Sven Kramer and Martina Sablikova are the champs but for me the story was the crowd in Hamar.
Beginning of Bokko vs Hedrick 5k The end of Bokko vs Hedrick 5k
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Hamar Day 2
I posted a bunch of pics on facebook since it's way easier than on here. The Viking Ship is the coolest rink. It has alot of "character" and history even in it's short shelf life. I had no idea that the World All Rounds have been in Hamar like 6 times. The first time was in 1895! Wow that's cool. I'm sure it wasn't inside....the oval is right on the water.
I'm laying in bed trying to figure out when to go to sleep. I've never traveled to Europe and my body likes a routine for sure. I have trouble when I travel to east coast for work and that's two hour time change not 8 hours. I should be asleep right now but just keep typing away here.
We went to a bar called the Inner Lane i think in Norwegian. It's a "skaters" bar and it's pretty cool. We walked in with Peter and every head turned in the place it seemed. He doesn't like to go there and I imagine the last thing he wants to talk is skating away from the rink. Cool seeing names on the wall and pictures everywhere.
Anyways I met and did a flyer and accel with Peter Andersen today on the ice. Also, forgot that he pulled me around for 5 minutes of laps at 35s. It wasn't as easy as normal but I'm still jet lagged. He used to skate Sprints for Norway. He hasn't really skates in months he said but you don't lose it at his level. He retired in 2006 and went 35 something in the 500. Looking at his results I see alot of All Round competitions. I thought of him as a sprinter middle distance but he logged lots of miles looking at his results.
I hope that Claudia Pechstein can pull it off this weekend for us older skaters. She is a true professional and has been doing this "forever" and has 9 Olympic Medals I believe. Peter Mueller has rejuvinated her as she beat the unbeatable Czech Sáblíková this year in Moscow.
Speaking of her. John Diemont and I were riding the shuttle back with her and a couple of dutch skaters and a coach. There's a huge horse in the center of town. John took a bunch of pictures of it when we got here. I didn't really notice it. We were going a round the roundabout when John says look at that horse. He has some "big balls" on him. And sure enough he did. I think you have to have big ones to live up here in this cold and hardy area. I love it here and wonder what my life would have been like growing up here. This Dutch coach and skater was holding his laughter and Sáblíková was behind John straight faced. I assume she doesn't understand English???
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=2011956&id=1501490387
I'm laying in bed trying to figure out when to go to sleep. I've never traveled to Europe and my body likes a routine for sure. I have trouble when I travel to east coast for work and that's two hour time change not 8 hours. I should be asleep right now but just keep typing away here.
We went to a bar called the Inner Lane i think in Norwegian. It's a "skaters" bar and it's pretty cool. We walked in with Peter and every head turned in the place it seemed. He doesn't like to go there and I imagine the last thing he wants to talk is skating away from the rink. Cool seeing names on the wall and pictures everywhere.
Anyways I met and did a flyer and accel with Peter Andersen today on the ice. Also, forgot that he pulled me around for 5 minutes of laps at 35s. It wasn't as easy as normal but I'm still jet lagged. He used to skate Sprints for Norway. He hasn't really skates in months he said but you don't lose it at his level. He retired in 2006 and went 35 something in the 500. Looking at his results I see alot of All Round competitions. I thought of him as a sprinter middle distance but he logged lots of miles looking at his results.
I hope that Claudia Pechstein can pull it off this weekend for us older skaters. She is a true professional and has been doing this "forever" and has 9 Olympic Medals I believe. Peter Mueller has rejuvinated her as she beat the unbeatable Czech Sáblíková this year in Moscow.
Speaking of her. John Diemont and I were riding the shuttle back with her and a couple of dutch skaters and a coach. There's a huge horse in the center of town. John took a bunch of pictures of it when we got here. I didn't really notice it. We were going a round the roundabout when John says look at that horse. He has some "big balls" on him. And sure enough he did. I think you have to have big ones to live up here in this cold and hardy area. I love it here and wonder what my life would have been like growing up here. This Dutch coach and skater was holding his laughter and Sáblíková was behind John straight faced. I assume she doesn't understand English???
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=2011956&id=1501490387
Thursday, February 5, 2009
World All Rounds - Hamar Norway
Hello from Norway. Here are some pics from my travels. It's nice here and ran into some old friends. Easy 6:50 flight from NYC to Oslo. Still trying to adjust to the 8 hour time change.
Pete Mueller says he will be partying after Bokko wins. He has his tuxedo for the party!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Korean style
The New Edge in SLC has a new coach and mostly the same skaters as before except for one. We have a Korean coach and it's been cool to train "Korean style". We have a skater here for a month (Yun-Jae Kim). He is the World JR ST champ from 2008. It's unreal watching him skate and skating behind him. I've seen lots of great skaters but never have skated with a high level Korean. His left push is absolutely incredible. I didn't need to even see who was who in this video I could just see it in his technique. Not bad a 2 second world record on the 1000m at 1:25 with two arms on your back for 8 laps! Crazy stuff.
This morning bright and early we were doing 4 lappers. Not very fast since everyone is pretty fried from all the training. Low 9s. Yun-Jae is just chillin at that speed and he rides his left around the apex block. I've never seen such a great left leg push. It blows my mind to think that he isn't on the team. I heard he was hurt earlier this season. They have such a deep deep well of incredible ST skaters in Korea.
This morning bright and early we were doing 4 lappers. Not very fast since everyone is pretty fried from all the training. Low 9s. Yun-Jae is just chillin at that speed and he rides his left around the apex block. I've never seen such a great left leg push. It blows my mind to think that he isn't on the team. I heard he was hurt earlier this season. They have such a deep deep well of incredible ST skaters in Korea.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Mid Season Breaks
It's always a good idea to take a break in the middle of the season to avoid burnout and refocus your efforts. Traditionally for me it's usually the week after Fall Long Track World Cup Trials at end of Oct and the US Championships at the end of December both of which I didn't do this year. This year I've had two forced breaks.
One was for 8 days around the middle of October when I had diarrhea for two weeks. It actually started during the America Cup ST 1 in Minnesota. One of the last races I raced that day was a 1000m D final. It was the D final because I was knocked down in the heat. I was racing one of my teammates who is getting faster and faster but I usually wouldn't have a problem beating him when 100%.
I encountered something in a race that has never happened before in my time in speed skating. I had to go to the bathroom bad (like diarrhea bad) with 4 laps to go in the 1000m. Not a fun feeling when you are out in front of the pack with other things to worry about. Anyways my teammate passed me with two to go but luckily he slipped coming out of the 2nd to last turn. I snuck by him and barely won the race.....I hockey stopped down the other end where I exited quickly. I ran down the length of the rink by all the locker rooms. Made it to the bathrooms downstairs. It was weird that the locker room had a shower only??? I was just wondering why i didn't go in there. The two stalls were full downstairs! There was just a resurface after our race and the fans (what fans we had there) were heading towards the restrooms upstairs. I ran up the stairs guards on and helmet on. Made it in the bathroom stall with some people looking at me like didn't you just race. I let loose in the bathroom with what was much more enjoyable than the shallow victory in the D final minutes before.
Fast forward to today. I had been walking around the past two weeks feeling ok but have had a cough but nothing was coming up. Was able to train and wasn't too sick. I'm pretty stubborn or stupid that I didn't go to the doctor earlier. Wed night i was going to go to the doctor but didn't want to miss LT practice. I skated ST Friday morning and after every set couldn't stop coughing. The 7 lappers i was doing felt like 13 lappers.
So I go to the doctor's after skating. Takes a chest x ray and tells me i have walking pneumonia. Great. I've been on antibiotics for 4 days now and I'm still in bed this moment writing this. Starting to feel better but that's a relative term from how i felt the past few days. Like I wanted to die is how I felt
Anyways this is my 2nd break of the season and with better planning might have been planned. I came back strong after the last one in Cleveland at the America Cup there. I have some good stories from that meet that I will post some other time. I have been so busy with life and stuff that posting here hasn't been a priority. But I'm back for today anyways. Take care and leave some comments to let me know anyone actually wants me to 1. get better and 2. post some more on here and reads about my ramblings.
God willing i won't get sick the rest of the year since I am going to Master Sprint Worlds in Inzell and National LT in Milwaukee the end of the month. We are also going to the World Allrounds in Hamar, Norway the week before Inzell. Can't wait as I'm going with my buddies John Diemont and Mark Chrysler.
I am signed up for Master All Rounds in Norway the end of Feb but I need some serious financial aid to get there. It's a shame because I have a good chance of winning that. Also noticed that there is a Master Meet in Vancouver the week in between but that would be a dream to get to that as well and too much travel. Then the rest of the season will be the ST Nationals and then the Chumps Challenge at the Oval in SLC towards the end of March.
One was for 8 days around the middle of October when I had diarrhea for two weeks. It actually started during the America Cup ST 1 in Minnesota. One of the last races I raced that day was a 1000m D final. It was the D final because I was knocked down in the heat. I was racing one of my teammates who is getting faster and faster but I usually wouldn't have a problem beating him when 100%.
I encountered something in a race that has never happened before in my time in speed skating. I had to go to the bathroom bad (like diarrhea bad) with 4 laps to go in the 1000m. Not a fun feeling when you are out in front of the pack with other things to worry about. Anyways my teammate passed me with two to go but luckily he slipped coming out of the 2nd to last turn. I snuck by him and barely won the race.....I hockey stopped down the other end where I exited quickly. I ran down the length of the rink by all the locker rooms. Made it to the bathrooms downstairs. It was weird that the locker room had a shower only??? I was just wondering why i didn't go in there. The two stalls were full downstairs! There was just a resurface after our race and the fans (what fans we had there) were heading towards the restrooms upstairs. I ran up the stairs guards on and helmet on. Made it in the bathroom stall with some people looking at me like didn't you just race. I let loose in the bathroom with what was much more enjoyable than the shallow victory in the D final minutes before.
Fast forward to today. I had been walking around the past two weeks feeling ok but have had a cough but nothing was coming up. Was able to train and wasn't too sick. I'm pretty stubborn or stupid that I didn't go to the doctor earlier. Wed night i was going to go to the doctor but didn't want to miss LT practice. I skated ST Friday morning and after every set couldn't stop coughing. The 7 lappers i was doing felt like 13 lappers.
So I go to the doctor's after skating. Takes a chest x ray and tells me i have walking pneumonia. Great. I've been on antibiotics for 4 days now and I'm still in bed this moment writing this. Starting to feel better but that's a relative term from how i felt the past few days. Like I wanted to die is how I felt
Anyways this is my 2nd break of the season and with better planning might have been planned. I came back strong after the last one in Cleveland at the America Cup there. I have some good stories from that meet that I will post some other time. I have been so busy with life and stuff that posting here hasn't been a priority. But I'm back for today anyways. Take care and leave some comments to let me know anyone actually wants me to 1. get better and 2. post some more on here and reads about my ramblings.
God willing i won't get sick the rest of the year since I am going to Master Sprint Worlds in Inzell and National LT in Milwaukee the end of the month. We are also going to the World Allrounds in Hamar, Norway the week before Inzell. Can't wait as I'm going with my buddies John Diemont and Mark Chrysler.
I am signed up for Master All Rounds in Norway the end of Feb but I need some serious financial aid to get there. It's a shame because I have a good chance of winning that. Also noticed that there is a Master Meet in Vancouver the week in between but that would be a dream to get to that as well and too much travel. Then the rest of the season will be the ST Nationals and then the Chumps Challenge at the Oval in SLC towards the end of March.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
America Cup I
It was a long day. The facility here was really nice and Greg Oly did a great job as meet director. Unfortunately, they are losing $$$ putting this on so it will probably be the last Am Cup here. Highlights today was a 1500 semi that JR Celski won. It was a crazy race behind him with passes everywhere. Best 1500 i've ever seen.
Robert Lawerence making an outside in pass in a heat with no room. There were others but I'm having troubling remembering. There were alot of crashes and a couple of stopped races. Walter Rusk hit hard and hope he is ok. I saw his bloody skate in the locker room and he was taken off the ice in a stretcher. I didn't skate my best in the 500s but at least I made it out of today in one piece.
Here's some results I found on Ohno Zone.
OK, here we go; Heat results for mens/women/s 1500m.
NOte: first and second place advance, the 2 fastest skaters of the third placers advance, so we don't have that information yet....
Ladies 1500
1st heat
Kristin Todd, Liz Burns, Maria Garcia, Jessica Smith, Kristen Beyondo, ALlison Baver
Allison first, Maria 2nd, Jessica SMith; Maria dq'd for impeding so Jessica advances
2nd race:
Cherize Wilkins, Tamara Fredericks, Kelsey Shield, Rachel Stewart, Mary Grace, Lana Goerig
Lana, Mary advance; Cherize third
3rd race:
Sade Grace, Maddie Waton, Carly Wilson, Morgan Izzy, Tina Koenig, Vicky Labordette
Tina, Carly advance, Vicky third
4th race:
Kathleen Russell, Alana Fiorenza, Kimberly Derrick, Alison Dudek, Eleanor Poore, Erin Bartlett
Kimberly, Allison, Erin Bartlett 3rd
Catherine Reutter, Sophia Milan, Erica Lanzer, Leslie Jaworski, Sara Elliott, Sarah Berg
Katherine, Leslie move on, Sophia Milan 3rd
Men's 1500 prelimns
Jonathan Sermeno, Kyle Haun, Buddy Gerr, Chris Krepling,Eddie Alvarez, Jeff Simon
Jeff, Jonathan, Eddie advances; Jonathan was dq’d
Levi Sinak, Cole Krueger, Ryan Leveille, JR Celski, Chris Mclaughlin, JUlian Wood
Ryan, JR, Julian 3rd
Nick Frank, Thomas Anderson, Kyle Urehara, Kyle Carr, Shani Davis, Michael Vertican
Shani Davis, Kyle Carr, Kyle Urehara third
Simon Cho,Derek Gray, Levi Kirkpatrick, Kevin Geminder, Dan Fiorenza, Anthony Lobello
Simon, Anthony,
Travis Jaynor, MC Scheab, Patrick Choi, Robert Lawrence, Jonathan Garcia, Barry Winslow
Travis, Robert Lawrence, Barry Winslow
Joey Lindsey , Ryan Bedford, James RWomens' 1500 Semi-finals and FINALS
Semi-finals, all top 3 advance to finals:
1st heat:
Katherine Reutter, Allison Baver, Allison Dudek, Tina Koenig, Cherize Wilkins, Lesley Jaworski
Reutter, Baver, Dudek (Tina & Cheriz both fell and both dq’d for impeding)
2nd heat: Lana Gehring, Carly WIlson, Jessica Smith, Kristen Beyondo, Mary Grace, Kimberly Derrick
Derrick, Gehring, Smith advancing
=======================
Women's 1500 Finals:
Starting with 1st place:
Katherine Reutter
Kimberly Derrick
Allison Baver
Lana Gehring
Allison Dudek
Jessica SMith
Men's 1500 Semi-Finals:
Womens' 1500 Semi-finals and FINALS
Semi-finals, all top 3 advance to finals:
1st heat:
Joey Linsey, Travis Jayner, Simon Cho, Eddie Alvarez, Kyle Carr, Robert Lawrence, Jeff Simon
Simon, Jayner, cho (dq’d for cross tracking) so Alvarez advanced
2nd heat:
Ryan Bedford, Ryan Leveille, Chris Krepling, Shani Davis, JR Celski,
Anthony Lobello
Celski, Lobello (who swooped in out of nowhere to take 2nd).
The rest of the 4 came in all together and it took quite a qhile for the officials to make the announcement. In the end:
Celski, Lobello, Ryan Bedford
500m finals (don't quote me on these results)
Simon
Lobello
JR Celski
Simon Cho?
Ladies (for sure)
Ruetter
Baver
Ruetter (crash)
Garcia (DQ)
Robert Lawerence making an outside in pass in a heat with no room. There were others but I'm having troubling remembering. There were alot of crashes and a couple of stopped races. Walter Rusk hit hard and hope he is ok. I saw his bloody skate in the locker room and he was taken off the ice in a stretcher. I didn't skate my best in the 500s but at least I made it out of today in one piece.
Here's some results I found on Ohno Zone.
OK, here we go; Heat results for mens/women/s 1500m.
NOte: first and second place advance, the 2 fastest skaters of the third placers advance, so we don't have that information yet....
Ladies 1500
1st heat
Kristin Todd, Liz Burns, Maria Garcia, Jessica Smith, Kristen Beyondo, ALlison Baver
Allison first, Maria 2nd, Jessica SMith; Maria dq'd for impeding so Jessica advances
2nd race:
Cherize Wilkins, Tamara Fredericks, Kelsey Shield, Rachel Stewart, Mary Grace, Lana Goerig
Lana, Mary advance; Cherize third
3rd race:
Sade Grace, Maddie Waton, Carly Wilson, Morgan Izzy, Tina Koenig, Vicky Labordette
Tina, Carly advance, Vicky third
4th race:
Kathleen Russell, Alana Fiorenza, Kimberly Derrick, Alison Dudek, Eleanor Poore, Erin Bartlett
Kimberly, Allison, Erin Bartlett 3rd
Catherine Reutter, Sophia Milan, Erica Lanzer, Leslie Jaworski, Sara Elliott, Sarah Berg
Katherine, Leslie move on, Sophia Milan 3rd
Men's 1500 prelimns
Jonathan Sermeno, Kyle Haun, Buddy Gerr, Chris Krepling,Eddie Alvarez, Jeff Simon
Jeff, Jonathan, Eddie advances; Jonathan was dq’d
Levi Sinak, Cole Krueger, Ryan Leveille, JR Celski, Chris Mclaughlin, JUlian Wood
Ryan, JR, Julian 3rd
Nick Frank, Thomas Anderson, Kyle Urehara, Kyle Carr, Shani Davis, Michael Vertican
Shani Davis, Kyle Carr, Kyle Urehara third
Simon Cho,Derek Gray, Levi Kirkpatrick, Kevin Geminder, Dan Fiorenza, Anthony Lobello
Simon, Anthony,
Travis Jaynor, MC Scheab, Patrick Choi, Robert Lawrence, Jonathan Garcia, Barry Winslow
Travis, Robert Lawrence, Barry Winslow
Joey Lindsey , Ryan Bedford, James RWomens' 1500 Semi-finals and FINALS
Semi-finals, all top 3 advance to finals:
1st heat:
Katherine Reutter, Allison Baver, Allison Dudek, Tina Koenig, Cherize Wilkins, Lesley Jaworski
Reutter, Baver, Dudek (Tina & Cheriz both fell and both dq’d for impeding)
2nd heat: Lana Gehring, Carly WIlson, Jessica Smith, Kristen Beyondo, Mary Grace, Kimberly Derrick
Derrick, Gehring, Smith advancing
=======================
Women's 1500 Finals:
Starting with 1st place:
Katherine Reutter
Kimberly Derrick
Allison Baver
Lana Gehring
Allison Dudek
Jessica SMith
Men's 1500 Semi-Finals:
Womens' 1500 Semi-finals and FINALS
Semi-finals, all top 3 advance to finals:
1st heat:
Joey Linsey, Travis Jayner, Simon Cho, Eddie Alvarez, Kyle Carr, Robert Lawrence, Jeff Simon
Simon, Jayner, cho (dq’d for cross tracking) so Alvarez advanced
2nd heat:
Ryan Bedford, Ryan Leveille, Chris Krepling, Shani Davis, JR Celski,
Anthony Lobello
Celski, Lobello (who swooped in out of nowhere to take 2nd).
The rest of the 4 came in all together and it took quite a qhile for the officials to make the announcement. In the end:
Celski, Lobello, Ryan Bedford
500m finals (don't quote me on these results)
Simon
Lobello
JR Celski
Simon Cho?
Ladies (for sure)
Ruetter
Baver
Ruetter (crash)
Garcia (DQ)
Monday, September 1, 2008
Desert Classic
Here's a post that I started on the Desert Classic a while ago. I'm in MN for the America Cup and figured I'd update people on what's happening here.
So first here's this unfinished blog post. I skated ok in this meet. First race I was too pumped up and wasted alot of energy in my 9 lap TT. I died really really hard but went 1:36.?. My best race of that meet was with Chris Creveling and two Japanese skaters. One was Sataro Teraou. I watched him on TV in 1994 when I was still playing hockey, drinking beers and doing other bad stuff. It's amazing that I even stepped to the line with this guy.
Anyways i took the start to the apex from the awesome #2 start spot and I slowed to let one of these World Cup guys lead. They were skating what seemed like 1000m pace. I settled in and watched Terao pass from the back and his teammate just let him in. Then Chris tried an outside move and things heated up. I got dropped with two to go came in bummed. Then when I saw the Japanese guys went 44 and i was 45.8 I was pumped. For those guys 44 is slow and it was awesome to see them just control their skates so well. Goes to show that if you just chill and skate you go fast.
I proved that to myself again today at the AmCup #1 as I scratched, clawed and toe picked around in my 500m final. I was lucky to get out of the 500m heat with a 2nd place time of 47.?.
It was disappointing not in placing DFL in the A final but not skating to my potential. You know how it feels when you are "on" and when you are "off". I'll skate better tommorow I'm sure. I haven't done alot of ST racing and you cannot simulate that in practice. But Mike said I popped off a couple of 9.5s so that was good to here. I remember Appolo saying that he had a bunch of 20 lappers one day and I said what speed....he said 9.5??? Sad thing is that is cruising speed for the National Team guys in SLC. They look like they are chillin at that speed.
*****Desert Classic Post*************************
It was a wake up call racing short track first time since last season. Highlights from the weekend that I have imprinted in my brain. I didn't see Star Shin's TT but she went 1:32 which is awesome for any woman especially one that just turned 14 last a couple of weeks ago.
The Japanese guys who placed 1 thru 9 in final standings all skated their TTs very flat as did Robert Lawerence. I haven't seen all the results just the final ones. It was humbling to race with these Japanese guys and the Australians the first day. I looked up the Japanese guys and they are all top level World Cup skaters.
It was cool seeing Derek Parra racing short track. He is skating well but you could tell it was his first real short track race. The 3 Japanese guys really schooled him as he was trying to pass in one of his heats. It was exciting also with Walter Rusk making some moves. There was a lot of contact in that race.
So first here's this unfinished blog post. I skated ok in this meet. First race I was too pumped up and wasted alot of energy in my 9 lap TT. I died really really hard but went 1:36.?. My best race of that meet was with Chris Creveling and two Japanese skaters. One was Sataro Teraou. I watched him on TV in 1994 when I was still playing hockey, drinking beers and doing other bad stuff. It's amazing that I even stepped to the line with this guy.
Anyways i took the start to the apex from the awesome #2 start spot and I slowed to let one of these World Cup guys lead. They were skating what seemed like 1000m pace. I settled in and watched Terao pass from the back and his teammate just let him in. Then Chris tried an outside move and things heated up. I got dropped with two to go came in bummed. Then when I saw the Japanese guys went 44 and i was 45.8 I was pumped. For those guys 44 is slow and it was awesome to see them just control their skates so well. Goes to show that if you just chill and skate you go fast.
I proved that to myself again today at the AmCup #1 as I scratched, clawed and toe picked around in my 500m final. I was lucky to get out of the 500m heat with a 2nd place time of 47.?.
It was disappointing not in placing DFL in the A final but not skating to my potential. You know how it feels when you are "on" and when you are "off". I'll skate better tommorow I'm sure. I haven't done alot of ST racing and you cannot simulate that in practice. But Mike said I popped off a couple of 9.5s so that was good to here. I remember Appolo saying that he had a bunch of 20 lappers one day and I said what speed....he said 9.5??? Sad thing is that is cruising speed for the National Team guys in SLC. They look like they are chillin at that speed.
*****Desert Classic Post*************************
It was a wake up call racing short track first time since last season. Highlights from the weekend that I have imprinted in my brain. I didn't see Star Shin's TT but she went 1:32 which is awesome for any woman especially one that just turned 14 last a couple of weeks ago.
The Japanese guys who placed 1 thru 9 in final standings all skated their TTs very flat as did Robert Lawerence. I haven't seen all the results just the final ones. It was humbling to race with these Japanese guys and the Australians the first day. I looked up the Japanese guys and they are all top level World Cup skaters.
It was cool seeing Derek Parra racing short track. He is skating well but you could tell it was his first real short track race. The 3 Japanese guys really schooled him as he was trying to pass in one of his heats. It was exciting also with Walter Rusk making some moves. There was a lot of contact in that race.
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