Home In November

Alright, well I spent the past week in Washington State, and nothing against it or the people that live there but i'm glad to be back.

Before I begin I wanted to thank Miguel and Joey for organizing and putting the event together and for inviting me to skate. Everyone was really welcoming and I had a good time. Also Robin Pfander for letting me stay at her house while I was in Washington, that really helped out a lot not having to pay for a hotel room. And also Chad and Jess for giving us a ride to the rink and to get food pretty much everyday that was pretty cool of them. And also everyone for showing up or tuning in to watch. Remember this was an exhibition before the season begins, it was more of a test run and the January event will be even better!

I skated NSC and did alright. Right now I'm still figuring out my equipment which is why I skated on two different boots haha. Falling in the 500m was pretty rough. My left ribs are a little swollen and my right knee is a little purple. Not to mention Chad getting his head smashed into the ground and Ben ending up in the hospital with a bruised pancreas and Joey hurting his wrists. I'm sure it was exciting, but it wasn't exactly what we had in mind.

This I can tell you, the floor was awesome. And because this is my blog and I could careless about being politically correct I will tell you this:
We all skated on the same Hyper Wheels. Before the event we were under the impression that we were going to be skating on the Hyper's from Nationals.. the composite blue hub (not the alum. hub) but that was not the case. We ended up skating on the 2nd generation Koas (the first koas with the six spoke hub) but they seemed to have been sitting awhile because they were off-colored like old wheels. To say the least, they did not perform up to expectations, which is why hyper has two new better wheels, unfortunately they were not for us.

I got a 2nd and a 4th in the 500m and 300m. If you realized, I was originally scheduled to skate the distance events but myself and Justin Stelly were switched because it would have been much more difficult for him to sprint after skating ice for the past 3-4 months. I wasn't exactly impressed with the way I skated but I wasn't that disappointed. I did zero and I mean zip zero speed work before this race so I'm no where near my top end. The one thing I was a little surprised about was my start, for some reason it just wasn't there like normal, it won't happen again.

Well today I went back to work and I also stopped and picked up a variety of fruits and vegetables so that I can start getting the amount that I really need, which is more then the suggested amount. I plan on starting up some small weight/technique work that I wasn't doing before November and trying to get myself in better physical shape then I am now which I think will just give me a little more energy (along with the fruits/vegetables) and make certain things easier for me.

Well that's about it for me. The next time (besides league meets) that anyone will see me is NSC 2 in January.

The Immediate Future

Alright, the immediate future has me flying to Washington State in three days. I will be there Thursday afternoon and I think I'm going to get a chance to skate their practice which will be cool. After that I'm not really sure what I'll be doing until Monday Nov. 9th when I'll be racing a 1000m and a 1600m indoor.

In case you live in a box and haven't heard.. Miguel Jose has started a circuit for speed skating, it is called the National SpeedSkating Circuit (NSC). The purpose of this circuit is to expose the sport that we all know and love to mainstream america. There are 12 total athletes that will be competing in two different categories: Sprints and Distance.

There will be five sprinters who will compete in distances of 300m and 500m the athletes are:
Ben Carey - Current Pro Men's National Champion
Steve Carter - Need I say more? Former bronze world medalist in 300m and possesses one of the best starts. 2003 Pro Men's Champion. Will do things you've never seen on skates.
Joey Mantia - A billion World Titles. Former Pro Men's National Champion in 2004, 2006, and 2007.
Chad Horne - Youngest sprinter but experienced skating other 4 sprinters. Unofficial fastest 500m ever. Not the greatest start (compared to ben, steve, and joey) will have to make passes to win.
Justin Stelly - Always competitive, sick hawk, will throw passes and move up. Again, not the greatest start compared to first three.

Then there will be seven distance athletes who will compete in distances of 1000m and 1600m, they are:
Jeremy Anderson - Skating on his home floor. Oldest athlete at 33, but always in/near the front at the end of races.
Fourth Lacey - Coming back after a six year layoff. Little is known about his current shape but he once was one of the fastest distance skaters.
Terrence Almond - Former silver junior world medalist. Aggressive skater. Always does something exciting at the end of races.
Jarrod Fischer - 2008 Senior Men's National Champion. Came on to the Pro Scene last season, is a great middle distance skater (1500m).
Keith Carroll - Skates in the front of races. Competitive in all distances.
Jake Powers - Junior Men's current National Champion, burst onto Pro Scene last season earning a top placement at virtually every meet he skated.
Justin Mannon - Current 3x junior world medalist. The longer the race the better. Often a last lap/ last minute passer.

Alright there's the rundown! Looking at the athletes it is going to be an awesome experience. You can check out www.pronsc.com for more information. Skaters! The only way we can help this grow is for you to show your support! This is a chance for skaters to make money doing what they love like every other athlete. If you can't make it to Washington on Nov. 9th, then check out the link above on Nov. 9th and watch the live feed. You won't want to miss this and every single spectator helps. Tell everyone you know, whether they skate or not. Tell them to check out what you or your kid does.

How To Train

Alright, these blog is really just me expressing how I need to train and what I do in training. This year is a little different for me because of many different things. First this is my first year out of high school. Secondly, it is my first year with a job. And third it will also be my first year of college (in January).

I love skating and I didn't have to get a job but skating doesn't exactly have the money flowing in, plus I am 18, plus I can't train for skating all day because I would wear myself out so I decided to replace at last some of the time I'm used to spending in school I would get a job and be productive (basically I'm trying out this responsible adult thing).

College is an easy one for me it's a complete necessity in my opinion (at least for me). I don't think college will be as difficult for me as some have tried to explain that it will. I'll be finished college way before I've ever been finished high school so I'll have more intense training before tryouts and such but also I'm not going to the same class everyday which I think is my style.

For me this is where How To Train comes in. This year has to be more and harder and smarter then last year plain and simple. Every year I've skated I've picked it up more and more with my training and I don't plan to stop now. When I was first getting really good (2006 when people started knowing me) I lived on the slideboard. I mean I literally lived on the thing, had it the floor of my bedroom right next to my bed. Homemade if I might add (still the same one I use today). I used it about everyday. Sometimes I'd get for over an hour on the thing and I liked it that way. This year I'm going to get back to that same idea. For me the slideboard helps with getting all of my power through my hips which helps in the straight away plus it's easy to practice technique on which is my primary focus this year.

I plan on getting to the point where I wake up, eat breakfast, then have a session on the slideboard (everyday) then going to shower, go to work, etc, then another session at night (in addition to normal practice).

What I love the most about where I am at right about now in terms of myself and skating is that I'm 18 years old and I know what to do everyday (training wise) just by listening to my body. I know when I need a day off and when I can hit it hard which I think is pretty rare.

Enough of that stuff this is pretty much how I plan to train depending on when certain events are (tryouts, etc)

Now until December - won't even try to hit 100% at all, solely technique. Only skating indoor and using the slideboard.
December through March will still be solely technique but outdoor will begin regularly for me in December, I'll continue on the slideboard. I'll be at the stage of training where I'm no longer doing circles but I'm not training direly hard either. I'll be working on getting my shape right for outdoor meaning skating long, slow, and exaggerating the skating position so I will be comfortable being in it for long periods of time in the spring and summer when it counts. Somewhere in this time frame I will begin lifting weights again.

April and May will be when the weather starts to break so I'll be going a lot harder outdoor but still having specific practices dedicated on my technique (this will be new at that time of year for me) I'll begin skating outdoor more then once a day in May (most likely) on top of my indoor and slideboarding. In this time frame I will most likely have really long practices outdoor on my skates.. at least an hour.
**Side note*** if tryouts are in June then everything gets shifted back.. April and May will be intense training like the next phase:

June up until residency/worlds I will be skating at least twice a day outdoor every day plus the indoor and the slideboard. My outdoor training will be a mixture of simulating races (at full speed), intervals, sprints, catch the pack, a few technique practices (mostly when my body tells me I need a rest), and a few really long skates. This time period is when I really am going hard all the time. I'll still be lifting up until a week before tryouts and then I will resume after tryouts. I'd like to still get on the slideboard but skating so many practices outdoor I may not need the slideboard unless it rains or something.

This year I am also going to put a lot of dedication into my nutrition especially starting in about March/April. Overall my underlying goal almost never changes year after year, it is to reach new heights that I've never gotten to before. Only this year I'm trying to skip a few years and take a much bigger jump then I have in the past.

Back At It

Yesterday I attended my first team practice sense worlds. It was nine days later. It was an indoor practice and it was the typical technique work: circles, half track, starts, duck walks, etc. I've come to the conclusion that I will still do these things while I'm taking my break.

Alright well I laced up the skates and got right to work. A few things I was trying but I won't know any type of result until I get to see myself on camera which will hopefully be sooner rather than later. First thing is simple it's one thing to bend your knees (you are always being told, bend your knees) but it is completely different to bend your knees correctly. What I mean is, most of the time when you 'bend your knees' your back goes with it. What this can do is cause your butt to come up and then you are bending over for practically no reason because when your butt comes up your feet slide back and then your feet are not under you. What I worked on was bending my knees but making sure my butt stayed lower then it probably should (exaggerate the motion) so that my feet stayed under me allowing me to put a lot more into each one of the steps. This I can tell is a great idea and will work tremendously if I can keep it going especially when going fast. One of my biggest problems (weaknesses) has been putting power into my pushes. For so long I could beat everyone just by moving my feet faster then well, everyone else. If I can get my feet under me 100% of the time then I will see a enormous improvement in the amount of power in each one of my pushes. Then it will just come down to what makes me go the fastest: 100% power, 100% foot speed, or the golden combination that will take me forever to find (the combination).

Another thing that I was working on (simultaneously) is properly distributing my weight on my skates. I have almost always been a heel pusher, by that I mean all of my weight has been resting on my heels and when I push, I normally push right through my heel. It's bad enough that you could probably take my toe wheel off, and there may not be any affect. So instead of focusing on the infamous 'push through with your whole skate' I focused on distributing my weight and push between my heel and the ball of my foot (the second and fourth wheels for the most part).

I fully understand why people don't skate technically sound, it's hard and it hurts.

October

Is here already. Jeez. Well, I've been home since Sunday night and I have not put my skates on which is a good thing. A lot of people don't really believe in taking breaks and stuff but I believe in just listening to your body, and mine is telling me to take it easy. Today was the first day where muscles in my body were not sore which is a good start but unfortunately I might have strep throat (when to the doctor's today and find out the results tomorrow). One reason that I believe in taking it down a few notches is because of your immune system. It seems odd that athletes can be more likely to catch sickness then a normal person but it's kind of true. When an athlete endures long periods of intense training their immune system is weakened slightly due to the training. So if I take it easy for a little while then my immune system should strengthen back up and I will hopefully avoid sickness. Another reason is I'd like to give my muscles and tendons and body time to have a little less stress on it because when I start skating a lot again it will be 100% technical and that means a lot of stress.

There's the final ESS race Sunday and if I feel decent I'll skate. It won't be a terribly difficult race so I should be okay even if I'm not at 100%. Then I will start skating twice a week just technique stuff. Drills that won't even require my skates to be tied.

Alright here's some new stuff: a few goals and part of a plan.
-Okay my goals are really like this, I want to improve myself technically because if I can manage to do that then all of my training come spring will be even more beneficial.
-I want to skate good at the NSC races (at least the ladder 4), I want to skate great at trials, and I want to skate awesome at worlds. Other then those three places the rest of my races are going to be used as training, I will not try and peak for other races and will not stray from my training for them.
-I want a medal in a race longer then 1000m at trials (two fourths last year, 1 pt off in both pts races)
-Lastly I want to take the next step and I'm going to leave that one up for one's own interpretation.

Alright then finally I'm going to start skating light but technical. Then I'm going to add things that I've done little by little but I'm going to bring them all together. I've debated a lot whether or not I want to do a lot of dryland this year because I've come the conclusion that it helps with the motion of the push but not with where the power comes from. I believe that everything starts from the hips and dryland is just motion and I don't want to get in the habit of just going through the motions. I think I'm also going to slideboard by not in a traditional sense, when I slide board it will be more objective based so that I'm again not just going through the motions. Another thing that I'm doing this year that I've toyed with but never taken seriously is a little notebook. I have a notebook small enough to fit in my pocket and it's purpose will be for me to track my nutrition. I've found it's much easier to eat healthy when you know you are writing it down.

Wake Me Up When September Ends

Seems like a good theme for the next couple of days. Haha. Well, worlds is over. It was cool but it's nice to finally be home.

While I was at worlds I noticed different things I had not before and I found a new approach that I can't wait to begin applying. I guess because I was senior and I realized that I wasn't going to race as much as I had grown accustomed to that I just started thinking ahead. This was the first meet I think that I have EVER gone to that I was really looking forward to it being over so I could get back to work. Yeah, really. Honestly though I watched almost every single race of every division and I watched everything in detail to collect every idea possible on how else I can improve.

Now I really can't wait to begin working on numerous things but it'll be a little while. I'm not touching my skates flat out for a week, then I might start doing some indoor circles because I'm not going to practice and sitting around. Quite frankly though, I don't care about indoor.. all of my improvements are 100% outdoor based.
(I've always thought some of the things I put in here could help other people but my goals and intentions are far beyond most and I apologize but I've just about outgrown indoor skating, or at least dedicating one of the most important segments of my training to it)
In the past I would take every technical practice (or as many as possible) and just tell myself "I'm going to improve my technique" I would work on becoming more smooth and exaggerating my position. Well it's going to be a lot different this year. Instead of a broad subject like technique every single practice will be broken down into specifics. Some days will just be body position, or experimental things I've seen, or dissecting every push, etc.

One thing that I'm realizing more then ever is how much technique is overlooked even though everyone preaches it. Everyone talks about technique and how you need it and have to do it and blah blah blah but it's still overlooked. I've been told every year I've skated that technique is so important and that's why you spend so much time year after year working on it but I've only taken it seriously the last couple. Before it was like "okay it's important I'll do it" but it has to be so much more then just doing it. Not only that I've realized that indoor you can get away with technical flaws way easier then you can outdoor. There are tons of ugly indoor skaters that are still fast but outdoor it's not as common, at least not if they want to be great especially somewhere like worlds.

Just about finished

Well road is almost over all we have left now is the relays. It's been a strange Worlds if you ask me, the strangest i've been apart of. We've gotten a pretty good amount of medals and with different people which doesn't always happen but we've done pretty good this year.

There is a lot of people questioning the selection of races and there will only be more once everyone gets home but i don't really know what to say. I know what I really want to say but that's no good so i'll try to explain my view on the idea. This is my third worlds and I have never seen someone denied a race that skated every drill, every practice, and genuinely gave 100%. Personally, I believe that nothing should be guaranteed to anyone. I don't believe making the world team warrants the privilege to race at all especially because tryouts are three months before Worlds. I understand the PARENTS pay 4k to send their child to worlds but they is with expectation that they are giving 100% and that their child respects them enough to continue training. But I'm just curious, if you are a parent that is forking out all this money and after tryouts your child has not picked up their training at all or even maintained their training then why do you pay it? Why send them?

One thing that maybe should be revisited is the selection process. I think that in theory our selection process is very, very good but that does not make it perfect. I think the world team should be 4-6 skaters but should not be a set number. I say this because: if four skaters are top four in everything (sprints, distance, track, road) then you don't need five and six. But if one guy is the best sprinter, and one guy is the best distance, then a different one is the best track and the best road that's where I think it gets iffy. You want the fastest track, road, sprinter, and (two) distance skaters but the problem is that they overlap so much. If there was never overlaps then we would never have a problem with our selection criteria.

On a completely different note I think a code of conduct might be appropriate. Or a list of what types of behavior is appropriate overseas. Maybe something that if is broken can result that skater being finished for the remainder of the championships or sent home... I don't know but definitely food for thought.

News Flash

China blows. I tried to convince myself before coming that it wouldn't be that bad. I tried to convince myself in the beginning that it wasn't that bad. Now i've given up, faced the facts, it stinks.
The realization comes on a day that there was nothing to do, we did nothing, and yet I have been tired all day. We woke up and went back to bed. Woke up again and got ready to go to the road when it was postponed until 5pm. Then i laid around until 1pm.. killed time with the rest of the four hours and went to the road where they skated one race that should not have been skated and was quite frankly awful and I feel bad for the junior women that had to participate. Then they canceled the rest of the day and we came back and did more of nothing while I fought off the urge to fall asleep.

-Why does China stink? Well, when you are not at the track or road there is nothing to do. I'm just about uno'd out considering I've played more uno while I've been in China then I probably have my entire life. I cannot surf the internet because I find myself doing that too much and nothing ever changes. And we are just about finished every english speaking tv show and movie (even the incredibly awful ones).

-Then there is the food, at first it wasn't that bad and I could manage to make due. But now I am growing inpatient waiting to return home to get real food and to finally have the chance to eat enough food that I will be full. Not to mention I am just about out of snacks and have lived off of Ramen noodles for far too many days.

-Also the beds still are rock hard and suck really bad and it will be awesome to sleep in my soft bed when I return home.

-Last but not least there is the weather. 90% humidity everyday, permanent overcast and the inability to see through the smog, the smell of awful pollution not to mention there is a chance of rain 8 out of the next 9 days.

A Class Act

Yesterday was the final day of the track and a very good day it was for the USA. We entered the day with five overall medals and left with ten. In eight possible races we ended up with medals in five, three of which were gold. (Erin 500m Gold -- Joey 1000m Gold -- Senior Men Relay Gold -- Junior Men Relay Bronze -- Junior Women Relay Bronze)
Jonathon and Alex also made the 500m semi-finals which is not a medal, but still a top eight finish.

One thing that kind of bothered me throughout last night and parts of today was a scenario that played out like this: At worlds you are allowed to enter four competitors on your relay team, but only three are allowed to skate. What this means is that you can have an alternate skate the heat and someone else take their place in the final which personally is a pretty good thing IMO. We had a situation where Cheex had fallen twice the night before and was stiff in the morning of the relay heat so we did the logical thing and put the fourth guy in the heat and then played the wait and see game for the final. The fourth guy happened to be me and i had no problem skating the heat knowing that the final was Cheex's race if he could skate.. I had even talked to him and we were on the same page, it didn't matter to me. None of that bothered me at all.

What bothered me was how everyone wanted to tell me how good I had skated (in a heat) and how much it sucked i couldn't skate the final. Well it got old quick and in my own belief:
-I skated five total laps, I had one good one.. two bad ones.. and two okay laps.
-I skated so good to everyone because their expectations were not high,
-My first two tags were so bad their expectations dropped before I skated a good final lap.
-And Will and Joey bailed me out when I had my two bad laps so I could even have a good one.
-And I had skated better in my 1000m (in my opinion) and thought the relay just gathers more attention.

Now I don't mind the good jobs but it's everything else that came with it. I skated the first leg (the slowest leg) and if you discount my last lap (the good one) i did not skate a very good race and I did not have my team in good position until that final lap.

With all that being said here is where the title of my post comes in:
After the award ceremony I went out to the bus and patiently waited for everyone.. I found out they were trying to find out if it was possible to gain an extra (fourth) medal to give to me. They could not but even that they tried was pretty cool to me. On the bus Will told me how they tried for a fourth medal (especially because in most sports they would have been given the fourth medal) and he gave me his podium stuffed animal thing even after I tried to give it back, which showed class from him but wasn't necessary. Then back at the hotel Jake said Cheex wanted us to go down to their room where Cheex tried to give me his gold medal from the relay but there was no way I would accept that. But again it takes a LOT of class to even offer something like that. Then Joey wanted me to at least take the champion's jersey (claiming he didn't need it because he already has so many, haha) which took a lot of class as well. It's that type of behavior that proves a Champion is not someone that just wins races.

P.S. If anyone finds a video of the last lap of the relay final let me know because it is one of the best laps I've ever seen.

Racing

Day two of racing brought a lot of excitement once again. The 15k elim for senior men was pretty ridiculous with the huge fall with just over 5k into the race. It was probably about a twelve person pile up, all into the wall, which involved Cheex. When the restarted (all 75 laps again) they got just a little further into it then last time and there was another fall, again involving Cheex. The race was not restarted that time but it still sucked that Cheex fell not once, but twice. The other thing to note, is that Joey won that race and by won that race I mean really just ran away from the field on the last two laps with another World Record. Funny thing is if they had not restarted the race the first time it would have been a much, much faster time then what they ran the second time but still a very fast World Record.

The Junior Men's race was also very exciting especially watching our two US skaters Mario and Justin. The thing about the two of them is that it was a points race and they have very, very different styles of skating. Mario is the type of skater who stays up in the front the entire race and does his work in the beginning and up until the middle part of the race. Justin is the type of skater that in the beginning of the race he isn't necessarily concerned with being in the very front and he does most of his damage towards the end of the race. What this did was give us someone to cheer for throughout the entire race. At first it was Mario as he racked up six points which i was almost sure was really eight.. but he ended up in fifth place overall. Then it was Justin who racked up 12 points in the last 16-20 laps I believe and finished just one point shy of a silver medal. With his style of racing it makes it hard not to think if he had gotten two or three points in the first half of the race if his bronze could have been gold.. but a medal is still a medal and it's good to have no matter what.

The last racing of the day was the 1000m final for Mario in which he took fourth place which is the hardest place to end up but the final comes down to a sprint at the end and the top three were the same top three from the 300m. The final race was the senior men's 500m. Joey got out into second place and on the back stretch of the first lap the other Colombian tried to go underneath him but didn't get fully by so in the turn they were two wide and the bumping caused neither to be able to keep stepping which opened the door for Willy (nickname) from Chinese Taipei to pass both of them. In such a short race after the misstep it would have been nearly impossible for Joey to catch the two leaders and he ended up with bronze which is still very good after a tough 15k (20k if you include the first 5k).

Today was another day and a pretty good day of racing although it is not over. We had a Junior Man advance to the semi-finals of the 500m, a junior girl advance to the semi-final of the 500m and the other one qualify for the final, we also have Joey in the 1000m final. We also had the heats for the relays and the Junior Women, Men, and Senior Men all qualified for the final tonight.

Just to point out exactly how fast the track is, every single distance senior men skated, they broke the world record including the 1000m who had about 10 skaters skate under the previous world record.

Day 1 of Recap

Day 1 of racing was an up and down affair. I can honestly tell you that after the 300m prelims i was a little concerned that we only managed to get three people into the final when normally we do quite well (at least getting to the final). What was nice is what we managed to do with what we had. Erin skated great and it really sucks to end up in fourth place but she skates a better 500m anyway so that's good news. Joey is... well, Joey and that's about all I can say. It is not often, at least in senior that someone can drop an entire second from their preliminary time. When such a thing does occur it normally means the track is way faster and everyone is dropping a lot of time. I cannot describe or begin to describe the feeling of watching Joey's 300. To give you a quick run down of how close it was: Joey's unofficial (by the big board at the track) 100m was 9.36 .... Pedro's unofficial 100m was 9.38... Joey's unofficial 300m was 24.27 .... Pedro's unofficial 300m was 24.28.

Justin was the only other USA skater to earn a medal and he earned a bronze in the 15k elim. By the end of the race it was quite a smart race by Justin. There were a lot of times that we thought Justin could have avoided contact and confrontation simply by moving up but he didn't. What he DID do was with about 20 laps to go Justin went up towards the front of the pack and stayed there. The last two elims were very close calls for him but once he get to 2 laps to go I knew there was no way he wasn't getting a medal. I've raced Justin more then anyone in the US team so at that point I almost knew what to expect. On the last lap Justin was passed from third to fifth but quickly moved back up into fourth (now it's about as fast of a sprint as they could go after 74 laps) first place was long gone, but second and third were battling with about a 4 foot gap on Justin in the back stretch. One thing to know about Justin is that his straightaways are subpar but his turns are great. So once Justin hit the turn he took his hands off his knees immediately closed the 4ft gap and continued on the outside. Down the final stretch third place was tucked in behind second as if Justin was never there and Justin just ran along the outside and rolled right passed the skater to take his first world medal.

Food For Thought

Disclaimer: Before reading this you should know that I have no idea if this takes place or does not take place, but i just think that it should.

Yesterday I came across this not so complex idea while watching another country skate practice (which means I was bored waiting for it to be our turn to skate practice). Now, I fully understand not even a decade ago, we could put the fastest two athletes in every race and they would both contend for a medal easily. But I have come to the conclusion that either we have gotten much worse, everyone else has gotten much better, or the combination of the two has made it very, very difficult for us to field two people in the same race that can contend for medals. In the two worlds I have already witnessed, I have seen it twice and only once with success. Last year Mariah and Erin both won medals in the 500m track race. In 2007 Joey and Jonathon both were in contention for a medal in the 10k pts elim on track. Jonathon finished with 9 pts and fifth place while Joey ended up eliminated with a decent amount of pts as well.

Now in races 1000m and below I say you easily just go with the flat out fastest two athletes because one cannot help the other unless it's a final and for the most part they just want a medal period.

But this is where the idea comes into play: when you get into longer races where two people could really be working together is it the best idea to go with your #1 and #2 guys? Now naturally the answer seems to be yes. But for instance you have three skaters, we will call them Skater A, B, and C. Skater A is flat out your best distance skater and skater B is very, very close in talent. While skater C may be half a step behind. So unless you are absolutely 100% confident that two skaters can both contend for a medal in the same race then would it not be more functional to pair skaters together so that one of them has a greater chance for a medal.

Skater A and Skater B are put into the same race but instead of both contending for a medal they get 7th and 8th place or 6th and 9th.. point is neither earns a medal but are not far off from one. But if putting Skater A and Skater C in the race allows Skater A to finish 3rd but Skater C to finish 15th which one would you rather have? That becomes the final decision, are you trying to win medals or have two good finishes?

The point I am trying to make is that Skater A and Skater B may not know which one is better which would make them unlikely to take a backseat or to devote a race to the other so they could win a medal but Skater C knows that if he may not be able to win a medal he can still make his race meaningful if he can help earn another skater a medal.
Furthermore:
(a points race)
Skater A goes for two points while skater B stays in the pack (now it's A-2)
later on Skater B goes for two points and skater A stays in the pack (now it's A-2 B-2)
and the race continues in that fashion (you must realize the points are not going to be back to back because if that was the case they WOULD be able to both contend for a medal) what ends up happening is that they finish with close to the same point totals but no medal.
But what if the race starts and Skater C leads Skater A up towards the front but moves over on the last straight away allowing skater A to earn two points but not take as much of an energy hit. If Skater C can help skater A earn 6-8 pts. then they 'blow up' and get eliminated or fall off the pace have they not done their job? Skater A still has some energy to contend for more points and if you get to 10-11 points you are almost always standing somewhere on the podium.

Maybe it's stupid, but maybe it works.. hmm.

A Good Day in China

Okay another day down in China. Today we (I) learned that the restaurant down from the track is the best american food we are going to find and it's really cheap so that's perfectly fine with me.

Today was a good/decent day for me on the track because it was productive and at this point in the season (at the world championships) if a practice is productive then it was a good day. I felt better just when I woke up this morning then I have most days which wasn't a bad feeling and I think I might be getting use to the time difference (finally). In the morning the sprinters did some starts which was good and it turned out to be a great idea because the track layout is a little different so the more days the sprinters have to get use to it the better we will be. By a different track layout all I mean is that the 300m and finish lines are not at the very ends of the track like in Colorado but are a little bit closer to the center of the track. What that means is that in stead of taking X amount of steps from the 300m line to the turn you have to take X+3 (approx). Either way we got some good time in and the sprinters got to find out where to cross and what not to do, etc.

That was in the morning. At night the sprinters did a little speed work for the first time which was really good to do. We did some 200's from a rolling start (in a pack) we weren't up to full speed at the 200m line but we still ran OK times which will do. The times we ran make me feel confident that our times will be in the ball park of every other countries once we perfect our line and hit a 200m at top speed. Doing the 200m was also really productive because although we had already figured what lines we would run, actually doing it is another story. It helped because we really screwed our lines up which means that we definitely can get faster just by slowing down a hair and perfecting our line so that next time we can go all out.

I have also confirmed (at least to/for myself) that this is definitely the fastest track I've been on and that once I run a 300 it will only cement that confirmation.

In My Perspective

Okay, this year I am a first year senior who made the world team. First, it is not a common feat. the last time i remember it happening in the US was Sebastian and Jono i think in 05. We have Jake and me this year. I will not be modest in saying I did not train my butt off this year because frankly, I did. And at the same time I realize the team for senior men may not have been as challenging as it has been to make in previous years but I would have excepted the challenge anyway. I think (speaking on my own behave) that Jake and I have taken it literally as best as possible. We trained hard with little knowledge to how difficult it actually would be and we still have a lot of room to grow (literally).

One thing that I have noticed being at World's right now, is that even though i have fully accepted the fact I will be 5'5" for the rest of my life I still need to grow into my frame (as do most of us men on the US Team). Another thing I have noticed is how much I love skating. Being here not only am I skating against the best in the world (I've been skating with the best in the world for the past three weeks anyway) but I get to watch the best in the world here too. As a spectator and I competitor of the sport it's awesome. We've heard some times and they are just ridiculously fast and I think I want to know what I can skate but at the same time I realize that I may not be ready to go all out until I feel that I've definitely found my perfect line. We've done some pretty fast things on the track like blasts and that sort of thing to get use to different lines and such but we haven't hit a turn at 100% yet (or at least I haven't).

So basically China isn't that bad. The food in much better then expected. The track is still awesome by the way.

Day 2 on the Track

We've had our second practice on the track and so far this is what we know for sure:
-the air conditioner in the building has not been running which means we are all sweating extraordinary amounts.
-the track is awesome to skate and is really fast.
-cab drivers are not afraid to drive on the wrong side of the road.
-moped drivers are 100% confident they won't be hit.

We haven't done any speed drills or anything yet because we just got here and while we all get acclimated to the time zone and changes doing speed drills would be stupid so instead we are skating a lot of laps to get use to the track. During this time it's good for people to figure out what wheels they are going to skate on. Our paces have been in the 17-18 second per lap range which is good for pacing and we have dipped into the 16's which is ridiculously fast because we are pacing and in Colorado that it a dead sprint. I think just about all of our guys will be in the 15 second range when sprinting and the girls will probably be in the 16 range. The track in at least my opinion, is a lot better then last years but that might just be because I kind of knew what to expect this year. Coming out of the turns here is ridiculously fast. Well that's just a quick update I thought I'd give about the track so far, we are about to go skate it again about two hours from when I am typing this.

In China

Well we are in China. We left Wednesday at 4:30 from detroit and landed in Shanghai at 7:00 Thursday and finally got to our hotel at about 2:00AM local time (China). So now it is friday and we lost about an entire day but oh well. We woke up and ate our breakfast and after words some of us went exploring through a little bit of the town which is kind of cool I guess. There is a leather mall across the street from our hotel and we've been told to only offer about 30% of what they are asking. After walking for awhile one way, turning around walking past our hotel again and pretty far the other way we gave up on finding the track only to figure out it was a 25 minute walk one way and we walked further then that, just not in the same direction. When we were out exploring i forgot my camera but I am going to try and get a bunch of pictures anyway but I wont be able to post them until I get back into the states.

We are scheduled to skate for the first time at the track tonight between 8-10pm (for those of you wondering the time here is exactly 12 hours ahead of eastern time). From what I have heard the track is fast and skates a lot like Spain did last year. I've heard some times and the fastest seems to be a 14.7 for a flying 200 which is crazy fast but most times have been around 15.2 from what I've heard but to put that in perspective.. in Colorado the fastest ever is probably a 16.0 or 16.1 (because the track in Colorado is no where near as fast as most tracks).

It's a hot day today here but it wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the humidity. It stinks going from the dry air in Colorado to the sticky, humid air here but oh well. By the way, our hotel is really really nice especially for a international hotel. It is a four or five star hotel (I'm not exactly sure which one) but the rooms are actually somewhat roomie which makes it more comfortable and the bathrooms are really nice. The only real knock is the beds are rocks but that is traditional for Asian hotels from what I've heard from some of the more experienced/frequent travelers.

Skating to Become Better

It's been awhile since I wrote a blog and I figured I should write one now that I am at residency. I have meant to do this but have gotten somewhat lazy when I am not skating and have spent most of my spare time laying on my bed. Well here it is:
Residency should be one of the most difficult times of the year for anyone. You should be tired and sore. That is the bottom line. You are meeting up with the top 24 athletes from their respective divisions and training to each others strengths and weaknesses. At no point should that come up as easy.
When you get to residency, or even well before you get there (unless you have an ego issue) you normally are well aware of exactly how good you are. If you are that 5th or 6th person then you come here and you should have one goal: skate everything and skate like hell. If you get a blister you skate through it, if you fall down you get back up and keep going, if you are sore you shrug it off. But sometimes I don't see it, and I don't understand.
This year I am a senior man. I will not try to lie to anyone and tell you that I can skate with Joey because time in and time out he has destroyed me as long as we have been here, but that has not stopped me from skating with him. This is where I am getting with this: in my case, every time I skate with someone better then me I am chasing them. I am chasing and chasing and chasing. If they are going 80% i'm going to go 100% if that's what I have to do to keep up. If I go 80% when everyone else does, but do not stay with them because I am set on 80% what good does that do me? When am I getting better?

In 2007 I made my first world team. I was the 5th some cases 6th guy to make the team. When I got to residency I did not ask questions I just skated. I skated whatever and whenever because I was not the guy that knew he was going to race at worlds or the guy that new he could turn it on and be flat out better. I chased and I chased and I went all-out all the time.
This year I chase and I chase and I do it because I am not the best. If someone is better then you, then chasing them does nothing but help you.

I could write that everyone is giving 110% every single time they tie their skates but I would be lying. I don't get it, if you are not the best you chase the best because it makes you better. How can you ever expect to become the best, or get better when all you are doing is staying in your comfort zone?

If you are the best skater and you get a little injury or something you can sit out and by all means if it will help you be faster then you have nothing stopping you. BUT if you are not the best skater (FYI there can only be one skater that is the best) then you skate through pain and you skate through absolutely everything because not skating does not earn you respect, or races, or medals.

Citius, Altius, Fortius

I figured I would post something about my thoughts on getting into the Olympics now that we are about to find out if we made the two sport cut. I think the decision is set to be posted tomorrow or Friday.
Seven sports are vying for the two spots: Roller Sports, Rugby Sevens, Squash, Baseball, Softball, Golf, and Karate. For the record I do not know too much about any of these sports besides our own. Baseball and Softball have just been kicked out of the Olympics and nothing has changed with them. The MLB has not decided to allow it's players to play in the Olympics so the IOC has virtually no reason to vote them back in after just voting them out. So now it's a five sport race in my opinion. I do not know much about Squash or Karate. I have heard that squash is somewhat similar to Hockey and that there are already two forms of Martial Arts in the Olympics so why add a third of the same? I cannot tell you what the Olympic Committee is looking for in the sports but if it's a larger fan base or new fans they probably wouldn't get there with a third martial arts sport.
So now I've brought it down to Roller Sports, Rugby Sevens, Golf, and Squash. Like I already said, the say Squash is a lot like hockey, but that doesn't warrant me to dismiss them considering that roller sports is a lot like short track speed skating.
Now a couple days ago I was watching ESPN when Tiger Woods was talking about Golf and the possibility of getting into the Olympics. Now I will be the first to tell you that I believe Tiger Woods is incredible in his sport but watching his press conference I was chuckling to myself with the things he was saying. If Golf makes the Olympics it will be the top 50 rated players. But Tiger mentioned that Golf would give countries the chance to win a medal that don't normally win medals. Really? They said the numbers would be something ridiculous like 50% of the participants would probably be American, maybe more. How many other countries have prominent golf players? 3? There would be 16 represented countries but how many stand a chance at winning a medal? I don't know but I don't think the number is outstanding.
Now lets for instance just look at the countries that earned medals in the races at worlds that would be put in the Olympics: from what I heard I think the races would be 500, 1000, 10k elimination, 15k points race and a marathon. It is not specified whether or not it would be on track or road.. it is said to be whatever the IOC decides is better. Road would certainly be much easier.
Korea, New Zealand, France, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, Italy, USA, Germany all won medals in senior at the world championships last year in the proposed races ( I used track for the 500, 1000, 10k, and 15k.... Venezuela, China, Chinese Taipei would be added to the list of countries if you included the 10k on the road from worlds)
That's twelve different countries winning medals in the proposed list and you could also add Belgium to the list because they definitely have skaters capable of winning medals. That is a true testament of countries winning medals that are not normal medal winners at the Olympics. The number of competitors would be 50 men and 50 women. Approximately, 13 from the Americas, 13 from Europe, 13 from Asia, 6 from Africa, and 5 from Oceania is what I read from www.rollersports.org

That's just a little information I put into it. Not to mention adding Roller Sports would add a completely different fan base.
-------------------------

My take is a little more personal I guess. I believe out of those seven sports Roller Sports should definitely be one, but of course that is a biased opinion. There are six sports vying for the spots (baseball and softball are the same just different sex) in order for me to be a typical Baseball, Rugby, and maybe even Squash player I would have to grow and probably add a good chunk of muscle to my body frame. Is that an equal opportunity? I don't think so, does that make them more of an athlete then me? No I don't think so. In Roller Sports we are very unique, you see a small person (ME) can compete on the same level as a very large person (Tall would be Cheeks and muscular would be someone like Joey) how many other sports is that possible in? I've heard ideas that it's possible because of the amount of power versus your size really produces your speed.. in honesty I don't care how it is possible but i like that it is. In other words how do you describe a typical inline speed skater? What is their age? height? body type? ethnicity? You can't and that's what makes our sport even more unique.
What is our sport missing compared to some of these other sports? Golf has Tiger which is the star power, we are lacking that but only because we are not highly televised.. for those of us in our sport we know (especially if you've ever been to worlds) that there is no bigger star then Joey. What else are we missing? We would bring in a different fan base, attract a younger audience, cost little money compared to most sports, and we are an exciting sport. You can tune in for 10 minutes and see exciting things. If you tune into to Golf for 10 minutes you could potentially see nothing really exciting unless you know the sport inside and out.
This again is all an opinion just for clarification.

I would also like throw out there that ESPN stated today that Golf is expected to make the cut. How they would know this I do not know. I hope they are wrong but that is just me.

Piggy-backing a few other ideas

Still on Indoor Nationals there are a few things I can't believe I almost left out!
First I hate to say it because I know how difficult it is to be an official but something needs to be said. I know most of the officials but regardless of that as a spectator it seemed very inconsistent for lack of a better word. At some points it seemed as if we were having the sissy nationals in which people were being disqualified for being too close or for having one finger on some one's back.. for those all I can say is give me a break. Other times it seemed as if a little more was being let go. If you consider both it is completely unacceptable in my opinion. Every race needs to be officiated on the same exact level and that's the bottom line.
One route to this evil may be caused by the number of rules that lie in our rule book that come down the discretion of the referee. When you have too many calls fall under the discretion category you will find more times then not that there are many unhappy people with the calls.
Another topic I would love to see be addressed is the elimination or at least the minimizing of the number of reactionary calls (for lack of a better term). I have two examples so that I can explain my definition of the term reactionary. Example #1: Two skaters enter a turn, and a foul is committed. Only the referee (at his own discretion) decides to call both skaters.. one for riding in and one for riding out. (Seems like an easy solution for someone that doesn't truly know what happened in my opinion.) Now if someone can explain to me how a ride in or a ride out can occur in the same turn simultaneously and not be a cause and effect then feel free to do so. In my opinion, a ride in could be a cause to a ride out. But a ride out cannot have anything to do with a ride in. If a skater rides another in then the skaters are still close enough that by continuing around a turn the skater that rode in could be rode out only because they impeded on the other skaters space! But if a skater is rode out then they are no longer near another skater to ride in, correct? Example #2: You have a pack of skaters and a skater makes a late pass into (lets say) third place but because the pack is not at a sprint he is forced to place his hand on the back of the skater in front of them and basically push them up a little to give himself room which in return causes the second place skater to push on the leader a little so he doesn't run into him. Well then the official calls pushing on the second and third place skaters 'simultaneously'. Didn't the third place skater cause the second place skater to push? Would they rather of had them run the leader over? I do not understand how that is not a reactionary.

One more thing to point out: after the 2007 nationals a lot of people questioned the amount of injuries we had.. well 2009 rolled around and on the same floor we witnessed quite a few serious injuries. The number of people that needed to go to the hospital hit double digits i believe. This is a topic that should almost certainly be revisited.

Indoor Nationals is Done

Well, it's finally over. The main event for the majority of us here in the states. For some reason it didn't have that feeling to me. It might be because I'm getting older.. and faster and with that your goals tend to change some. This year there was some pretty good racing like usual the sophomore through pro men I thought was pretty exciting which is good. I ended up on the wrong side of some of the excitement and was apart of a four person fall in the 1000m that ended in three disqualifications which must have been a decent thing to watch but it's not much fun being involved in it. By the way, that was the first time I was ever DQ'ed at Nationals! Anyway, I ended up getting 2nd overall in junior men which is pretty good, Jake beat me and if I had to pick someone to beat me it probably would have been him anyway. Still I don't feel that Indoor Nationals had that flare it usually does but hopefully it'll be back next year and stronger then ever.
One thing that I don't necessarily like about indoor nationals is that some people train all year and their goal is to do good in a relay. Or the first day that are looking forward to doing this or that in a relay. I've never been there with that and I don't grasp that idea very well. I have always been a division first kind of person and I think that is the only way it should be. For me it was always that you train so you skate good.. you train to win in division and relays are just for fun. That's honestly how I approach indoor racing and I just think too many people are getting away from that and more focused on the relay aspect.
I saw a lot of the world team members skate good at indoor nationals and I just hope they realize their goals should be much higher then anything they can accomplish on a 100m indoor track. Four weeks is a long time and residency is only like 11 days so I don't want to deal with people being out of shape to be honest.
For most people have fun relaxing and travel safe.. but for 24 of us train harder and realize what your goals should be if you haven't already.

Outdoor Nationals Is Over

Outdoor Nationals is over. Well it came and went. Congratulations to everyone that made the US World Team. Like last year I must stress that making the world team should not be the end of it, it's simply a formality the goal should have been and be the entire time the World Championships. What that means is after Indoor Nationals, almost everyone in the skating community will be taking it easier maybe going on vacation or returning to technical work with their skating but there should still be 24 skaters working harder then they did prior to Outdoor and Indoor Nationals! If you normally practice with one or more of these skaters after Indoor Nationals skate some extra practice to give them motivation and make sure they are training harder then before! This year more then others we have six people for every team but after watching ODN every division was dominated by 2-4 skaters which means there are a few world team members that need to work even harder.
Here's a quick run-down of some good thing/ bad thing for each division at ODN:
Junior Ladies:
Good Thing: Erin Jackson may be one of the best competitors in a long time. She'll skate any distance or race with the intent set on winning which should rub off on some of the other girls and definitely the team as a whole. The team members from last year look to be in great shape this year and if they keep training then that could spell great things for them. Just about all six of the girls are capable of skating every distance and there are no true specialist which allows six women to push each other during every aspect of racing.
Bad Thing: Watching ODN the junior ladies division (and senior ladies division for that matter) did not seem like the competitors really needed to be aggressive but at worlds everyone needs to be capable of being aggressive so it will be interesting to see which girls can be when the appropriate time comes.
Junior Men:
Good Thing: four men showed up in phenomenal shape capable of winning every single race.. if they keep the training up it will only make everyone stronger and allow them to have the absolute strongest two competitors in every race. If they keep the training intensity up then they will make life way easier for each other. The other two competitors have a little extra work to do because they are more of specialist but if they keep training harder then they are capable of it.
Bad Thing: It seems like everyone likes about one person on the team and is content with not getting along with the others. There is not one person on the team that will not need the help of the other five. If they learn to work together they can be very dangerous when paired but getting to that point could give the coaches some work.
Senior Ladies:
Good Thing: They have strong competitors on their team and two medalist in Sara and Bri they not only went to Outdoor Nationals with the idea of making the world team but did not settle for anything less then breaking records which shows they want to be the very best.
Bad Thing: Ten competitors as a field for a world team is so poor. 80% of the participants get to say they are part of the World Team.. the senior ladies division needs more competitors plain and simple. Even if we have the top six (eight with alternates) senior ladies they still need to be used to racing against a pack or a field instead of a group of 2-3 skaters.
Senior Men:
Good Thing: Any time you have the best athlete on your world team, it's a good thing. You have five out of six skaters have won a world medal and 3 of them have been individually which allows you to be confident everyone knows exactly what it takes to be the best.
Bad Thing: Three of the six athletes will be competing in their first senior world championship which makes the team as a whole a bit younger. Again, not quite the numbers you would wish for, in the cream of the crop division (world class).

Outdoor Nationals Day 1

Well day 1 is in the books and a decent day it was. It still seems a little low key I guess without a lot of usual people there. There was still good racing to be had. 300m continue to evolve and with another year for everyone to get use to the 110m wheels the times were faster then ever. Junior men had buckets of 27 second 300m and even three 26's which is a first time more then one person ever ran a 26 in junior men. Junior ladies usually has a couple of 29's and a lot of 30's but this year they had one 27 a couple 28's and a lot of 29's. Senior ladies only has 10 competitors so it's really hard to say how their times were without knowing each person individually. Senior men had a lot of 26's, so it was definitely fast this year.
Some quick standouts from the day would be Erin Jackson, Sara Hebbrecht, and Jonathon Blair for all breaking 300m records and also Mario Valencia for having an exceptional day in junior men all together.
In senior men Joey was not here for the first day because of a World Inline Cup race in Europe that he attended (and won) but he will be here tomorrow. Personally I thought of it as a opportunity to seize some good points before he got there which I think I did.
Tomorrow is just the 10k pts/elim for junior and senior world class while the freshman and master's kick off their competitions.
Well that is it for now. Check back for more updates as the competition continues.

ODN

Well I'll probably post a blog or two during ODN for those at home. They will have a live feed on July 1st I believe and there is a USA Roller Sports twitter page you can follow too. If I make the World Team I will be blogging through residency and worlds much like I did last year.
Alright ODN 2009. Man it's here already. I guess you could say I have a few jitters which is very uncommon for me but I'm not really sure if jitters are the correct term. I'm glad it's here. I love ODN it might be my favorite event as a spectator and as an athlete. As an athlete it's the only time I am racing 9 distances in 6 days and as a spectator you get to see a lot about skaters by the way they skate. I like it because right off the bat you know it's going to be hard. You know that every race is going to test you as an athlete. And you know the person next to you or in front of you or behind you is dead tired just like you are. In the elim race when there's only like eight of you left and you know you are tired but you don't really know it then you see a picture of like eight guys just rolling through the line dead tired mouths open facial expressions asking why the hell they haven't sat down that.. that's what I love. It's hard to say why but I like those tired guts moments. I know that I am well trained and prepared so i know when I get tired it's the race. But the thing is, I want the race to be hard and tiring. I want to test the people in it and myself.
Alright the jitters! This year is very very different for me. I am now Senior World Class, I definitely think I am ready for it but it's different racing all together. I watched the video of just about every track race from last year's ODN and with respect to everyone I raced, for the most part I was just flat out better then the majority of people. There were 4-5 of us in every race (not the same 4-5 in all distances but usually about 4-5) that were just better. When you are just faster you can afford to make a mistake because you have the speed to make up for it but now I'm senior so even if I'm a little bit faster then most people it's only going to be a little bit. Everyone is so much closer so the execution of races must be flawless. Like a 1000m. When you make it to the final 9 times out of 10 every person in that race has a ability to win it but the person with the best strategy/execution/ or the person that just flat out catches a break wins.
Sometimes you can win because you are talented and fast. But once you get surrounded with people that are of your ability or close to it you have to learn how to race and I don't think you can be taught it until you really need to learn it so that's why I think it's different.
I've heard that the numbers are down considerably this year which is almost to be expected but I've heard the world class men is down over half from last year. Half the number of people from last year are even trying out. That's tough to believe but I don't think the field will lack talent, it might lack the usual number of participants but I doubt it lacks talent.
Well safe travels to everyone, if you are going to ODN. If not be sure to keep up with the action and check back for updates!

Up to Date

It's been about two months since I last published a blog. I feel as if it is dying, not because people like me don't have enough to talk about.. I could talk forever honestly about anything I love debating and talking as long as the person in conversation isn't interrogating me.
Well for starters I am now a High School Graduate! that was fun, I was mentioned in the valedictorian's speech which was kind of funny/cool.. not something I expected but delighted to hear. My future goes pretty much like this: I have delayed a college education until the spring semester due to my efforts to make the Sr. World Team this year which worlds would interfere with the fall semester. In the spring I will be attending West Chester University and still skating. Next year I will once again put strong efforts to making the World Team again. I due however plan to make a jump in the future to a place where I can pursue the Olympic dream. If that happens to be on ice then I am fully prepared to make that jump but if it manages to be on inlines then I am 100% committed to making that dream come true.
In the absence of a blog I began the yearly 'hell' stage of training which I oddly enjoy just about every year. And like every year my fondness of indoor skating grows less and less. My brother also suffered an injury during that time period that made things much more difficult for him, and me. He suffered an injury that is considered somewhat common in kids nearing the end of growth spurts. Either way, I was down to training virtually by myself instead of at least having someone nearby this year and he was down to sitting at home doing nothing, not exactly keys to achieving success but hey, life's no cakewalk.
I graduated high school not a moment too soon. I finished with a 4.03 GPA and as a National Honor Society member which is not bad but did drop off to a slight degree every year.. my freshman year I had a 4.5. My niece also turned one just last week and my nephew was born just two days before that! So if you see my dad you can congratulate him for being a grandfather like he looks! haha. Well that's bringing everyone up to date.. up next is an ODN post.

Born or bred?

And then it hit me like a rock. There was no denying it, at least not in my mind. Champions are born. You cannot grow a champion, you cannot make a champion, and you can not breed a champion, and you cannot teach champion. It is crystal clear.
You can however, do all of the above for a winner. But what a winner is not is a champion. Anyone can win something but that does not make them a champion. A champion finds a way to win all of the time, and when they do not win you still recognize them as a champion because that's how they carry themselves. When it gets close to crunch time, when everything matters twice as much a champion goes to work. A winner may be great for 95% of a season but the problem would occur in that final 5%. A champion never fails in the final 5%. If a champion fails 95% of the time, the 5% that they succeed are the championships, the ones that count.
You cannot make a champion because they lack undescribable characteristics. A champion does not understand certain things. A champion does not understand pressure because they do not feel it. The only person that has a reason to feel pressure is the champion because if you are not the champion, then no one expects you to win. So for everyone else how can they fold under pressure that does not exist? How can they make themselves apply enough pressure to themselves that they can fold?
A champion does not notice pain, not until it is over. When they hurt they get through it, they find a way because that is the bottom line. There is no other option stopping will not satisfy the growing hunger, performing at a sub par level will most certainly never satisfy the hunger.
Most of all a champion cannot be made because you can't teach people to believe. They either have it or they don't. A champion sets goals, and knows that they will achieve them. There is never a doubt in their mind that they cannot achieve a goal. They understand that the task at hand is a hard one. They realize that work, time, sweat, blood, pain, and anger must accompany their goals but in the end they know it will happen. The problem with a simple winner, or another person is that they don't have that belief. They are the first one's to make goals, the first one's to share them. But in the end they second guess themselves to the point where self-consciously they could not achieve their goal even if they were the most prepared, best trained, and best pure athlete.
Some may call it choking, something that a champion cannot fathom, it is not possible for them. But in my mind, it's a lack of belief. A champion who believes will never fail, it is simple they can be an inferior talent but in the end just believing they will achieve success will allow them.

Meet Review: Tampa Classic

Indoor:
-Overall pretty good. The floor I thought was ehhh. Overall it was good but the first turn seemed to be a little slippery, at least compared to the rest of the floor. It was the first meet I had to put on oranges (atoms) and there was a fair amount of mixing of softer wheels for a lot of skaters. Still good skating.
-I didn't think the meet was quite as big as it has been in the past, but that being said I don't think it necessarily was lacking talent either.
-The officiating was what it was. Not bad, but definitely room for improvement. I felt honestly, that to combat the criticism in recent years that the officials didn't wear skates they put the officials on skates.. But that didn't automatically make them roll every race or perform any better then they could have on foot. It did however, allow them to at least attempt to make calls during a race. I felt like a few times there were calls that were made that should not have been. Like when a skater puts on a little show to try and gain the officials attention and then they made the call. But there were also times that calls could have been made that weren't. That will always be the case, sometimes more or less severe but everywhere you go you will never manage to combat that problem.
-I feel like it is one of the premier events to skate World Class at but some of the other divisions could be a little deeper. But you can't exactly expect much more when there are two other US Easter meets and an international competition at the same time as well.
Outdoor:
-Same place so the track was about the same as it usually is. The skies were clear so when it got closer to mid-day and the sun had just been beating on the track the turns got really slick, at least for the world class skaters.
-Definitely good competition. Has had deeper fields in the past but for this year, it was good so there isn't much to say about that.
-World class was once again a pretty big event. It's unfortunate that more senior ladies (outdoor) were not present (besides those who moved up this year from junior) but hey, when you work that's what happens. Senior men is hard to say much about. There were a good deal of Juniors that skated world class but the rest of them skated Jr. World Class which in the end does them no good. They all need to race each other to really judge your competition. Other then that I think Senior Men was really strong.

All in all it was a great meet. It always fields a strong World Class group of skaters and has the outdoor portion. This year especially the outdoor portion should be taken seriously, but not as an indicator on how you will do at Outdoor Nationals because it is 11 weeks before Outdoor Nationals!! So judge where you are at but realize that you still have to train hard if you want to be successful.

First Interview - Kimani Griffin

Kimani Griffin grew up in North Carolina apart of the High Point Speed Team. Over the years he has won numerous national medals and broken a large number of national records. His resume includes two Junior World Team appearances in 2006 and 2007. He also is the back-to-back Junior Men's Indoor National Champion. In Lincoln, Nebraska for the 2008 Indoor National Championships Kimani broke four records and won four gold medals, only failing to win a race he fell in. He was arguably the most winningest athlete at those championships and indisputably the fastest non Pro Elite skater there.
After dominating the National Indoor scene in 2008 Kimani took to another passion: his guitar. He is currently attending Columbus State University in Georgia for his Freshman year. Although his love for speed in undeniable his passion for music has forced him to but his skating on hold, at least temporarily.
-KC-Alright let's get right to the chase, are you enjoying your freshman year of college?
-KG-Most definitely I had to make a choice between guitar and skating, and I feel like I made the right decision. The work is constant and never ending but the female to guy ratio and the parties make it ok from time to time.

-KC-Is it everything you thought it would be?
-KG-Pretty much. I didn't think the work would be so time consuming, but its ok I suppose.

-KC-How has the music been treating you?
-KG-Great. I feel like I've definitely matured as a musician and I am putting together a concert repertoire for June. I have a concert scheduled for Italy so I'm physched about that as well.

-KC-Has it been difficult being so far away from home?
-KG-Not at all. It's just one more step to becoming adult.

-KC-When is your school year over?
-KG-Exam week is May 11-15th so somewhere in there.

-KC-Afterwards you will be back NC correct?
-KG-Yea I'll go back home try and get back in shape for regionals and nationals.

-KC-How long have you been skating? How long have you been on the guitar?
-KG-Pretty much about the same time. I started both when I was around 6 almost 7. So roughly 12 years.

-KC-Last year, and years past, how often were you practicing (skating)?
-KG-Last year and the year before had a little different schedules. Switching from High Point to Peidmont was different the sense of amount of training. In 2007 I was doing alot of indoor and outdoor about 6 times a week indoor and about 5 times a week outdoor give or take. Last year all I did was indoor about 5 times a week not too much outdoor at all really. I rode the bike for about the last 3 months of the season both years mainly focusing on interval sprints...So nothing too drastic.

-KC-How often are you practicing now in Georgia?
-KG-Not at all....Music takes up so much my time. College in general is a full time job and on top of working on 15 pieces of music at a time, between solo music, guitar duos, quartets, noctets (9 guitarist), weddings, flute and guitar, voice and guitar music it just never ends really. At the moment skating is on hold and I'm practicing guitar around 5-6 hrs a day.

-KC-Last year you were arguably the best/winningest athlete at Indoor Nationals then you went off to college. Is it frustrating at times that you cannot skate as much as you've grown accustomed to through the years?
-KG-I feel like I went off to college making a statement last year and somewhat the year before. Defending my title in 08, and winning 4 golds and setting 4 new records was in my mind all I could have asked for, except for the Senior 2 Man. But someone else needed a gold for their collection. But it's not frustrating as much as it is a part of life ya know?

-KC-Are you ever disappointed when you go to a meet and know that you are not quite performing to your potential, or at least at the level you have over the last couple of years?
-KG-Oh no doubt. Losing for me is possibly one of the biggest drives for me in anything. Skating in particular I know how much work, effort and time I've put in the sport so its definitely frustrating and disappointing.

-KC-What will you be skating at Nationals, Senior Men or Pro Elite? What are your expectations?
-KG-Probably Pro Elite in the sense I've won junior twice and will be racing the same people in Senior I would have over the past two years. I'm expecting to skate up to my standards....possibly like I did in 08' but who knows?

-KC-Out of everything you've ever done in life, what is your greatest accomplishment?
-KG-World team both years considering that has always been a dream ever since I was 9. But definitely Indoor Nationals 07 and 08 in particular is probably the highlight of my career. Finally people looked at the underdog as the quoted "fastest athlete at the event," for me was a definite confident booster.

-KC-What is one of your most embarrassing stories?
-KG-I don't really have any. Not the embarrassed type but I would probably say my first nationals in 2000, I went out for J.O. Juvenile boys warm up and 75% of the auditorium was telling me it was for the juvenile boys not girls....Perfect way to start the meet.

-KC-Who has been influential in your success? Not just in skating, but in everything.
-KG-Johnny Paterson and Harry Vogel Jr. and Sr. Johnny was pretty much a brother to me and when he passed in 2002 it still to this day has just been a driving force that has kept me motivated. When I first started skating at High Point in 1999 I immediately looked up to Harry Jr. despite the cockiness back then perhaps he has reason to be. I just admired his talent and motivation. Harry Sr. used to push me more than anyone at the rink and to me is pretty much my second dad. My mom for sure. I don't give her near enough credit she deserves, but she has supported everything in life I have ever wanted to do. So those three are no doubt the biggest influential figures in my life.

-KC-You are 18. You've made the Jr World Team, you've won national medals, broken national records. But is there anything you wish you could have done by now in the sport?
-KG-I guess be a world champion. But you know Im not really complaining with what is on my resume at the moment.

-KC-You are also a short track (ice) speed skater: have you given that up? Or do you plan on getting back to it?
-KG-Right now...given up. I just have no time to practice, compete, or anything for that matter. I feel like when I come back skating inline I can get back into the swing of things. Ice is totally different in that regard. So skating in general is on hold. Plus after my undergrad I want to pursue my masters degree so who knows right now?

-KC-What do you say to a young skater when they ask you how you got so fast?
-KG-Dedication, drive, and being hungry. I never accept defeat in anything and if I do lose best believe I'm coming back for seconds. Ever since I was little I just always wanted to be the best even if it was in putt-putt or a lame game of dodgeball. If you put the work into it you will see results.

-KC-When someone says the name Kimani Griffin what do you want people to remember?
-KG-People to recognize my talent and the work I put in. My friendliness to people I didn't even know. How open I was to people's criticism whether I thought they were right or not.

-KC-Alright, thanks for the interview. Any last words?
-KG-Be humble. Let your talent do the talking. Don't use me as a perfect example of that. But I do try.

Jay Cutler

This is totally my opinion and everything I say is my opinion.
Ok, Jay Cutler was mentioned in a trade that did not happen and he stressed his desire to be traded after that point. His new head coach had a meeting with him and after the meeting Culter's agent publicly said that the meeting went over poorly and that Cutler wanted a trade. After a few weeks of the coach, owner, and others trying to contact Cutler without response (according to ESPN) the team (Denver Broncos) have decided that they WILL trade Cutler.
The trade in question was for Matt Cassel. The same Matt Cassel that the NEW HEAD COACH developed in New England and coached. It's not like he was almost traded for nothing, Josh McDaniels is more familiar with Cassel then he is with Cutler which warrants a look at the trade.
That is the basic view but now I have the opinionated part... Jay Culter put up great numbers last year 4526 passing yards, 25 passing TD's, and 18 Interceptions. Off of those numbers you would be like wow, why would Denver ever want to trade a QB that puts up those numbers. Well, I didn't mention he is 17-20 as a starter. 17-20!!! Not even .500. His best season is .500! Not that he has a poor supporting cast but his best season is 8-8 which was last season. He put up 4526 with basically two 1000+ yard receivers. Brandon Marshall had 1265 receiving yards in 15 games and Eddie Royal (most receiving yards for a rookie) had 980 in 15 games. Now factor in the fact that Denver had NO running game last season because they had something like 7 running backs on the Injured Reserve list is ridiculous. And he did throw 18 Interceptions which isn't very good either.
So he is upset, but he has nothing but one good season. He cries and won't return phone calls when he gets upset and he still hasn't managed to get his team to the playoffs let alone win a playoff game. I think he needs to suck it up, return a phone call, and realize that they had a right to LOOK at a trade and they didn't even make a trade. He would get a better receiving core anywhere else and Denver just made so many moves in the offseason to get a better team around Cutler. Take you millions of dollars and suck it up, you led your team to something like a 1-3 record down the stretch, that doesn't warrant a superstar.

Another ODN Post

Ok, the dates have been released: June 26th- July 5th (Including rain dates and practice days). Now for the good stuff, my take:
Initial Reaction
Well, first reaction is good. I like it. Not for this particular year because it is such short notice but if it was like this every year then I would enjoy it. I enjoy it because it gives me that much more exceptional training days. For the first time I will be out of school by the time ODN is held. In the summer I normally skate outdoors twice a day, so having three weeks of that before ODN will get me that much closer to the shape I usually am at residency (in simple terms, the past two years my residency 300m has been 0.3 seconds faster then ODN). Being in better shape means better results for me!
The Bad
Hate to seem like a downer but I'm afraid this section might be the largest. To start the bad off, it is only a two week break between outdoor and indoor nationals. The problem is for the money payers, that's a lot of money in a little bit of time but more importantly managing to take time off for ODN, and then having money to go to IDN (if you can even get off) is a hard task to pull off! On a skater level, we will spend two weeks solely on 200m+ size tracks that you get used to with the big turns. Then to realize you have two weeks to prepare yourself for the 84ft (I think 84 for the traveling floor) 100m track with tight turns might at a degree of difficulty to everything.
Yet another problem.. At ODN you need to be in tip-top shape in order to perform your best and try and make the world team. Normally, we call that a peak. You train real, real hard and then a week before trials you calm down the skating and you 'plateau' or 'peak' allowing you to skate at your best. Normally after that you come off of a peak, but with IDN so close you have to peak for ODN, and try to maintain the peak for IDN. This could propose a few problems. If you can't do it you may crash halfway through IDN and your legs will feel completely shot.
But they are not the only problems.. For those that go to ODN and DO make the world team they have the most problem. You of course want to skate good at IDN but most years there is only about a week (if that) between IDN and residency. So if you peak at ODN, maintain it through IDN you have to realize something: you cannot maintain a peak from June 28 (ODN) through September (26, the end of worlds) You will fail miserably if you try that. They either have to sacrifice IDN, which no one is going to do so things become more complicated. After IDN, you have to come off your peak no matter what. You have to if you want to succeed. If you try and maintain that peak then at the beginning of residency you will be flying and skating awesome, but halfway through and towards the end you will be burnt-out. You wont have anything left in the tank and you will not be able to peak again for Worlds.
Another negative is that numbers may be done because of the new dates this year. I do not believe that QUALITY will be low but numbers probably will. You will still have a number of great contenders but overall you won't see the same numbers we are accustomed to (which are bad to begin with). With trails in the summer you might get a few lazy skaters, which means that they didn't stick to skating as much in the summer and turn out to not be as good as ODN and potentially not make the team which may not be such a bad thing because...
The Good
Onto the good! .... The good thing about have ODN in the summer is you get rid of the lazy skaters!!!!!! Think about it, you can't make the team and decide to stop training because you have IDN and then only a week before residency so you know that you are getting the best athletes for residency and worlds because they are the ones that trained hard throughout the summer! We all know the story where skater A skates great at ODN and makes the team but at residency and worlds skater A looks bad, really bad like after ODN they crawled in a hole or something.
On a personal level, it is very good because I realize that I need to skate PB (personal best) in every race in order to make the SR team. And I've got a good feeling that it just became that more likely for me to skate PB every race, especially the 300m. I will not tell anyone what time I am aiming for in the 300, because no one will believe it until they see it.

Well train hard skaters, make team but remember making the team is not the ultimate goal!

P.S. I am thinking about doing a few Q&A's with some skaters. If anyone has a particular skater they would like me to Q&A then let me know otherwise I'll just be picking people of my choice.

Outdoor Nationals

Well if you haven't heard, Outdoor Nationals is in the limbo. The dates released months ago were tentative. And from word of mouth, one of the people in charge of such things at the OTC has resigned from his job and the dates for ODN have not been secured and no one is quite certain when they will be.
There is talk that ODN will be later then originally expected. I have heard, rumors that the dates could be as far as after indoor nationals. Yes, after indoor nationals.
In my honest opinion, it could be a huge problem and a great outcome. It could be a problem because you are giving people 0 time for planning, and that is a lot of money in a little bit of time for entry fees. But in terms of getting the best athletes you will succeed in my opinion. There has been this huge dilemma about Juniors who go to ODN make the team but are not in shape for residency and worlds. Well, normally Juniors are so worried about Indoor Nationals that if you have Outdoors shortly after that you are getting the best athletes at or close to their best. After outdoor nationals everyone goes home and then you could have residency start in a week or two giving the athletes no time to get out of shape. Think about it, in shape athletes for residency means stronger after residency (instead of getting in shape at residency) and better for worlds.
Personally, ignoring the fact that it would be inconvenient being on such sort notice I would like ODN shortly after indoors. I will have more time out of school to train like the seniors that don't go to school 9 hours a day. In the summer I have been training one practice at 8am, any normal indoor practice, and another outdoor practice at night so personally I will be in much better shape. Probably, in the shape I have entered residency the past two years which has always been better then what I was at ODN the same year.