2012-13 Season Recap

I think I finally have enough energy to recap the 2012-13 long track season.  Unfortunately, the energy level fell just short of what was needed to come up with a clever post title; all I could think of was variations of "well, that sucked," which, while not particularly clever, does tell you all you need to know about the 2012-13 season.

Well, almost all.  There were a couple high points.  But mostly low.  Way low.  So, to cut to the chase, here are the highs and lows of the season:

•  I was  SLOW.  I only got one Personal Best this year, versus last year's 7. And lest you think that last year's 7 PB's would logically preclude a large number of PB's this year, let me move on to point #2...
• When I say I was slow, I don't just mean "minimal PB's" slow.  I mean really slow.  As in "I haven't skated a 1500 this slow in 10 years."  As in "I don't know how I got those PB's last year because I can't come anywhere near those times now." 
• The Salt Lake City Epic Fail curse continued, in even more epic fashion.  At least in the past my "fail" has been slow races; this year I couldn't even compete in 3 of the 5 races.
• The thyroid issues continued, as did the PVC's.

Those are the lows.  In terms of performance, there were two high points:

• Roseville 500 meter PB, 48.59.  I still don't know where this time came from; I never expected, ever, to skate a 48 second 500 in Roseville, let alone skate it in a year where nothing else went right.  
• The 10K.  Since it was my first, of course it was a PB--but it was 45 seconds faster than my overly-optimistic "gosh I hope I can achieve this time if everything goes right" time goal.  So either I'm better at 10K's than I expected, or I really suck at setting goal times.  Either way, it was fun.

And in terms of non-performance factors, there were some positives.  

• I had a blast skating with behind some great skaters.  Mel, Sprinter Boy, and Hawkeye boy were incredibly supportive and patient with my efforts to do workouts with them, and had great technical advice for me.  Thanks, guys!
• I started a Masters Speedskating Club, the Minnesota Masters Speedskating Club. (Catchy name, no?).  I don't know where it will go, but I want to do whatever I can to support/promote masters skating in MN.  On that note, if you haven't before, check out our website (and a HUGE thank you to Inliner Boy for running the website!)
• In keeping with the bullet point above, I took the Level I speedskating coaching course this winter.  I have no desire to coach kids, but I'd love to be able to provide some help to newer masters skaters.
• Since my skating sucked I had to focus on something other than "getting a really good time" at meets.  So instead of getting a good time, I focused on having a good time; enjoying the experience, enjoying spending time with my friends, celebrating others' success. And for the most part, I was able to enjoy the meets (well, with the exception of that Saturday night in Salt Lake City--it's hard to enjoy watching the room spin and trying not to throw up (hmm, when I phrase it that way it sounds like I had a much wilder time in Salt Lake than I did!)).
• My technique seems to be continuing to improve, and as a bonus, some really good photographers caught some of my better moments and I now have some nice skating pictures.  I'll leave you with another one of those, from the Roseville American Cup.

I like this picture because my recovery leg is (for once) in the right position.
Which means it looks like it's not there from the knee down.