magnetic attraction?

Welcome back, one and all, to the place where your blades make little trails of fire as they flow along the ice. I know, it's probably not so good for whoever is following you, but it'll be a good motivator to not be behind you.

So I went to work today at Froedtert, which pretty much entailed going to class all day long, which is fine. It ended at the Wisconsin Athletic Club, of which I am a member, so I decided it would be a good day to work out. So I ride the bike, stretch myself out, pound the weights, same old same old. I'm just about to go coold down and stretch, and I look to my left, and there is Danny Frederick just sitting there stretching on the mat. We both kinda just give each other a funny look and re-introduce ourselves as we only met briefly last year, and just start chatting about this and that catching up. Next to us we notice person doing single leg squats, and find out that she is a skater too (Liz, didn't catch your last name), come to work out.

So I raise this question. Am I just in such a land so rich in skaters that everywhere I go, I run into them? I believe that a more likely scenario is that skaters have an innate magnetic attraction towards each other that predisposes them to gravitate towards one another. Perhaps this area is centered around the mid thigh area, which could be a possible explanation of those huge thunder-thighs that everyone ends up with when they skate long enough. Whatever the case, good networking for the Crash, as Danny and Liz were respectively the second and third speed skaters I have run into since getting out here. (The first was Renee, as I ran into her at Rainbo Sports at the oval during state fair.)

On the bright side of life, the Oval is scheduled for opening next weekend, and hopefully my flight will be early enough that I will be able to catch the end of the session on Sunday (knocks on wood). I wonder if Froedtert employees get a discount, seeing as how our logo is on the side of the building.

Anyways, good training to all, and may the gods of speed be kind and favorable in the upcoming season.
<3 -the crash

Welcome to Milwaukee

The Pettit at dawn. Yes, I know that I stole this picture from Andrew Love's blog, and if he wants me to take it down I will.

This picture works out perfectly for me though, as it has 2 elements of my rebirth as a skater. First off is the just barely visible placard below the main sign that says Froedtert & Medical College of Wisonsin. It just so happens that I was offered a job as a Registered Nurse on the Neurology floor of Froedtert Hospital less than an hour ago (which I of course accepted). The second element is the Ice Center itself, seeing as how if I want to work in Milwaukee, I surely have to live there, and the Pettit is my new soon to be temple in which to worship the God of Fast.

So anybody living in Milwaukee, be warned, for the Crash is coming, and he takes no prisoners.

Flustered, to say the least

Hey everyone, it's been a while since I posted. I originally intended to post several times a week, but I found myself without anything really different or interesting to say, other than, I won the duathlon again (twice actually).
A few weeks ago I got a call from Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee telling me that they wanted to interview me for a job but they wouldn't be able to wait for September for me to move. I told them that I would be willing to come out earlier, and I scheduled an interview for the next Thursday. I travelled down to Jersey, and stayed with Sarah for a few days in Delaware, then headed back to Jersey. I took a CPR renewal class and the next day my brother Jamie and I got up at 5am and droved 860 something miles, almost a third of the way across the country, to Milwaukee so that I could get an interview. We checked out some pretty sweet apartments while we were there, and the interview went smoothly. I have Jamie to thank for that mostly (thanks Jamie!!) who helped me put together my resume and even put it on the special resume paper.
We then turned back and headed 860 miles back to New Jersey. We got home at roughly 5am. So all told we drove a third of the way across the country and back in 2 whole days. Not bad if you ask me.
But here I am sitting in my apartment waiting for them to tell me one way or another if I got the job. Today is the last day that I can wait, because I have to send my rent check to my landlord, or give them 30 days notice that I will be moving out, which I informed them of at the time of the interview. After telling them that I am willing to drop everything and relocate, I figured that they'd be ecstatic to have me.
Tonight I will post a much shorter message telling whether I got the job or not.

High Peaks Cyclery Duathlon Series

So guess who won the first race for the High Peaks Cyclery Duathlon Series. If you guessed me, then you are totally right! Check out that crazy new aero helmet by Louis Garneau! That's just one of the fancy new things that we got from Louis Garneau at www.dimonsports.com including tri-shorts, all sorts of cycling jackets and vests. We are hoping to be getting in the new short track and long track skinsuits before camps start, so CLUBS, get your orders in early.

Anyways, the course was a bit off on the first mile. The turn around was at about 0.465 of a mile so the first mile was really about .93 miles. Imagine my surprise when the time keeper (sitting there in a fold up lawn chair with his post race Bud Lite in the can holder) yells out 4:55 when I come into the transition area. And by the way, that's one thing I need to work on. Transitions. I went in in first, and came out in second, and spent the next 4 miles on the bike trying to catch up.

When we made the turnaround for the bike at 4 miles, I was able to catch the first place guy and drafted him a little bit (side note: apparently this is not quite "legal," so all you pack style marathoners, remember this). After apparently cheating for like a mile and a half, I dropped back a few meters, and then turned on the afterburners. I was doing a little over 25mph when I passed him, and opened up a gap when I hit 30mph in the open stretch. I ended up about 100 meters ahead going into the final transition.

So, once again, I got into the transition first, and then got out in second. About 100 meters down the road, I ran into the leader, asked him how he was feeling, as he replied "eh, tired!" I replied, "I couldn't imagine why!" I then gapped him again taking the lead, but then it started to hurt. A side stitch opened up on my right side, sucking the wind out of me. I trudged on, trying to control my breathing, but it hurt so much. I knew that my legs still had some running left in them, and by the time that I made the turn around at the mile mark, I had opened a good gap of about 60 meters. I just kept on trucking, the unleashed animal inside of me never letting me falter.

When I hit the half mile left mark, I was hitting the end of my reserves, and I knew that the rest of the race was going to be pure guts. I still had a sizeable lead, but the way that I was running, I knew that it wouldn't last long. I dug down and remembered what my high school coach had taught me, to never give up, and when you don't think you can make it, just run harder. When the house that was next to the finish line came into view, and I knew I only had to make it another 200 meters, I knew that I was in good shape, but I wanted to break the 40 minute mark. I put everything I had into sprinting, but I only made it about 20 meters before I hit the edge of the anaerobic threshold, and knew that I needed to just finish the race in a good pace. I saw the line and just put everything I had, I knew the race was won. I crossed the line in 40:04, just barely missing the mark that I had wanted.

I had won, in my very first duathlon ever, so I did what every victorious person does. I fell to the ground in a collapsed heap. I raised an eyebrow when the second place person came in, and gave him a high five and a congratulatory "huuuuuugoojob ::pant, wheeze::"

On the even brighter side, they had a raffle and I won a free pizza at Mr. Mikes!!!! This way I can take my lovely girlfriend Sarah out to dinner on Saturday night even though I am as broke as the Liberty Bell.

Ok kids, stay tuned, same place, completely different time.

Let the games begin

Yes, that is most definitely me on the far right next to Paul Marchese and Andrew Hodor, and beating Trevor Marsicano and Al Harding. This is the first lap of a 5k on my very first Long Track meet. Notice the almost standing completely up posture. It's very bad. I ended up getting lapped like twice, and I decided that I was definitely a sprinter and not a distance skater. Lo and behold a year later I shave 34 seconds of my personal best in the 3000 for a time of 4:21.98. Apparently, I'm a distance guy.

DimonSports, my occupation and racing team, is doing a major overhaul on the website. http://www.dimonsports.com Andrew Love has been doing a great job, and there's seriously going to be some sweet stuff on there, like video blogs, a skater of the week (male and female) and a whole bunch of other stuff. We also just became a Louis Garneau dealer, and we are working to get a new suit designed with the kevlar built directly into the suit. It's going to be sweet.

Another product that meets the Crash Awesome Product Standards is the Stay Bent Sharpening Frame http://www.staybentframe.com/ This frame was developed by some technical speed skating wizards out in Rochester, NY. The whole concept of the jig is that it has pivoted blade clamps that adjust to preserve the bend in your skates. It's pretty sweet, you should definetely check it out.

and the first post goes to...

Hello! Hello! Welcome to my blog. This is a land where letters become words, and words become sentences, and sentences... well you get the picture. I just wanted to make a blog to chronicle the happenings in my life of speed skating, as well as other things that I do, so that anybody who wants to know about me won't have to travel far to find out how I am doing.
As for the title of the blog, it's the name of our team when I did the Masters Camp in Calgary in summer of 2006. It's a play on the title "Man on Fire." I currently am living in Lake Placid, but who knows for how long, seeing as how nursing job prospects are currently dry as a bone for some reason.
I am working at Dimonsports, the only walk in full-service speed skating shop in America, as a blade technician. That pretty much means that when a blade comes in from the factory, I am the one who puts the rocker on it and fine tunes it so that it is skatable. I am learning how to bend, but I am not completely proficient at it yet. Soon, hopefully, I will be.
I am currently applying to nursing jobs in Milwaukee, so hopefully something will pan out, and I will be able to continue training at a higher level with a coach.
Any comments, as always, will be appreciated. Hopefully, I will learn html soon, so that I will be able to pimp this page out and make it fantastic.
Peace,
-crash