Since my focus this weekend was on enjoying the American Cup event rather than stressing about how fast I might or might not be, I decided to start the enjoyment early--like at 7 am--by paying attention to anything and everything I encountered that could be or should be enjoyed. So, by the time racing got started at 9, I had enjoyed: my McDonald's breakfast (the bacon, egg and cheese biscuit was particularly tasty today); the oval all decked out with US Speedskating banners and even a podium (it was a Junior World Cup race in addition to the American Cup so they pulled out all the stops); the fact that I was the first one on the ice for warm-ups; the "calm before the storm" perfect weather; the fun sayings on the scoreboard during warmup--my favorites were "tiny tots are not made of potatoes" (we love our Tator Tot hot dish here in Minnesota) and "judge not, unless there is also a timer" (which is only funny, I guess, if you know that skating officials include "timers" and "judges"); and the fact that I could not only get myself into my Mat 1 skinsuit, I could even get a thin layer of insulation on under it--and still breathe.
Nice banners!
And check out the podium
And then I skated the 500, and I had something even better to enjoy.
48.59 seconds of enjoyment, to be exact.
Considering that my old Roseville PB was 49.67 and that this year's 500's have been more along the lines of 52's, I was never expecting to break 50 at Roseville again and certainly never expected to see a 48 there. Ever. Enjoy the weekend, indeed!
Coach TieGuy was at the race in the role of one of the starters, so I tracked him down in the officials room during the Zamboni break to get his opinion on the 500. After listening to my enthusiastic retelling of my race in excruciating detail, and to my assertion that it "felt like my technique was pretty good," he affirmed that it had indeed looked decent...and then reminded me that I need to get closer to the blocks. Damn, I always forget about that!
By the time my 1000 rolled around, the wind--which was forecast to be epic by the end of the day--had begun to pick up, and conditions were no longer perfect. Still, my 1000 was OK--at 1:40.52 it was (as Sprinter Boy's quick canter through speedskatingresults.com on his phone informed me) my seventh fastest Roseville 1K, and was 4 seconds faster than my 1K there last month. Progress.
Unfortunately, photo evidence shows that I have not made as much progress in fixing my goofy start. I look fine in the "go to the start" phase...
...but the "ready" still needs some work. What am I doing with that right arm?
Darn, I thought I fixed that
(photo credits Dan Barrett, the father of a very talented Minnesota skater)
Here's a nice photo of Mel and me post-1K (also by Dan). I'm in my standard mid-nose-wipe pose (I even do this in the middle of races sometimes), and Mel is about 3.5 seconds away from getting busted for "coaching in the warmup lane." I love it!
And then, on to the 3K. By the time I skated, at 1:30, the wind had picked up to a nice 20 mph with gusts close to 30. I was in a quad with PhotoDan's daughter--who ended up winning the 3K--and a skater behind me who I was quite sure would pass me. Mel (who was not skating this weekend) and her dad were stationed on the backstretch to yell lap times to me. I was ready to "enjoy" my last race of the day.
Unfortunately, "enjoyment" never had a chance. I slipped on the start, slipped again on my first crossover, and by 100 meters into the 3000 meter race I was already tired. Cool.
So I did the only thing I could do--I tried to settle into a "keep the technique as correct as possible and just grit your teeth and get through this" rhythm. (Except I don't really grit my teeth; I'm too busy doing the goofy "sip and blow" breathing technique that I need to do to keep my vocal cord dysfunction at bay. See?)
I managed to get into some semblance of a decent technique, but I felt slow...really slow. And then, as I skated down the backstretch, I saw the lap time board held by someone else's coach (this is a large board that shows the "ones" and "tenths" digits of your lap time to the tenth). It read 9 something, and although I knew it was for another skater, the coach kept holding it where I could see it and then I remembered that Mel's dad had yelled something about "9" at some point and so in my oxygen-deprived confusion I thought I must be doing 49 second laps (because I knew damn well that I wasn't doing 39's). I had been hoping for 42's or so, so you might say a 49 would be somewhat discouraging. And then at some point I got passed by the skater behind me but she passed me in the other lane (which was good) but she had started in my lane so she should have passed me in my lane but I was now in the other lane so maybe I had forgotten to switch lanes...come to think of it, didn't I just skate the outer on the last lap, too? But then I remembered that the pair behind me had false started so the starter had had them wait until we skated past them again before he started them so they actually should be in the "wrong" lane if they passed us...
Why yes, I often have been told I think too much when I'm skating; why do you ask?
Still, I kept trudging on, assiduously skating as close to the blocks as I could on every corner--not just because Coach TieGuy had told me to, but because I was having absolutely zero fun and wanted to make the damn race as short as I possibly could. So I was quite happy to discover, when I finally crossed the finish line and looked up, that I had skated a 5:24.88...my fifth fastest outdoor 3K, and clearly one that did not contain any 49 second laps.
After my 3K I hung out at the races for another couple hours, even though I was done skating. Hawkeye Boy, Sprinter Boy, and Canada Boy (fresh from Winnipeg) were in the last quartet of the day, a 3K, and needed someone to yell lap times, which I was happy to do. Standing out on the backstretch in the now-40-mph-gusts, I was glad I had raced earlier in the day before the wind really picked up--in the conditions the guys raced in I think I really would have done 49 second laps. They managed to turn in some pretty good times despite almost being blown off their feet at times, though.
And finally, after nine hours and three races, the Day 1 Enjoyment was over.
I can't wait to see what Day 2 will bring.
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