Just Rolling Through Life

The Journey less Traveled

2011-10-21T03:33:00.002-04:00

I still have a hard time grasping the idea that I'm going to compete in the Pan American Games next week.

When I started skating, I knew of the Keystone Speed League. It was where I went to race once a month against really fast kids my age. Dominic Camaioni, Dante Tuscai, Nathan Barry, Chris Semus, Andrew Shatzer. Those were the ones in the beginning when I was young, the one's I always thought, man I'm going to be that fast one day. The ones that were winning heat 1 while I was stuck battling for 4th's in heat 3. (Our league had a system where you earned points every meet and the top 6 in total points for the season were heat 1, then 7-12 heat 2, etc.) Then three years went by and I learned of Regional Championships and shortly after that Indoor National Championships at this point I was just eight years old. I saw even faster skaters. I saw Brent Phillips, Kimani Griffin, JR Celski, Eddy Alvarez, Adam Wullum and I couldn't believe how fast they could move.

Over this time period my goals advanced from simple wishes like wanting to advance to heat 2 in the league. Then to heat 1. Then to being able to keep up for the whole race. After that I wanted to win a race in JO then I wanted to skate regionals and qualify. After that I wanted to get top 5 in the league in standard. Then I wanted to win a race. After that I couldn't wait to make it to my semi's at nationals. Then it was making it to a final. Then it was winning regionals. After that it was placing top 4 in a JO race at nationals. Then I wanted to win the league overall. After that I wanted to make both finals at nationals (only two finals in JO). Then I wanted a medal. Once I got a medal it was time for an individual medal.

Around the same time I first heard of a world team. I practiced outdoor, occasionally, I raced outdoor.. and always lost. Rarely keeping up for more then a mile. But I didn't know anything about a world team. I remember sitting at practice, it was a tough practice, we were getting ready for nationals and were doing lots of races, 300m, 500m, 1000m what seemed back to back almost. Then Jeff was on the phone and it was awesome because he stopped paying attention for a minute to talk and we got a little extra rest. When he got off the phone he told us Steve made another world team. Talking about no other then Steve Carter. I knew Steve because he skated on the same team as I did. He was older and when he came to practice he went way, way, faster then everyone else. That's what I remember Steve as. I remember watching everything he did at practice, at a race. At races, when I was sitting in the reading area with my skates on and all the little kids pick someone to win a race I always picked Steve no matter if it was 500m or 5000m. And I remember thinking, wow, Steve made the world team again what is a world team, you must be the best in order to do that. Then it was back to practice. Steve was the guy when I was getting down on myself at a race my parents went and asked to come talk to me to cheer me up.

After I medaled at nationals it was time to try Outdoor Nationals. When I went to Outdoor Nationals it was all or nothing, my last year of the Freshman division so I wanted to win. That was the goal. That year I saw some great skaters, Darren Kauffman, Chris Creveling, Jordan Malone, Joey Mantia, I couldn't believe what they could do. I saw Darren's 10k points race on track and how he just kind of walked away from the pack and skated half the race.. a points race at that.. half a lap ahead of the field. That's when I learned of the World Team and at that moment I knew that was what I wanted to do. I figured that a lot of people make the team their last year but I wanted to make it my last two years of junior so I would have a greater accomplishment. But I was so young, so the goal was to gain experience in my first junior world class year. That year went so bad the goal the next year was to not embarrass myself. Then it was to make the team, after that it was to break another record at trials. Then it was to medal at worlds individually. (The year after I got my relay medal). My first year on the team was a Pan American year. I knew that year I wanted to make the Pan American team. I knew of all the great skaters who never made one so I figured if I did make one then I would have to be really good. Then I realized how special it would be to make the jump from junior to senior and make the senior team my first year, after all no one in the US had done it for four years.

I don't exactly know the point of this blog but it seems so surreal. I still have a hard time grasping exactly how I've gotten where I am in skating.

3 days out

2011-08-27T08:55:00.002-04:00

We are three days out from the start of racing. Things are starting to look up for us getting used to the track, because at this point it is what it is. Good, but not great. Much better then Colorado still. We are stuck eating terrible food everyday. Think of eating Golden Corral buffet three times a day everyday, yuck. So we resorted to Pizza Hut last night and then McDonalds tonight, neither of which I recommend but when you are stuck eating bad food it becomes instantly awesome.

We practiced three times today on the track which was slightly overwhelming but the workload was split up enough that it wasn't draining or anything. We've been working on going fast on the track because if you don't enter the turn right you end up slipping and the turn spits you out early and you end up at the wall really quick.

The trip hasn't been too bad besides the food and the fact that we do not have a translator which makes life in Korea way more difficult. Team wise, we have been getting along really well together probably the best I've ever seen 30 people get along, but at the same time we skipped three weeks together that we normally have so, it makes getting along a lot easier when you only have to make it two weeks. Even when we joke around the team all gets that it's a joke. The place we are stuck eating at is so bad that we all chant about how bad it is, and make jokes about how bad it is, and talk about what we really would like to eat if we were in the states.

That's pretty much all I have for right now, stay classy America, and of course stay safe if you are on the east coast.

Back on the Blog

2011-08-25T02:58:00.002-04:00

Well, the easiest way to communicate when you are 13 hours ahead of the east coast is to write.. so I'm blogging. Traveling, well, sucked but oh well we are here now. The weather pretty much sucks, it's Asia so the sun is something I won't see for the next two weeks. Plus we are in the 'rain' season which makes it even better. During our AM training session it drizzled most of the way, not enough to stop us from skating, but enough to be annoying.

The track is not quite what we've had the past few years but it's not terrible.. as of now. The last few worlds we've been completely spoiled by some of the best/fastest tracks the world probably has to offer. With that being said, skating on them is like skating with glue, sliding was the thing of the past along with tearing wheels up. This year we don't have quite the glue feeling, in fact there is some slipping that has gone on and will continue but that's okay. It will still go pretty easy on the wheels which is a good thing. It has a 'wavy' feel to it. Not quite bumpy but a little wavy. It's still way faster then the track we have in Colorado, plus it's not parabolic like Colorado, which means the fastest line is to skate pretty much low the whole time.

Other then that nothing has really happened for us here. We've spent most of our time on a bus it seems like. All of our meals are 15-20 minutes from our hotel, which just opened for business last night.. when we got here.

Time to Roll

2011-08-12T13:34:00.003-04:00

Well, apparently its that time of the year again for me. This is the height of my training and I love every minute of racing her at trials, all of the racing in a short period of time. It's a little different this year, when I've already told everyone that I will not be going to worlds, if it was funded and I qualified I would definitely be going but that is not the case and probably won't ever be the case again so, I fear I may have skated my final world championships for inlines.

It's a tough reality because you get into the area of what-if's which is never fun because the fact of the matter is you will never know. Even now I know I've prepared about as well as I could, but in Salt Lake it's just different. I skate straightaways, turns are foreign to me simply because there isn't anywhere sufficient enough to really hammer out an oval track. Sure, I can go somewhere is practice crossing a little, but practicing crossing and sprinting through a turn are two separate entities. I've pretty much only been skating inlines since June, plus a lot of road biking which I enjoy doing.

Basically, I'm here to race hopefully win a handful of medals, go back to salt lake and start all over on the ice. Ideal? No, but you take what you can get. All I can do is train as hard as I can and see where it takes me no matter what the sport is.

Prayer

2011-06-15T23:50:00.004-04:00

First I want to thank everyone for their prayers whether they be directed towards Hayley or Kevin we appreciate every single one of them. Please, continue to pray for Hayley. Please find somewhere in your heart whether you are religious or not to stop and say a prayer. Whether or not you despise myself or my family this is much bigger than that, I beg you to just stop for a second and say a prayer.

For those of you who do not know my Brother Kevin was accepted into Northern Michigan University on a USOEC Scholarship to go to school and skate short track ice. He graduated High School on Saturday and set sail Tuesday for Michigan. The woman my brother cares most about, his girlfriend, who also just graduated this weekend decided to ride along with him so he didn't have to drive by himself. He drove about 11 hours Tuesday before he stopped to sleep. He jumped back on the road around 6am Wednesday morning. Somewhere around 7:30 - 8am Kevin fell asleep behind the wheel of our Chevy Trailblazer. He was driving with the vehicle in cruise control set at the speed limit of 70mph. To the right of the road there is a ditch and then a field of grass. The vehicle hit the ditch and rolled multiple times after that. The vehicle behind them was already on the phone with 911 before the vehicle could stop rolling. Kevin and Hayley were both wearing seat belts, and were both asleep at the point of impact. Once the vehicle stopped rolling both were conscious but Hayley was in obvious and serious pain. At the hospital Hayley was diagnosed with a broken neck and taken into surgery immediately, she did not have feeling in her lower extremities.

After a four hour surgery Hayley is in an ICU room and is awake in stable condition. Tonight they have her on a ventilator for safety, they plan to take the ventilator off tomorrow. The only news on the surgery that we have is that it went 'well'. The Doctor who performed the surgery had already left the hospital for the day when Hayley's mother and my father arrived and the nurse's have very little information to give us. We wont know more until we speak to the doctor and until the swelling around the neck goes down which could take a few days. Hayley's injury is one that is commonly associated with the seat belt when it locks up during impact. Hayley has been sedated all day to keep her as immobile and calm as possible, the also have her arms strapped down on the bed so she stays as still as possible. She has been able to say a few words but it is difficult to speak with the ventilator.

Kevin has a bruised long and a lot of cuts and scratches. Physically he is okay but emotionally he isn't taking the situation very well.

I ask you to put yourself in Hayley's position of uncertainty or in Kevin's emotional position of responsibility and guilt. After doing so I hope you will say a prayer for these two young people that they may make a full recovery. Pray to give them the strength and courage to fight threw this physical and emotional battle. And pray that they can keep a good mind set because a strong mind and a strong outlook can go a long way towards a physical recovery.

Long Time No Write

2011-06-03T17:40:00.002-04:00

Alright sorry for the long blogging absence. Lots to cover today so let's just jump into some of the stuff.

Before I talk about right now I need to talk about August, mostly because it effects right now. So we all know that the dates for trials have finally been set in stone. We also know that as of right now there may not be any funding for the Junior or Senior world teams. This directly effects me for multiple reasons. The first is obviously I will have to pay to go to worlds which I thought I finished doing when I became a Senior. The second is that I have to pay to go to worlds that there is not a residency training program which means that there is even less for a coach to choose who gets to race. This is a big deal because I don't want to go to a worlds and not get a chance to race especially if I am paying.

I'm 20 years old but I'm still the little kid. When you look at the names Joey Mantia, Justin Stelly, Will Bowen, Michael Cheek, Harry Vogel, and Keith Carroll you don't think of me having the same skill set or ability mostly because of my physical appearance, not my results. Coaches are just like normal people, and for the most part if anyone has to pick two of those six athletes for a given race they overlook my name because I may not have the starpower that some of the other names carry even though I qualified for last years team before four of them.

So what basically what I am saying is that there has to be a significant reason for me to pay to go to worlds. The simple idea of being able to say I went to Worlds isn't enough anymore. So based on the amount that we are expected to pay and the way trials pans on there is a possibility I will deny the 2011 World Team if I were to qualify, which is my full intentions.

So to the next part, this will not affect my training but it does make me think. I will not be skating pretty much any ice after Indoor Nationals until either after Outdoor Nationals or after Worlds whatever one is my last. This is my decision because short track and inline are very different and I will still be participating in a lot of the workouts that are off the ice and I will be able to skate at least twice a day heading into trials. With that being said I expect the first American Cup race of the ice season to be my worst race of the year even though it holds a significant amount of weight because I am focusing on inlines and will only have about a month back on the ice before the AmCup race. If I end up not going to worlds then it will be a little bit more frustrating because of how much I am putting off the ice training in August to fully focus on my inlines.

So right now we are focusing on a lot of technique, we are planning out the schedule until after worlds in terms of training. All of my training is set up to have me peak for worlds so that should be pretty awesome. I am patiently trying to get through the summer training for ice while waiting for my custom Marchese to be ready which should be around late July or early August. I've been on a few rides now and I've realized I'm actually not as bad as I thought I would be on the bike which is awesome. I haven't started my interval work for worlds yet but it is going to be coming shortly. I plan on training straight through indoor nationals mostly because it isn't a priority to me. I am looking more forward to the Chicago marathon after indoor nationals then I am for IDN.

Why I do it

2011-03-30T03:30:00.002-04:00

I took two complete weeks off after ice nationals. Exactly two weeks, I didn't do any workouts. My ice and inline skates were both in pieces. It was the longest break I've taken in at least two years, and I think the longest break I've actually taken since I broke my collarbone in 2006 but I can't be sure about that one so.. at least two years. That is a stupid, stupid thing on my part, if I wasn't so young that would probably have destroyed me.

It was one of the hardest two weeks of my life. At first everything started to hurt. My knees normally have a lot of pain but when I'm not doing anything I thought they would stop hurting. It got to the point when I was just laying in bed they were throbbing with a pulse. Then my back started to hurt, my back never hurts. I couldn't understand, I started to have pain in all these places that I never did. Then I started to realize that I workout so much, when I take time off.. I don't have a lot of things to do. The second week I just sat around for a lot of the time wondering what I should be doing.

Now I'm starting to work out again and it feels good. I won't take any time off for at least the next 11 months. Anyway, this time of the year it's pretty easy to motivate myself. I have this image that runs through my head all of the time. It's me, at Trials, and I'm not skating well and I just look back and realize there were so many days I should have done more, or should have skated better. Then I just tell myself I won't let that be me, I'll train harder now because that can't be me. The fear or idea of failure kills me: it frightens me. Once you fail, you can't go back and fix anything.. it's over. Don't get me wrong, if I'm at my best and I fail, then I'll take it. But failure for lack of preparation is unacceptable.

Proving Ground

2011-03-21T00:46:00.003-04:00

I'm excited for my next few months. All of my workouts are on my own until May, then it's back to team training: offseason summer training for ice and inline training for the rest of the inline season. I can't wait until I race next time, but really I can't wait for my first outdoor race. Since November, every time I've raced on my inlines it's been unprepared. If you ask those who witnessed it in person, they would probably tell you it wasn't that bad. But, for me it was terrible, at least to my own standards. Not again.

I feel like I'm back down a few steps, like I almost have to prove something again. First, I have to convince and prove to myself that it was the comfort issue and not me. I have and will continue to be my biggest critic. The next goal is to prove I can still do this indoor stuff, no matter how much I hate it. This might be a harder goal, specifically because I will still not be training indoor.

I'm excited for the upcoming months for a lot of reasons. First, my last residency went nothing like I thought it did which is not a good thing. Every practice here will be residency in itself, because of the talent level we have.. Just in the WHIP program. That doesn't include those who will probably skate with us too. If I am going to be training with the best, I can't imagine myself not gaining a lot of strong workouts and a lot of confidence from this.

My absolute number one goal is world team trials right now. It will remain that way, until trials are over. Last year I skated my best overall at trials then I ever had before. Maybe not my best in a certain discipline but overall definitely. This year I want my trials to be a lot better and even more well-rounded. Trials will be my proving ground (for myself) both mentally and physically so that's something I'm looking forward to.

I'm especially looking forward to racing back home sometime soon. I have regionals May 14th and 15th but that isn't really what I'm looking forward to. I can't wait to race in one of the Eastern Seaboard Series race this season, I don't know when they are going to be yet but I hope to make at least one of them. Before, when I was always at every single one (the only time I missed one was for residency and worlds) I was just another guy, I didn't bring out the best in everyone. But the person that showed up to that one, Like Cheex last year, everyone wants to skate well when someone from out of town comes.. that will be me. I can't wait to bring out the best in everyone and see what they have. When you go to everyone of the races and you know you are going to be fast enough every time you stop getting excited and then there is no adrenaline there. It will be nice to show up to one, have that adrenaline and want to be there and race. Then I'll be able to show everyone what I have, something the rarely see if they don't go to trials.

Home Sweet Home

2011-03-15T12:04:00.002-04:00

Back in Salt Lake after Ice Nationals. Quite an experience. I had to skate my age group because of qualification requirements to skate the Am Cup final and I wasn't in Salt Lake soon enough to skate some of the other Am Cup races. We had 9 skaters in total in the 'intermediate division' six of us ended up earning points in at least two distances, 4 of those six are inline skaters.. just for some perspective.

This season in short track they have a few new rules which makes things a little different for us because we don't know all the rules yet and then there are the new rules. In the two previous races I skated this season I did not get disqualified in a single race, that includes heats semi's finals whatever. At nationals I had four distances.. I ended up being disqualified in two of them. The first one is on me I get that. But from the explanation I received the second one was still on me, but because I fell down. If I had stayed on my feet I wouldn't have ended up committing a foul or whatever you want to call it. The other two races, the 500m and the 3000m I won.

The basis for the season which for me started in November after worlds, was to try and get as much of the technique down as possible and to gain experience. We got some of the technique down this season and still have a long, long way to go on that aspect.. at least until I'll be satisfied with the way I skate. We gained a good amount of experience this season but, obviously the more we race and practice the more experience we are going to get. But next season the goal is to improve technically a lot but also to qualify for seniors and for the am cup final. I think the racing and the mistakes made this season will set us up well for next season.

Now I am here in Salt Lake and the ice season is over. I am on my own in terms of what kind of training I decide to do from now until May 2nd, when the team will begin our summer training for the next ice season and our organized inline practices for the inline season. Right now it is March 15th, so I think the next two weeks I'm going to take it a little easy. I'm not going to do to much but am still going to be on my skates. One thing that I have to take into consideration is that I haven't taken any time off at all since I got back from China in 2009. If I don't at least slow down for a little I could end up running into trouble down the road, I'm just going to play it safe and cut out all the extra stuff I've been doing for the next two weeks besides the skating time. Once April gets here it's going to be a pretty tough stretch so I want to make sure I'm prepared for that.

Catching Up

2011-03-04T12:09:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since I blogged so I guess it's that time. A lot has happened in the last month. My training has pretty much been the same though. I was in Midland, Michigan for the American Cup III race for ice. The American Cup races are pretty much used to qualify people for the the finale and to crown the American Cup Champion who automatically ends up on the National Team the following season if they choose to. With this being my first American Cup race of the season I had to chance of qualifying for the finale or being crowned champion, but that didn't make it any less of an experience.

The first race I skated was the 1500m and the strategy was pretty simple, sit in the pack and wait for everyone to die. The thing about short track is that for the most part until you get to an international level it is a sprinters sport. Every race becomes pretty much a 5 lap or less race at the end, so it's more of a positioning fight for the rest of it. The beginning of 1500m are so slow, it's kind of funny almost, yet a lot of skaters can't manage to have the legs for a 1500m. Anyway, the strategy was good.. I made the semi-finals and fell down with like 3 to go which was disappointing because it looked like I was going to make the A final. I managed to win the B final.

The next race was a 500m. The thing about short track is that for the start if you don't have the inside your chances of winning the start are dramatically decreased.. kind of like nira. But when you have a really good start, you can make up at least a few spots. I was starting in lane 4 of 5. I got off the line and at the point where I was about to start my turn I was ahead of everyone. Some people do this weird thing where they like to go right to turn sharper left I don't know, I've never been one of those people. But I planted my left after running the start and crossed over while the kid to my left decided to go right some more to turn left, and kicked my blade. I thought I had a strip in my blade because I couldn't skate the race. I got off the ice and realized a piece of my blade broke off. I finished the meet on a pair of blades from another skater, which is pretty weird because they have different bends and rocks for every skater. I didn't skate bad the next day but it would have been a lot better with my own blades. I finished 10th overall for the race.

After that I went to Roanoke and pretty much had a pretty miserable time. The floor wasn't bad in terms of the coating. But I had only skated on a 90 ft wide floor since a little after nationals so skating on the 80ft in Roanoke plus knowing it has never been a good place for me racing didn't help. Skating in Roanoke made me remember why I've always favored outdoor skating. Indoor once you get to a certain skill level there are two things that happen: 1. You can't reach top speed anymore and 2. If you are a smart skater or an experienced skater you can keep everyone behind you with ease because there aren't any passing lanes.

Next week I leave for ice nationals, because I didn't qualify for the American Cup Finale I will be skating my age group, which has only about 7 other skaters because the rest are in the finale. It should be okay though. I have decided to skip the March NSC event. I am in Wisconsin until Monday and having no time on my inlines and going to a race just seems like a bad idea right now. But, once nationals is over I'll be spending a lot of time on my inlines so I'll be ready to go the rest of the year.

Passion and Obsession

2011-02-07T22:52:00.002-05:00

By definition Passion can be defined in many different ways. For the sake of listing them all, we will focus on just one.

Passion: A strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept.

When I first started skating I liked it. Then the more I did it I started to love everything about it. Now a days, I am devoted to skating. Skating defines me as a person. When I was in High School there would be times, mostly due to extreme procrastination, that I would end up needing to finish a project at the last minute, the only problem is I often had practice on those nights. Practice won every single time. I would worry about the project when I got done practice, usually not getting to bed until the wee hours of the morning. I always believed missing one practice would be more detrimental to me in the long run then getting a B instead of an A on a project. In school, I always thought I had a semester to define my grade. In skating, I had 'now' to define my ability.. over and over again.

I'm passionate about skating. I love everything about skating. I love watching young children skate, mostly because they are in it for the fun and it's so pure. I love everything about the sport, the fact you can do it anywhere, all you need is your skates and a road. There are roads all over the world. One of the big reasons I never take time off, never have an off-season is because I don't want to. Even when I won't be competing for a long time I never lose the desire to lace up my skates and just go. For me, there's nothing more pure then the feeling of your wheels on the pavement, as you just cruise knowing every bit of speed is generated solely from you. I love skating for what it is, before the competition.

Obsession, much like Passion can be defined in numerous ways. But for the same reasons, lets narrow it down to just one:

Obsession: The domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.

When I first started to become passionate about skating I started to let it take over my train of thought. I would dream skating. I would wake up, skating on my mind. I'd sit in school writing all of my papers about skating. Or imitating myself on a slide board to the point someone would point out that I am making circles with my feet as I stand. I day dream, no matter what I was doing.. about skating. I would lay in bed, trying to sleep, distracted about skating.

I was passionate about skating, but that's not what I found myself obsessing about. I started obsessing on how I could get better at it. I started to dissect my every move on skates because if I broke everything down, I could find my flaws, and fix them one by one. This, is what has caused people to call me to analytical, that I think about it too much. I let the idea of becoming better at what I was passionate about dominate my every move. I let the concept that I could do it better drive me to obsess over skating.

I have an extreme obsession with skating, I can't stop thinking about how I can be better. I visualize my next practice, my next workout over and over again before it ever happens. When it comes time to race, I've already seen the race play 1,000 times, minimum.

When I was young I found something I was passionate about, I followed and found something I could obsess over that could drive me as a human being. Something that could drive me as a person.

One Moment

2011-01-27T19:09:00.002-05:00

I believe everyone has a moment. Something that has contributed to who they are today. Mine was a simple moment. Something I new before it was ever told to me, but actually hearing it for the first time changed me as an athlete.

In 2006 I went to Outdoor Nationals with absolutely no expectations. I just hoped I wasn't going to embarrass myself. The year before I did absolutely terrible so I was just about petrified. The first day racing started we were in the car, Jeff, my Mom, and me. When we parked at the velodrome and shut the car off Jeff started doing something weird, shaking and jumping around like he was a kid at a candy store or something. He stopped and said, I had to get that out so when you win a medal I can stay calm like I expected it to happen. I swallowed a rock instantly. I had won plenty of medals before, but I was a second year junior world class skater. The year before I got destroyed to the point I had to ask Jeff why I didn't improve like I should have. He told me that it takes time.

I skated the first race, the 300m and sure enough I won my first junior medal a bronze in the time of 27.376. I thought Jeff could read the future or something. I never had a more pure level of excitement and satisfaction as the moments after that 300m. It was just a bronze medal, but I improved two and a half seconds from the year before. But this is not the moment that changed me, not yet.

After that my expectations changed, I went from not wanting to be embarrassed to wanting to make the Junior World team that very year. My goal had always been to make it twice, in 2007 and 2008 but everything changed after that moment. The rest of the meet went okay, I won a silver medal in the 200m for my second medal. Then it happened..

The final race for the competition was the 500m on road (other than the marathon that did not account for making the world team, only the marathon team.) I was still in the running for the final spot on the world team. It was between two other guys and myself. I knew exactly what I had to do, If I won I was most likely on the team. If I got second and the other two guys finished specifically in third and fourth (one needing to be third the other fourth) I still would have made the team.

I told Jeff I still had a shot and exactly what I needed to do. I told him how I could still get second and make it. He told me win and your in. Everything came down to this moment if you win you're in. I was 16 and I wasn't ready for that, I knew everything he told me already, but actually hearing it from someone else is another story. I lost..

I was extremely disappointed in myself. I couldn't believe I blew it, that I had a shot and completely blew it. After that everything started changing. I became more confident in myself, which is probably how I became who I am.. just confidence. That year I went to nationals and won. But first, I finished second in the first final and another coach I respected, who coached my coach years ago pulled me to the side. He told me straight plain and simple, you skated like shit. I said, you know I got second right? He said yeah, just win next time.. you're faster. I won.

The following year I went to Outdoor Nationals with one goal, making the world team. I was just coming off of an injury that held me out for a few weeks. I had one month of quality training before trials. Sure enough, the last race was the 500m on road. Jeff wasn't there this time, I called him before my semi. I told him what he told me one year before, If I win I'm in. All I have to do is win. My semi was stacked, but if I won I was in. I won that semi, set the national record and because of who else made the final I managed to make that world team. Leading up to that race I played the previous year in my head a million times. If I just won I was in. It was simple, no sugar coating just win. My moment was simple. I just had to win, and I lost. I beat myself up over it, and decided it wouldn't happen again.

Where I Stand

2011-01-22T12:46:00.002-05:00

Well, I've got a lot of stuff going on and that's pretty much how I like to live anyway. I leave a little later today for the first installment of the National SpeedSkating Circuit's (NSC) second season. I'm not quite sure, but this could possibly be the best overall shape I've ever been in this time of the year. I'm a little heavier then I want to be but that will come off in a month or two like it does every year. Normally I am focused 100% on my inline technique and figuring out how to make myself better for the summer. This year however, I have been in Salt Lake City training on the ice. I am still focusing on my ice technique but I also am training with a lot of intensity so I can skate well on the ice. I officially do not have an off-season, but I don't really think I need one anyway.

Year's ago I told myself I'll never show up to a race out of shape. Well, I'm definitely not showing up to a race out of shape. But, I haven't spent much time on my inlines the last few months.. The snow and ice makes it a lot more difficult to get time on my skates (outdoor). So I'm going into this race with the unknown, something I try to avoid at all costs.. but that's the price I have to pay right now. Roanoke I will be much more prepared for.

In other news I have a ridiculous itch to be on my inlines right now. I've learned so many different things being on the ice and I can't wait to have the opportunity to see what I can incorporate into my inline technique to make me better. I'm excited to get some long skates back in outdoor and prepare for an awesome summer of training and racing. This summer will be a little weird for me, training with skaters of the highest caliber on inlines.. It will be like having a residency training session everyday which will be good for all of us.

Well that's it for now, the only thing I have to say is practice perfection even if you may never reach it! Remember every drill you sit out, you get that much further away from your goals.

Upcoming Events

2011-01-14T20:56:00.003-05:00

Alright, well I haven't written in a while, sorry about that. I've been training pretty hard and still trying to get the technique right while training like I've been doing this for awhile. It manages to exhaust me mentally and physically most of the time. I'm getting a lot better and more comfortable everyday I am on the ice out here. I'm already capable of skating some high 8 second laps which is pretty cool.

Anyway, I have a few races coming up in the next few months both inline races and Ice races:

January 24th - NSC Season 2- Monday Night Mayhem

February 12th-13th - American Cup III (Ice)

February 17th-20th - NSC Season 2 - East Coast Carnage & Blue Ridge Challenge

March 11th-13th - American Cup Final/Nationals (Ice)

March 17th - NSC Season 2 - Thursday Night Throwdown

That is as far as my schedule goes at this time. I expect World Team Trials/ODN to be in late June or somewhere in that ballpark because the dates of Worlds is much earlier (last week of August, first week of September) Indoor Nationals is in early July. I'll have regionals in May this year. Other than that, I want to try and skate a few marathons this season and I would like to skate a few Eastern Seaboard Series races but everything will depend on when all of the races are.

Progress

2010-12-06T13:29:00.002-05:00

Well, I've been on the ice for almost a month. My second day on the ice I skated a 1000m in a time of 1:39 something. A few days later they told me if I kept progressing I could skate a time trial that would count to have a chance to qualify to skate the skate-in at the US Short Track Championships. I would have to skate under a 1:32.5 by December 6th. Well, that was the goal and Saturday on the 4th I skated an official time trial in the time of 1:31.71 which qualifies me to skate the skate-in. Although I get to skate a skate-in race I have a lot of work to do in the next 10 days. In order to actually race I have to skate under 1:30 in the skate-in time trial which is a pretty fast time. I have to average 10.0 or faster a lap but it gets more difficult because the opening lap is a 11.8 or a 11.9 which means for the remaining 8 laps I have to skate on average faster then 9.75.

At first I wasn't sure if I would be able to get the time I needed which also qualifies me to skate am cup A group from now on. Especially because there have been some pretty rough practices. I still have so much to work on but I'm slowly getting better technically. This past week the national team skaters that did not go to the World Cup race have been skating with the group that I practice with which I think has been really good for me. I skate with the national team girls and they all skate better technically then I do but we can go about the same speed so it helps me out a lot I think.

I'm also still skating on a pair of my old inline boots which are not exactly ideal for short track. I hope when I get a short track boot it helps out a lot with some of my technique that I have been working on.

Ice

2010-11-29T23:31:00.002-05:00

Well, another week down. I've gotten consistently faster every week on the ice. Every week my 1000m gets about 2 seconds faster (at least thus far) so I am hoping that will continue for a little while. I am still focusing 100% on my technique because I still have a lot of work to do. A few things are coming easier but there are always more things I find to work on and that I need to fix.

So far one thing that is taking some time to get use to is that everyone doesn't have the same goals as I do which is weird. It makes perfect sense though, everyone who skates inlines doesn't have the goal of winning a gold medal at worlds. So it's similar that everyone here does not have the same goal as making the Olympics and winning Olympic Medals. It's still hard some times. I see people slack off a little, or stop a drill a few minutes early and I just think to myself what are they thinking? Then I realize.. maybe that don't have the same goals as I do.

There are times I am doing drills that aren't specifically on the ice or are on my own at some point I think, if I stop a few minutes early no one will know. Then immediately I tell myself the only person I am hurting is myself and that I will always know. That I have big goals and that if running those extra few minutes will get me there then I'll do it every time.

People tell me I am worrying too much about the little things, that I should relax because it's only my 3rd week on the ice or whatever it is. They say you're doing great for being new and you're doing better then the last one. None of these things are acceptable to me. I feel like if you aren't paying attention to what you are doing, not trying to figure out what you are doing wrong and how you can fix it then why are you doing something? If improvement is not the goal then what is? I ask questions because I have a lot to learn, I have a lot to fix. I change this little thing or that thing and see how it looks and feels so I can do it better. I won't relax because the goal is still a long ways away. They tell me I am trying to fix everything overnight but what is the other option? Wait until tomorrow? If I try to fix everything tonight then it stays fresh in my mind, next time I get on the ice I still remember where I left off at and eventually I will fix some of the technical issues I have and move on to the next one.

Ice 1 Week Down

2010-11-22T17:40:00.002-05:00

Actually it's been a little over a week but whose counting? It's definitely a different experience. I've skated ice before but it's different now focusing on it and skating 6 days a week on ice instead of once every two weeks.

It's a challenge everyday I get onto the ice that's for sure. Every practice on the ice I get frustrated in the beginning and by the end I feel as if I've made progress. One of my problems right now is that I am faster then I should be at this point. I have a lot of technical flaws but I can go pretty fast which you might not think is a problem but it's much harder correcting yourself at higher speeds but it's a problem I'm willing to have. Right now nothing is really natural. I have 100 things going through my head at the same time at every moment I'm on the ice because I'm trying to skate correctly and I have so many little things to think about that I actually have to tell myself to skate sometimes. And if you didn't know, as of right now I am skating short track.

A few things I am currently reminding myself to do on the ice constantly so that it becomes natural is:
-Lead with your left hip
-Keep your hips parallel to the ice
-Keep your right shoulder down
-Keep your shoulders parallel to the ice
-Pinch the right side of your torso making a C shape
-Relax your shoulders
-Chest down and back rounded
-Sit back on your heels
-Stop twisting to turn
-Hard right into the turn
-Glide on every step

My first three days it seems easier to correct myself because I was going much slower. But now I'm going a lot faster, between my 2nd and 5th days on the ice I dropped my lap time half a second which is a decent amount. It's not incredible but its respectable right now, although not pretty.

My speed right now allows me to keep up with skaters that are much better technically then I am which makes it a little difficult when we do technique drills because I am not very good at them yet.

What A Journey

2010-11-11T15:59:00.003-05:00

The funny thing about packing is it seems so natural. I've packed a thousand times for various amounts of time and for various reasons and packing seems easy. Unpacking is when things get different. Unpacking is when I usually realize where I am or what's truly going on. This time was no different.

Packing for Utah was easy, everything goes in the box. Everything goes in the vehicles. When I got here and started unpacking that's when I realized this is home now, I may not be packing back up for a while. It's a strange feeling.

For me though, there is no bigger motivation right now. Other than the fact that I have so much work to do. It's the fact that although I am skating 100% for me and to achieve my goals, I have to achieve them for everyone else as well. I left a family behind: my father, my brother, my sisters, my grandmother who cried when I left and said she hopes to be here when I make the Olympics. My niece and my nephew who probably wont remember their uncle the next time they see me.

I left a team behind: a group of skaters that took their cue from me. If I hate a drill, they hate a drill. If I quit in a drill, it becomes okay for them to quit. When I show up to practice and work hard, they want to work hard. There is no better feeling then skating well and having a group of skaters want to train hard so one day they can get to where you are. At the same time, there is no worse feeling then skating poorly and letting a group of kids or people down that expect more from you. I left a team behind: a coach that has got me here, in Salt Lake City having the opportunity to train at a world class facility and train everyday, with my goals and sights set on the Games.

You might think that is pressure, but it's not it's perfect. Coming out here might help me in everything. I get that edge back. When I was young I didn't train as much but every practice I went to (4 indoor practices a week) it was 120% per drill because when I showed up to practice someone else was faster then me, and I never liked that. Right now, there are a lot of people faster then me so I have a long way to go.

When I arrive at my final destination (figuratively) it will be the most successful feeling endurable I'm sure of it. Then, and only then, can the move be considered a success. Then everyone I left behind can share that moment with me.

The Next Episode

2010-11-01T14:41:00.002-04:00

Worlds is over and I am glad to be home. This worlds was my least enjoyable yet, and for more than just a few reasons. Overwhelming, the fact that I pretty much didn't race weighed down my entire experience. The coaching staff made the race decisions and they decided to leave me out which if it was in the best interest of the team then I'll take it there is nothing I can do about it now so I just chalk it up as an experience and move on.

Now that I am home I have until Thursday to get all of my stuff sorted through and packed so I can run off to Salt Lake City. I'll be happy to start my ice experience and to have the opportunity to use a great facility everyday. I didn't lift any weights this past year but I think I am changing that before the month is over. I have a lot of mental notes on what I need to do to improve so I'm a little excited to put the wheels in motion.

I'll be trying to blog every once in a while with how I am doing on the ice. I'll be skating both short track and long track at least for the time being. This ice season I just want to try and get as much of the technique right as I can. I don't care if I go ridiculously slow all season I would much rather get the technique down first because then going fast will be the easy part. Going back and trying to fix technique after you have already established a style of skating is extremely difficult so we are going to try and avoid that scenario.

Next up for me is my move to Utah of course, and then NSC trials the next week after that. I haven't skated indoor since the NSC finale but I think I'll be okay.

World Championships, 2 Days

2010-10-20T18:46:00.002-04:00

Here in Guarne, for the World Championships. I've spent every moment leading up to these days and it feels good. The track here is pretty fast which is great news. I like the track I feel like I've conquered it and that I've made it work really well for me. Going fast is not a problem here which is great. I feel strong, really confident, and fast. I finally have wheels which is a great feeling, skating on bad and just trashed wheels for what seems like forever now, when I put new wheels on the other day it was amazing.

No matter what anyone says, if you do the workouts at residency you come to worlds faster and that is exactly what happened to the vast majority of our team. We have a lot of really fast skaters on the team and it's going to be a great championship for us.

We got rid of most of the drama a few days ago and its helped the team as a whole when they can get to the track and focus on the track and lines and being fast and visualizing the races. At least this is what it's done for me. I don't know what will be my first race but it doesn't matter much to me, I'm confident that I can skate whatever the coaches put me in, I'm in a great place mentally and physically and I am ready to skate.

Well, that's it for now wish us luck and stay tuned for a few updates.

Guarne

2010-10-15T00:30:00.002-04:00

Isn't too bad. We skated on the track, we have a lot of work still to do. I think a lot of people just want to get fast and don't realize you have to take it down a notch in order to find the fastest line and everything. We are all skating really fast but at worlds it doesn't mean much if you are faster than everyone if you don't skate as good a line and don't know how to properly race everyone.

The track is a little different, fast but a little different. There is a little dip exiting the first turn which adds a slight degree of difficulty but nothing too bad. The opposite turn is a little rough but it's the same for everyone.

I'm really confident in what I can do and I'm just hoping I get a few really good opportunities to show it. I feel fast and I know how to race well so I'm looking forward to skating whatever it is the coaches decide to put me in.

Residency 2010

2010-09-30T02:22:00.002-04:00

So, this year we have an entirely knew coaching staff which was a lot different for me because I'm used to some stability on the coaching front. This year going into residency I had a lot of different focuses then in years past. This year I wanted to come into residency capable of skating contributing in the distance department. Last year and this year I was able to race the endurance races well, but racing and training are two completely different entities. So far I think I've done well. Throughout most of the year and leading into residency I've felt that I've been strong, but have lacked a little in the speed department. I spent a lot of time doing intervals and sprints trying to fix the problem I feel as if I've been having. I think my training at home before residency has been really good for me. I've been training for worlds, not residency and I think it's been going great.

A few things about myself in terms of an athlete: I analyze everything. I like to work hard, I want my legs to hurt and hurt bad so that I know I'm working hard. I like to bang out my workouts, not drag them along.

The first couple days of residency did not bode well for me. I felt as if we were not going as hard as we needed to, I felt as if we were wasting so much time, and my legs did not hurt enough. One of the easy gauges of if the team is going hard enough is how many people are sore/hurt. It is inevitable for people to hurt their feet, have trouble with their equipment, get sore groins, etc. This is not a knock on any athlete(s) I just feel as if you have to prepare physically and mentally for a training program like this and if it is your first time or if you underestimated anything then you could end up with a problem.

Secondly, I've run into a little bit of trouble in the wheel department. It is not the quality of the wheel as I am still skating on the most impressive wheel out there but more of a problem with people outside of the sport not understanding the needs in terms of wheels especially on bank tracks that gobble wheels for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.. aka Colorado Springs velodrome.

Anyway.. I've gone into residency just wanting to work hard. If I work as hard as I possibly can then I know I will be on an incredible peak for worlds not to mention the mental toughness that you pick up along the way. So far I think I've been working pretty hard, I've yet to miss a drill and I've given every drill everything I've got. After this mornings workout when I got out of the car I'm pretty sure my legs were still shaking, which is a good sign in my opinion.

One of my last thoughts is somewhat simple, I hate when people who are not around the team try to decide just by word of mouth what is the best training method for us. Any good coach will have their athletes do at the least one workout to test the athlete. When I say test the athlete I mean it is easy to see an athlete compete and do well when everything is going well. But if you stick them outside of their comfort zone, put them up against a wall when no matter how hard they try the thought of quitting is always creeping up on them, that's when you find out certain things about athletes. Do you want the athlete who can win as long as nothing unexpected happens? Or do you want the athlete that will grind every possible spectacle of energy and fight out of their body to avoid failure?

I've got just over three weeks until worlds begins. I plan on working on the mental aspect just as much as the physical. I am a quiet athlete, but by the time I get to Colombia I can guarantee I will be confident in my abilities. In terms of my speed and what I thought I've needed to work on a lot, every day I feel tired a little more, but my lap times get a little faster which is what I want to see from myself heading into the stretch run.

Residency Part 4

2010-09-23T21:52:00.002-04:00

A new year means a new residency. I'm pretty much ready to start skating. I want the next two weeks to be really really hard so we'll see. New coaches this year means that things will be a little different but we'll see how it ends up biggest different isn't always bad. Staff sat down with every skater today which was definitely a difference.

I want to think this year we have a large group of motivated skaters but that we will find out in the next two weeks. Hopefully, we can just push each other and get to worlds skating well together and strong. I'm really looking forward to Colombia and I'm really looking forward to getting out on the track tomorrow here. I think we are just putting in a lot of laps tomorrow which is fine but we also have to go at a pace that will allow our lungs to begin to adjust to the altitude.

That's about it for now. Looking forward to getting some skating in and working with a completely different staff.

Northshore Inline Marathon

2010-09-14T22:15:00.002-04:00

Well, Saturday I skated the NorthShore Inline Marathon for the second time. This time around I was much much more prepared and capable of skating a marathon. I was very excited to skate the race heading into it and I was hoping and hoping it would be dry because my raining marathon record is not very good.

Heading into the race I thought there was only maybe one or two people or could flat out beat me in a field sprint heading into the marathon so I liked my chances, especially because I felt like if needed to I could do some chasing and try to keep some of the top guys with me.

Sure enough, Saturday when we woke up it was raining, and wet, with puddles. I was nervous but I did know that I had the best wheels underneath me so it made it a little bit more comfortable. It's funny how marathons work out.. you can tell early who everyone is paying close attention to and who no one believes has a serious chance of getting away.. this one was not much different.

I don't think I fell any further back then about 7th place throughout the entire marathon. I also benefited from having a few strong guys to skate with on CadoMotus which made bringing a few semi-serious breaks back in with me personally needing to expend as much energy. I knew the marathon wasn't that fast but I blame that fully on the rain. After about half way the pack pretty much realized it was almost impossible to get away especially because of the hills it made it easy for the pack to reel skaters back in.

The second half of the marathon was really slow, like cat and mouse slow. We would crawl, then break for a few hundred meters then crawl, and break little bits and pieces just to keep the field honest really. Once we entered the highway I put the gameface on big time. I moved all the way up to the front of the pack and the furthest back I got on the highway was third place. I figured there would be a lot of fighting for positioning on the highway and I was really surprised the I was not challenged almost at all for second place in the pack.

When we got out of the last tunnel I kept my head on a swivel. I thought a late try at a break from someone that didn't fair well in a field sprint would be coming with less than 2 miles left but nothing happened so I sat patiently. I had the best position in the field I think, sitting behind Justin Stelly just waiting to get closer to the finish.

Coming up close to the off ramp on the highway my teammate, Hank, Gailbraith, made a really strong break at the front of the pack. I started smiling in the pack immediately because my chances of winning the field sprint went up instantly. As soon as he went, Justin Stelly, Julian Rivera, and Juan Tobin went chasing Hank down at full speed. I tucked in behind Juan because he without a doubt had the best field sprint of the field. I felt really really good about my chances especially sitting behind Juan and having the biggest threats of the race trying to chase down my teammate. After the off ramp, we went around a turn that was really slippery and also had a lot of paint lines right around the turn (not to mention it started raining again) and going around the turn I two-footed it to make sure I wouldn't go down, and sure enough.. I went down with probably 700m to go or somewhere around that.

I was very disappointed that I went down. I managed to skate the whole marathon and had no fatigue at the end at all, and then I went down. I felt even worse that Hank broke off the front so that I would have perfect shot at winning and then I fell after he already made his move. I got back up and passed some of the skaters that were off the back of our pack, I finished 9th overall, 8 seconds back from Justin Stelly, the winner.

Next year I plan on returning to Duluth once again.

Wake Me Up When September Ends

2010-09-05T11:31:00.002-04:00

Well.. by the time September is over I will only have 8 days left in Pennsylvania spread across two months. Home will always be home but its still weird being so close but seeming so far away at the same time. I've spent all of my time since ODN working and skating. Literally, that is all that I've done. I haven't had two days off of work in a row yet (I do for Duluth) and I've been skating the whole time.

I'm excited in the type of shape I'm in right now. I have a lot of work still to do in a little bit of time but I feel good. I'm stronger then I ever have been which is awesome. Strength is always a positive but it doesn't replace the speed aspect of skating. So in return, I have sprints and intervals to do... lots and lots of them which should bring my speed back up. I'm probably the only 'sprinter' who would rather skate intervals then sprints. I hate doing sprint practices because it leads to my demise and by demise I mean me.. on the side of the road/track.. vomiting.

I like the mindset that I have right now. Heading into the stretch run of the inline season I feel strong mentally more than anything which is probably the best. I'm really in tune with my body right now so I can tell when I need to take a day easy or when it wont be really good interval day. Leading into residency I'm happy that I'm pretty strong right now because all I need to do is fine tune which is what residency is all about. Residency is about 85% mental I think. When you get the top skaters in one place, every drill becomes the hardest drill you've ever done and at that point it's a mental game with yourself to continue so going into it with a great mindset should make it easier.

I can't wait for residency, it'll be the first time this year I can train without working at all which should be pretty cool. I'm really excited to get back to Colombia. I hope I don't end up disappointed but I loved it so much the last time I was there so hopefully that will be pretty cool.

What Lies Ahead

2010-08-23T11:29:00.002-04:00

Alright..

So as of now I am training for worlds. I do not train for residency because I am not racing anyone at residency. I train for worlds. Right now I've taken a few early-morning practices off because I've been pretty tired lately and I just want to make sure I'm getting enough sleep before I really start killing myself which will be happening very, very, shortly.

Next I'll be taking a weekend off of that training to go skate the NorthShore Inline Marathon aka the Duluth marathon. The last and only time I skated Duluth was 2007 and I had a miserable time. I still don't know exactly why I thought it would be a brilliant idea for me to go: I put 110m wheels on a week and a half before the marathon. And for 3-4 weeks prior while I was at worlds I did not skate anything over 1000m. Not exactly the marathon winning formula. But I am confident it will be much better this time around. I'm pretty excited, my training should be going well and it's two weeks before the residency program so it kind of fits in nicely. Still a lot of work to do but that's alright I'm ready to tackle the challenge.

After that I'll be in Colorado Springs for residency from Sept. 23rd - Oct 8. When I get home I will be skating a indoor league meet on the 10th... I will not have skated indoors for at least 3 months at that point so we'll see how that goes. Then I leave for worlds on the 13th I believe and get home on halloween or on the 1st.

After that, I will be home for only four days, and that is to pack up some stuff and then on Nov. 5th the 32 hour drive to Utah begins to start another journey.

Trials Are Over

2010-08-14T19:40:00.002-04:00

Finally. I am glad that the racing is over because it's a little stressful for me, especially just the mental aspect. I raced well this year and it didn't make it any easier.

I'm ready to get home, take a few days to eat whatever I want and then get back on the health diet. Monday or Tuesday will be my first day of practice probably. I can't wait to start training. I'm going home with a chip on my shoulder, and it has nothing to do with anything that happened to me.

I skated great but I didn't win anything, not that anyone besides Joey really did but if I didn't win anything then I didn't accomplish anything and I need to get a lot better. I'm going to keep training the way that I am but at the same time I'm picking the intensity up big time. From this point on it's just a struggle mentally to keep on track and have the ability to visualize the competition going faster so that I can keep it up. I'm staying away from indoor because it will frustrate me and make me angry.

On a different note, I want to thank George Neal a ton for sending me a frame on the second day of racing because mine was bent. It helped a lot and it was great being on a stiff, straight frame that helped me use most of the power that I do have.

Track Trials - Recap

2010-08-12T12:06:00.002-04:00

Track is over. Before I talk about the racing..

All year long we train for this. We skate outside when it's below freezing. We train outside and sometimes it starts flurrying or snowing. We keep going. We train when we are happy, sad, pissed off, tired, sore, and hurt. We train when we are fast and when we are slow. Somehow, we never stop training even when everyone close by does.

I get that out of the way, because when I am finally racing for what I've been training for all year it's hard to allow yourself to fail. If you trust who trains you, and that you trained your hardest then how can you not succeed?

Alright five races in the books.. here we go.

300m
So the practice right before the 300m I discovered a bend in both of my frames. I'm not talking about the frame being completely bent but if you know anything about ice blades you know they are bent a little to make turning easier, well my right frame was bent just like that. And the left was bent the wrong way. So I didn't tell that many people because if I skated bad I didn't want it as an excuse. The 300m I went fifth out of the field. I think my start was pretty bad. My first turn was pretty good and my first straight was so-so. My opener was really bad a 9.88 which I think was still third best but for me that is not good. I hadn't ran that slow since 2006 I believe in an opening 100m. My second turn was good but not what I expected. My third turn was better then I thought it would be but still have plenty to fix. I finished in 26.19 which gave me fourth overall. Not what I was looking for but it gave me eight points so I took them and didn't say anything.

1000m
The 1000m is always a little nerve racking for me, at least the heat. It goes by time so you always need to have a fast race. In my heat we started off with I think the slowest first lap of the four heats which is really bad if we want to qualify for the next round. After that I took a strong pull, Ryan Weiderhold took a strong pull, and then with two to go I just started sprinting. I ended up winning the heat which automatically qualified me for the semi but we ran the fastest heat which was really good as a heat. The 1000m is one of the few times you really work together with your opposition.
In the semi-final we had a pretty fast group of guys. I took the first lead and led a fast first lap because I wanted to get off to a good start time-wise. Next Jarret Paul took a lead, then Chad Horne, Then Cheex took off with two to go with me right behind him. Joey passed by both of us and then Harry came along side Cheex at the finish. Luckily, we ran a really fast time so that Joey, Cheex, Harry, and I all qualified from our semi for the final.
The final had a really strong field. Probably one of the best 1000m fields I've raced in at trials before. I decided that I wanted to be in the front because it was going to be too hard to get around everyone. With a little over two laps to go Harry made a break on the outside and luckily I saw it really early so I just started sprinting. With 1 lap to go I was still in first place and so much was running through my head. Down the back stretch Joey passed me and then Will passed me as well. Coming out of the last turn Stelly and I had a drag race to the line for third and somehow I ended up beating him at the line.

10k Points
The points race I wanted to do really good in because I thought that was a race I needed to so I could have good standing and also prove that I can race everything. For the most part I had a bad race. I took a gamble waiting for someone to make a break on the pack so I could go with them and grab a few points on a breakaway but it never happened. With about 6 to go the pack started splitting up. I had to go after the leaders because I needed points really bad (only two at that point). I caught the four leaders and rested for a lap or two. With 3 to go I made a break to go after a point, unfortunately Joey and I caught skates and it caused him to go down. It didn't cause him a placement luckily. I picked up 1 point with two to go. Then Hank, made a break with one and a half to go. I waited until one lap to go and then I took off. We came across the line 1,2 which gave me two more points and allowed me to finish fifth overall in the race. I would have liked top 4 but I can't complain with finishing in the top 5.

500
This year there are a lot of fast guys so I was pretty sure the 500 was going to be a tough race. My heat wasn't too bad and they took 3 to qualify so I used it as a warm up and went a lot harder then I had to but it got me loosened up for the quarterfinals. The quarters I made it through without too much trouble and then I was off to the semi's. My semi was pretty tough with Joey, Chad, and Ben in it. I got to the lead but didn't want to go to early so I waited for a little bit. Joey made a break on the outside and Chad was following him. Luckily, when they got around me I was able to go back under Chad in the turn keeping me in second place with 1 lap to go. In the last turn we got tangled up a little bit and then we had to sprint to the line and this time I managed to get Chad at the line. Last year it was the opposite and he ended up getting me at the line.
The final was Joey, Harry, Will, and me. Not exactly a super easy field if you ask me. After a few false starts we got underway with Joey in the front, followed by Harry, Will, then me. I knew if I was going to get by anyone I was going to have to do it in the turn because my straightaways are not quite as good as theirs. With one lap to go Will went a little low to get by Harry and I saw an opportunity to go low, skip the hump, and just sprint down the straightaway. it worked to my advantage because when Harry and Will got a little tangled up it gave me a clean shot at 2nd place. In the last turn I entered high and crossed straight down to the red line because in the last turn the most important thing is to protect the inside so if someone has to pass me they have to skate a longer distance to do it. Harry came in low on the turn and at the apex we met pretty hard. Someone I managed to recuperate quickly and then Will and I raced to the line for 2nd and 3rd. I managed to squeak out 2nd in the 500m which was pretty cool for me.

15k Elim
So the final race was the elim. I wanted to get top 5 in the elim because I would have a really good shot at being in second place overall (behind Joey) if I managed to do that. The race wasn't that fast which probably worked to my advantage. I stayed on the outside of the pack the majority of the race because It's easier for me to pick up speed out there. With about 11 or 12 skaters left on the track I found myself in the back sprinting around people for a while to not get eliminated. With about 8 skaters left I found myself in much better position being able to rest a little longer. With two laps to go we were down to just 5 skaters and I was already one of them. Joey made a break early then I thought he would and Hank went after him. Stelly and I got tangled up briefly with 1 to go and then in the last turn Stelly slipped really bad giving me an opportunity to pass him for 3rd place. I earned my first long race medal at Outdoor Nationals in the 7 years I've been out there.

Outdoor Nationals

2010-08-06T23:39:00.002-04:00

Alright, I'm here in Colorado once again. This is a nice place for me. All I do is race and skate and think skating. Seems like a vacation almost. I love trials because it's so much racing in so little time. So I love racing and that's cool. Trials are going to be crazy because there is a legitimate field this year unlike last year. In Senior we have all six team members trying out again plus Justin Stelly is going to worlds and Harry Vogel plus Justin Mannon is Senior this year so the competition should be great and we have a lot of others skaters that will be great. It's just nice to have a strong field to keep the paces fast and everything and to make the competition tighter so that we know we'll have a stronger field than last year. Senior women should be lightyears ahead this year. They have I think four of last years team members trying out plus four junior women from last years world team that moved up and Mariah Richardson will be here as well so that gives them nine really competitive women. Hopefully the racing won't be a sight for sore eyes because the last couple of years that's how it was. The junior division are much more wide open. The men have three returning team members and a lot of good competition behind them which should give them a pretty strong field. The jr. ladies have two returning team members but they have a good field behind them as well and a few that will probably stand out.

I think we could have a good trials and a good team this year. Hopefully the rain will hold out so we can get all the racing done on time. Well that's it for now, got an early morning for practice.

Eastern Seaboard Series Race 3

2010-07-18T19:34:00.002-04:00

Well, yesterday was the third installment of the Eastern Seaboard Series races. In the Sr. Men's race we did not have any stars this time around, No Michael Cheek, one of the fastest skaters in the US. No Oliver Jean, an Olympic gold medalist. So it was a little calm I think. Everyone there in the Sr. Men's race pretty much knew everyone else and how they raced. We skated a 21k this time which I would prefer we skated everytime but that's okay.

From a personal stand point I wasn't exactly looking forward to the race. I thought I was but then when I was there I just felt tired and sleepy. I kept yawning. Luckily when I started racing that went away for the most part. I was much much more active this race. In the first race I was pretty dormat, in the second race I didn't do much because I was tired after falling. But this race I did a decent amount. I chased and got on every single breakaway except one (more on that to come). In the beginning I just chased because it felt like the right thing to do. Then I just kept doing it and kept doing it. In the middle of a race I got on a breakaway with about 3-4 other skaters. We stayed out for about 4 laps (4 miles) or something close to that, maybe a little longer or shorter. For a little while it looked like we might finish on a breakaway which would have put me at a huge advantage in a very small field sprint. But with a little less than two laps to go the pack, led by Justin Mannon caught up to us.

Naturally, shortly after the pack caught us there was a counter attack. Something that every good skater should be aware of. Anyway, the counterattack looked very weak at first and I didn't think it would end up being a break away so I waited in the pack because it wasn't getting far in front of us and didn't look like a huge threat. Then two more skaters chased it. But the pack was still in striking distance. I hesitated chasing the break, I stepped out of the pack to chase and hesitated and jumped back in the pack. I huge mistake on my part. Anyway, the break managed to get further away then I would have liked. On the bell lap (last mile) they had opened up a pretty big lead. I thought about chasing it because I thought I could have caught them, but I wouldn't have had much left for a sprint and at least one person in the pack would have just followed me up to the leaders and then took off sprinting for the line. I figured if no one else in the pack was going to do any work I wasn't going to do all the work for none of the glory. So in the end, three skaters finished the race on a breakaway. At the line Justin Mannon beat me by probably just over a foot. Giving me fifth place for the race.

I was disappointed that I didn't go after the break with less than two laps to go. I don't exactly know what I was thinking. I'm pretty sure I had the legs to go after it even though I was on a break right before. I hate losing and I still don't know why I didn't go after it but that's alright. In terms of a training race I did good. I chased breaks and went on some and still had someone to sprint against at the end there. Every race is just getting me ready for Outdoor Nationals when I won't be able to afford I mental lapse.

My Decision

2010-07-13T19:50:00.002-04:00

At the end of this blog.. look back at the title and let me know if you get the pun. lol.

Alright, So it looks that I can say with around 96% confidence that sometime this Winter, most likely November.. first week of December at the absolute latest.. I will be making my move to Salt Lake City to make a full-time switch to short track AND long track speed skating (at least for the time being). It's a move I contemplated last year around this time and decided the timing was not right. This year, I went a little of a different route.

First, I realize that although I am switching to ice, Inline is and always will be my passion. With that being said I came to the conclusion that I will never decide I am ready to switch to ice. Once I realized I will never be ready to I figured that if I don't do it now, I have to wait 3 or 4 years which is too long for me. What I realized is that I'm never going to be completely satisfied walking away from my inlines but it is a decision that I would always regret if I never did it. With that being said everything just seems like it is right for me to go now.

Secondly, I am making a full-time switch to ice.. BUT I am still an inliner and I am still skating inlines throughout the year and throughout the ice season. I still have full intentions on skating every race of the National SpeedSkating Circuit along with a few other meets. I plan skating on my inlines every week even during the winter if possible.
One reason that I am doing this is because the concept that ice skaters can't skating inlines is Bologna. The Canadian short track speed skaters skate inlines multiple times a week and they do it very well in fact. If it doesn't hurt them then it isn't going to hurt me.

Third, when everyone in the inline community realizes how many of us are switching this year I think they are going to be devastated and blown away. But at the same time I think they are going to see that it can be done without sacrificing inlines completely it just depends on how much you really want to do it. Hopefully with so many of us missing from various races even though we do plan on skating inlines it will open up the door for some other skaters to take over and steal some of the spotlight.

I plan on skating ODN, qualifying for the world team, skating worlds and then after that it will be November and time for me to move. I plan on using my blog for a weekly update on how myself and my peers are doing on the ice. We are all starting halfway through the ice season which might make the first season a little rough but I think that will be okay in the long run.

Indoor Nationals

2010-07-09T00:45:00.002-04:00

In simple terms my indoor nationals was horrendous at best. For the first time since 2001 I came home empty handed from a national championship which is one of the oddest feelings I will ever experience I'm sure of it.

Next I did not skate good at all and I am baffled by it. I actually was bad from the start but got progressively worse as it went on. I think I did okay dealing with how awful I was especially because it was something I have never dealt with before and I don't think I will solve the mystery that was my indoor national championships of 2010. Next, I am so excited that I still have Outdoor Nationals to redeem myself which I am confident I will do. I've been strong outdoor in the last couple of months which is one reason this indoor fluke baffles me but I am putting it behind me. I have a lot going on in the next 3-4 months that it seems ridiculously thinking about how much I need to get done. Soon I will start telling everyone exactly what I am doing as soon as I get the go ahead to do so. Right now I am 100% devoted to Outdoor skating and to NSC of course.

I get home friday night and have work Saturday morning. Afterward I am getting a gym membership and catching up on some lifting that I should have started two months ago. Next will be lots and lots of intervals to try and counteract some of the weight I am bound to put on with the weights. And the dreaded healthy eating is coming on Monday. I am going to hate it but it's the only shot I have at staying at my current weight while lifting.

Before ODN I have some strength training to catch up on and a lot of sweat to lose. It's going to be weights and intervals the majority of the way up to ODN for me I believe.

Lastly, I want to apologize to everyone who watched me and expected more out of me at indoor nationals. I expected way more out of myself then anyone else and I definitely didn't live up to my training. I felt like an embarrassment to myself, my coaches, and everyone who specifically watched me. All I can say is that come August 9th it will be a different story.

Look for 2-3 more blogs this week!

Father's Day

2010-06-20T19:43:00.002-04:00

Well, today is Father's Day. Considering I don't have a mother I guess Father's Day is pretty significant for me. This year is the first time I guess I ever really put any thought into Father's Day. Growing up my siblings and I were partial to my mother because my father worked so much we didn't get to spend nearly as much time with him as we did with my mother, that would have to be my biggest regret I guess, especially realizing what became of both of them as people. Growing up my parents argued a lot and my mom always made my dad out to be the bad guy and made it seem like he was holding her back as a person, but she did always tell us that he loved us no matter what. It's just funny to me because when I was 15 and my parents split up we got to see the true colors. As far as I am concerned my mother died that year, figuratively speaking of course. She is still alive, but not as my mother. On a different note this has nothing to do with my mother just getting to the rest.

On the opposite side my father you could say flourished. The days of seeing my father angry and having such a short fuse dwindled down and he really displayed a whole other level of affection for my siblings and I. I can't say my father and I haven't had our arguments, shortcomings, or disagreements but in the end I can't say he hasn't been there throughout my life no matter what. He's always been there for my family and I, even when it seems as if it was something we should have been able to handle ourselves. My father has always wanted better for us. For any shortcomings my father may have he makes up for it with love and support that he shows us.

In the end there are many things I have learned from my dad, both directly and indirectly that I will take through life. The best thing my dad has ever shared for me is his desire for my success and wanting the best for me even if it meant taken less for himself. I could tell if I grow up to be half the man he is then I will grow up a good man. But that wouldn't be acceptable. If there is one thing my dad has given me it's a desire to never settle for what I have, to strive for what's ahead, and to always try to become better. If I told my dad today I wanted to be half the man he is today, he would be disappointed in me and tell me I have to better then that.

Most of all my dad has given me skating. Throughout the last 14 years he supported me every step of the way from my first pair of skates until the wheels I'll put on my skates in the future. His spent countless dollars driving me everywhere and buying what I needed. After all of these years he only sees me race now, so I try to repay him with effort when I lace my skates up because that may be the only way I ever could. He's been there when I won my first race. When I qualified for my first nationals. When I won my first national title. When I made my first world team. Even when Philadelphia Airport made me wait in line for 4 hours and miss my flight to Miami on my way to my first worlds. He was there when I won that medal in Colombia. One day I hope to let him see me make an Olympic team. Some day I hope we win an Olympic medal. Me on the ice and him watching.

Eastern Seaboard Series Race #2

2010-06-20T18:35:00.002-04:00

Alright, yesterday was the second race of the 2010 Eastern Seaboard Series. For some reason I feel like writing about outdoor races because I love outdoors so much. Anyway, the first race we had Cheex show up which was awesome. This race we had Oliver Jean show up which was even cooler for me. Oliver has skated trexlertown before but not in the last few seasons. If you don't know, he is a Canadian short track speed skater that won a gold medal in the 5k relay at the Vancouver Olympics. Furthermore, he might be one of the tallest short track skaters at 6'2".

Anyway, the first race I skated was the 5k on the flat track. I skated with one of our younger skaters and it was okay. It's fun to watch a five year old skate a 5k and never put their hands on their knees or never stop moving their feet even for a second. It reminds you that something like that can be done, you just have to ignore the mental aspect and do it.

After that the Pro Masters and Veterans skated their race which is normally when I am warming up for my race so I end up missing most of it. They skated a pretty good race from what I could tell, the pack stayed together throughout the race unlike the last race.

Next up was the Pro Freshman through Senior Men. We had a pretty good race going. I took an unfortunate spill on what I think was the second mile and that really sucked. I popped right back up and caught back up to the pack within the next 400m but it really sucks falling. Not only did I fall but I think I fell pretty hard. All of the areas I fell on are swollen and I managed to get more marks then I should. I got my trademark which is my shin, then I got my mid-thigh, hip, ribs, inside forearm, and I think my head might have hit the ground because the one side of my neck is pretty stiff too. The only good part about the fall is afterwards I was pretty mad that I fell and normally it makes me focus a little more and become a little more efficient. I wish I knew exactly what triggers me to focus more when I get angry but it's been that way my entire career and I've never figured it out really.
The race had a decent pace with few breakaways. The thing about breakaways is that they only occur if the pace drops down a lot and keeping the pace steady eliminates most breaks. On the last lap the pace usually gets pretty slow. The first race Cheex took care of that by keeping it fast and this race Oliver took off as the bell was ringing which worked except back in the woods he let up a lot and the pace got a little slow and there was a ridiculous amount of grabbing during a 100m stretch. Both races so far this year I've played it a little risky by making my move really really late compared to what I normally would do. The first race I came about 10m short losing by just a little and this time I came up the exact opposite way by having around 10m to spare and winning by just a little so it works both ways.

Next up was the Pro Freshman thru Senior Women's race. Usually they have a ridiculously slow race but they have been getting better at going faster the last few races. The same people definitely end up leading their race but the thing the kind of annoys me is that when they go slow no one even attempts to breakaway. I just don't see any strategy in their races and it's more like we'll all just stay together and sprint at the end and the best sprint may win. The top three finished Sam Goetz, Alex Harris, and Chelsea Creveling which is a pretty good top three considering all of them were 2009 world team members.

Lastly was the advanced race and unfortunately I failed to watch the majority of this race except for the beginning which I apologize for. Being that last race I normally end up chatting during this race with skaters that do not make it down often. This time I chatted with Oliver for awhile and I was in complete awe looking at his Vancouver Gold Medal. Something like that just blows me away. I can't imagine having my own someday even though that is the goal.

What Started It All

2010-06-16T23:08:00.002-04:00

I was eight or nine years old. I was a JO Juvenile boy. I was skating I believe in Wharton , NJ, at a keystone speed league meet. I was skating in the second heat. The distance was 500m.. the long race.

I got second place off the start but the skater in first had a great start getting away from me within the first lap. He was in the lead and I was in second by myself, just running after the lead. I caught him with just a lap and a half remaining in the race. Coming around the next turn, as the final lap bell was ringing I made my pass for the lead. As soon as I made the pass even at nine or ten, I instantly felt my legs get heavy and I did my all to hold on to win the race.

I came off the floor, most likely smiling, my parents congratulating me.

And that was the first race I ever won.

After three years, I won my very first race. The thrill of victory, the feeling afterward, and the way everyone congratulates immediately after a victory unlike anything else. That made me want to win a lot more.

Another moment that I vividly remember is from 2006. I had just finished a race at nationals and I was sitting in the ready area taking my skates off when a primary boy from my team approached me. He asked me, "How do you always win." I smiled. I don't remember my exact words like I remember his, but I believe I told him that I don't always win but I always try to and that if he wants to win he has to go to practice and skate as fast as he can every time.

That same day, he went down to the vendor area where the Send The Best booth was set up and asked whoever was working the booth at the time, if next year when I have a trading card if they could save him one so he can buy it. I remind you in 2006 I did not make the world team, and I did not have a trading card that year and there was no guaranteeing I would have one the next year either.

Sure enough I made the world team in 2007 and I had a trading card. The boy did not attend nationals that year but I remember buying a trading card, signing it, and personally giving it to him the next time I saw him.

If I told you every time I got on the starting line winning wasn't on my mind I would be lying. Ever since that first win I have wanted nothing more than to win every race I ever skate again. But I also can't explain the disappointment I have felt coming off the skating floor after I did not finish first and seeing a primary, juvenile, or elementary skater standing there watching me roll by.

At first I always wanted to win because it felt good for me. I was congratulated coming off the floor. But as I got older I realized winning, can mean so much even though winning is not and never will be the most important aspect.

Outdoor Racing

2010-05-30T11:39:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I raced the first trexlertown race of the year/season. But that was also my first outdoor race since the World Championships. That means I went 8 months without a single race outdoors. But the weird part is probably the amount of practices I did outdoor without racing which is really, really high. I didn't notice until yesterday it was that long, which is odd because I love to race. I think the fact that I enjoy outdoor skating so much allows me to do it without ever needing to race a regular schedule which is cool I guess.

Anyway, Cheex came up for the event which was awesome. It had been a while since someone other than Justin and I were there to headline the race which is cool. Is great to get new people there especially because it's a great course. Another reason that it's nice to get other people there is that its a change of pace. That race yesterday was like none I had raced since Chris (Creveling) stopped skating them. There was someone else in the lead and pushing the pace then the normal people that you almost get use to it. Anyway, Cheex had the race pretty fast. It seemed like every lap he had a few spots that he kept picking it up in but his purpose was a fast pace, not a breakaway or anything. By doing so the race had very, very few breakaways but was still faster then what we normally have which is a lot of stop and go breakaway stuff.

In the end Cheex had a great lead out for one of his new teammates this year, Justin. Cheex made the last lap one of the fastest laps which effectively stalled much of the passing that you would expect for positioning reasons on the last lap. Then he pulled out at about the perfect time allowing Justin to have a good 200m sprint to the line which worked well allowing Justin to pick up the first win of the series. Rounding out the top three in Senior was Me and John Ristine.

On the other note I kept reading about how sore everyone is after the first race and it is definitely a reflection of the type of practicing you do I think. Some soreness is to be expected if you haven't raced outdoor recently like a little in the groin area maybe but if you practice outdoor a lot much of the other soreness should not exist, which thankfully I can say definitely doesn't for me.

What A Journey It's Been

2010-05-27T21:32:00.002-04:00

I am 19 years old, my name is Keith Carroll Jr. I come from a small town in Pennsylvania, only about 1300 residents. Everyday I can't believe I've gotten as far as I have.

When I was about five I skated my first speed skating practice. I was on boots that were far to big for me but I said they fit because I wanted to give it a shot. Moments later it was obvious they did not fit my feet.

Fast forward four years and I started skating for a different team. It was a change that has probably shaped me as a person. My coach gave lectures at the end of practices and I was the three foot tall, nine years old, and was still too afraid to talk to my coach. But when he lectured us he said things like, "If you give me 100% you will get faster" and "When I stop yelling that means I stopped caring" and I still remember getting the chills from the words. I was not fast, I really wanted to be though. I spent four years giving 100% for a different coach and never got that much faster. But it was the confidence in his voice, when I was just nine years old that made me believe I could get faster, and the idea of going fast, maybe winning a race someday gave me the chills.

Fast forward another two years and I was still skating. On the verge of my first national medal in a JO (Junior Olympic) relay. I said I was ready for a skate that was far to big for me, with five wheels. At this point I was at the tallest four feet tall, with a skate that would extend much higher then my knee if stood up next me. Watching video now I was not even close to being ready for that skate but we did it anyway because I begged and pleaded with my parents that I was ready.

After I won my first national medal I kept going to practice because that was all I knew. The older guys at practice use to joke with me and call me champ and national champion. I always shrugged it off i knew they were teasing me in a joking way, not being mean but not being sincere either.
Two very very short years later I was introduced to outdoor skating in a big way. I had skated outside before but I had never really raced outside. I went to Outdoor Nationals earned myself three national medals to bring my collection to six in two years and I broke my first national record. That very first year watching Junior and Senior World Class skate I said to my mom I was going to make the world team.. I was thirteen.

I would be sixteen before I finally made that first world team. And I barely made it. But that was okay to me because it made me work harder because there were a lot of people that didn't believe I deserved to be on that team. A few months later a former world team coach actually told me she didn't think I ever deserved to make the world team.

More importantly, when I was sixteen I signed my first autograph. I didn't even have a signature yet. I was still testing it out. But there were people who wanted me to sign things for them. I couldn't believe it. It was easily a milestone in my life. I was sixteen, I came from a town of just 1300 people and I could not fathom that somewhere else in the world someone wanted me to give them an autograph. I think i was more excited to sign then they were to get my signature.

Now I am 19, I sign autographs occasionally still and I still marvel at the opportunity. I've been to four different countries and all over the US. I skate everyday and I love every second of it. I want the world to realize that this sport is just as good as any other. Maybe more. I want the world to realize that we have our stud athletes and our bad ones, we have our good people and our bad people in the sport. I want them to see the passion the I put on display. I want them to notice that when we get good we look for ways to get better. I want the world to realize that a small kid, just 5'5" and not getting any bigger can be a world class athlete from a small town of just 1300 people that didn't have to move or switch schools to get where they are. How many sports is that possible in??

I want the world to realize "if you give me 100%, you will get faster."

Coaching 101

2010-05-17T21:36:00.002-04:00

Before I jump into this let me make a disclaimer here that I am not a coach. Just an athlete. But if you are a coach here are a few things you should avoid that I had the very unfortunate task of witnesses this past weekend.

1. This is a big one for me. As a coach, know your skaters. More then that know their names. I sat through an entire race. Where I watched a coach not only tell his skater the same thing lap after lap but also call them by the wrong name lap, after lap, after lap. My first thought it oh, simple mistake he'll get it right next lap.... I was wrong. This continued the whole race. To make matter worse this kid was in 5th place so he needed the motivation that should have come from his coach in order to catch up. Now, if your coach is trying to cheer you on by saying "let's go _____" and the blank is not your name then he is having the reverse effect. The athlete in question wasn't even a new athlete, he has skated for the SAME coach for like two years. Are you kidding me!?! If I was in that position that would have been the very very very last race I ever skated for him. I felt embarrassed for the kid let alone how horrible I felt that my coach didn't even know my name. Awful.. just awful.

Now before I jump into the next one.. let me make this clear. When I skate I want to skate against the fastest skaters. If I win i want it to be because I was faster and I deserved to win. I never believed a true victory was one that someone could look at and say.. they definitely wouldn't win that the majority of the time.

With that being said...
2. I also had the completely and utterly unfortunate luck of witnessing what I feel as a complete disgrace to sport in general. Not skating, but any type of sport you could think of. I watched a coach cheer on one of his athletes that was not yet 8 years old. NOT YET EIGHT! (Just remember that) and as another athlete pulled up along side of his to pass he yelled "FIGHT THEM OFF". Now the next part may or may not have been intentional or not but the fact remains that it happened. His skater's foot happened to collide with the passing skaters foot causing the passer to fall.. hard. And instantaneously the coach yelled "GOOD JOB. WAY TO GO. GOOD JOB" Pardon my french, but are you ****ing me!!!! This child is not even eight years old, and you have just successfully cheered them on for knocking another athlete down. Eight years old. Now his athlete may not have knocked the other down intentionally but either way you don't cheer them for that particular instance. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but if my under eight year old child happened to do that I would make sure that were not trying to knock another athlete down simply to achieve a better placement.

Something like that makes me want to ask the parents.. is that who you really want playing a role in the development of your child?

NSC Tribulation 3

2010-05-12T21:46:00.002-04:00

Thursday May 20th 9pm eastern. Tune in at www.pronsc.com and watch the live feed for just $8 dollars. Athletes from Washington State, Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania all come together to decide who is the Grand Champion of the most decorated indoor athletes in the world. The athletes could reach speeds up to 30mph with nothing but a helmet for protection.

Special Guest and Olympic Medalist, J.R. Celski, comes back to where it all started to watch some of the athletes he use to race and watch. Tune in to watch a high speed event that will not disappoint.

And if you are an inline enthusiast tune in to get a preview of Pro Men at nationals as all the athletes are gearing up for their regional championships.

Disappointed As A Professional Sports Fan

2010-04-08T21:12:00.002-04:00

As a professional sports fan I love to see a good story unfold. I always do. I watch sports to see something incredible and I watch sports to see a good story. All right this is why I am disappointed currently:

Going from least disappointing to most:

The Philadelphia Eagles management is killing me. They believe they are much better talent wise then they truly are. Their defense has gotten worse and worse as the offseason has progressed. First, they have no DE to compliment one of their best defensive players in Trent Cole causing him to get double teamed and taken out of every game. Next, they had a terrible at best linebacking group last season and then they traded away one of the starters effectively making that part of our defense even worse. Then we traded away a hard working always plays through pain blue collar cornerback who has started for years. And the spot we call free safety was vacant all season last year. The only hope is the fact that usually they have a good draft and they have a potent offense so it's the least disappointing thing.

Next:

Cole Hamels. The 2008 World Series hero that won every game he pitched in the postseason that year. Last year he was disgustingly awful which I can understand, someone gets good really quick and they let up and have a really bad season. I thought for sure this season he was going to be amazing. A winner hates to suck, so I figured he would train hard in the offseason and just be amazing this season. Now the reason this isn't that disappointing is because it's the beginning of the season and he could still be amazing but in his first start he was better then last year but not spectacular in my eyes. He only pitched 5 innings and threw a lot of balls bringing his pitch count up really quickly causing him to have to leave the game a lot earlier then he should, granted it was the first start. He has plenty of time to become awesome like I hoped he would this year. This is disappointing because I was ready to ride the 'comeback kid' for the rest of the season.

Finally:

Tiger Woods. And this is strictly about sports here. I am disappointed. When the whole thing went down I fully expected Tiger Woods to enter 'Kobe after Colorado' mode and just take his game to another level. Like, focus more on golf because of his life sucked and just end up being ridiculous. I expected him to play the masters and win impressively but better yet have that 'screw you all' look on his face the whole time, ignoring the media and taking shots at reporters. I expected him to just enter another realm especially because he was amazing already. Well it didn't happen, Tiger is playing great in the masters but he isn't being the a-hole entering the next realm of sports like Kobe did. And that disappoints me. I know, I'm a selfish sports fan but seriously, if would have been amazing to watch.

Missing in Action

2010-03-26T02:40:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I spent a lot of time that should have been dedicated to writing an essay for one of my classes to talking to an old friend from skating. It sounds really weird saying 'old' friend when I'm only 18. This former skater, was a great one. One that I personally loved lining up next to because I knew that we were going to bring the best out of each other. I have many fond memories racing this person and it coming down to a hawk at the line. Most of my memories from ODN involve him for the better and the worse.

During our conversational I realized a lot of things. One, our sport is growing a little boring in the sense that where are all the new talent? Obviously we are a declining sport but even so you expect some up and coming skater right? Or am I and my generation that up and coming skater(s) so it only feels that way to me? I don't know but it seems like we have the same personalities and nothing is changing. We need excitement or something. In my generation a lot of the people that were suppose to bring the excitement vanished from the skating scene and its sad. Now you are left with a few of us diehards who are great skaters but don't have that outgoing expressive personality. I want it back.

Next we were talking about the work ethic and talent pool in the US and how both are dwindling. We talked about how the rest of the world and the US are growing apart rather quickly in terms of talent. Yes we have Joey, but without him the rest of the world wouldn't know who the United States was and that's the bitter truth. Most of all we talked about work ethic. We shared some time on a world team and it was a terrific team in terms of work ethic. It got me thinking what happened? Where did the want for training and to be the best and to just flat out work hard go? And then I realized it didn't leave everyone. What I realized was old faces leaving. So many people that were common faces on the world team moved on and left us in a bit of array. I'm talking about Sebastian, Jonathon, Josh the three of them had a run of world teams that made everything flow. And I'm being serious. In 2007 when I made the world team everyone worked hard and I mean literally everyone. I don't remember anyone taking extended time off or complaining about every single drill like we have now. I realized it was the continuity. It became habit to them, they came to residency worked their tail off and went to worlds. Josh especially, he was so outspoken when it came to calling out a group of skaters or the entire team on giving 100% and that's what is missing. He was so common on the world team year after year that everyone respected him and if you didn't you kept it to yourself and listened to what he had to say.

In 2007 we had a group of skaters that competed against each other at residency for the better of themselves. If we did a distance drill there was 12 guys out there finishing the drill and competing with one another whether that skater was junior or senior was irrelevant they were racing as one group of guys. The seniors all got a long for the most part and the juniors all skated like they had to prove they belonged with the older guys. The egos got checked at the door and I honestly believe that.

That's what we need, is the ego's to be dropped when the plane lands in Colorado Springs. That's the only way. Instead a lot of skaters have a particular training method and feel that deviating from said method is always going to be for the worse and that causes a lot of problems. For me it was always 'tell me what to do and I'm going to do it.' But the only way that works is if you trust who is talking to you. I don't always like who is telling me something but I trust what they can bring to the table.

I don't know what happened to the work ethic but I can only hope that I will be on another world team that gave as much effort as the one is 2007 did. It is extremely difficult for me to think of a single person that showed up out of shape to residency.

Now that we don't do racing for races at residency like we once did I think it still has a negative impact. Everyone is racing in drills now trying to figure out if they do better in this drill or that drill if it will earn them a race. The idea of a race at worlds occupies the mind throughout residency rather then the prospect of training our ass' off. That's another thing, when Sebastian, Jonathon, and Josh came to residency they thought about training not about winning races and that's what made them successful.

Another thing was in 2007 when it was my first year on team I never spoke up about anything because I didn't feel like I had earned the right to speak. I was one of maybe 3 first time world team members and we kept our mouths shut and listened to the veterans.

Attitude Adjustment

2010-03-17T14:12:00.002-04:00

Lately I have been focusing on a completely different aspect of well, everything that I do. That would be my attitude towards certain things. For instance: if you hate broccoli, every time someone says you are having broccoli for lunch then you might go ugghhh broccoli is gross. What I am trying to do is instead giving broccoli a fair chance every time I have it. I understand broccoli is a completely extreme example but you get the gist.

Most people who talk to me about indoor and outdoor skating know or find out that I prefer outdoor skating 10x over indoor. Every time I go skate indoor I try to give it a fair chance of being great it is difficult at times but it makes it a lot easier to try and make it a better situation. Falling instantly makes it hard to like indoor. Falling at practice indoor is like sleeping on rocks, who does that? I hate falling at practice especially when it's purposeless. Like not when I through a late pass and go down. When I'm skating by myself and just fall down at practice. It makes it frustrating. I've been trying attack indoors differently to makes it more enjoyable but it is difficult. Especially this winter when I was confined to skating indoor because of the ridiculous 60-70 inches of snow accumulation we got this winter. That made it almost impossible for me for a while but it's getting better.

Another problem I had was I found that I was always rushing in the morning and it is a bad start to a day to always be rushing. Then it just hit me and I started waking up a little earlier so I'm not rushing and it has done wonders for me thus far.

A Different Approach

2010-03-17T14:00:00.002-04:00

The snow is ALMOST all melted. At least at my house. Which is thankful and it is starting to warm up which means outdoor skating has begun not just for myself but even for the people that never do it in the winter. This winter I got a lot less outdoor skating in then I normally do but it doesn't bother me that much because outdoor nationals is so late.

Normally I am gearing up to go skate down south at either Georgia or Tampa. I wish I could attend both of these meets every year but it's just not possible at this point for me and this year I'm actually passing on both which I haven't done in a long time. I was going to go down to Tampa just for the outdoor portion but I think I'm passing on it too. I can already tell you how I would have done, great in the 500, good in the 1500, and pretty bad in the 20k. With that being said I am fully aware that I am not in the type of outdoor shape I wish I was in. So instead of going and racing I decided to stay home. If I don't race then I can believe I am in awful shape, and if I train as if I am in awful shape well then eventually I will be in good shape.

Sometimes I think people race too much and if they race good they lax a little in their training whether is conscious or not. If you don't race as much and you believe you have a lot of work to do then you are in an ideal situation. The best improvement I've had in a year is 2006 and I trained like I sucked. Partially because I couldn't stay on my feet long enough to find out if I was fast or not. But that's what my outdoor season is going to be like. I am not racing a single outdoor race as of right now (except my beloved eastern seaboard series races at trexlertown that I would recommend for everyone). Without racing I have no choice but to assume everyone is faster than I am right now.

Right now I am in poor shape but as my shape gets better I will not notice it as much as someone else because it will happen gradually as I keep skating. But if I continue to think I am in poor shape then I will train harder to get back into shape. And when I am in good shape if I still think I am in poor shape I will train harder further improving myself. This might get confusing but that is what it is all about. You have force yourself to believe that you have so much work to do. And when you go to races sometimes you realize that you might not have as much work so you get lax. But if you don't race then you are forced to train at the same intensity.

NSC Tribulation 2

2010-03-08T14:47:00.002-05:00

Wow is about as much as I can say. If you didn't see it then you missed out, but fortunately, they should have the racing file online soon for like 4 dollars or something and trust me, it's worth it. I'll probably get it myself even though I saw it live. I don't think I have ever seen racing like that in my life, it was incredible and awesome. Sure there may have been one race like that before at a meet but in 3 hours we had 5 incredible races.

The floor was really fast like it should be, I mean it is 90ft wide and in great condition. But there was lots of passing and plenty of falls which made it more exciting. It was the most incredible display of racing I have ever seen it was awesome. Thinking about it I still wonder how exactly each race ended up as good as it did.

On a personal note I finally skated pretty decent at NSC.. My results look better then I actually skated but I still skated a lot better then I had in any of the previous events. I still have a lot of work to do and a lot to improve on which is going to be awesome if I can get it all put together. One thing that is kind of bothering me a little is my start because well, it sucked and it never sucks but I will get it fixed shortly, I'm just trying to work on one thing at a time and because it's not awful it gets put on the back burner while I work on some aspects that I am well.. awful at.

Other then NSC, the Battle in Seattle was cool, the people out there are welcoming and kind which always makes a trip much better. Hyper and Atom both had new wheels to show. Hyper's while they will still probably make some adjustments have seemed to come a long way and their wheel skated great on the big floor. Atom's new wheels were a first prototype therefore they were limited to just a few people but they seem good in theory, just need a few tweaks as well. Look for both companies to make adjustments and have wheels for Georgia and Tampa that will be fast.

Logically Thinking

2010-02-10T20:32:00.002-05:00

Alright. I guess this has been on my mind and I don't feel as if I need to share it with anyone but I guess it helps me if I put it in words.

Today I woke up and I am 18 years old. I go to school without any idea why. I know that at some point I will pursue a career in a specific field and that field will require that I obtain a college degree. I do not know what that career is and when I finally will end up in it. I go to college with the idea that it is going to hit me even though deep down I know it wont. I've spent the last 18 months searching for a career that will interest me but not destroy me as I age at the same time. I am a workaholic. So I have been trying to pick a career in which I will be less likely to be a workaholic but at the same time I need to love it to do it. That's where the search ends every time. Let me explain why.

Previously I stated that I am 18 years old. That is true, and my life is at a crossroad. I have so many aspirations and goals the only problem is time. You think Keith, you are 18 how can time possibly play a factor in your life at this point? But you are far wrong. This is the problem. I want to be an inliner my entire life. Its so much better then ice and that is not an opinion, I've done both, inlining is way better. I could tell you why but that is another blog for another day. I want to be an Olympian just as bad as I want to be an inliner. The paths don't cross. No part of me ever wants to leave inlines much less sooner rather then later.

Diving deeper now, not only do I want to be an inliner I want to be a champion. Now it is easy, I've won a race before so sure I've been a champion, wrong, I've been a winner. There is a distinction. Even more I want to be a world champion. This is not talk, you see, it eats at me every day. I think of when I was in Colombia, Spain, China and it eats me away. I think of this horrid snow and how I can't be out there making it happen hands on. Everyday I sit and think of how I can be better, if a tweak this or that if I will be better. And going deeper I've always felt that I could never leave this sport without being a World Champion. Now in order for me to break down the distinction I would lose sight of the purpose of this blog, so again that is another blog for another day.

Back to time. Relatively speaking.. the next Olympics is in 2014. In order for me to pursue that Olympics I need to make a stand now. In other words, I need to move (in the year 2010) to have a realistic chance at the 2014 games. Now it is possible that I could wait another year and still have a chance, but I don't want a chance I need more then that. The bigger problem here is I might not have a chance if I don't take the opportunity now while it is here. Now you are thinking wait a minute Keith, you will only be 22 how is that your only chance? Now it gets interesting.

Diving really deep here: If I continue inlining for the next four years I will love every minute of it I can promise you that. But inlining is not a career for me. Well, let's face it.. I don't even have a sponsor how can skating be anything close to a career for me? Therefore skating is not making me money (in fact it is the opposite skating still costs me money like most), and yes NSC has the ability to prosper into something that will make me money, but right now it's not a career. I can't count my marbles on the idea that it will be my career in four years either. Now it might start making a little since.

In case it isn't.. lets say I decide that in 2014 I will make my move and devote myself to becoming an Olympic Athlete at the 2018 games. I will be between the ages of 22 and 26 during that time and I will not have a career yet therefore I will not be making significant money. And now you might be thinking, Keith, there are plenty of inliners that go to ice and aren't making significant money right now. Yes you are correct but they also have mommy and daddy supporting them financially for the most part (not all but most). Well mommy doesn't exist for me and daddy has five adult kids, and bills to pay, he also fathered a boy who wants to earn his way, not be given it. Now you think "oh you are a stubborn boy" and you would be correct.

Now lets keep going.. you might be thinking, "Ahahhh! you are in luck they have created a WHIP program for people just like you" but you would be wrong. They created a WHIP program in theory for people like me the only problem is one year before they did such a thing as to move everything to Salt Lake City, Utah... Not exactly the inline capital of the US is it? If the US short track program was still based out of Colorado like it once was then yes, i would be in lots of luck. Unfortunately now it is not. You might think Keith, skaters can do both if they really want to and you would be wrong again. I have to train to be good. I have to train on inlines to be good and train on ice to be good. Now if I go to Utah I am an ice skater strictly who would skate inlines during the ice offseason like all the other WHIP members. Why? Well there is no established rink in Utah for the whip members to practice their indoor inlines. And if you didn't know SLC does get some snow and is fairly difficult to skate outdoor during the winter months with this horrid snow stuff on the roads. So what happens? You end up an ice skater who skates inlines (if you really want) during the summer months back home. (Now you start to see the true flaws with this whole inliners on ice thing).

So in the end you might wonder why I truly care about the Olympics, especially considering it wont make me any more money then inlining which is a net profit of zero. If you don't believe me check out this story ESPN did.. then look at the tab on the right side that says the Millionaires, The Strugglers, and The Lifers Read the three stories. I care because I love sport and I wont that moment. I want that moment when everything finally comes together and I realize that it was all worth it.

Snow, Snow, Go Away

2010-02-09T11:13:00.002-05:00

I could probably end my blog now... and everyone will understand. But let me go into detail.

First, my forever battle with mother nature. I live in Pennsylvania for reasons that are far beyond me. I do not like having four seasons. I would rather have like summer and a little cooler then summer that's it. My perfect temperature is around 83 degrees and that is no exaggeration.

Now there is lots of snow on the ground, ice on the roads, and more snow coming. There at one point was close to two feet, about an inch has probably been knocked off but with the drifts and such some areas look like 2.5ft and others look like 8 inches. Tonight and into tomorrow we are looking at no less then a foot (most likely) and I've heard much much more then that. I do not go out and play in the snow for one simple reason.. it is cold. I hate everything about the cold. And snow is very cold.

Next it brings me to this point, snow kills me for odd reasons. It makes me think a million times a day what it will be like when the weather breaks and that makes me think of how much I am going to love skating outdoors without like 4 layers on. Next it gives me the itch, it makes me want to be outside skating right now. I can imagine myself skating outdoors and I love it.. mostly because I love outdoor skating. Then my day dream ends and I realize it is still white outside and cold outside.

Let me take it a step further (have you noticed I'm not a fan of winter) in the winter sickness spreads like wildfire. Just about everyone in my household had gotten sick this winter to some degree except me. I was basking in my defeat of sickness.. when I got sick. I am not sick like seriously sick. I have a cold or maybe just a cough I don't know. But it sucks. If you get sick, you go to the doctor and get an antibiotic and you are better in like 7 days. If you get a cold/cough you are SOL and it decides to stay with you for weeks on end. I have been on a vitamin frenzy since my cough thinking if I get enough vitamins and minerals in me it will go away.. negative.

And yes, the winter sucks.

Busy

2010-01-28T13:09:00.002-05:00

This is the time of the year that I am going to be busy. I have skating school and work to do which takes up pretty much all of my time. I have half of Thursday's off and that's about it (which is why I'm writing this on a Thursday). I don't think I really mind being really busy though because you don't have much time to realize that you are tired or anything and for some reason that makes it a little easier for me.

Now onto something a little different that has been on my mind a little. I realize it is winter and cold and that it might be hard for some to realize the importance of training right now but I hate those days where I show up to practice and it seems like everyone is in a slump. When you show up and everyone is just kind of like blah, no one is trying to move there feet fast, everyone is tired but not from going as fast as they normally do. Like everyone slaps on a tired face and tries to look more tired then everyone else, I hate it. And the worse part is that it's contagious. I'll be skating and all the sudden I realize my foot speed has slowed down, that I am hurting but could be making myself go a little faster and hurt a little more. Then at that moment I do it, I go a little faster and make it hurt a little more. No one else does that and I hate it. Like when we are running through drills and I'm the last person in the pack I can't tell who is giving 100% and who is just going through the motions with 'tired face' on.

But then I realize it's not that bad. Because as soon as I realize that everyone is in 'tired face' I just go harder and it makes it so much easier. Then I realize there is no way that my rink is the only one that ever has 'tired face' mode. Especially when I go to some rinks and it seems like every practice is a 'tired face' mode. Then I realize even if just one of my competitors happens to have one 'tired face' practice I've gained ground by running harder then ever on that day. Then it feels good.

There are two weeks until Hickory which will be a big meet just like Roanoke always was and before that Philly. For the last week 'tired face' has been turned on which means 'sad face' will follow once some people get to Hickory. Then it will be the infamous 'I want to get faster' mode right after Hickory when there is no big race to gear up for. That is always the best. When its time to dial back just a bit and work on what you need to so that you can go fast when it is time. No one likes that time of the year because they think that in Speed Skating if you aren't blazing around the track there is not a chance you are getting better.

I've done more things at a slower more painful, beneficial pace this year that I think it will work out brilliantly. I don't think it will really show up until July/August but once it does it's going to make going fast a lot easier and it will make racing even more fun for me.

Hmmm

2010-01-18T11:53:00.002-05:00

This weekend I was a little busy with Kyle's birthday party then orientation all day Sunday. But I did catch some of the streaming of West Palm that TVMR did. I remember West Palm use to be an indoor/outdoor event but as it has evolved now it's just outdoor (which is fine to me). But is an outdoor only event that features a bank track and road course best suited for January? Just an idea.

Am I the only one who thinks that meet could grow substantially (as an outdoor only event) if it was in march-april-may-june (any of those months are better suited in my opinion). If ODN is in the first week of August or last week of July as it looks like it will be then could that meet not grow a lot in June? Students are out of school or getting out of school, everyone pretty much knows if they are going to ODN, and it's warm enough across the nation for a majority of people to skate outdoor regularly.

I am a big outdoor fan and I would love to skate this meet but in January it just doesn't make that much since for me to go to Florida to race a lot of people that are not in outdoor shape which from watching.. a lot of people are not in outdoor shape. In January I just don't believe that there is anything to gain from that meet. If you do good then you get a false since of security considering you weren't racing many people that were in shape, and if you do bad you shrug it off and say you haven't been skating outdoor much.

With Outdoor Nationals so late this year it is a great opportunity for a 2 or 3 day outdoor only meet that could potentially be bigger then outdoor nationals.. especially in an area with a lot of skaters in a smaller radius like Florida or NC.

Just a thought..

Back

2010-01-11T16:56:00.001-05:00

I haven't posted in about forever. I tried probably 10 times and then I was interrupted or got busy before I finished and never returned back to the same idea or post I was putting together. A lot has happened since my last post which was after my trip to Washington.

First I started skating again.. after worlds until November 2oth (roughly) I skated about 7-10 times total. Partially because I was trying to give my body enough time to settle down and heal up because it had been a few years since I really took a legitimate rest other then travel days. The other part was when I first started work they oddly kept scheduling me outside of my availability which meant over my practice times. But I got it fixed and I have started making at least three practices a week (some weeks 6 practices). I'm almost where I want to be for January which is pretty impressive because Nov. 15th I was absolutely awful and I can admit that (my last meet before starting to practice was Nov. 15th).

Second I have FINALLY managed to have one boot that I can skate everything on. In April I got my first Simmons and I loved it outdoor but it was a little higher then ideal for indoor and it was 47894725927 times stiffer then the piece of (fill in the blank) ____ that I had on before it (won't give the brand). Once I started practicing regularly again I realized that I couldn't skate indoor anymore anyway so why not just stick with the Simmons and get used to it while I figured out the turning thing again. And it worked and it makes me very happy but maybe a little sad at the same time. I'm happy because I can now skate indoor, outdoor, and sprint outdoor on the same boot and a 4x110 which I was not doing (partially because that same piece of ___ a boot I had wouldn't fit my 4x110 frame). But it makes me a little sad because of this: I got the boot in April which means June, July, August, and September it was skated on 2-3 times a day.. which ends up being about as much or close to what an 'average' skater does per year. So my boot basically has a year under it already and I really want it to last until after worlds this year which is a long time. Normally after i go through the summer of 2-3 times a day whatever boot I used breaks down in the winter.. and I literally mean BREAKS down. I hope that the stiffness of my boot and quality holds up and the reason I can skate indoor on it now is not because it is getting flimsier... GULP.

And lastly, the break I took ended up being perfect for me. I absolutely cannot wait until the weather breaks even a little so I can skate outdoor everyday instead of twice a week. I'm stoked for this year. I'm anxious to start skating a lot outdoor and really getting in great shape. My break rejuvenated me completely and I'm waiting anxiously to start putting in a lot of work. Now all I need to do is figure out where I'm going to get a quality outdoor wheel for ODN, residency, and worlds.

Next up for me is NSC Tribulation which should be fun. I should skate better because I'm getting pretty close to decent shape. Then I'll see everyone in Hickory.

Home In November

2009-11-11T23:28:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-02T10:54:00.000-05:00

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

2009-10-09T21:39:00.000-04:00

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

2009-10-07T20:10:00.000-04:00

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

2009-10-01T17:51:00.000-04:00

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

2009-09-27T22:16:00.000-04:00

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

2009-09-24T04:36:00.000-04:00

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

2009-09-22T10:48:00.000-04:00

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

2009-09-21T04:41:00.000-04:00

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

2009-09-20T05:23:00.000-04:00

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

2009-09-18T20:21:00.000-04:00

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

2009-09-16T07:31:00.000-04:00

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

2009-09-14T10:55:00.000-04:00

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

2009-09-13T22:45:00.000-04:00

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

2009-09-12T02:05:00.000-04:00

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

2009-09-11T01:54:00.000-04:00

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

2009-09-01T15:00:00.000-04:00

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

2009-08-12T10:34:00.000-04:00

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

2009-07-26T20:57:00.000-04:00

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

2009-07-25T00:13:00.000-04:00

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

2009-07-06T20:28:00.000-04:00

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

2009-06-29T21:29:00.000-04:00

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

2009-06-23T21:48:00.000-04:00

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

2009-06-23T21:34:00.000-04:00

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?

2009-04-28T21:38:00.000-04:00

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

2009-04-15T18:09:00.000-04:00

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

2009-04-06T16:48:00.000-04:00

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

2009-04-01T16:27:00.000-04:00

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

2009-03-26T18:18:00.000-04:00

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

2009-03-16T21:58:00.000-04:00

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.

Equipment Craze

2009-03-16T21:37:00.000-04:00

For some reason, it seems to me that our sport is in a total equipment craze. Every where I turn it's what wheel is better what boot, what bearing, what spacer, what axle, frame, helmet, etc. Ridiculous. I'm not sure if the expression has gone out the window, but the equipment doesn't make the athlete. I've seen lighter spacers, like seriously spacers weigh like what 1 gram? Is a lighter one going to effect me?
The worse is the wheels, I understand that wheels are very important. But I see people flocking to wheels before they are even released to the public. Seriously, I understand brand loyalty, but when you buy wheels to get ahead in the world you think you would buy what performs. I do not understand, flock to a wheel, buy it before anyone wears it and have a first hand experience with failure. That's what I see. I don't understand people, when you have experienced, fast people on your team that have exposure to all types of equipment and knowledge, use them. Ask them, talk to them, find out what is best for them and ask them what will be best for you. Ask your coach, do something intelligent like save some money during a recession! I wear what works for me. I will try something new if it is exposed to me. If it's a used set so be it I wont be wasting my money then. It's a simple formula to me, I wear what has been working for me until someone lets me try something that is absolutely better or until that product no longer is working.
Another thing about the wheels, there is this huge craze about rebound. Rebound of a wheel. Personally, I don't care if the wheel bounces to the sun. If it rolls and holds then that is fine with me. Rebound is a term thrown around for marketing period. What wheel bounces higher, like a four year old with bouncy balls. If a hub is smaller, the wheel bounces higher, if the hub is solid the wheel bounces higher all of these things can be manipulated in order to make people think rebound is so important. Personally, when it comes to indoor let me enlighten anyway reading this: rebound is a joke. Buy a wheel with the best rebound and when it comes to nationals you will regret it. See, nationals is always performed on what is considered a floating floor. What that means is that the floor is not technically on the ground. (realize that there is always about a 2 inch step up from the check-in area to the floor) So if your wheel rolls the best because of rebound all year long, then you go to a floating floor and you will realize that your wheel feels SLOW. Bounce a wheel that normally has high rebound on a floating floor, it will not bounce nearly as high. Buy a wheel because it holds at great speed and rolls decently. Holding is the major concern, if every wheel holds for you then look at roll. Avoid the rebound.

Meet Review: Roanoke

2009-02-16T20:03:00.000-05:00

The biggest indoor meet of the year. (Yes I am claiming it is bigger then Indoor Nationals). The general review:
The floor in my opinion was great. I will not fault the floor for dust/dirt that accumulates. In the mornings the floor was flat out great. About as tight as a floor can be. They dust mopped it throughout the competition but with the construction going on outside nearby, and having 400-500 skaters plus parents and family members in one rink will create particles that make their way on the floor. Every morning the floor was once again great so I commend them of cleaning it again after we left every night.
The competition was good for just about every division which is what you want to see. A couple things that stand out to me are that some periods of time they seemed to let a lot go in races, which in other periods of time they wouldn't allow anything go. But that is just the way it is, nothing that can really be fixed, it all depends on who the official is and how they feel, if it sounds wrong too bad it's the way human nature works. Other then that I was a little disappointed that for some reason there just wasn't that one athlete that really made a difference to me. No one seemed to really come out of know where which is a sad thing in my opinion.
The pro dilemma I will only talk briefly about, the action that was taken I would stand by. Some of the technicalities that went with it were not handled appropriately however. Not allowing the two involved skaters to continue was a decent call. It was more of a blatant foul and even when there is a slight retaliation you cannot look bias by taking harsher punishment to one. They were allowed to stay in the rink which was good, the public apology was great and the end of it.
On the topic of wheels I will just say by the end of the meet I thought it became more apparent that one was much more dominant then the others. I can tell you I never skated on anything like I did at Roanoke and it was impressive.
I hope there isn't a single person that walks away from Roanoke feeling proud or accomplished because anything that is important is a long ways away and there is always something to work harder on and train more for. So keep training!
I hope to see most of you during Easter and those in my region on the 1st.
P.S. Remember nutrition and sleeping are just as important as practice.

Professional Athletes

2009-02-16T18:19:00.000-05:00

Not skaters. Considering I can count the number of them on one hand. But actual professional athletes that are making much more then a living being an athlete. What has been going through their minds as of late?
Guns
I firmly believe that a portion of the best athletes never make it because of off-the-field problems. So knowing the ones that do manage to make it to the big leagues why are so many of them having trouble with guns now? If you need to honestly have a gun, get it registered. You are a professional athlete, you have a lot to lose compared to most. Most of all just leave your guns (registered) at home. If you have a body guard let them do their job. Or just don't go to places where you need that much protection. I understand having a gun in your home especially after an incident like Sean Taylor last year. But carrying them on you (Plaxico Burress) or having them in your trunk (Marshawn Lynch) is not the way to go about things.
Drugs
This is a big one. First, Steroids, if you were scouted and drafted and signed that was all done because they thought you were good enough the way you were. There is no excuse for steroid use. They say they didn't know and that is the biggest lie I've heard. They say that they had to be the best no matter what, and that is just crap. Want to be the best, become the best don't cheat the world and your body to earn a quick route. I can not respect someone that will not put in the time to become the best but would rather cheat. Plain and simple, nothing in life is easy and you must work for it. I want to be the best at everything I do, so I will work hard day in and day out and I will study day in and day out and I will get there in due time.
Illegal Drugs
So many athletes go on to admit that they smoked marijuana or something like that. It's wrong, plain and simple. You make so much money doing what you do, don't put junk in your system. Don't sacrifice your body and state of mind for junk. I would rather see athletes drinking because it's legal. I believe there should be some type of punishment, a fine or something. You have admitted it, which means by your own standards you did it. So what if you didn't get tested during the 10-30 days it's in your system you still did it. Michael Phelps is the worse case I could have ever imagined. You hear so much about his nutrition and dedication to be in the best physical shape he can be and then he is smoking marijuana. Unacceptable. A record 8 gold Olympic medals in Beijing and 14 overall. Every child has in some shape seen Phelps win a race, and they have heard this. How many people want their kid looking up to him now? You must have better judgment. If I have better judgment at 17 years old then his 23 years are no excuse. The apologies and the 3 month suspension does not take back the fact that he made a gateway for the youth of America. A student in my school just got a DUI for smoking marijuana and he told his mom don't worry an Olympic champion did it. Unacceptable. Plain and simple.
Professional athletes should be held to a higher standard then an average joe. Whether or not they signed up to be a role model is irrelevant, they are one. You make a ridiculous salary (and still worry about how much you are making), you are showcased on national television, and you want to be a household name so grow up and take the responsibility that comes along with it. It is easy to be a winner, it's difficult to be a champion and athletes like these show exactly why.

Roanoke

2009-02-11T19:05:00.000-05:00

I will be there Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Plain and simple. Friday I will show up late because I do not skate so I'll sleep in and eat breakfast.
Then I will be at the Rink watching the Novice events and my teammates. Feel free to stir up a conversation I do not bite and will not mind. I talk to everyone that approaches me. And I have plenty of opinions so I can talk about anything.

See you there.

The Season

2009-02-11T18:44:00.000-05:00

One of the most difficult features about skating: The never ending season. Well, it does not have to be that way, at least not for everyone. We skate worlds in September and then by October it is back to training and for some racing. Why? To my understanding we allow the season to continue. But in a recession like this isn't shortening it reasonable?
Look at athletes, an off season is not a period of time in which you do nothing. If it is then I think most sports have it wrong. It is a period of time where you do not compete, which in our sport means a period of time in which you save money. Yes, strange, saving money. An off season is a period of time where athletes continuing to improve themselves and work on fundamentals/strength/conditioning among other things. So after nationals allow the athlete 2-3 weeks of rest time. Rest in which they can do as little as they want, in fact you should encourage them to downsize their skating for the purpose of rejuvenating their will or drive to succeed. After that time period is up you begin fundamentals including everything, take them back to the basics. Now, many people do this but you also compete in this period of time. Don't compete. Plain and simple, there is no need to. If you are working on technique and fundamentals why have your athletes lose confidence in their abilities by racing.
Why not have Roanoke be the first invitational they attend. You work on fundamentals from September - November. In December you begin training harder, if that means more practice, pushing yourself harder, or harder practices you start in December. Then by Roanoke you have been working harder. You are now back to skating shape with refined technique, which is what usually is missing. Then you have plenty of meets they can attend, Mr. Blair's meet, one of the three Easter Meets, all working towards regionals and nationals. They get the time off, and the rest. Just he physical rest. Especially for you older athletes. You give them time where the only skating fee is monthly practice dues so they can save money. What do you get from skating a meet in October? Yes, it is a judge. It judges how much work you have to do in the next eight months. But if a skater is skating great in October, isn't there reason to worry? Can that athlete sustain a level of greatness until June? Doubtful.
This year Roanoke is my first big meet. I skated league meets, which are fun, smaller meets with local skaters. As if it is a open practice. But now skaters are going to meets in October getting down on themselves and spending the money that they wont have to go to an Easter meet or regionals later in the year.
As the skaters/parents/coaches, if you decide to go to an October meet they will have it every year, if you decide not to they will stop having it which would shorten the season.

Reflecting

2009-02-09T21:39:00.000-05:00

As I continue to search for where I may have put my usars card I stumbled across my clinic evaluation from my first and only bank track clinic from back in March of 2004. It's weird to think how I stumbled may way through this sport thus far.
When I first started I was bad, and I was so small. Not that I am any bigger really but I was ridiculously small and there weren't really all the three wheel frames there are now so if you stood my frames up against my leg they went up to my knee at least. I remembering just wanting to get a 5x80mm frame because that meant I was going to be faster. All the older kids were no it so I wanted one. I saw video of me skating on those things and they were huge on me, like the 4x110's look like on Sara S. that was me. I couldn't cross very good lol. No novice then either, it was JO back then. 3 years and your done, that's it. Three years of JO or novice whatever you called it and I never managed a medal. I did however get a JO relay medal, back when they had JO relays at nationals. That was cool, I admit I was the weaker one on the team but either way I still threw the pass into first place. haha. I remember being in JO racing with the same people I do now. I remember meets with Hank from forever ago. I actually have a video of me racing Mariah Richardson in a Juvenile 4 person (there were no juvenile 4 boys and 4 girls and mixes it was just one four person) to say the least she beat me off the start and beat me all together. I remember my first regionals all I wanted to do was make it out, and sure enough I managed to get fourth place overall and qualify for nationals.
I remember coming to SOS back in the 2000-2001 season. I was little, young. I remember one of my first practices we were doing circles (our floor was still wood and had circles) and Jeff paired me up with Dante Tuscai so I could follow his technique. That made me happy, he always won at the league meets, him Dominic and Chris Semus where the fastest so if I followed one of them I could get faster. I was the little kid, smaller then he should be. At first I was so quiet at SOS I probably only talked to Ben Tuscai for my first 2-3 years in Reading, I never even talked to Jeff. Back then Jeff used a stop watch and Steve Carter was still coming to practice regularly. I remember the first time I ever ran a 10 second lap. I was so happy. I hurt my leg on that lap but I managed a 10 second lap and I was second year juvenile. That just goes to show how good our floor use to be.. uncoated. I remember every time Steve would run 9's and I just couldn't imagine how he did it.
I was the little kid at practice that if Jeff gave one of his lectures I sat down on the wall, because the big kids did it. If they were quiet, I was quiet. I use to listen to every word. I can remember getting the chills when Jeff talked about skating hard and how it can make you the best.
2003 was my first year of standard in a sense I grew up that year. Somehow I got fast. I think it was probably because of Kelly Archie. After I won a relay medal in 2002 I got a shirt that said national champion on it and he would always joke about my shirt and make me feel 'cool' and good about having a national medal. Things like that just made winning seem like the only option. Practice was fun, the fast guys like Steve were there so it always the funnest place to be.
in 2003 I placed at nationals in my division, my very first year of standard. My first race though I fell down in my heat and I just remember Jeff not necessarily yelling at me but I was so small I thought of it that way. He told me how if I would have just gotten up and started running again I probably could have caught up and made it out but instead I stomped my feet and took my time getting back to speed. Then I managed to place it was awesome. I probably smiled forever.
Back to the evaluation.. Jeff told me parents we should go to a clinic and attend Outdoor Nationals because everyone else was doing it and it was my last year of freshman (outdoor). So we went to the clinic and then I went to Outdoor Nationals. I got so mad after my first race, the 300m I got 4th place and only three got medals. But that was where I would say it all started. The story of my life, lol. I always wanted everything a race to soon. Every single time. Jeff tried to tell me that there were 5 more races and I had plenty of chances to get a medal but i didn't want to hear it. I wanted it now. It never feels better to say there is another race when you lose. I ended up getting 3 national medals there at outdoor nationals and a national record. It was great lol.
I always wondered why no one knew who I was. When I was freshman I thought I was like older and people she realize who I was if i was winning. But even Bob Justice got my name wrong at nationals. He never gets names wrongs lol. I was winning a semi and he announced me as Dominic and I heard it, that made me so mad lol.

Time flies, even when you are young.

If it's anything, it has to hit home

2009-01-26T16:07:00.000-05:00

The college search for me at least, is nearing it's end. After months of being mostly 50-50 on where I was going to go I am turning more to about 70-30 that I am staying close to home. But that is not the end of it.
My decision, is much different then most. Once I realized it, my decision was pretty much easier then I could have imagined. My decision comes from my personality plain and simple. I'm not talking about where I'd fit in the best in terms of college life because I could careless. College is the step of my life that comes after high school and is intended for me to gain a higher education and to gain knowledge of my chosen career. The root of my decision comes from the fact that in a way I hate money. No I do not hate to have money, but I hate not making my own in order to survive. I hate to ask for money and I hate to talk about money, plain and simple. So my options were always pretty much Utah or a small state college close to home. Utah if I went it would be mostly to skate, so I could probably only do one semester as a full student per year and the other semester I would have to do as a part-time student. If that is the case it would take me about 6-7 years to graduate a four-year college. It's not bad if I was the traditional skater who expects and has their parents pay for their life until they are 25 but that is not me. The amount of skaters that skip college is ridiculous. What are you going to achieve in life without college and without a job set up already? If you couldn't make the world team before you left high school, chances are you wont make it once you are out of high school. Now, that does not mean if you don't make it as a Junior you will not make it, although it is harder it is definitely possible to do and have success. Jonathon Garcia I don't believe ever made the Jr. World Team but made senior team about 3 years in a row and skated great. But if you believe high school is holding you back from making the world team you will not make it ever probably plain and simple. I really have to say this, as dream-crushing and mean as this may sound.. skater's need to grow up. Plain and simple. I go to meets and everyone lives in a fantasy world. Like the world can't harm them kind of thing. Making the world team is great accomplishment don't get me wrong, medaling at worlds is an even bigger accomplishment but you cannot survive off of it in life. Yes the big L word. It is fun but you do not make a living off of being a great skater. Plain and simple. Sorry but the truth is there.
Anyway, my decision to stay home is for a few reasons. One, is that I can take my four years and go through college and get into the real world. Once I am making a living then who knows maybe a move out to Utah and give the ice a shot, maybe I just move somewhere else and give it a shot. The only thing I can say. Is that I love skating, I train for it and I will train as hard as I can whenever I can. I can tell you that if I make the world team this year there is no doubt in my mind I would put college off a semester in order to go to worlds my first year of senior world class, and in China.
I have found, any major decision you must make can be simplified. Look at yourself, look at what you hate, what you like. Find out what really hits home with you and that is your answer.

A Different Breed

2009-01-06T19:57:00.000-05:00

We are not your everyday athletes. We do not participate in your everyday oh-so-common sports. We are a different breed of sport. We do not settle for your three or four month seasons. No that is not good enough for us. We set the standards for sports dedication. For us diehards it is not about winning. No, that is just an added bonus that comes with the love of the sport. Yes Diehards, I am not speaking of your come quick, pure-talented athlete that picks it up with no actual sense of technique and goes on to win feeling like they accomplished the world and quit. No, not them because for them winning is everything.
For us though. It's about the feeling of going through your entire day; good or bad just knowing that it will soon get better. Knowing that we will slip our feet into those precious pieces of equipment. But that's not all, it's the feeling of quietness as you lace up your skates, tie them just right: not to tight, not to loose. If you must tie them to tight you are not yet a diehard. You have yet to master your equipment and truly figure how it works.
You realize this is your domain. Sure, there may be someone better, quicker, bigger at every aspect of the sport. But these are your skates. This is your get away. Yes a roller-rink, just barely getting by no longer jammed pack on friday and saturday nights like they use to be a few short decades ago. Yes this empty roller-rink dead with sound. Is all for you. Your struggles of the day mean nothing here because through your speed whether it be slow and steady or lightning fast will relinquish any thoughts of doubt.
You meet with your fellow diehards and you skate. No words or questions why because what ever the reason be it is irrelevant. We leave the questions to those who have yet to understand our delightful getaway.
We use our precious pieces of equipment to go fast. We do not wonder why. We do not think how we just act. We mean practice, yes, those are the better days. Because practice does not make perfect in our sport no sir. That is a myth. But yet perfect practice makes perfect. We love our practice. We love it because that is our time. We love our skates. We love to just go fast, not think just go fast. Therefore when we have the opportunity multiple times a week it becomes our favorite. So yes the sweat of practice is our favorite.
But then we take it to the next level because we are diehards. We cannot love our skates more. We take it outdoors. Yes our sport teaches us the natural beauty of the outdoors. Because you are no longer limited by size. No, the road goes on and on. The wind in your face is precious now. One of life's gifts. Because not only is it in your face, but you are producing it. You are the one creating the speed at which your are traveling to allow the wind to be in your face. Yes this is what is meant by beautiful. When life's struggles vanish when there cannot be a possible sign of disapproval. Yes the pure sound of nature mixed with simple thoughts of speed seem irreplaceable.
But then we still have our simple pleasures. When most love the smell of flowers that is to simple for us. No, although winning is not everything for us it is still our bonus. That would make a sanctuary where they award someone for being the fastest our garden. Yes a race is our garden. We take our first diehard step into the rink at the lovely hours of the morning 5, maybe 6AM and just indulge in the smells that seem so familiar. The smell of the floor coating yes, we breathe it in deep. The smell of the gun smoke, right after being fired for the start of a race, yes we breathe in deep. The smell of the traditional coffee, egg and cheese rink food, we breathe in deep. But that is not it. We listen and we listen carefully. We listen for it all. The sound of victory. No, we do not see victory we hear it. We hear the sounds of defeat and there are so many. We as diehards, no what both sound like having been there before. We hear the sound of fresh skin being left on the skating surface. Then we hurry to see it but it has happened to fast. We must focus our eyes on the afterthoughts. The brush burns and the lost skin. We as diehards, no what it feels like. We are not compelled to judge though, no we are not. We leave the judging of how bad one fall was against that of another to those who have not yet realized the level of pure diehardedness that we have reached. Yes, diehardedness may become a word when you realize the pure genius of our sport. We watch after hearing the sound of defeat as so many competitors will sit down frantically changing and switching equipment as if the equipment will suddenly make the athlete. No not us diehards. We know the athlete makes the equipment not the other way around. Yes we love these things. Nothing more nothing less. But we are diehards so we do not show up just to give our senses a treat. No we show up to allow our muscles to feel a burning sensation they have not felt since practice. Yes practice. We go and skate. We have not missed a practice therefore our diehard nature knows that we are in tiptop shape so we will prevail over our lesser competitors. Yes we are speedskaters. No need for explanation. Speedskaters.
We consider our sport to be precious as does the rest of the world. That is why even the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network cannot dare show us on there channel. No they rather stick to the simple sports of life, such as arm wrestling, spelling bees, and rock-paper-scissors competitions. Yes we are the new breed of athletes. We do not allow the simple ideas of seasons bother us. We manage our bodies year round. We forgive those who cannot understand but realize they could never manage to be a diehard speedskater.

Recollecting and Current Position

2008-12-13T20:58:00.000-05:00

I started deleting all of my drafts that blogspot automatically saves for you and after that I started reading the comments I have been left periodically because blogger does not notify you when you receive a comment so if you don't check you'll never actually realize you were left one. I want to thank everyone that has commented me and just left anything from good luck to we love reading your blog.
Just for an update on my part, for everyone that could be interested and has noticed I have yet to participate in an invitational meet. You will not see me in West Palm but I have every intention of attending Roanoke which will be my first invitational of the season. It'll be awfully late for me to make my invitational debut considering that I haven't missed Greensboro in the last 8-10 years. I have been skating and I have been training but it just has not made the most since for me to attend these meets. Greensboro we decided wasn't going to be a big deal to miss because they were having Vinton and word was getting out that a lot of people were staying home for Greensboro and my team is not full of rich parents so we thought it would be a good idea too. Then it came time to sign up for Vinton and although my team went my division was not well represented. The winner of Junior and Senior actually came from my region which verified going was not a smart idea for me because we have the Keystone Speed League and fortunately for me at least there are skaters like Justin Mannon and Andrew Shatzer that aren't on my team but still attend these league meets and together we combine for a decent race that has competition. Yes, world team member attend our league meets.
On the year...
I still plan on attending Outdoor Nationals and I have every intention on skating very well. If I did not expect to skate good I would not go. I do plan to contend for a spot on the Senior World Team there is no purpose of me going if I did not. I already feel that we've picked up the intensity from last year to allow myself and others that plan to attend ODN from my team to have a shot at their goals. I state these seamlessly obvious things because there are many years this one included that I find first year Senior skaters to attend ODN with no intentions on making the world team. I find no since in this at all. There is no reason a previous Junior World Team member cannot contend with Senior skaters. If you could contend at a world level even for Junior you can contend for a US Senior event, yes you must train harder and stay focused but it is possible. Personally the number one reason for failing is because you don't believe you can succeed.

World Class Dilemma

2008-12-13T14:20:00.000-05:00

More time--More thinking--more decisions. Well the more time that passes it seems like the more things I will come to realize and yet the more decisions will have to be made about my future plans.
Well it has recently been announced that Worlds in 2009 are to be held in Haining City in the Peoples Republic of China. The dates are as late as I can remember which are September 16-27. That will definitely add another twists for many people. Every year the debate comes up that the Skating season is becoming longer and longer, well with Worlds this late it just got even longer and for many reasons some of our athletes could be in trouble. First I bring up the point that it allows for residency to be longer (if so they wish) therefore if you are a team member that has a job, you could be asked to miss even more time from work.
Secondly, I have said this before and I'll say it again.. some team members will train to make the World Team, they consider the peak of their season to be June and July where both Nationals take place but the problem is if ODN is in June those members have to pick up the intensity of their training until September. I can see most of the Senior Men having no problem or the least bit of problem with this. I see the Senior ladies (or some of them) next then I see the Juniors having an equal problem. This year there could potentially be seven new junior team members. That means, seven skaters that have no idea what worlds is like and have no idea what they are in for. Therefore, some of them will not train like they truly need to for 3.5 months until worlds comes around.
Next I have realized another problem that could have a bigger effect then many believe. This past year, the Senior Women's team had two individual medalists. Brittany and Sara, Brittany is a full-time college student, and if she wanted to attend Worlds in 2009 she may not be able to simply because you cannot take time off from college like you can from high school. Not to mention you have a number of Juniors moving up that have large intentions of attending college and if they were to make the team they may have to deny or put off college for the semester to do so. Brittany was the easiest example simply because if she decided to skate worlds she would not have any difficulty making the team in the first place.
So I will now explain my dilemma. In my life there are a few things that I would like to do. One would make the world team a few more times, another is attend a four year college, and finally I would like to give ice a serious shot in Utah and see where it can take me. They all conflict with each other to some degree, mostly college. I have full intentions on going to college. Like previously stated if I go to college full-time I may not be able to go to worlds even if I make the team, and if you are wondering the only reason I would have to go to Outdoor Nationals is to make the team especially because at the looks of it Outdoor Nationals is conflicting with my High School Graduation. It has also been brought to my intention although not yet confirmed that the inline transition program in Utah has no desire to include full-time college students. It appears that I could potentially do two of those at the same time but that would be leaving college out and I don't have any intentions on putting college off completely until later.

College and Short Track

2008-11-17T17:47:00.000-05:00

Well, I got accepted to my first college. I wasn't really worried about getting into it, I knew my chances. When you have a 4.1 and a 1150 (or 1800 if you count writing) on your first SAT (i took it again but haven't gotten my results yet) a lot of local schools aren't the most difficult ones to get into. The more difficult schools I applied to are Pitt and Penn State both of which I haven't heard from (Pitt being the harder of the two to get into). So the whole safety school thing is out the window. I never really picked a safety school in the first place. I had like a 2-4 week response on the first college I applied to so I figured if I didn't get into it I would start applying to a safety school.
I have absolutely no idea what I plan to major in. For the past two years I planned on majoring in journalism/communications but last year I did a graduation project on it and I wasn't happy with the results. I am a good writer. I don't know why but I can write papers well. Particularly journalism papers. So I always thought it would be easy to just do what I am really good at. But the problem is I would become a Sports Journalist. Sports journalist work the hours of 4-12 on most days in order to get their piece written before their paper sends to press shortly after midnight. Normally you start out with nothing writing articles for a paper just trying to get hired. Then you will most likely work at a small time paper and make (if you are lucky) the average $40,000 a year. When I decided I wanted to be a journalist I had this vision of myself working at a big paper like the NY Times and sitting in my office cubicle writing the latest piece on the current Professional sport. Then the reality hit me and the fact that there is such a small percent of people that make it that far. The reality is that most journalist work for small time papers in more rural settings. Their paper probably comes out once a week and they are the papers that have done articles on me besides the one article I got written about in the Reading Eagle which is the only legal city in Berk's County.
Then there is Short Track. Haven't really done much of it thus far this year. I think about 5-6 practices. One race. The little Lehigh Valley race we went to this past Saturday. Not to be mean but there wasn't really competition. I was racing my brother as my biggest competitor and I do that at practice. Discounting the 500 I was over 5 seconds off my PB in the 1000 and like a good 13 seconds off my PB in the 1500m. Three former inliners made the Junior ST World Team: J.R. Celski, Eddy, and Robert Lawerence. That's good. I think I'm going to try and attend that meet next year. Top 16 in a 1000m TT end up being allowed to try out and after looking at this years last couple qualifying times I'm pretty confident I can make it especially because I feel I'd be better at a 1000m TT then I am at the 1000m pack race. We'll just have to wait and see. I still might see if I can attend a meet where I could qualify for the Am Cup time. I'm about two seconds over it from last year but with competition I think I might manage it by the end of the season.

Fat Time

2008-11-10T14:49:00.000-05:00

Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas might make it a little easier to eat. Other then Halloween you don't necessarily have to watch what you eat. Right now you still might be looking over at the Halloween bowl that's sitting there on the kitchen table full of sugary sweets and chocolates. You do need to watch those. To much sugar can make you tired during the day. Not to mention the cavity watch for your teeth and the weight watch on your scale.
But during the year how often can you say that you eat a full meal? I don't mean a meal that fills you up but a meal that covers the majority of the food pyramid. Thanksgiving and Christmas are probably two meals you eat full. Not only that, but with all the left overs from Thanksgiving how often do you heat them up? Probably a few times which gives you a few extra full meals.
But if you live closer up north you may realize winter is approaching pretty fast. Or at least the weather is. The days get shorter and you become much more likely to stay inside rather then get out. You will be more tempted to eat then you are in the warm months. A few ways to make it a little easier is to surround yourself with healthier choices. Fruits, nuts, granola are all snacks that are healthier. Nuts actually are proven to be quite filling so if you just need something quick and small there you go.
One of the easiest ways (in my opinion) to offset weight gain during the winter and to stay in shape is weights. I think it is so much easier to lift weights in the winter then in the summer and if you are going to put on weight at least you'll give your body the ability to convert it to muscle. When someone mentions weights people automatically think heavy weights and big muscles but that is not the case. There are multiple ways to lift weights. One way is for strength. Strength is high weight and low reps. Then there is for muscle mass. Mass lifting is with a little less weight but higher reps. Then there is endurance lifting which is much less weight but way more reps. Any of which can keep you in shape during the winter. Don't let the cold months become the fat months.
Keep your goals in mind and body fit.

the Joy's of Local November

2008-11-10T14:04:00.000-05:00

We are going to Donora for regionals. The eastern region. Located in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey is traveling west over four hours to Donora. If I didn't have relays there's a possibility I wouldn't have to go. The worst part is that I'm an official, my hotel will be paid for and I will get paid to be at regionals but all the people that are in the 2 hour (or less) range from the other option that if they had to could have drove back and forth cannot anymore. They will have to pay for a hotel. Two or more years ago I would not have stayed at a hotel at a meet unless it was more then 2.5 hours away. Last year the number of people that didn't make it to nationals in their division could probably have been counted with my fingers. But that is besides the point. I think if nothing else is added and my region wants to have regionals further away then it may be time to make it a one all-day meet.
We found this information out yesterday at our second league meet of the Keystone Speed League. League meets are fun. We go we skate four times (two division races two elite (nira) races) and you go home. It's good to get the racing in without having to go to an invitational. For me I use league meets for fun and I officiate them so that's always another reason for me to go. I don't show up to a league in my best shape because frankly I don't need to. Another reason I like league meets is they give me a chance to put on indoor wheels once a month. (Seriously.. I only wear indoor wheels at races) They also give me a chance to test indoor wheels that my sponsor company produces. There may not be a meet a skate this year until about April that I will not test something different, that is just how it goes. Testing wheels is a good thing it is something that has to be done. It's how you develop a wheel (hint research and development).
The best part about it is taking the shot's at the meets. There's always the people that will ask you about what you are wearing and it's simple "they're a test wheel, they're a prototype." Then there are the people that take shots. These are the best people. These are the people that despise you simply because they can. They go out of their way (considering I'm an official and usually in the center of the floor they actually have to come out of their way) just to say something smart. Just to say something to give them a little smirk on their face so in their head they can say to themselves "I really told him." Then it gets better. When you actually try to give a kind/polite response to their childish question and they cut you off with a childish comment. If you are going to go out of your way to say something to me, at least allow me to respond or get a word in.
The people that do this are never the people on your level.. never. They either have to be above you or below you. And because at a league meet few people are above those sponsored (in terms of skating), they are usually below. They can be a novice skater, a parent, or just some adult that has it out for you. This aggravates me, I will not lie about it. But I do not try to say anything else I do not stoop to their level. But I do something to give myself a little smirk. Needless to say, one of the people that did this saw their child get lapped in the first half of the next race.

Good Shape?

2008-10-26T21:36:00.000-04:00

What is good shape? In October when are you in good shape? Is it when you are skating a marathon a day and skating your best and then all you have to do is hold it for the next 10 months? no. I'll tell you what good shape is in October.
The signs of good shape are simple to notice, but only you can notice them. And only if you are honest to yourself. You can read them and say, "Yeah I do all of that." but you probably don't, not everyday.

1. How much are you skating?
It's October so 10 times a week is not necessary. Actually, at that rate you most likely won't make it to the end of the season. I would say 4 times a week is adequate. Two is never enough. If you only skate two times a week you cannot actually think you are going to be in good shape. 4 times a week. Nothing big. If your team doesn't get in that many well that means you need to do something on your own. It all matters on what you do at practice. You should be doing fundamentals, if you are going over about 75% at any point you probably shouldn't. I'm talking about circles. Unless you skate at my rink, your indoor rink most likely has artistic circles put down on the wood, skate on them. If you can get your ankles straight before you try and go fast you'll increase your power (in every step) tremendously.

2. What do you want?
It's only October but if you don't know what you want out of your season you are headed in the wrong direction. You are skating for no reason. You are wasting your time and your coaches. Even if you just want to lose weight, that is your purpose. At no point in a season should you not know what you are skating for. You should remember this at every practice, even away from practice. Make a season goal. But don't get carried away. Keep it reasonable. Make it tough enough that you have to work every single day for it but not something that deep down isn't realistic this season.

3. What is your mindset?
When you tie your skates for practice what are you thinking? On Tuesday are you going through your day thinking, "Today's Tuesday, I've got practice.." Are you confident in what you are doing right now? If at any point you are at practice and your coach decides to do a certain drill are you like "why are we doing this?" ask. They are doing it for a reason. Your coaches want the best for you, ask them why you are doing this or why you aren't doing this. Bring up suggestions and see what they think. If you don't like the drill, then you are wasting it. Even if you aren't skating the times or the speed or whatever you want to right now you should still be confident that what you are doing is going to make you the fastest at the end of the season: the only time that matters.

4. What are you doing besides team practice?
You have a goal, you are going to your team's practices you are confident in your coach but what are you doing on your own? For some people this step does not apply. But if you want to be a national champion, a world team member, a world champion you can't expect to get where you want to just by going to practice. Take matters into your own hands. If it is doing dry land exercises for a half hour every day, or slideboarding every day for a half hour (if you can make it that long... without standing up), or skating outdoor. You want to be a champion? If you don't become one it wasn't your coaches fault, it was yours. You can lift weights (just get the correct program), cross-train or anything.

5. What are you doing to set yourself up for success?
Ever heard of nutrition? Sleep? Right now it is October. It's is the beginning of the season which is the easiest time to get hyped up about training hard this season and eating right but you probably wont withstand that mentality every day for the next 10 months. I would say wait until at least December for your nutrition in most cases. Eat (to some extent) what you want for now. That way when it is time to buckle down you've gotten all the junk out of you and you can focus. (If you want to be a world champion or make the world team.. December may be too late) Sleep eight hours a day no matter what. Naps don't count. Go to sleep at 10, get up at 6. They say you sleep in 4 hour cycles, that's why you might wake up in the middle of the night (after about four hours). If you lift weights then take a protein bar with you or a quick protein shake. When it is cold you can leave shakes in your car and they will be cold. Within 30 minutes of your workout getting some type of protein into your body will help your body retain more of the muscle you just worked up.

6. How is your personal life?
Not to invade privacy or anything. But the less distractions you have the easier it is to achieve your goals. Better grades in school will result in better skating. Less girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband trouble will improve your skating. I'm not lying either.

7. Are you listening to your body?
The only want to know if you need a break is to listen to your body. There will be times in the year where you just shouldn't push it as hard. One way to know is your heart rate. If you take your heart rate first thing once you wake up. And I mean like literally first thing (hit your alarm and take your heart rate) that s when your heart rate is at it's lowest. Days when you see a spike you should probably only do 75%-80% of your workout.

Right now I am in perfect shape. Technically I am in the worst shape physically since the start of the 2006 season when I broke my collarbone but I am probably in better shape then I ever have been. Right now I skate 3 times a week, next week it will probably spike to six which is adequate for myself. (that includes outdoor even though we are down to the 40's already). Next week I will start my slideboarding routine and weightlifting. In about two weeks I'm starting my nutrition. And I sleep 8-9 hours every night. Every drill I do I do it the way it is suppose to be done. I can remember about 5 minutes worth of drills where I have just gone through the motion all season the rest is focused on my goals. I no what my goals are and I remind myself every single day what I want and what I need to do.

The College Search

2008-10-08T17:31:00.001-04:00

Sucks. You want to find the college that is perfect for you but it's just so difficult. There are so many options. The difficult thing about missing the first three weeks of your senior year is the college search. I got three less weeks to get my recommendations, essay(s), applications, all of that. And when you get free applications as long as you apply by a certain date it makes it worse, because then you are rushing. I think I am applying to something like six colleges. Some of which are harder then others to get into to.
I don't feel as if I was successfully prepared for the whole college search thing. Like I've had good grades and a good SAT score but they don't really tell you what the application process will be like. It's a completely different ball-park.
I see all of these skaters that come out of high school and decide they are going to just get a normal job and become the best skater. And it never happens. Personally you need to plan for life after skating. I love skating, but very few, few people make a living in our sport and I have come to that realization. And I have come to the realization that as much as I want our sport to make it to the Olympics it looks like nothing more then a hope. Therefore, I am going to college, I have no idea where. I am applying to 5 different Pennsylvania schools across the state from 15 minutes from my dad's house to 5-6 hours across the state. Then I am applying to Utah University. I am not so sure about my plans with that, but I'm at least applying in case anything happens.
Just because I am going to college doesn't mean that my skating career is over. What it does mean is that you most likely won't see me at many invitationals once I get into college. But I can practice almost everyday while in college. Nothing changes, there will still be empty parking lots and I will still have skates. I will still be the same skater I am now while I am in college, I can guarantee that. Now the Utah thing, who knows at this point, I don't.
I have all intentions in majoring in Journalism or Broadcast Journalism. Focusing on politics and sports writing. I love sports, I watch sports, I know a lot about a lot of sports. And I like writing about politics, I like finding the information and working on it. I will be in my third year of Journalism at my high school this spring semester. The things about Journalism is that it's a really unsure career. There is the small-town, once a week papers where you get paid next to dirt, then there is the local papers where you write every day but not top end stuff and not a great salary. Then you have you're big city papers. The articles are better, the pay is better. Then you have the top of the line Journalism. The big time. It's difficult. But I plan on putting as much effort into the career I choose as I do into skating.
The thing is, anything I write that isn't in a newspaper isn't quite as good as it would be in a newspaper. Journalism writing is so much easier and common for me. You write what everyone wants to know, the facts. Who/what/where/when/why/how. That's what I write best...
So my college search continues...

The Now and The Future

2008-09-24T22:59:00.000-04:00

Right now I am enjoying my Senior year of High School. Back in June I made the decision to run XC so since I got back from worlds that is what has grasped most of my attention. In my second week I am finally past the point where I can run and still walk up the steps at home normally (I was crawling up them the first week). At my school you must have 10 days of practice in before you can participate in the event so next Tuesday will be my first XC race and I'll probably give an update after that.
I decided to run XC for a few reasons. One is that I really wanted to get back into running shape but I just couldn't manage to do it on my own. Now that I am in running shape I don't plan on losing it for a very long time. The thing about being in running shape is that you can use it for a warm up off-skates and it works so well but if you aren't in shape for it you're doing your body worse. The second reason I decided to run XC is because I always enjoyed it and we have a biker on our team who started half-way through last years season and ended up going to states so I thought what the heck we'll see what I can do. And it's my Senior year so I'd rather not look back and wonder what if.
Saturday is my first ice practice since somewhere around March. I will make every one possible from this point on and in terms of skating ice will be pretty much my number one priority for a few months. This will be my second full season of ice and it should just get better then last year.
October 12th marks my leagues first indoor meet. So that starts the indoor season. I'm looking to skate acceptable all year indoor but I have no particular goal for indoor. I want to skate good indoor because I hate to lose but I think it's pretty clear what my focus will be.
My mind is already set for June. I know what I did last year and I know what I have to do this year. The only awkward part is I know how hard I trained last year and I know I should feel like the task I'm trying to do is almost impossible but I don't. It's doable. I know how hard I have to train and it won't be that bad. Yes it will be hard and tiring but that's what I skate for. I wouldn't skate if it was easy. To make the jump I want to make, more of my changes will happen before I even tie my skates.

It's All Over

2008-09-14T22:05:00.000-04:00

Well the 2008 season is officially over. What a year it was. Before a recap of the year which will come a different day I will finish with worlds.
It rained for us again during the marathon. It sucked a lot. The course wasn't a very good one to begin with so with the rain it just became terrible. Junior Men once again did not end up getting a medal which made us look horrible. To make matters worse we didn't even get a relay medal like the previous two years. That puts us in a pretty bad place. I really thought we had the team to do it and I thought we trained pretty hard at residency. As a team (Junior Men) I think we were so close. 1000m final, 500m final, relay final, 300m final, a couple top 10 long race finishes.
The Junior Women skated so good this year. They had three individual medalists which was a team high. And they ended up with six medals including the relay which is great.
The Senior Women were dominate in sprints. To think Sara and Brittany would do what they did on track is just ridiculous. I never would have thought they would get 6 of the 9 medals in the 3 track sprints (Yes, I'm calling the 1000m a sprint race). This was Sara's first year medalling individually and you never would have guessed it.
The Senior Men skated good. They had the sickness in their group but I think two of them qualified for the world games (I am not certain though) which would be Josh and Dane. They also had two medalists in Josh and Joey.
It sucks that again Junior Men ended up the weakest link, especially because we had a stronger team heading into worlds this year then we did last year I think.

The Plague, Racing, and Falling

2008-09-08T18:16:00.000-04:00

The Plague. Which is what we have started calling it. It started with Cheeks, when he got sick. And then moved onto Joey. Joey couldn't skate pretty much all of track. Which sucked, but it gave Josh (not that he wouldn't have gotten it) another chance to get a medal after the points race in the 1000m. And Josh did just that, winning a bronze medal proving that US Senior Men not named Mantia can still earn medals. Not to say we didn't want Joey to be healthy and to skate because that would have just been more medals.
Racing. I skated the 500 and the relay. A lot of people told me through the 500 rounds that I looked really relaxed and calm. I felt great. We had 5 rounds. Heats- 1/8- 1/4 - 1/2 - finals. I skated through the semi winning every single one I skated and having the two fastest times in my semi and quarter final for the entire division. In the 500m final I managed to fall down while accelerating to make my move towards the front. As I crossed over the skater in front of me crossed back and my right foot got kicked by his left foot and I just went down fast.
After that I'll be honest, I was pissed off. But like many people wouldn't know I didn't sulk or anything, I sat down.. alone and visualized what I wanted to do in the relay. I figured I was going to get to the front as fast as possible and take it from there. So on my first time out I went around the pack on the outside and got to the front. From there on we picked the pace up. If you saw the video there's something you probably didn't know: although we picked it up and was going fast we all had another gear we were waiting to use. Anyway, receiving my tag with 4 laps remaining (we were still winning) I tried going around a Colombian awaiting his tag and as his partner flew up to tag him I ended up getting hip-checked or whatever but I ended up falling in the same exact spot and took out the number two team (Korea) with me. So I ended the day with two fourth place finishes: the worst of all.
Some results from road:
-Joey won the 20k for the fourth year in a row breaking the world record in that distance for the third time.
-Mariah got third in the 200m.
-Bri was tied for third place overall in the points race before a Korean skater fell down in front of her and she went over her.

Politics, politics, politics

2008-09-04T17:42:00.000-04:00

Let me lay it out for you... Some people get to a point in their lives that they decide to train to make the world team. If they are smart and willing to put in the time they usually will. Once you make the world team their are two types of people: Those who realize they are about to represent the USA and decide to train harder or at least keep training, and those who realize they have made the USA world team and think that is good enough.
Those who keep training usually are those who end up skating more then everyone else and doing better then everyone else at worlds the other ones well ehhh.
Then there is this little glitch in our system. Were Juniors must pay their full way to get to worlds. And because their parents must pay their child's full way there becomes a point where a parent has the right to ask why they paid so much for their kid not to race at worlds. Therefore, it is a responsibility for the staff to allow every child to race. But what those parents may not know is if their child has really trained for their chance at worlds.
So the staff at one point must make a decision. Continue to put those best suited for each race in each race, or play the politically correct card. In which turn they will play the politically correct card and in which they practically forfeit a race.
And as they say: there are politics in everything.

Day 1

2008-09-04T17:36:00.000-04:00

Day one is over and the USA has three medals, one gold and two silvers. Brittany and Sara combined to break the world record in the 300m 3 times while taking 1,2 in the final (brittany then sara). Bri finished second place by a quarter of a wheel in the 15k elim.
Hank finished 7th place in the 15k elim and jake finished 10th. Sophie also got 12th in the same race bri placed in.
Josh Wood most likely would have ended up medaling in the 10k pts elim but someone fell down in front of him and he ended up going down too. At the time of the fall he was tied for second place in points. He got up and tried to catch up because 10 people finish the race and everyone else gets eliminated, but unfortunately he ended up as the last person to be eliminated.
Kevin and Dane both finished 13th in the 300m being the first persons to not qualify for the final (top 12 qualify). Mariah and I both finished 5th place, Joey finished 7th, and Erin Jackson finished 10th.

What I Want

2008-09-01T11:57:00.000-04:00

Gijon 2008. Spain. World Championships. As an athlete at this level what do I want?
I am not a Joey Mantia, if I don't get gold medals no one will be disappointed or upset. I am a Keith Carroll. No one here may no my name. And next year they still won't know who I am. But what do I want out of my races? I want to lay everything out on the track and go home with my pride and whatever else that may bring me. I know up to this point I have trained about as good as I could have this year and whatever I do in my races if it was my personal best then I'll be fine with those results.
If those results bring me home a medal, be it a bronze medal or a gold medal then that will be great. But truthfully, I am here for myself. If I win a medal that would be great but no one will remember I won that medal next year anyway.
Now if I skate the same races as last year, I want to do better then last year. I don't care if it is by a placement or 10 I want to do better. I don't care if my 300m is a second slower if it gets me better then 9th place then those results are fine with me.