How Do You Sk8!
“Welcome to How Do You Sk8! – the ultimate destination for every skating enthusiast! Whether you’re just starting out or a seasoned pro, we’ve got something for everyone. From the smooth glide of inline and ice to the classic roll of quads and the thrill of skateboarding, we cover it all. Join us each episode as we dive deep into the world of skating, exploring everything from high-speed adrenaline in speed skating to the artistry of figure skating, and the intensity of ice hockey. If it’s on wheels or blades, it’s here. Lace-up, strap in, and roll with us as we celebrate the freedom, community, and passion of skating. Let’s ride together!”
How Do You Sk8!
The Ice Doesn't Leave You: How a Former Elite Skater Found Her Path Forward
When Andrea Dehnke watched Apollo Ohno glide across the ice during the 2006 Winter Olympics, something clicked. Living near Colorado Springs at the time, she could actually watch the national team practice at the Olympic Training Center—the same athletes she'd just seen winning medals on television. What followed was an intensive journey into the world of short track speed skating that would shape her entire life.
Andrea pulls back the curtain on the strategic complexity of her sport. Unlike long track where the fastest skater wins, short track demands tactical brilliance in a pack-style race where positioning and timing can matter more than raw speed. Her explanation of racing dynamics—from drafting techniques to the high-risk strategy of trying to lap the entire field—gives listeners rare insight into the mental chess match happening at 30+ mph on razor-sharp blades.
The physical toll of elite competition becomes painfully clear as Andrea reveals how herniated discs and degenerative disc disease ultimately forced her retirement before the 2014 Olympic trials. Despite doctors' warnings, she continued training twice daily, six days a week until her body simply couldn't keep up with her competitive spirit. Her candid discussion about the psychological impact of injuries, combined with the emotional devastation following a teammate's suicide, paints a nuanced picture of the hidden struggles behind athletic achievement.
Perhaps most surprising are Andrea's stories about the physical dangers inherent in short track. Multiple incidents involving skaters being severely cut by blades—including a teammate who severed a nerve in her leg and another who was cut in the neck above her protective gear—highlight why the sport now requires full-body cut-proof protection. These sobering tales serve as a reminder that even beautiful sports can carry serious risks.
Whether you're a skating enthusiast or simply interested in the psychology of elite athletes, this conversation offers valuable perspective on setting goals, overcoming obstacles, and finding purpose when life forces you to rewrite your story. As Andrea says, "When you stop doing your sport, you're just always going to miss it"—a sentiment that will resonate with anyone who's ever had to walk away from something they love.
“Black Label Supplements. Built for athletes who don’t compromise.”
So go to blacklabelsupplements.com and remember to use the code Howdoyousk8 for your 15% discount at checkout.
Hey there, welcome to how Do you Skate, the ultimate destination for all skating enthusiasts. We cater to everyone, from beginners to pros. Whether you love inline and ice skating or prefer quads and skateboarding, we have it all covered, and we bring you exclusive interviews with professionals, talented amateurs and influencers in the industry. So sit back, relax and get ready for an exciting journey into the world of skating.
Speaker 2:Welcome to this week's episode of how Do you Skate. I am your host, Sean Egan, and today I get to actually have my first short track speed skater on Andrea Denke. How are you doing today?
Speaker 3:Great. Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 2:You're welcome, and it's kind of funny how we met, because it was actually at your husband's show with my friends when darkness falls, so I don't usually run into skaters at metal shows.
Speaker 3:So yeah, I know that that was really funny, and I guess it wasn't even gus who told you it was the drummer of his band it was laura, you can blame her.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so when did your whole journey in skating start?
Speaker 3:it started in 2006. I was watching the watching the Winter Olympics in Torino on TV and I saw Apollo and all those other skaters skating short track and I thought like this is just the coolest thing ever and I just really fell in love with it then and just really wanted to do it. And I was kind of lucky because at the time I lived in Monument, colorado, which is just north of the Springs, and Colorado Springs is where they have the Olympic Training Center and at the time they had the national team for short track stationed in the Springs, so I even got to go a couple of times and watch them skate. So it was really cool that I got to watch these people that I had just seen on TV winning medals, like here in this rink that was close to my own house.
Speaker 2:Yeah, now did you skate before that, or was that like your first induction into skating?
Speaker 3:I mean, I thought I was like 14. I thought I knew how to do everything. And my mom was the one who was like, no, you need lessons.
Speaker 3:And she signed me up for, like, learn to skate, but for figure skating, because I don't think they had to learn to speed skate class yeah so before I could even join the club that was in the springs, I had to learn how to do figure skating basics well, the cool thing about the figure skating because, not gonna lie, I took figure skating lessons to ice figure skating basics.
Speaker 2:Well, the cool thing about the figure skating cause, not going to lie, I took figure skating lessons to ice figure skating lessons too, but back in California, um, it gives you like the foundation of skating, like how to.
Speaker 3:I mean it was really useful. I'm not going to say I didn't learn anything. Like I I'm, I probably should be thanking my mom that she made me take those lessons. But at the time I was I was like I don't need this, I can skate, I can get on the ice.
Speaker 2:Well, it's a big adjustment from going from like figure skates or skates with boots to the shorter cut boots that speed skate that we use in speed skating. So it's still taking me a little while to get used to it again.
Speaker 3:So yeah, and and the the blades to like. The blade is much thinner and longer, so it's a very different way of standing on the skate.
Speaker 2:So when did you start your speed skating career with short track?
Speaker 3:I. So when I started the at the club it was in 2006. It was after the Olympic games and I there wasn't much that we could do for training on a team there. I think they had ice maybe twice a week and then it was dry land on your own, and then whenever we could, I would just go and skate public skate at all the other ice rinks that were around town. Um, just to kind of get used to skating on the ice. And I was able to go to some simple competitions like nationals.
Speaker 3:I don't know if I was doing American Cups while I was in Colorado, but I did a few competitions. I did juniors and I ran into Mike Corman at one of the meets and he kind of recruited me. He said I have this high performance team in Salt Lake City. It's called the fast team. Um, it would be great if we could have you out there. And so I got really excited. I told my mom and my whole family moved out to Salt Lake City in 2008, I think. So just two years after I started um, I was skating on the high performance team and then that's when I started competing. A was skating on the high performance team, and then that's when I started competing a little bit more at like American Cups and other competitions around the country.
Speaker 2:That's actually really cool that your family did that for you, Because I know if something happened like that to me and I told my mom that she'd be like no too bad, wait till you're 18, that that would be the story. So yeah, now, what was the training like with the high performance team, because that like opened up more doors. Now, how did you meet him? Did you meet him at like one of the um nationals or one of the other ones, or how did that all come about?
Speaker 3:I don't remember which meet, but I'm sure it was either like juniors or nationals Um, and I think he was just trying to recruit people and he I think he probably saw I didn't have a club that I was really skating with and he just, um, invited me to come onto the high performance team and it was a really big shift because you train six days a week and most of the days you train twice a day. So it's, it was a really big shift because you train six days a week and most of the days you train twice a day. So it's, it was a lot more training than I was originally used to and you, from what I remember, I think I adapted pretty quickly, but you're still like exhausted when you first start out.
Speaker 3:You're just not used to training that much.
Speaker 2:Now were you still in high school at the time.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I moved on my senior year of high school. I completed high school in Utah and I graduated early. They even had like a required course to take a gym class and I had to tell them like, hey, I don't really need a gym class, I go and train every single day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would say that that would qualify for gym Now. Were you training before and after school then, or?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I I had kind of like a special schedule where I got to train kind of around going to school. And then once I graduated, I was able to train more full time.
Speaker 2:And then, what was the training Cause? I love short track, but I'm not familiar with, like, how it actually works. Can you explain at least that part to us?
Speaker 3:Like the part of racing or the part of like training for it.
Speaker 2:We'll start with the racing first. So I understand, like how, how you end up winning or how it's scored.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, usually I compare short track to long track first, so I I understand like how, how you end up winning or how it's scored.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, usually I compare short track to long track and what it is is it's in pack style racing yeah so you race within a group of people and then whoever wins the race um is the winner, whereas in long track you are racing individually and whoever is the fastest is the winner. So you don't necessarily have to be the fastest skater in short track to win, but you do have to have the best strategy.
Speaker 2:Okay. So I saw one video of a girl doing short track and when they first took off, she took off really fast, lapped and got at the end of the pack and then did the whole race at the end of the pack and then did the whole race at the end of the pack and actually ended up winning the race because she was actually in the lead and I don't think anybody else caught that. And I'm like dude, that is such a good strategy. Have you ever it depends.
Speaker 3:So you see people doing that sometimes and it kind of depends on the person who does it, because it usually it always happens in a 1500 meter, because those are the longest races that you do individually in short track and they usually start out very slow. So while everyone's going very slow, you can decide to take the risk and lap everyone. But you're also going to be really exhausted by the time you get there and also, if the group decides that they want to chase you down, you're going to expend a lot of energy trying to get ahead of them and if they chase you down, you're going to be more tired because you're going to be in the front. You don't have a draft from anyone.
Speaker 3:So I've seen people do it and be successful, like that video that you're talking about, and I've also seen people do it and crash and burn. So it depends on the group you're with. It depends on whether the skaters think you're a threat or not, cause some people try and lap and they don't make it all the way around, so they're just out there struggling by themselves and then the group catches up with them and passes them. So it's it's a big risk for someone to take, but if you can do it, it really pays off.
Speaker 2:So now 1500 meters. How far is that in American terms? Cause we have to be different than the rest of the world. Oh, boy Cause I know the 5,000 is three miles, the 10,006 miles 5k is 3.1 miles.
Speaker 3:So I really don't know. Somebody Google this. I really don't know.
Speaker 2:Somebody Google this, we can look it up. It's like one of those funny things that you do right in the middle.
Speaker 3:It's almost a mile.
Speaker 2:Okay, so that's not too bad. Yeah, and how long normally would a 1500 meter race last?
Speaker 3:Because I know like you have people running under four minute miles and you go a lot faster on skates.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like two minutes and change. Okay. So now what was your training schedule like? I mean, I know it's twice a day, but like, what did your training involve? I know it couldn't have just been skating and dry land.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean when you're in the middle of the season, that's pretty much all it is. You will skate. Let's see you skate six days a week, so Monday through Saturday, and then on Mondays and Wednesdays we would skate also in the afternoons.
Speaker 3:So, that's eight times a week that we're skating, and then Tuesdays and either Thursday or Friday, we would do weights in the afternoon, and then sometimes, after ice sessions, we would also have a dry land session on top of that. So literally during the season, it's pretty much all ice and in the weight room, but when the the summer, when we're trying to build volume, uh, we have less ice time and instead of doing that, we are on the bike a lot okay and um, it kind of depends on who our coach is.
Speaker 3:I've had coaches that have put us in the pool and had us do like water aerobic exercises or play ultimate frisbee as like part of like some light training and I've also lost lost my thought right now but we've also done like hill sprints, workouts in the park, like big dry land activities that take maybe a couple hours. We go, go on runs, we might go on a hike, so like over the summer it's just kind of like whatever we can do to stay active and then we slowly will build up our volume on the ice and get more ice time the closer it gets to the season and now, did you stay on the utah team the whole time, your like whole short track career, or did you actually eventually come back and train in Colorado, because I know the altitude difference plays a huge role in things too.
Speaker 3:I was on the high performance team for six years in Salt Lake and I was with them the whole time. After I stopped skating I went to college in California for a year and then I had this like four month gap between community college ending and going to UCSB and transferring to that and then also where I was living, they were remodeling my house. So I was like, well, I'll just move back to Utah and I had done short track the whole time and I was like, well, what if I just try long track for a summer? So for the four months that I was in Utah I tried long track and I was not very good at it. We didn't. We didn't get I didn't get up much ice time. But, um, it's not as easy to transition between those two sports. Even though they are very similar, they're still different sports and sometimes it's just not very easy to pick it up right away and.
Speaker 3:I'd never really done it before.
Speaker 2:I'd been short track the whole time and with long track even the skates are different, because with short track you have a fixed blade, Long track you have the clap skate.
Speaker 3:So did you try the clap?
Speaker 2:skate.
Speaker 3:I love the clap skates because you can go so fast on them. My problem was actually the long track skates have less ankle. Support was actually that long track skates have less ankle support, so I didn't realize how much I relied on like that, maybe one or two inches of extra ankle support in my short track boot because it was so hard to like stand and start on long track skates.
Speaker 3:But you do get so much more push. And then the ice in Salt Lake has so much glide so you don't even have to put much effort behind it and you're just flying.
Speaker 2:Have you ever got to go to the track in Wisconsin?
Speaker 3:I've been to the Pettit Center. I prefer Salt Lake, probably just because I would train there so often, but I have competed in short track events at the Pettit.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the statue's really great. We always try and mimic it.
Speaker 2:Nice.
Speaker 3:Very twisted statue.
Speaker 2:Who's the statue of? Is it anybody in particular?
Speaker 3:I don't remember. It might be an abstract statue of Eric Heiden. Let me, I want to look it up, cause I really want to know.
Speaker 2:I'm planning on hopefully getting him on in the near future too.
Speaker 3:He'd be great. I met him because I have back issues. It's the reason that I quit skating when I did and while we were still trying to figure it out. He's an orthopedist or he was in Salt Lake.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I was like this isn't really how I wanted to meet him, but it's kind of cool that I still got to meet him that way.
Speaker 2:Now is the back issues. Is that what stopped your skating career? Yeah, and was it from an injury or was it?
Speaker 3:So it was Hold on, we have an answer? No, we don't. I think it's just an abstract statue of a skater. Sorry to mislead you.
Speaker 3:So yeah, when I started like skating high performance in 2008, and then I think in 2012 is kind of when I started noticing that I had some back issues 12 is kind of when I started noticing that I had some back issues and eventually I got an MRI and they said, oh, you have two herniated discs in your lower back. You also have something called degenerative disc disease, which sounds kind of like what it is. They're like your back's just going to keep getting worse and you probably shouldn't skate anymore. And I was like, no, I don't want to listen to that. So I kept skating and my back issues kind of just kept getting worse and worse and it was getting harder to ignore and I got like a cortisone shot that didn't do anything. I was seeing like I went to Dr Hyden and there just wasn't much that we could really figure out to do with it. And mostly what I was doing is just kind of like sitting out a set or two during training or like modifying my weight program, cause what I was doing at the time was like these big Olympic lifts, like cleans and jerks and all that which I love doing.
Speaker 3:Um, and it just got to the point where I was like I just can't do this, I can't train the way I want to. And it was pretty hard on me mentally because I always knew that I could, like physically, perform better and my back was holding me back and, uh, I was kind of wrestling with quitting around the 2014 games. I was like, if I can just qualify for trials say that I skated Olympic trials, I wasn't really expecting to make the team um, that would be great. And then my best friend committed suicide while we were in the season for short track and I that kind of was like the final straw for me mentally.
Speaker 3:I was just kind of like I can't really do this anymore, like physically I'm not there, mentally I'm not there. So I kind of cut my season short before Olympic trials. And that was when I decided I was like you know what, I'm going to get out of Salt Lake. I'm going to get out of Salt Lake, I'm going to get out of the state, I'm going to go to college in California and I'm just going to start a new life. But it was kind of hard. It was hard to just kind of drop everything and leave that. I think when you're a full-time athlete, um, it's hard for that, but also when you're a competitive person it's kind of hard to to just give up on something that you love so much.
Speaker 3:Um, but yeah, that's. That's how I stopped skating now?
Speaker 2:are you still working with eric hayden, the with your back, or what's going on with your back now, is it?
Speaker 3:No, I. I saw him once for an evaluation and the consensus was kind of like well, if you just stop skating, your back will get better. And that's not exactly what happened. But I did figure out that if I can keep my core strong, if I can stay in shape, that's usually what makes it better. And I was seeing a chiropractor pretty regularly, regularly for a long time, and he was like a wizard, like I'd go in and I'd have like some slight neck pain that I wouldn't even tell him about, and he'd be like oh, this thing in your neck is a little out of whack, let me fix it for for you. I'm just like, wow, I don't know. He always seemed to know what was going on with me. So whenever I can find a good chiropractor, I always feel like I'm doing well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, was that in Salt Lake or was that in Santa Barbara?
Speaker 3:That was in Salt Lake. I did find another chiropractor in Santa Barbara and they were good, but they weren't quite the same.
Speaker 2:Because have you heard of Denver Sports Recovery? No, they have a good chiropractor, they have sports massage therapists. They have the cryo, they have the cold baths. It's designed for athletes. My massage therapist is Yesenia. She's someone I love and hate at the same time. She's the only woman who can actually make me cry without even saying anything to me.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, but she's really good and they have a chiropractor and then they do the dry needling also, so it's like a really cool spot. You might want to check it out. I mean, I just kind of pay as I go and if you have um, I have Kaiser insurance, but if you have like blue Anthem or blue shield, they'll take that for the chiropractic and the dry needling.
Speaker 3:Okay, so I'll have to see, but please like send me that information. I definitely want to check that out.
Speaker 2:Definitely so now. You haven't skated at all since then, or do you strap on the skates every now and then?
Speaker 3:I. So it's funny because when I quit skating I asked all my inline friends I was like, do you have a pair of boots? Do you have like wheels? Do you have a frame? And I got a whole setup from my inline friends to skate. And when I moved to California I like, oh, I'm gonna like skate on all these trails, it'll be super great and I don't know what it is. But I feel like a baby gazelle when I am on inline speed skates, like it's, I don't know. It's like I've never skated a day in my life. I just don't know how to handle it. I own quad skates. I can handle myself on quad skates like I can handle myself on any ice skate. Inline speed skates they're just a mystery to me.
Speaker 2:I don't know it takes a little getting used to, and now you see a lot of the people that are inline, speed skaters, crossing over and doing the ice, like Joey Manchia he was. He was, uh, in line before that. I think Victor Thorcrup was too.
Speaker 3:I'm not sure, but I thought he was yeah, I skated with several people who went in line to ice or even was like a program that Derek Parr started because he used to do inline.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:And then he translated to ice and he has won medals. So I've I've met several of them, but I don't know. I just don't know what it is. Maybe I just needed to try it more, but I don't know. I tried the inline thing. I couldn't get into it. But after I moved back to Colorado after college, I went back to the club that I started with and I I think they used to be called Broadmoor Speed Skating, but now they're called Colorado Gold.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I love skating with them and I love training with them. But where I live now north of Denver, it's a huge commute to go down to the Springs now.
Speaker 2:Where are you at now? What city?
Speaker 3:I live outside of Boulder.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you're not far from where I'm at. I'm in North Glen. Oh nice, yeah. Um, I was going to say something. Now I forgot what I was like. Oh, just cause it was still on the back of my mind when you were in Santa Barbara. How often did you go over to Solvang? I know you had to only.
Speaker 3:I think I only went once Um, but I love that town. It's just such a cute little. Is it Dutch, danish, yeah? Yeah, and the ostriches that are outside of town and you go and you have like some, some German pancakes or some Dutch pancakes, Like it's. It's a very cute space they have the best bakeries there.
Speaker 2:I did a father daughter trip with my daughter there when she was younger. She wanted to be a baker and she got a tour of the place. He walked her around. They gave us some pastries to try. I was like, dude, let's go tell the other guy at the other bakery too that you want to be a baker and see what they do. But I guess that's like one of the oldest, it's like four or five generations of family that have run that bakery. I know that has nothing to do with skating.
Speaker 3:That's so cool, though, cause, like I feel like, not many people outside of the Santa Barbara area, even though what solving is.
Speaker 2:Well, a lot of people in California do, because it's like a tourist destination and it's. We went there, but we actually stayed at the motel six in Santa Barbara. So, but, um, so now how did you meet your husband? Because he's not exactly. He doesn't exactly look like a skater. I mean, he'd be like someone you'd grab his hair on and just like hold on while he skates fast in front of you.
Speaker 3:He doesn't, but he can. He can hold his own on skates. I've seen it. Um, so we actually met during the pandemic.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Since there was nothing much to do. We were hiking a lot and we met through a mutual friend. The first time we met was on a hike and I was with someone else at the time. So I was like this is a nice person and it's usually how it works.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. Over time the other guy went away and gus and I just remained friends for, I think, about year, year and a half, and over time we realized like, oh, I kind of like this person and and, um, we just kind of became closer and closer and until we realized our feelings for each other and realized that maybe we just should hang out for the rest of our lives.
Speaker 2:Nice, yeah, cause I mean it was. It was a very fun show. Your husband is a good guitar player and I really enjoyed. I really enjoyed the show last week, but it was just. Is that your style of music? Is it kind of?
Speaker 3:Not, not really that's. That's kind of what's so funny. Like I, I'm not a huge metal head. I do like rock. I do like um heavy electronic music, so I like things that are very similar. There are some old bands that he likes that I like too, and then there are also some non-metal artists that we both share um an interest in as well. But yeah, we we only kind of met because of the pandemic, because he wasn't doing shows.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:He didn't have much to do, like that's kind of how we met.
Speaker 2:Cause he's in two bands now, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so he's in, saved by ruin and bury my demons.
Speaker 2:Okay, so we're giving a shout out to both of them. If you guys haven't looked at them, look them up on Apple music or whatever your thing is, cause I've only seen saved by ruin and they were an amazing band and it's kind of cool Cause three of the members are female, so that's what made it cool too. So so now are you planning on like getting doing more skating just to kind of get you back on track, or like? I know you miss it, because it's like one of those things that once it's in your blood, it doesn't go away.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly Like I. I miss it a lot. I I will say I feel like it's something that never really leaves you. Um, and I think about it a lot. It's just right now where I am. It's hard to like actually do speed skating. Like I can go to public skate at our ice rink in town, but it's just not the same. It's like being able to go as fast as you want. So it's a little hard Like we still have fun. We've been to the adult roller skating night at tracks uh, at that club that's an interesting one because you get to drink and skate exactly.
Speaker 3:They give you like a little sippy cup. There's no kids.
Speaker 3:It's great, it's super fun I have an ex-wife that can spill it out of a sippy cup, so they're not 100, so yeah, yeah, and I I've, I've tried to get um back into the inline skating thing again when I was in Colorado and like I had a really bad fall, um and scraped all the skin off my leg and I don't think I've really been on skates since then, um, so so I I still try to try to skate when I can.
Speaker 3:I even brought Gus to Salt Lake not November of last year but the year before and he got to skate on the Oval and we met some cool people there, like Shawnee Davis, I think, was coaching an athlete there and I was like Gus I don't think you understand, but like this dude is a legend, he's super cool and you just met him. Like this dude is a legend and he's super cool and you just met him. But he got to skate on that ice and definitely like there really isn't anything else, like it, like just being able to skate, and that feeling you just can't replicate it, at least for me. And I've noticed like some skaters they do wild ice skating and out here I really want to do it. I'm a little bit afraid because it's a little dangerous, um, but I know there's a group out here, so I've I've thought a lot about like reaching out to them and trying to do some wild ice skating and that's skating on the lakes.
Speaker 2:Yeah dude, I'm in, I want to. So bad so we should plan it for next winter.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think I even had. If I can find it um, I have this lake picked out. I think it's around Estes park, you kind of have to think up to it, but it just looks so beautiful. I know someone that went there and it just looks amazing, like I mean pretty much you could probably pick any any lake in the mountains of Colorado and it's going to be beautiful.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's something I've really wanted to try, but I think you really need to go with someone who knows what they're doing so you don't fall in.
Speaker 2:And by then I'll actually have a drone that follows you when you skate or like when you're doing it. So I'm working on getting one of those Now. Have you ever actually thought about coaching?
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 2:Cause I was going to say. The one thing that does suck about the short track here in Colorado is it is in Colorado Springs and you and I are relatively close to each other, so that's, that is a track down to Colorado Springs. So if someone got with one of the rinks up here and started a program up here, that would be cool.
Speaker 3:So that would be cool. I've I've honestly like I never thought about coaching. I know several skaters that have continued on and done coaching and I think that's so wonderful for them. I would so much just rather keep doing it than than watching other people do it yeah.
Speaker 2:Like.
Speaker 3:I love helping out people when I can. Um, I just don't want to to make it a whole thing.
Speaker 2:So you would be able to, like we'd be able to get together and you'd be able to teach me stuff, is what you're saying?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, I can. I can help you, I can teach you how to skate. Just don't expect me to do it like every Sunday at 2 PM.
Speaker 2:Oh no, it's, it's. You know, like I always say, friday night is skate night, saturday night is date night, and then usually Sunday sleep in. So yeah, but so now, what are your like future plans, like what? I mean, I know you went to college and everything, so what kind of I don't even know what kind of like line of work you're in now, so does that?
Speaker 3:So my major in college was comparative literature, which is what I like to think as a better major than like English. Sorry to all the English majors, but it's pretty much the same. You study literature, but you study it in a more broad sense rather than just like people who wrote in England or in America. And I really wanted to be an editor. I, after college, I got it in my head that I really wanted to do book editing. I went to the Denver Publishing Institute at DU, which is a graduate program that they do, and I learned all the things I needed to learn to become a book editor. I was interning with a publisher here in Colorado and the pandemic hit and the publisher basically completely dissolved because of the pandemic and I was like maybe I need to rethink my career choices if book publishing is so fragile.
Speaker 3:Yeah need to rethink my career choices if book publishing is so fragile yeah, um, I have been kind of working in like online publications. Okay, since the pandemic and I worked for outside magazine and all of the brands that they own under that umbrella, which are a lot of like outdoor active lifestyle brands- and I currently work for the paleo diet and as in Rob Wolf. No. So, this this is the original paleo diet that was started by Dr Lauren Cordain.
Speaker 2:Okay, no, her too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we own the registered trademark for that. I know there are a lot of other paleo brands out there, but this one is ZOG, so I currently work creating and managing website content for that brand.
Speaker 2:Okay, and do they have like food or cause? I mean, I was like really into Rob Wolf for a while there and Lauren always got mentioned, like he gives all his credit to her.
Speaker 3:So yeah, so we currently work with certifying and licensing other food brands. We don't currently have any like food products of our own at the moment, but we have tons of recipes on our site, the paleodietcom, and lots of advice for nutrition and how to eat right.
Speaker 2:Nice. And now how does that correlate? Because you and I both know following the paleo, you know grains, that kind of stuff, so you get away from a lot of that stuff and a lot of inflammatory foods. Now how would that kind of diet affect, Because I know it's really big with CrossFit, but for speed skaters or skaters in general, how would that work with them?
Speaker 3:I mean part of the Paleo diet. I mean Lauren Cordain, the same person who started it. He wrote a book called the Paleo Diet for Athletes and how you can actually use Paleo to optimize your performance. And I I ate like shit. When I was skating, like I was nowhere close to paleo diet. I was like 20 years old and just like I can eat complete junk food and be fine.
Speaker 3:So, I haven't really had the chance to really experiment with it and be like how can this actually optimize me? But I can say that, like when I do eat paleo which is not all the time, don't come for me, my job. But it's not a requirement to be paleo to work at the paleo diet. But when I do eat paleo foods I I definitely feel so much better. I don't have digestive upset, I don't feel super tired, um, from the foods that I eat, I don't have mental fog. So I can see all these things working to help you in your athletic performance. You're not dealing with all these like weird little nutritional side effects that you get from eating bad food.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I've eaten my fair share of bad food and have had some of those distresses you've talked about. So, um, is that where you're planning, like, are you so you just do the content, the website content and all that stuff for them? Um, so what are, like, your future plans? Are you planning on doing that? Or like, are you gonna dive back into skating or do you?
Speaker 3:think you'll ever be competitive again in.
Speaker 3:Oh, probably not. I'm geriatric for skating age. But I mean I will say, after I retired, I you know it's back to this competitive thing, like it's so hard to let it go. You're always thinking like I could have done this better. Maybe I could have done that better. And also after I stopped skating, I was like I mean, I'm still relatively healthy. I have this back issue, but I'm still strong. What if I just did like another sport Like? What if I did like whitewater kayaking or horse jumping or something that's like a summer Olympic sport? Yeah, you know now that I think of those two, two like those would probably still mess up my back. But royally.
Speaker 2:my, my uncle did whitewater kayaking and sea kayaking and you I think speed skating safer. And then with the horses, the jumping just that impact on your spine every time you land, especially if you're not up in the right position. I watched a show called Heartland and she trained horse. She was a horse whisperer and it's like you see everything they do. It's like, oh, I'd really love to have a farm. And then I've actually went and fixed a heater on a farm and I'm like how dirty I got just dry. Yeah, I don't want to farm.
Speaker 3:I mean, like I did a hundred jumper for a little bit in high school, around the time that I started skating, and I really loved it. But yeah, you have to have the right horse, cause you can have a horse that doesn't like doing the jumps.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Come on, girl, let's do this, or you can have one that like they get excited and you it's really easy to just go with them. But and that's kind of why I was thinking about doing the, the horseback riding as a sport, because I was like, well, I've done it before, like I, I like being with horses, I like riding them, um, but we never owned a horse and I'm like that just seems very expensive and like a very expensive hobby, and so I never really picked up any other sports.
Speaker 3:I just love skating still, and I try and do it when I can and otherwise, like Gus and I both we still love lifting weights and going on hikes all the time and trying to be active. Like I, I think two years ago I signed up for a Tough Mudder, which I don't know.
Speaker 2:If you know what it is but I know exactly what a Tough Mudder is.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I did that and I was so proud of myself and it was fun like that. That kind of stuff I love to do. I hate running. I'm not a great cyclist. I'm not crazy about sitting on my bike for an effort, hours and hours but like an obstacle course race.
Speaker 3:I'm like, yeah, I'm down for that. I love that. So that was really fun thing to do. That was a fun goal to have to look forward to. But funnily enough, like Gus is also used to be an elite athlete too. He was a professional basketball player and football player when he was in brazil okay we were just talking last night about how much we we miss doing our sports and it's just um. I think it's something. When you stop doing your sport, you're're just always going to miss it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Cause I mean I go every Friday night to skate city Westminster and do adult skate night. So you guys are more than welcome to come.
Speaker 3:Are you wait? Are you on quads or in lines?
Speaker 2:I do in lines so I can skate on quads, cause, um, I have my own health issues. Uh, but some of the medication I'm on because I was doing rink hockey with my 17-year-old because he was like the goalie, so we were playing on the same team for Westminster and I was getting ready to start doing roller derby yes, but because I can't take the chance of getting hit in the head and having internal bleeding in the head, Cause I won't stop bleeding. Um, I have to take it out, but at least like speed skating, cause I did speed skating in the early nineties and without a coach, so I was uncoached then, but, um, was this in line?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we don't have a whole lot of ice in California. Was this in line? Yeah, we don't have a whole lot of ice in California, and I think the short track was at the Belmont Mall or San Mateo. It was San Mateo Mall, but you know, at that time you'd take BART out there and it was just more of a hassle to get out there then and even though it's closer than Colorado Springs, it took longer to get there than Colorado Springs just because of Bay Area traffic. But so now it's like nice. It's like speed skating is that one thing that you can always do? But I mean, I don't wear my speed skates in there, but they also have speed skating. Each skate city has a speed skating team as long, as well as roller city also know that so I mean they have speed skating lessons.
Speaker 2:You can do that 8 am on saturday mornings or you can be like human and go do it like seven o'clock at night at arvada. So it's just. The skating community is huge. So I don't even know if you realize how big the skating community is between inline roller hockey, speed skating and also even skateboarding. It's huge out here in Colorado.
Speaker 3:I know they have a lot of roller derby teams and I have mad respect for roller derby. I think it's very similar to short track, but they're definitely. They're much tougher in roller derby.
Speaker 3:That's why I never got into it because, like, in short track you can kind of bump people a little bit, you can kind of get with them, but there's a lot of rules around like you cannot be rough with people, like you can't flat out do the things that you do in roller derby, and I was like, yeah, I don't think I could like get thrown down or get hit or anything like that.
Speaker 2:Well, short track. Speed skates, though, are like razor sharp the blades aren't they yeah? So I don't remember where I heard it I might've been ES, but this was probably 30 years ago that I heard it where a guy went down I don't know if it was in a race or practice and someone else's skate just went straight up their chest and sliced their chest open and it was like 55 stitches to repair it. So yeah, you don't want to do roller Derby stuff with short track ice speed skates.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I I had. I have a few stories about people getting cut and I believe whenever I first started skating, you had to wear a neck guard and you had to wear ankle guards, and I wore shin guards too, but I don't remember if they were required. And while I was training in Salt Lake, we were at a meet and one of my teammates fell with another one of my teammates and she cut a nerve in the back of her leg, oh, and she had to be rushed to the hospital. She was told that she would never walk normally again and she recovered fine, like she actually got back into skating and competed at Olympic trials the next cycle. Like she actually got back into skating and competed at Olympic trials the next cycle.
Speaker 3:But either that same season or the following season, jr Selsky fell in a race and he cut his own leg with his skate. And at the time the swift skins that they were wearing had cut proof stuff sewn into it. But people kept getting cut around the cut proof stuff, so that following season they were like, okay, now we have to wear full body cut proof because people keep cutting themselves open. Um, and I think it was because because of those two ones, because I think JR cut himself pretty bad and then my old teammate. She also had a very severe injury as well. So, and also like, even in practice, like one of my teammates got cut in the neck above her neck guard.
Speaker 2:Oh.
Speaker 3:And the person who cut her was so shaken by what they did they just got off the ice.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Like it's no joke. I still have a scar on my leg from when I got cut in training. Like it, it happens a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you just don't hear about it a lot.
Speaker 3:Yeah, luckily now it seems like they they have better um protection because it's full body now instead of just certain spots um on your body. So but yeah, there's a lot of a lot of stories about people getting cut in short track and even even in the mass start and long track. I remember when they first started it, they didn't wear helmets, they didn't wear the protection that they do now and now that now every time I see a mass start, I see them putting on like the gloves and all this other extra protection and I'm like thank God, cause it's literally, it's just like short track, you can get easily cut.
Speaker 3:Someone can slice you in the face Like it. It could happen anytime, anywhere.
Speaker 2:I mean, if I ended up getting sliced in the face, I'd come up with a lot better story than it happened at practice. I'd be like I took on this gang and I beat them and this is all. I mean, you gotta have the good story for that, you know.
Speaker 1:So so what?
Speaker 2:what was your skate Like? What kind of boot did you use and what kind of blade did you use when you competed?
Speaker 3:I was on Paul Marchese boots and, important detail, they were purple and black and my blades I. I think my current setup is maple duros. I know for a while was on maple golds, um, but I don't even know, I don't think people even like that maples are even the blade of choice anymore. Yeah, this is the same old setup I had like 10 years ago when I stopped.
Speaker 2:So yeah, now who was your biggest influence for skating?
Speaker 3:Honestly, I feel weird saying this. Um, it was probably Apollo Ono, cause he was the one that I saw. He won. I don't know how many medals, um, but I saw him winning medals in 2006 okay and I think that is what really inspired me to start skating.
Speaker 3:But I will say, after I started skating I I think two people. One was katherine reuter. Um, she was a short track skater and she was tall like me. She had red hair like I used to have, so she kind of looked like me and I don't normally look like a lot of short trackers.
Speaker 3:Short trackers are usually much smaller yeah kathy barter was like very successful and has her own olympic medals, so I was like, okay, she can do that, I can do that, yeah. And then the other person I'd probably say would be jr selsky, because he always just looks so relaxed and at ease when he was skating. I think that's how I always wanted to skate and even when he broke the 40 seconds in the 500 meter for the first time, like he was the first person in the world to do that, yeah, when you watch the video he just looks like he's in such control, like it's just a walk in the park and that's how I always wanted to skate you'll get there now that we're older now that we're older and no better.
Speaker 2:It's kind of like when we get out there, because when I go to compete this year, I'm doing it for me, I'm not doing it to win anything. So, however I do, and then it's like you said, you come back to the drawing board and you know, prepare for next season and make whatever tweaks or change whatever you need to in your program. So, but I'm not, I'm not going out there because I'm going to be the best in the world and win every race. I'm going to do it because I want to do it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:And that's the whole point of it. But now, what advice do you have to young or even older people that want to jump into skating, and especially short track speed skating, since you're my first short tracker?
Speaker 3:I don't know if it's so much advice, but one thing I want to say whenever I started skating, I set a goal for myself of I want to be the best that I can be, and it wasn't.
Speaker 3:It wasn't like, well, I'm going to make the Olympics or I'm going to do this and that, because that's something that I've heard a lot with younger skaters. When they first start and when they're at a camp or something, they're like how many years until I get a gold medal, or how many years so I make the Olympics, and especially with short track, there's, there's no guarantee. Yeah, I've known skaters who were like the best in the world, um ranked on the world teams, and they never made an Olympics because they got injured. Or I know people who have so many world records and all this and that, and they don't have a gold medal, um, so you know, there's there's no set formula for success. But I think if you take a step back from that and you just focus on yourself and say I want to do this to the best of my own abilities, whatever that may be, I think you're going to be much happier and more fulfilled than trying to reach more lofty goals. And if you do get there, then that's also wonderful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the cool thing about your skating career was you made the decision to do it. It wasn't like your mom's like this your parents are. This is what you're going to do. There was a documentary out a while back I forget when he put it out but it's called Trophy Kids. I don't know if you've ever seen it. It was on HBO for a while and it's by the same guy that did Bigger, stronger, faster, and what it was going about was like these parents that are pushing their kids so hard, like the parents couldn't make it, so now they're making their kids do this, and it's like you see how frustrated the kids get, and like there was one kid that didn't want nothing to do with his dad and didn't even want to play the game anymore just because he wasn't playing it because he enjoyed it.
Speaker 2:He was playing it because his dad wanted to. So that's another important thing to piggyback. What you said is that make sure you want to do it, that you're doing it for yourself and not because, if you're younger, your parents want you to do it. So that's my little tidbit for that.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But now, how can my people follow you, if they want to follow you, if just?
Speaker 3:Oh, I mean if they, if they want, they can follow me on Instagram at it's Andrea silly, but I think I'm private.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, so, and but they can. Paleo dietcom, is that what it is?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you can follow real paleo diet on Instagram. Go to the paleo dietcom. Um, pretty much any recent content you'll see probably went through my hands.
Speaker 2:Okay. And then, since we've mentioned your husband's bands, do you want to let people know how they can follow the bands?
Speaker 3:Yes, so Gus Gus's stage name is Gus Stroyer. He has a couple of singles out on Spotify. His one of his bands is bury my demons and they are going on tour next month, april 2025. So and they're traveling all around the country. So if you are interested in checking them out, go see if bury my demons is going to be in your city. And then his other band is saved by ruin, the one that you saw yep um, which I always have a great time seeing.
Speaker 3:I mean not that I don't enjoy bury my demons, but you know they their drummer doesn't headbang like laura does, and also angelique is just amazing on stage her her vocal range is amazing too, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I mean, if you ever get a chance to see them live, go watch them. They put on a great show, so they'll probably be happy that they got the shout out too yeah, absolutely so, absolutely so well, I appreciate you coming on.
Speaker 3:Yes, thank you so much for having me. This was a great discussion.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I enjoyed it too, so Thank you, thank you.