A Direction

I think I finally have A Direction. (No, not One Direction.  That would be creepy).

As you'll be all too aware if you've spent any time at all in the Long Track Life during the past, oh, six months, I've lately been floundering aimlessly as far as my skating is concerned.  If you haven't been around lately, check out this post; it will explain things nicely.  Physically I'm fat and slow and on a thyroid rollercoaster; mentally I'm flat and unmotivated and discouraged.

As fellow skate-blogger Sharon says, I've lost my skating mojo.

So for the past couple weeks, I've been thinking hard about what direction I want my skating to go this season.  At the beginning of October I had decided to take it easy until the oval opens Nov. 9.  Now it's almost Nov. 9,and I need to decide what to do with the ice season.  Back off, focus on technique, and basically just goof around; or get back into the groove, focus, work hard, and see if I can make my improved technique pay off with some faster times before I get any older.

I think I'm going with the latter.

Yesterday,  I had a kind of epiphany, maybe the epiphany I was hoping for when I wrote the "Blah" post in early October.  I think there were lots of reasons for it:  Coach TieGuy called out of the blue to see how things were going (I think he feared that, since ice season is less than a week away and he hadn't heard from me, I was perhaps dead), which got me thinking seriously about the upcoming season again.  The American Cup race in Milwaukee is happening this weekend, and many masters friends are just killing it (a new and very talented skater just earned Master's Category I; Sprinter Boy, who prefers distances of three laps or less, absolutely crushed his 5k; Marty Haire, a very fast skater in the 50+ class, just qualified for the US Championships in the 5k; and Mel, in her first time on ice since breaking her jaw, qualified for the US Championships in the 3k.  Congrats, guys!).  I usually do the Milwaukee Am Cup, but skipped it this year due to a combination of logistical issues (I would have had to bring Keira with me, and she is not a fan of that) and general skating suckiness. And I found, when I started seeing my friends' pictures and results and Facebook posts, that I really missed it.  I don't like being aimless and lazy and unmotivated.  And I want to skate hard and fast again.

So I have a direction.  Screw backing off and goofing around--I am going to try, one last time, to make the qualifying time for the Olympic Trials next year.

For a full report of how that happens, check this post from last year.  Yes, qualifying for the Trials has been a goal before; in fact, it's been a goal for five years.  I've never come close to the required times since they were lowered in 2008, so the big question is, do I actually have a chance?

I think I do, although it is a HUGE long shot.  Here are the stats (it's going to get a bit technical here, so feel free to let your eyes glaze over, wander to the fridge for a snack, check your email...):  my only hope of qualifying is in the 5k,where the time is 8:02.03.  My PB in that distance is from 2007; in only my second 5k ever I skated an 8:16.0.  Fourteen seconds is a lot; it's over one second per lap.  And I have never actually come close to that time again, although I've gotten significant personal bests in all other distances.  The 5k is what I need to improve, and it also seems to be the race that I've had the worst luck in.

My 3k time has improved 10 seconds (Milwaukee PB) since 2007.  A corresponding improvement in my 5k would put me just under the qualifying time.  But, my "fast ice" 3k PB has only improved 5 seconds since 2007--a corresponding improvement in my 5k would put me several seconds over the qualifying time. Now, since I didn't get to fast ice for a 3k last year,  my "fast ice" 3k PB is from my "pre-New-and-Improved-Technique" days, so it was skated with Bunny On Crack technique.  So maybe the Milwaukee PB is more relevant as a benchmark, since that one featured my new technique. But, again, I haven't skated a good 5k on "fast ice" since 2007.  Calgary and Salt Lake are the "fast ice" ovals; the altitude makes the times faster, and I would definitely need to go to one of these ovals to have any shot at making the time.  Problem is, I have a four-year history of having epic fail races at Salt Lake, and I don't know why.  I've done better at Calgary, but it's a much more expensive place to get to so I don't go there as often.  So maybe I wouldn't even be able to skate a good 5k on fast ice--and with out a good perfect race, an 8:02.03 ain't happening.

And then, of course, of there's the issue of my body perhaps not cooperating.  There's the whole "optimizing the thyroid meds" thing, not to mention the fact that many of last year's competitions featured a heart arrhythmia that seemed to be brought on by maximal exertion and adrenaline--the exact factors that one finds in an important race.  And then there's the not-insignificant fact that I'm 49; I'll be 50 by the time the Trials roll around.

But still, I want to try.  If I try and fail, oh well--I'm getting pretty experienced at that, so no big deal.  If I don't try, well, I'll always wonder if I could have done it.

So I think I need to try.  Maybe I'll change my mind after I start skating again, if I find I'm still really struggling like I've been for the past six months.  But right now I want to try.  And so I've spent the weekend figuring out my November skating plan, as well as thinking about non-skating peripherals such as stretching, core exercises, and reducing the size of my ass.  Now all I need is ice.

I don't know where it will lead, or how long it will last, but it's nice to, at least for now, have a direction.