right the following day, showing Liz in a heat, and in her trademark lime green. While I am at it, I want to thank the coaches and members of the Rochester Speed Skating Team who have taught this sport to us both, and instilled in Liz a real passion for it, especially Marty Medina, Jim Cornell, Tim Doherty, and Karen Veronne, Gerry Savoie and Tom Rossborough; to Mike Kooreman and Derek Parra and most recently to Coach Jun-Hyung Yeo, whose passion is really remarkable, for bringing her so far in this past year. In the second day of the Desert Classic, Liz achieved a second PB for the meet, with an 00:47.8 in the 500 meter final. One has to wonder, however, if the speed of the weekend has any relationship to the Ramen eating contest of last Thursday? If so, I probably must thank Simon Cho for joining her in that little exercise in moderation! Finally, I would like to thank Andrew Love and Brian Boudreau for sending their first hand observations to me; and to Marty and everyone else who touched base by email, phone or Facebook to help share my excitement over Liz's meet...once again, I have seen the evidence of what a terrific group of people work in and around this sport. Now, the parents' moment savored, it's time to look ahead. I will end by quoting the note from our favorite starter, Jeff Golz, who conveyed congratulations with a simple "I guess we'll see you in Marquette!" I guess that's right!

E Makes Olympic Time Trial Times 8/22/09!!!!!

Flash from Salt Lake City and the Desert Classic! Liz did her time trial today with Vicki Labourdette, and she said she felt really crazy and good coming off. And no wonder!!! She beat her former 1000 meter personal best by nearly two seconds and at 01:37.4 has gone under the cutoff time for the Olympic Time Trials next month in Marquette MI!!!! Three and a half years ago she'd never even worn a speedskate! What a wonderful day!! PS the photo is from Nationals last year, because I don't have the good luck to be in SLC today to see!!! Only 48 hours ago she came in second in a Ramen eating contest to Simon Cho, so maybe its good luck to load up on noodles???? Check Liz' blog (link off to the side of this and get a first person account!) Postscript, Aug. 26, 2009: Andrew Love posted an article today on his blog entitled "Qualified" which features Liz and her teammate and our friend Anthony Barthell, who also qualified for Olympic time trials last weekend in SLC. It's a very thoughful and insightful piece about the emotion and meaning of reaching a special moment in sport, and I commend it to you highly. The link is over in the right hand column of this blog or just double click http://andrewlove.org/blog/

Larry Beck Bikes Mt. Washington

One theme of my blog has always been the older athlete. The best stories, though, are usually not about Lance Armstrong, or Dara Torres (even though I love to talk about Dara Torres) but about those of us who compete, and train and try for the joy of it. The Rochester Speed Skating Team is loaded with such master athletes, both current and alumni, and I am very pleased to share this report from Larry Beck:

"Hi folks,

For those of you who remember my Mt. Washington stories from a few years ago, I just wanted to provide an update.

In 2007, the race was canceled (a rare occurrence) due to icing conditions and 90 mph wind gusts at the summit.

In 2008, I came down with an infection 2 weeks before the race and was forced to skip it.

This year, I broke my collarbone in May in a bike crash. I followed that up with kidney stones and another bike crash in July. Having lost several weeks of training, I still managed to get (mostly) ready for the race this past Saturday.

Having qualified for the Top Notch group in 2006, this was my first year lining up with the elite racers in the first wave to start. Among the riders were Ned Overend, the ageless mountain biking great, and several up-and-coming professionals. It was exciting to hear the announcer introduce us as the best climbers in the world.

As always, the race was started with a blast from a (miniature) cannon. After 50 yards of flat surface, the road turns up and doesn't stop until the summit at 6288 feet. The sound of clicking dérailleurs surrounds you and is shortly followed by the sound of cursing as several riders drop their chains. I've learned not to follow too closely at the start to avoid someone stopping suddenly.

My heart rate quickly climbed into the 170's, where it stayed for almost the entire race. The weather was sunny, hot, and humid. The first four miles are tree lined, so there was some respite from the sun. A short time into the race, I realized I was geared too high (probably due to my lost training) which meant a lot of standing on the bike. When we emerged from the trees, the usually raging wind and rain was replaced with only the occasional light breeze and the burning sun.

For most of the race, I held a steady position and found myself grouped with several riders. A couple of fast riders from the 2nd starting wave caught and passed us about 5 miles along the road. My group managed to overtake a few struggling riders as we neared the top. With a mile to go, I was able to drop most of the others in my group. As I approached the finish, I was greeted by a chorus of cheering spectators and ringing cowbells.

The finish line sits atop a short 22% climb lined with people screaming encouragement, a sound that is drowned out by the sound of your heart pounding. My poor gearing choice made the final climb a challenge. One of the riders I had dropped was able to overtake me, but I stood up and managed to turn the pedals over a few more times and crossed the timing mat. A pair of EMT's hold up each rider as they begin to recover from the final effort. After a couple of seconds, I was finally able to unclip and mouth the works "I'm OK" to the EMT's and I moved passed the finish line. Holly quickly found me with some food and liquid.

The final result after missing 2 years: 48th of 519 finishers overall and 6th of 88 in the men's 45-49 age group - over 4 minutes of improvement from 2006. I'm already looking forward to next year.

Hope you are all doing great. I still enjoy reading you various race reports. Happy skating this winter!

Later,
Larry"

Sometimes it's not the Skating, its the Skater

My cell phone beeped a few times today. Liz calling in from SLC to tell me what today's training included (if you don't know, you don't want to know. Trust me on this.). The last text message really made my day. Thanks, E! It said "btw yr glasses r super cool, forgot to tell u"

Couldn't help wanting to share a wonderful moment!

Lessons from Dara Torres

There is little to recommend the NYS Thruway, but it does provide long stretches of time to listen to audio books. I've been "reading" Dara Torres' book "Age is Just a Number" in which she describes the several times she's come out of retirement to train for the summer Olympics (12 medals so far). She has a LOT to say about training as an older athlete that is interesting quite aside from her personal story line. She says that being a much older swimmer [read: speed skater] is a lot like being a very young swimmer [read: speed skater]: no one expects very much, so you get to be a wild card again. Her key advice: understand your body, and the fact that you need to give yourself lots of recovery time (and she suggests amino acids to help); that you must be much more attentive to stretching than when young; and that you must fix what is failing (she describes a number of procedures she has needed on her shoulder and knee). She says to be very focused and serious about rest; about what, when and how much you eat; and you must carefully pick your training and stretching programs and remain dedicated to them. She says she has been very deliberate in picking coaches, but once committed trusts them. Her discussion of resistance stretching (where, like yoga, you extend and contract muscles simultaneously) is compelling. Most of all, though, she says that as older athletes we won't be able to maintain the longer training sessions of younger people, nor is it necessary. What is necessary, though, is to focus on perfect technique....never, she says, cheat on the practices....work hard to do every practice, every procedure perfectly...make it second nature. It is technique, more than anything else, that wins the day.

Getting Zinged

Looking at my daughter's Facebook page, I noticed that a mutual friend had told her that I started taking yoga.  My daughter's reaction, and I quote, was "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...my dad...yoga...lol"  Ouch.  Well, it's week two, and I just finished my third session at EastMeetsWest Yoga in Buffalo.  The instructors have been terrific

and I am learning quite a lot, and enjoying it more than I'd expected.  Its really interesting to see and feel how the stretches work, and to begin to related specific positions to speedskating protocols...things like eagle position, which closely parallel the balance points you seek on skates.

Stalling Over, Dryland Begins at the Yoga Center

Hearing Tom Rossborough talk about his rowing, and John Diemont his biking, and the folks in SLC talking about their aching,  it very slowly dawned on me that it was time to get going on dryland.  So, with a little time before Rochester or Buffalo dryland begins, I decided to try something new (for me).  I signed up at a little club in Buffalo to take 12 yoga lessons in the next six weeks, beginning last night when I met with about a dozen other neophytes and our instructor, Sara, for a couple hours.  Cannot say that it was fluid, but it was interesting, and fun, and a surprising mix of strenuous and relaxing.  We learned quite a bit about the concept of ujjayi breathing, and practiced it throughout the session, figuring out to extend a stretch on the exhale, and pressing weight to the rear foot, not the lead, which seemed counterintuitive, but clearly helped extend the stretches.  A lot to absorb in a first session, but it was really engaging and I'm looking forward to Thursday night!

Earth Day

April 22, 2009 is Earth Day, with events occurring across the globe (and continuing into the weekend).  In Rochester, on Saturday, if you bring a bag stuffed with plastic grocery bags to Wegmans, they will give you a really nice reusable bag to replace it.  A small thing, but a lot of small things--replacing incandescent bulbs, for example, begin to add up.  Check out http://www.earthday.net and for everyday tips and solid information from the National Geographic look at http://www.thegreenguide.com   The photo to the right, incidentally, is at the edge of a huge windmill farm in Wyoming, along I-80.  We passed it last summer, on the way from NYS to Salt Lake City.  The sign says "Strong Winds Possible."  It's a good thing, or someone is going to lose a bundle on those windmills!!

Birthday 5K

7:30 AM on my 59th birthday, at the starting line with about 300 runners in the marina park embarcadero in San Diego harbor, for the National School Boards Foundation annual 5k run.  I could not have picked a better way to both celebrate my birthday, have the first running race of the year, fly the Rochester Speed Skating Team flag (well, T shirt) on the West Coast and let my teammates know that I have not turned into a couch potato! It was a fun race, with sun, a nice breeze and mid-60s temperatures, through a really beautiful park that runs along San Diego bay facing Coronado Island across the way.  In the harbor, a Dole container ship probably loaded with pineapples, the USS Ronald Reagan and another aircraft carrier, and several other Navy vessels.  It was a lot of fun, and while my time was about average for me, it was in the top half of the finishers, proving that there is merit in picking the races where most of the runners are over 30. In the post-race picture with me is Tim Kremer from the NY State School Boards Association, who was also flying his flag on the west coast, in his case the emblem of the New York Giants.  Jay Worona had racing #1.  I would have asked how he got that, if only I could have caught up to him!