How Do You Sk8!
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How Do You Sk8!
Marathon Madness: From Local Tracks to Global Skating Adventures
Physical therapist and competitive speed skater Mike Mason pulls back the curtain on what it takes to excel on wheels, sharing wisdom gained from decades on the track and in the clinic. From his humble beginnings stealing his sister's quad skates in 1980s Florida to becoming a two-time state champion and international competitor, Mike's journey reveals the unexpected parallels between rehabilitation science and athletic performance.
With disarming honesty and plenty of humor, Mike details his spectacular wipeouts (including a triple ankle fracture that would have sidelined most skaters for a year) and his triumphant comebacks. His practical advice for skaters transcends typical training recommendations - learn why tracing the alphabet with your foot might be more valuable than heavy squats, how swimming transformed his racing technique, and why electrolytes can make the difference between finishing a marathon and cramping on the sidelines.
The conversation takes fascinating detours through international racing circuits, from dodging traffic in Chinese cities to competing on the famed Le Mans F1 track in France, where Mike participates in the grueling 24-hour relay race. As the founder of the Florida Inline Skating Marathon, now entering its sixth year as part of the World Inline Cup series, Mike offers an insider's perspective on event organization and building skating communities.
Whether you're a competitive skater looking to shave seconds off your time or a recreational enthusiast wanting to skate pain-free, Mike's blend of clinical expertise and real-world experience delivers actionable insights that will transform your approach to training, recovery, and performance. Ready to upgrade your skating game? This episode is your roadmap.
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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 welcome to this week's episode of how do you skateate.
Speaker 2:I am your host, sean Egan, and my guest today is Mike Mason. He's got kind of a nice little background and we'll give you some information on how to sign up for his stuff by the end of the episode. So how are you doing today?
Speaker 3:I'm doing great, since we figured out how to sign on to Zoom.
Speaker 2:Technology is supposed to be easy and sometimes it's a pain in the butt yeah, yeah so so how old were you and when did your skating journey begin?
Speaker 3:so I started skating in palm beach gardens, florida, which is on the east coast and west palm beach when I was about 11. I actually, uh, we had a local skating rink which was like maybe three miles away from my house, right across the street from my elementary school, and I actually would steal my sister's skates and go skating, cause she wasn't using them.
Speaker 2:She didn't have pom poms on them, Did she? God no?
Speaker 3:I would have gotten the crappy rental ones then. Yeah, god, no, yeah, I would have gotten the crappy rental ones then yeah, so now did she have inline or did she have, uh, quads? Dude, we're talking 1980s, late 80s, you know like 87 ish, 86 and I think when inlines came out, started about 87.
Speaker 2:So when, yeah, how long did you skate with quads before you transitioned into inline, or do you skate inline?
Speaker 3:Well, it's actually kind of a funny story. I skated quads up until 92, 93. Then I got out of the sport for a long time. And then fast forward 20-something years later. I graduated physical therapy school. I'm watching the Olympics, obviously watching the speed skating, and you know, I'm just getting that urge. I'm like you know what, maybe I'll get back into it. So I never skated on inlines. So I bought a pair of inlines and there's this really cool place called Legacy trail here in sarasota and it runs about 30 ish miles. So I slapped on my new inlines that I got from bont, from debbie rice, okay, started skating the legacy trail and I'm like, oh, okay, this is cool. And I'm like, oh, oh, crap, how do I stop? So I grabbed on a stop sign and you can see how you know, probably imagine how ridiculous that looked Going forward, I was going to say.
Speaker 2:I think all of us at one point or another has done that in our skating journey. Well, the outdoor skating journey, not the ice skating journey.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and then I started up with a team here and then I started getting better and better. And then, oh gosh, I started competing again. I was a two-time state champion for Masters here in Florida. Then I started competing internationally.
Speaker 3:uh, all over the world china um germany, uh god, brazil, colombia uh you know, just having a good time you know and then uh and kind of which will lead up to you some of the things I do now is you know, when I started going to China, I had the best experience because I was always an indoor skater. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And then when I was introduced to doing marathons, which I'm typically not a marathon skater guy, I'm more of a you know sprinter my 500 meters is my race. I love it. It's over and done with. I fell in love with doing marathons and just meeting people around the world having a good time. I'm sorry, let me back that up 2017 to 2019,. My daughter and I were invited to go to China and do marathons over there and I met great people, and the last trip I made was when COVID was happening. I actually got COVID when I was there, so I'm patient zero, by the way.
Speaker 2:You're the one who brought it back with you. Thanks, man.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you're welcome, but brought it back with you. Thanks, man, you're welcome. But anyways, I came back Florida shut down only for a short matter of time and I've always wanted to throw a marathon. And we have this cool place called Nathan Benerson Park here in Sarasota. It's a premier sports complex. They do Olympic time trials for rowing, they do triathlons there 5Ks. The place is just amazing. And not only that, you have on-site living. You have hotels there that are right next to the park. You have fine dining. So this is not like your typical going somewhere. Yeah, it's a cool area. This is high end and it's beautiful. I mean, when anybody comes, they're just amazed because there's also not a six-story observation tower that people go up and watch, get a 360 view of the race oh, anyways so, anyways, you know, when kovat happened, um, I decided I was like you know what we?
Speaker 3:COVID happened. I decided I was like you know what we're? Everybody else is shutting down. Everybody wants to skate and have a good time. Florida's open. Hey, I'm going to start up a marathon and we started in 2021. The planning actually went back all the way down to 2000, back to 2014, when I would skate that a lot and train with debbie rice, um from bont, and I would skate with astro team and uh, yeah, that's how it started beginning and you know we're going on five years right now yeah, I'm looking forward to actually doing it next year, so it's gonna be cool.
Speaker 2:It'll be our sixth year man nice now, with your physical therapy background, do you think that's kind of helps you a lot in training better and smarter, like off the skates?
Speaker 3:yeah, yeah, 100. Yes. It's also helped me recover from injuries. Um, like, I broke my ankle really bad in 2014 competing. It was the first or second meet of the year and I was in first place coming out of a corner and somehow my ankle snapped, slammed into a brick wall, broken three spots dislocated it. However, I was back on my skates in four months competing and I won out the division that year nice so, yeah, it's definitely helped.
Speaker 3:It's actually I understand the body in a certain way. You know um, you know, and I'm constantly learning too. Everything's always learning with therapy you know, one. So it's. It's giving me a good advantage and a good insight on things.
Speaker 2:Nice. Well, now we're going to pick your brain on that, since you brought that up. All right, especially since we have a lot of skaters that listen to this show Actually, pretty much all skaters, except for my girlfriend, I think she won't put on skates. So what are some of your best advice? Just for strengthening up the ankles for skating?
Speaker 3:okay, so this is going to sound crazy. So, um, when I broke my ankle, the biggest thing when you have an ankle fracture is losing mobility yeah um, and that's scary.
Speaker 3:I've seen what happens when you have a mobility issues in your ankle or, like in my case I have. I still have a steel plate where I have seven screws just for extra support. Um, because my doctor at the time was like, yeah, I know you're kind of crazy, so we're just going to keep that in there, just to preventative. So what I would do? Simple things like taking a tennis ball, tracing out the alphabet when I'm in a seated position, when I am my initial stages of healing, okay that. So, believe it or not, you know, everybody thinks about gross muscle, big muscles and stuff like that, but you always have these smaller muscles in your feet and in your body that you also have to build up. That's like if, when you go to the gym and you see a big bodybuilder, I guarantee it they haven't worked out their stabilizing muscles yeah, and I also I guarantee it they haven't worked out their stabilizing muscles, yeah. And I also give this, you know, analogy to think of a building in New York, a building strong from the foundation up.
Speaker 3:So, you got to build everything bottom up. So I would do things like that, then I would progress it to you know, doing that and standing and then going from there. You know, at the time too I had a really good coach, uh, tony Corberle. Uh, he was on the world, he was one of the world managers for inline speed skating back in 2015, 16.
Speaker 3:Okay, he would put me through drills, um, doing leg strengthening, uh, you know, just going to bleachers and doing hops, single leg hops. You know a lot of things like that, and you know what I would incorporate from physical therapy going. Okay, let me add this in let's do a lot of neuromuscular reeducation. So I'm throwing a big term, that's just a big fancy word for balance, it's, you know, let's let's flip over a boso ball, stand on it, do weight shifting, shifting your weight side to side, you know. Then you know, with you, know somebody near you, you do single leg, uh, exercises on that to really fire all the stabilizing muscles in your leg and you'd be surprised how even the strongest guys will wobble because you don't, you really don't test those muscles out.
Speaker 3:so that's why you got to push yourself like give you a great example in three months I'm going to paris and then I'm taking a high-speed rail to le mans and doing the 24-hour race, which I've done two years in a row. Now this is my third year I'm I'm starting to train for that again. So I'm going through the whole series of okay, this is what I gotta do, work on the stabilizing and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Oh, excuse me so now, with that, with the bosu ball, you're talking about using the flat side or the?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so basically you flip it over so the flat side's up top, and then you safely get on it. You get in a skater position. What I typically like doing too is, when you're on it, squatting down, holding for 30 seconds, then popping up, breathe, then repeating that about 10 to 15 times. Okay, so you're getting that muscle burn everything Plus, you know, the more reps you go into, you start seeing really the wobbling stuff like that. You know, and that's telling you, hey, I'm really working out these muscles that I'm weak on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, nice. And what are your thoughts about doing yoga? Because I started doing yoga just especially for, like, the hip flexors and some of the balancing stuff they have there. I look like I'm back in the 89 earthquake in California.
Speaker 3:Well, I actually got a funny story about the earthquake. My sister was almost on that bridge that collapsed.
Speaker 2:My cousin just drove off and watched it collapse in his rear view.
Speaker 3:So that's funny. So my sister was actually running late. There's a Coast Guard station. She was in the Coast Guard and she was about to get on there and it collapsed. Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:Love it. She was late for work, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so, so yeah, doing yoga is wonderful, you know, definitely workout hip flexors, you know. And what I like about yoga, you can always modify it. Yeah. With you know, because not everybody is same flexible, trust me. I dated a yoga instructor one time man. She put me to shame shame. We always think we're flexible until we meet that person yeah, and I'm looking at her going nope, nope, not happening so did she like was this while you were skating at the time, or was this before you're skating?
Speaker 3:no, this is why I was skating um and stuff like that. And she we met actually she was a triathlete, okay, and we, we, uh I do charity work for this local charity for adults with disabilities, so you know we push people and stuff like that. Uh get them involved in, you know, you know activities like that. So we actually met uh training and then you know activities like that. So we actually met uh training and then you know, we started dating and stuff like that.
Speaker 3:And let me tell you she was more intense than I was.
Speaker 2:Now did she help you like with flexibility for skating. Does she like come up?
Speaker 3:with some stuff for you oh yeah, yeah, she got, she got me some good, you know um, you know definitely you know work. You know it's always what skaters are hip flexors yeah you know, you know, it's always what skaters are hip flexors. Yeah, you know. You know if you're in a skating position you're squatting down for a long time. You know, and typically most skaters forget to stretch.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's, it's. I've been really bad about stretching and now with uh, the first uh race for the roller blade series May 31st it's, it's getting in. I'm going in twice a week and then some of the strength and conditioning classes I'm doing, we're doing stretching in there and for some reason I keep in showing up on leg day Lots and lots of squats. So now, when it comes to like weight training, like, what do you do as far as weight training goes? Do you do squats or do you do hip thrusts, or what do we got?
Speaker 3:So you know there's two parts of doing weight training with your legs. For example, there's the, you know, traditional leg presses. Leg presses are awesome for building up your legs because you can do so many different exercises targeting different of your quads. You know most skaters eventually will develop a big vmo, so that's like your fourth quad muscle. Yeah, it helps. It helps keep the patella tracking aligned so you don't get knee pain and everything like that. And you know you can do single leg exercises like that. So what typically what I do? When I, in fact, I got to go to the gym after this Me too, you know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I'll get on the leg press, I'll do. And you know what I don't do ego lifting anymore. I used to do that where I would slap on a whole bunch of weight going. Oh yeah, look what I can do. You know, sometimes lighter is you get more doing lighter weights.
Speaker 3:I, I agree and doing correct form and everything like that so you know, typically I'd start out with 245, just a warm-up, then progress up to, you know, five to six plates on each side, then then pyramid down back, and then I would take all the weights off, put on 145 usually have a starting weight of 116 and then I would take all the weights off, put on 145, usually have a starting weight of 116. And then I would do you know about four or five sets of single leg press. Okay, and then also too, you know, everybody forgets to like so when you're on a leg press, typically people just put their feet, just like this. Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know you actually have to do wide in up down because you're targeting different leg muscles. When you're doing that, you're hitting your glutes more in one positioning and stuff like that, and there's so many good charts out there that will show you good leg positioning Nice.
Speaker 2:And so Go ahead. Oh, go ahead. I was going to say do you believe in squats too? Oh yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Squats are everything. I mean you have to do squats, yeah. The funny thing is like, for example, I know when I need to do squats because I'll look in the mirror and I go oh, I don't have my skater butt anymore. Okay, time to do squats.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I actually made that comment last night we were doing I was sitting next to this girl on one of the things I'm like, oh, I'm sorry, my butt's in the way, and she's like, oh, I don't have one. I was like I do, it's all the squats, and so it was Yep, yep, but so what are some other exercises that you recommend specifically for skaters?
Speaker 3:Well, I love doing single leg dips Okay.
Speaker 3:You know you find yourself like a box or something. Throw one leg on there and go through the form of doing your skater motion and you know you do about four sets of 10 on those. Box jumps are wonderful for explosion, especially off the line, definitely off the line. That's one of my favorite things to do is run off the line. Um, typically I'd get called out for jumping. It was when I was racing a lot. It was almost a given I was going to jump and then I would be put back four feet and but I'd still win the start. Yeah, dude, I'm like a bulldozer, I'll knock people out of my way and actually that's right now.
Speaker 3:I'll be training with astro again starting tomorrow, uh, up in tampa.
Speaker 2:So getting back into that kind of fun and that's to get ready for that 24-hour marathon yeah, it's just you know.
Speaker 3:And the cool thing to answer your question, yes, and the the thing I've always been taught is you train for what you race. So, for instance, if you're skating a marathon, you skate a marathon. The 24-hour race is a 2.4-mile track in Le Mans, france. Yeah, you know, the first 600 meters is a 6% incline, so coming from Florida, that hurts. Thank God we have a place called well, we have a ring. It's called the Ringling Bridge. Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's very nice. It goes over the intercoastal. So on the weekends now I'm taking my skates with me. So after I'm done treating patients, I go right around the corner and I just start doing sprints up those things. Okay, Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and what is some advice? Because my coach has actually mentioned doing the 24 hour race. I don't think I'm comfortable this year with doing it. Actually I know I'm not just for a fact, but what's some advice to actually prep for that thing?
Speaker 3:Well, so basically it's a relay, so you're not doing okay yeah, you're not doing.
Speaker 3:But but I'm not saying there's actually people that do go there and skate 24 hours all by themselves. In fact, there was a guy who he's. Now I'll kind of explain one thing. This guy named chris gale. Um, he's from Europe and he's, um, he skated, he does this, uh, charity, um, that he was supporting. So he was dressed in a flamingo outfit, an inflatable flamingo outfit, for a whole 24 hours, oh wow, and doing laps and laps and laps coolest guy.
Speaker 3:So the first year I did the race, we went under my uniform, which is the Florida Inline Skating Uniform. Okay, and every year since that we raced under that on my brand. And then this year we have a total of five teams going this year. So the last two years it's only been a team of nine and ten. Now this time we have a team of 32. Okay, racing different levels. So it gives us a higher degree of placing, which is going to be pretty cool because, you know, one, it helps promote the marathon that I throw here in Sarasota. It gives us more exposure. But two, it looks really cool because each group has a different color uniform.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So when we do, when we do so, the first thing you do when you do the lap, so the race starts at four o'clock, but right before that at three o'clock, you do kind of a parade lap around the whole thing and that's where you also hold. You know, like from the United States, this year I'll be holding the U? S flag.
Speaker 3:Uh, in fact, chad Hendrick was out there last year waving everybody Nice, which is pretty cool. Yeah, it was pretty cool. I've met him quite a few times over the years and it was kind of cool to see him and you know him a little bit again, yeah, but uh, I would highly recommend doing it. It's one of the coolest things you'll ever. I mean, it's just so cool, it's so different. It's a lot of fun. Yeah, and if you do go, let me know, I'll tell you, I'll guide you through this I'll probably be part of your team.
Speaker 2:I'll perfect, like master is, a little bit earlier because I want to do the relay where I can take a nap, because me going 24 hours, I don't know yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, what we do with that is that, say, all 10 of us yeah. We'll skate for about six hours. Okay. Then we start breaking off in groups of four to five. Okay, you have a three-hour nap time, go take your nap. Go feel Go eat Bl five. Okay, you have a three hour nap time. Oh, go take your nap. Go feel go eat blah, blah, blah. Then when they rejoin the next group, so everybody's getting you know rest and stuff like that.
Speaker 3:But let me tell you, and you're usually typically skating every 45 to 50 minutes. You know cause you're going through the line. Yeah, because you're going through the line. Yeah, you have plenty of time to rest. It's just. It's an amazing experience. Plus, it's on the famous f1 track in le mans, france oh nice yeah, and then, three weeks prior to that, they do the uh f1 series there and every every year there's always celebrities out there, like one year lebron james was out there hanging out and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:I thought you said celebrities.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, well, yeah, well, when he's not crying on the floor. But I mean, you have, you know, people like Tom Cruise out there and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Nice.
Speaker 3:So now.
Speaker 2:Oh, go ahead. I was going to say when I have an advantage being on the team being from Colorado and the training up here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I mean I think I'm at a disadvantage because we're at sea level or below. Yeah, I remember when I would go to Colorado Springs and, you know, race at outdoor nationals and then I'd come back to Florida and race. Oh my god, man, my lungs were awesome.
Speaker 2:I was like Did you come out early for nationals and get some training in at the altitude first?
Speaker 3:Okay, yeah, my sister lives. Uh, well, at one time she did live in Colorado Springs. Okay, I would go and stay at her house and just skate around and just hang out for a week or two.
Speaker 2:Nice? Yeah, it's. It took me a little while. I moved from California and it took me a little while to adapt. So it's like working on the cardio, um, just getting used to skating, cause I, like you, I took a long break and started up again actually, uh, right at the end of 2023. Yeah, so, and then I I did speed skating like early nineties and but wasn't coached then. So it was kind of like learn as you go, wasn't doing the exercise in the gym. So it's cool to see how far things have come. And, with your background, I had to pick your brain because we got so many skaters and so many people. All they do is skate to train and a lot of people don't do the gym side of things and so do you do a lot of I can't even say dry land training, because when you're an inline skater, it's dry land anyways, but yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:In fact, when I go train with Astro tomorrow, we're doing, you know they do a lot of plyometrics first. Okay, they do a lot of plyometrics, first for the first hour and then skate the second hour. Yeah, I kind of like that because I've seen different aspects of how teams train. No-transcript I, if I get back into skating like really competitive again, I'm going to take like two to three weeks off and go down to Columbia and train down there, because they train like two to three times a day. It's, it's nuts.
Speaker 2:I've seen the videos. It's a. It's intense too, and it's almost like how things used to be back in the USSR, where they get them really young, yeah, and it just looks like a Kung Fu school of skaters, yeah.
Speaker 3:And like when I go there, I'm like in fact I was there, I was in Bogota and there's a team down there called Royal Royal skate and they're really cool people down there. Claudia and her husband, I was watching. They're like yeah, you can practice with us anytime. And I'm watching the little ones. I'm like dude, your little ones will kick my ass right now.
Speaker 2:I'm scared to go up. That's why it's nice being in my 50s. I'm like, yeah, I'm older than you guys, so I'm not far behind man.
Speaker 3:I'm 40. I'll be 48 in June.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So now, what's what's especially with like with the marathon, since you put on a marathon? Um, my coach gave me some skin suits cause I'm not exactly small, so finding stuff my size, but it's got the pockets in the back. So what would? What little snacks would I take on a marathon to fuel myself during the marathon? That would fit in those pockets.
Speaker 3:So like I would go to a cycle shop or I mean even amazon, you know they have those little gel packets and like when I would do triathlons, oh, my god, yeah, I would load up on, you know, simple sugar stuff. That would just give me that burst of energy when I need it. Um, you know, um they have like these gum, they even have like gum and stuff like you chew. It gives you like this little burst of energy. So anything like that, okay, anything that would give you, oh, especially, especially number one thing, if you're doing a marathon electrolytes. So I one time I was training, uh, I did a 54 mile bike ride and I didn't take enough salt.
Speaker 3:Okay, and take salt pack like little um, uh they have like, uh, it was like it looks like it comes in a candy box, you know like things you can pop in your mouth. Because the worst thing you can do and this happened to me my legs cramped up and I literally, oh my, it was the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. I literally I didn't fall off my bike, but it came really close of tipping over and then one of the other cyclists knew exactly what was going on, gave me a salt pellet and, oh, my legs were fine again. Yeah, it reacts that fast.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's good, Good to know. So I'm taking my own notes on this stuff too right now. So now, have you had any like been in any major Cause? I've fallen a couple of times in practice. Have you had any like major falls while skating?
Speaker 3:Oh, dude. Yes, I mean, I told you about my ankle fracture. Yeah, Um let me list my injuries Uh, ankle ac separation. I fell on my shoulder. Oh, um, I dislocated my thumb. I had surgery and this happened at practice. Um, I was doing cone drills and my thumb just went down like an accordion. I thought I broke it and I just I popped it back in place.
Speaker 3:Then I had to get surgery to reattach the tendon uh I was racing outdoors at this place called the pad it's in tampa and I was coming out of a corner and my feet, literally, was like a cartoon. It just slipped from under me and my head went boom like that thank god, the helmet did exactly what it was supposed to do. So the helmet, when I hit the ground, didn't crack on this side, it cracked on the other side. So it distributed the force.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:And otherwise I would have been messed up. And with that man I remember getting up, falling back down, and I had to crawl back to my seat and just sit there for a while.
Speaker 2:Oh, head injuries are the worst, oh yeah. Yeah. Even when you don't think you're injured, the minute you start to move, you know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, everything just hurts and you're just like, nope, I'm good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's, it's. I fell in practice one time. I came off and I turned backwards and my foot just clipped the thing and ended up, like slamming on my head, landed on my butt. It's probably one of the only few times I've actually fallen on my butt, so as speed skaters, we don't usually fall backwards, we fall forwards, right.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:We do the tumble Exactly. So now I know my reasons for shaving my legs and having hairless legs while skating. Do you do the same thing?
Speaker 3:um yeah yes yes, I do. I haven't done it in a while. Um, like, if I'm just out skating, normally you know having a good time? No, no, I mean recreational skating. If I'm doing that. I'm not shaving, but if I'm in train mode, like which I'm getting into, yeah, you know, the only problem is I'm a hairy Greek, so it takes forever.
Speaker 2:Just go get waxed, you'll be fine.
Speaker 3:Dude, it's so exhausting.
Speaker 2:Well, it's funny, I've explained to people because they think it makes us more aerodynamic, and for me it's when you fall that hair getting ripped out, you increase your chances of infection. It hurts more because it rips, because it grabs the asphalt. So that's actually the real reason behind it People.
Speaker 3:So I'm going to be next week. I'm starting to swim again. Swimming's great for cardio, for it, and it helps you speed skate, like when I started doing triathlons and learned how to swim properly and everything. Then, getting on my skates, I was like, holy crap, man, this is awesome. You control you know. Swimming's basically breathing. Yeah, if you can control your breathing and it, swimming did something that no other sport has ever done. It helped me slow myself down and breathe correctly. Okay, how to time myself better and where I was going with that is, I'm definitely gonna be shaving for swimming one. I look like a hairy ape when I'm in the pool, so I don't want to look like that when I'm coming out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just water dripping everywhere.
Speaker 3:Yeah, using the hair dryer all over so yeah, I mean it's great, it's a built-in coat, so I don't get cold but, no, it's like holy shit man so now do you shave your arms too when you skate dude, just I shave everything, man. Okay, it all comes off. Now do you shave your arms too?
Speaker 2:when you skate too. I shave everything, man, okay it all comes off. Now, do you actually shave or do you wax?
Speaker 3:Oh, I shave.
Speaker 2:Okay, I've done the waxing before.
Speaker 3:Well, like when it comes to my legs, I'll do the nare. Okay, I'll nare up my legs and then I'll go back and kind of fine tune everything. But what also works good too is I bought one of these big ass. It has like razors on it. I got it off Amazon for like back hair. Yeah, the big handle. Dude that thing. Let me tell you right off.
Speaker 1:Nice.
Speaker 3:It's less effort and I'm like when I first bought one and did it, I'm like, wow, this was pretty cool all over yeah, it's, I've seen those.
Speaker 2:I just never ordered one, so, oh, they're worth it. So now with like marathons training and stuff and we were just talking about swimming do you recommend people adding that to their training regimen? Oh yeah. And how many days a week would you say?
Speaker 3:Uh, it depends on your goals. Like what I would always say, you know, two times a week for swimming. Okay.
Speaker 3:Your body still needs rest and, you know, depending on your age, I mean, well, for example, when I was training so where I kind of back up real quick where I live at here in Sarasota, it's an amazing place so I was training at a place called the Sarasota Sarasota Sharks. Yeah, out of that place just happened to be some of the current Olympians, current and past Olympians from these past couple Olympics. Ok, you know, and you're getting all this level of you know, of expertise there, which was cool. But when I would watch the little kids swim, I mean they're training, they're doing doubles two days every day, double practices. Yeah, okay, good for them. They have the energy. When you get my age and your age no, yeah.
Speaker 3:So two days, good, hour, hour, hour and a half, you know do, I would say a thousand meters, okay, swimming, do 100 meters, or whatever you're comfortable with, but like with me, I like breaking it up doing 100 meter, you know, uh, laps freestyle the whole time, or do you throw on breaststroke and backstroke and butterfly?
Speaker 3:I only know how to swim freestyle and doggy paddle, and the reason I say that? I got a funny joke with it. So when I first got into a triathlon, I was invited by this woman. I liked, so we did the triathlon and I got cocky. I got so cocky I'm like, I'm a speed skater, I can, I can swim 400 meters. What's that? That's nothing, dude. It took me 45 minutes and by like the last 100 meters I was doggy paddling, I was, I was about to die, oh and then. But then when I got on my bike, I was in heaven. I was like, okay, this is my happy spot, I'm catching up to everybody. And then the run. Run was easy. But when I left, that triathlon.
Speaker 3:I go oh, I got to learn how to swim. That's not going to happen to me again. I look so bad.
Speaker 2:So our parents, mine and my aunt's signed us all up for swim team when we were younger, because we all had asthma. Because we all had asthma. Oh so, and then it's funny, because the cousins that swam outgrew the asthma and the cousins that didn't still have asthma.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know something to say with. You know, when you're building a respiratory, especially and that's what I'm saying with swimming, it builds up your lungs. I never had, for example, one thing my back grew, which helped me out skating. I was able to support myself better, yeah.
Speaker 2:And two, the lung capacity I felt was greater just from holding your breath for until you take that next breath yeah, well or not, not so much holding your breath, but timing out.
Speaker 3:Like with swimming, you're timing out your strokes, yeah, you know. So think about what you do with skating when you step and you're gliding, you know you're breathing, you know glide with your steps, so it, and the timing just came so much better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly. So now, usually when the weekend comes up, you can tell me no or yes. Usually my workout on a Saturday is I do a deep stretch class, kind of like yoga, and then on Sundays we'll go for a hike. So we'll just. Those are like my rest days, just cause, you know, like this Sunday, last Sunday we did five and a half miles, so and I mean that's not bad.
Speaker 3:I mean you know you're enjoying yourself. I mean you know I would always say, though, just keep one day and in fact this was taught to me by a swim coach who trained a couple Olympians over at the Sharks. She goes you need one day of absolutely doing nothing. And I go what does that mean? She goes sit on your ass, eat your favorite potato chips and do nothing. Your body just needs to rest. That's kind of hard.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I know, and I would talk to her. Her name was Daphne, I go, daphne, I go. Do you know how much I work? Right, yeah, resting me is like five, 20 minutes. You know, naps here and there.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'll get my sleep. I'll do like a 10 hour sleep on the weekend, that's not a problem. Oh jeez, I wish I had that. Well, it's funny. Once I got one of the Casper mattresses I can sleep fine now.
Speaker 3:Really, I might have to invest in one.
Speaker 2:But so what is your skate, what is your setup?
Speaker 3:Oh, so I have David's Simmons's you know simmons racing. I have simmon boots, I have a bont uh frame um and, depending on what I'm doing, like if I'm skating indoors 110 millimeter wheels okay if I'm skating outdoors like marathon, wise 125, like I'm going to be in Duluth, so are you going to Duluth?
Speaker 2:I'm doing Duluth. That's the fourth race in the series.
Speaker 3:Okay, so yeah, we'll meet up there. You'll see my setup, but usually 125 with my long-distance stuff. But I can't skate indoors on 125. You build up so much speed and momentum it's hard to control.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's why I finally got the four wheel frames for with 110 millimeter wheels, but my setup is 125. Yeah, so.
Speaker 3:I love 125 training outdoor all day long, every day. But like for instance, right now I'm skating on 110s because I'm starting out again and I want to make sure I have foot placement right, control right, tempo right and everything. And then once I get faster and stuff like that, but like when I go, to france, oh yeah my, my uh 125s are going on yeah, all four of the rollerblade series.
Speaker 2:I'm using the 125s because, like the first, the first race is st paul, minnesota, and that's 11 miles, and the three after that are all 26 miles, so want to want to get through it, just because I always say I'm going to do it. And like I planned on duluth, last year didn't get to do it, um, but this year definitely, and then eventually I want to hit the one in Berlin too.
Speaker 3:Let me tell you. If you go to Berlin, let me know. So our race is part of the World Inline Cup. Yeah.
Speaker 3:So we're associated with them and we have not only the cool time, like you're skating with 4,000 people I mean, I've literally jumped in the packs where nobody spoke English. But we all had this common goal we knew how to communicate with each other and you know you pace out. And what I love about that race more than anything is, no matter your skill level, where you're at, you're always going to find a place to jump in at. You know in a pack and you know draft and stuff like that, and then afterwards.
Speaker 3:You know the after parties are fun. I mean, the last two times I was there I was hanging out with mark swings him and I oh man, it was a blast nice.
Speaker 2:Now, what are the races on the world cup series?
Speaker 3:so you're one of them, berlin's one of them oh god, I would have to literally pull that up here, let me. Let me do that real quick, if my computer is working. World Inline Cup. I know they put out the schedule. I'm the last. Well, technically I'm an associated race. So I'm not technically a points race, which we're working on becoming a points race. Let's see World Inline Cup. Let's see World Inline Cup. Let's see. Let's see if this has a schedule All right On the website. Whoops, all right, oh, here's the official page.
Speaker 3:I wasn't on the official page, so it's here we go, we are. So June 2nd is Portugal the class one, okay. June 9th is France, that's a class one. Then August 10th is a top class, is China, then it's Switzerland class one in October 17th or August 17th, sorry. Then Berlin on the 28th and then my race is on the 20th. Well, oh, they need to fix that Whoopsie. Oh, actually I think this is last year's schedule. Oops, sorry, I was going to say that.
Speaker 2:Berlin was the weekend after Duluth.
Speaker 3:Duluth, yeah, which the first year I did Duluth, I did Duluth and Berlin. Uh-huh. Oh my God, Let me tell you that was painful. Okay, sorry. Well, actually it's kind of similar. So March 23rd, which was Portugal, which was just last month, yeah, may 25th is France, june 9th is Switzerland, uh, china is to be announced. The 20th is berlin and then november 8th is my race, okay it's possible that I might be able to do yours this year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, come on down, man, let me know. I've got the girlfriend that she's like, yeah, I'll go to the races with you just because she gets to travel. But she's like I can't take that much time off and I'm like, well, it's like we leave friday and then come back sunday. I mean we won't get a whole lot of time to spin, but at least get a couple of you know a couple days out there and maybe come back on a later flight right, oh yeah.
Speaker 3:So I know that lifestyle. So this year is going to be different for me. I'm a full time employee with one company I work for, yeah, so I'm acquiring all this PTO time now and like I was looking at my France trip, because usually when I go to France I'm like, okay, I can leave here, come back here, I'm only missing a couple days of work, you know, it's not that bad. Now I'm like now. I'm now. I'm like, oh crap, I can stay here and get paid exactly it's nice when you have that option yeah, so we're, uh, my buddy.
Speaker 3:I have a good friend named ivan guzman. We actually, him and I, met in china. We're the only americans and we've been friends ever since back in 2017. So him and I've traveled all over the world skating, partying. So him and I that's like my partner in crime, so anywhere, like if I go, hey, ivan, there's a race next month, let's go. It's like, all right, sure, let's go.
Speaker 2:Nice. Now do you use supplements as part of your regimen? Oh, supplements are everything. Yes, what's your supplements of?
Speaker 3:Well, so mine's different just because I had a test done. So I would advise everybody to find out what they're deficient on, first of all, because everybody has some type of deficiency. Mine was three things really bad. Mine was vitamin D, vitamin B and my iron were very low. So I definitely take high doses of those. And I stress that when I say I want everybody to find out what works for them, because you don't want to take too much of something and get sick. Yeah, continue working against that. So you know a simple blood work and make sure your doctor knows too to test for it, because some doctors don't. And you've got to be specific, and it's one of those things I've learned over the years. You tell them hey, I want to test out this, this, this, this and this, and typically they'll come back. And ever since I was, you know, I started adding supplements of those targeted vitamins. I felt better, way better.
Speaker 2:Okay Now. Do you use creatine at all, or?
Speaker 3:Yes, I use creatine uh, like gummies. Okay, um, I take two to three in the morning and those were. They're just simple, because I'm not good with the powder stuff. It's just you know I'm like, okay, I got to get out the door. Let me just you know I don't want to mix all this crap, let me just go.
Speaker 2:Well, if it comes in good flavors it makes it kind of nice, because then you get that extra water while you're drinking. So cause I?
Speaker 3:mean when I was doing creatine, where I'd mix it I'd get the odorless and tasteless Okay. And then you know you can mix it in anything. So you know, go to your Starbucks and get your freaking. Was it dragon fruit refresh? Step on that.
Speaker 2:I've actually been drinking tea. I haven't been doing Red Bulls, I haven't been doing coffee. I've actually been doing tea in the morning.
Speaker 3:Well, that's actually really good. And uh, I actually could tell you some studies recently. So they've seen, doctors have seen an increase in colon cancer and they're contributing to people drinking a lot of energy drinks. Okay, um, yeah, they've seen it scarily like really bad in young people. And I'm talking, you know, colon cancer usually shows up in your early forties and so up. They're seeing it in their twenties. Oh, wow. Then they start analyzing okay, what are these people drinking? What are they doing? What's your lifestyle? And most often it's, you know, they're taking large amounts of energy drinks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that stuff's just toxic anyways, man yeah, I will have to talk to my 17 year old because he kind of half lives on those things so yeah, no, yeah because he can't do coffee, because he, like I guess he gets the coffee that's too acidic, so it doesn't agree with his stomach. Right and um, I saw this thing on tiktok and it's called the five treasures tea.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I've actually been doing that yeah, I've been doing that and it's, uh, it's, it's doing wonders. And then one of the things that I like, especially when I'm older, is I take cayenne pepper too, yes, for that circulation especially.
Speaker 3:I'll tell you after we're done, but, um, yeah, yeah, it's actually just I started on monday and just the differences I've noticed so you know what I, you know what I've started doing and um, like before an event, just to wake up or even like, say, if I have to train in the morning, I I typically don't like training in the morning, but if I have to do the work, yeah I get. I get those. You can buy them off Amazon. It's smelling salts.
Speaker 3:Oh those will wake you up and you know, definitely I wasn't using them before races, but I'm going to incorporate that when I start racing again. So just, I mean, they keep you focused, they wake you up.
Speaker 2:What about carrying it like while you're doing a marathon, just in your back pocket?
Speaker 3:Can you do?
Speaker 2:that or do they not allow it?
Speaker 3:Oh no, I mean you can do it. I mean, basically, what comes down the rules is you're not supposed to have headphones. Wink wink, you know. I mean, if you're a world-class skater, no, you can't have headphones or anything like that.
Speaker 2:But you know, average Joes like us, yeah, Good to know, because, 26 miles is a long time and it's like what hour and a half hour and 45 minutes if you're a decent skater.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think the one of the first time I did the marathon I was in China and you kind of get lost. Marathon I was in China, you kind of get lost, I don't know, I have ADHD. When I was skating I was like, ooh, look at that temple. Ooh, look at that, oh crap.
Speaker 2:I'm racing.
Speaker 4:You're one of those people that's like you got your camera out and you're videoing stuff as you're skating by.
Speaker 2:Yeah, probably how you really broke your ankle. Huh yeah, you were too. Probably how you really broke your ankle.
Speaker 3:Huh yeah, you're too busy looking at that temple on the on the mountainside yeah, that was a cool experience being able to go to that, because, uh, not only so, there was a. There's a lady named angelina wong um, everybody knows her in europe and in china and asia and she saw, you know, my daughter and I racing, because my daughter, you know, at the time when, uh, she was seven, she's been racing since she was four she stopped racing around 10, but in that time, you know, she invited us over. She would, aaron, would do, uh, a 10k race.
Speaker 3:You know I'd do the marathon and angelina would invite us over to pay, for they basically pay all your expenses you just got to pay for your hotel room, okay, and she would also give you 400 bucks. So it was like wait a minute. You're telling me I get to come to here, meet all these cool people race, and you're going to pay me $400? Okay, sign me up.
Speaker 2:When's the date? Just let me know.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, they're starting to slowly start that up again because I was getting invited but at the time when, just recently, I'm like I'm not in that shape to even, you'll be wasting your money on me, I don't want you to do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'll get back there, don't worry, I've got faith in our age. So now, who has been your biggest influence of skating?
Speaker 3:oh boy uh, well, you know, actually when I got back into skating, uh, jared paul okay uh, you know he raced the local circuit around here and you know him and I, he would give me great advice, great encouragement. Uh, tony, um, my old coach, uh, coaches from astral, you know astral, like johanna and stuff like that, eric um, just, you know what I, you know what I. What I love about skating is no matter where you're at.
Speaker 3:If you share that, you're never alone exactly you meet all these cool people and you know. That's why I encourage everybody to travel and skate, because, dude, I mean like I, for instance, and I'm not trying to, this is not like me bragging, but like if I wanted to go to London and be like.
Speaker 3:Hey, I want to come to London and hang out. I called my fellow skaters go over to london hang out. You know they'll take care of you and you guys skate and have a good time and that's like that all over the world. Like yeah, when I was going down to columbia a lot and uh brazil oh my god they welcome you like family.
Speaker 2:It's awesome yeah, it's, that's. The nice thing about skating is we're just one giant skate family. It doesn't matter what your style or what you choose to do. We're all accepting. But every once in a while you do have that one redheaded stepchild that just wants to start crap.
Speaker 3:So yeah, yeah, I mean some of my good friends. In fact, the people I'm skating with in france are mostly live in, uh, england, okay, and you know, and they're you know, from all cultures. Some are from poland, some are from Ireland, but they reside in London. It's really cool just to meet up back with them and be like, hey, let's party and have a good time. Let's catch up. Some of the people I met from that group I met actually in Germany skating and stuff like that. Some people recognize me from the advertising I'm doing for my race, cause I, you know, I always promote my race, so I'm wearing my skin suit. People would flag me down and go, oh, you're Mike. I'm like, yeah, what's up, let's go party.
Speaker 2:There you go, so I'm. That's one of the things, and the nice thing is is with turning this into a business. Yeah, all the traveling, all the racing I do, all tax write-off.
Speaker 3:Yes. Yes it is. And you know, like my race director, I want to mention him, rick Abrahamsen. He's one of the original people who started North Shore. Okay, you know he's been. I can't even tell you how phenomenal he's been with helping out this race, promoting it, giving ideas, making it really sharp and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Nice, yeah. So now we always have new skaters coming into the fold and want to and want to race. What is some advice you can give to them, for the new up and comers, or even people my age that are just now getting into it, because I've been to the rink with 80 year olds that are still skating, so dude, we have 80 year olds that compete in the marathon, which which I love to see because kind of sidetrack.
Speaker 3:When I treat my patients and they're 80 years old and they're complaining about oh I can't do this, I literally shut them down going. You know, I have eight-year-olds that escape miracles, so basically shut up, yeah exactly. But the one thing I tell people is I know this is going to sound corny, but have fun. If you're not having fun, you can't enjoy it. Let me. Let me tell you why you're having fun. Everything else will just follow. Yeah, train better, you'll get stronger.
Speaker 3:More opportunities will come because, that radiates out of you if you're having fun and enjoying, it becomes an addiction.
Speaker 2:You want to skate, you want to have a good time yeah, exactly like I always say friday night is skate night, saturday night is date night, yep, but yeah, that's like the one thing. Um, there's a documentary a while back called trophy kids. I don't know if you saw it, it was on hbo it's the same.
Speaker 2:Did you ever see bigger, stronger, faster? Yeah, yeah, same guy did that one and what, what it is. It's like the parents that push so hard on their kids, just, and I think as adults, we realize that a lot of the times when we played sports when we were younger is what our parents wanted us to do, not what we wanted to do Right Cause I wanted to play hockey. I never got to play hockey, right.
Speaker 3:So well, you know it's funny. You say that because with my daughter, you know, I was married and skating was a very big you know getting personal here, it was a very big problem because I loved it, my younger daughter loved it, my middle or my oldest, my stepdaughter, you know, she liked it. She wasn't great at it, but I always gave them options of OK, you know I'm not pushing you or forcing you to do this.
Speaker 3:You know, if you want to try other things, try other things. You know they cheerlead, you know they did other stuff, you know, and like my daughter now she doesn't skate but she does color garden. She's really good at that, you know, would I do. I hope maybe she comes back to it, maybe, but I'm gonna leave it up to her. Yeah, make that choice for herself, because if I push it, then it who's dreaming my living, mine or hers?
Speaker 2:yeah, exactly now. Are you honest with your kids when they ask advice? For hey, I want to do this or this as a sport?
Speaker 2:I'm brutally honest I actually got yelled at from the ex-wife for that, because my 17-year-old came to me and he's stocky like me and he goes I don't know whether to do basketball or wrestling and I go do wrestling because you're going to suck at basketball and the backlash I got from his mother was like oh my God, I'm like just chill out. And he actually ended up going all the way and placing second in states in eighth grade varsity freshman year. Yeah, had a nickname that his coach gave them called the prodigy, but he, after he lost his grandparents, he quit. But yeah, it seems like everything he does he excels at and I think a lot of that is because if they do a sport when they're younger, they get that work ethic that a lot of kids don't have nowadays that want to play video games all day.
Speaker 3:Oh my God. I can go on and on about that mentality of like I, for example. I grew up, my dad was. My dad raised four kids by himself. We weren't rich, so we appreciate everything. We played, had fun when my dad was able to afford skating lessons. We cherished that.
Speaker 3:We're like hey, we're going to go and try hard. Kids, nowadays there's an expectation, entitlement of things. Nobody wants to work hard for it anymore. Everybody wants things handed to them and it drives me insane, like with my daughter. I look at her and laugh at her. When she starts wanting things, I go yo you do. That's great, you want it. What are you going to do to earn it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly so it's nice when they do have that work ethic. And yeah, here's a little preaching about my daughter. I talked to her yesterday and found out that she enlisted in the navy and she leaves for boot camp and this is one that had kind of the pardine pass. She's 24 now. She gave up all those ways so she could make sure she passed the drug test that she and now it's like you, that's like a proud father moment, and it's not something I pushed her into. That was completely her decision and she gets to travel the world and get paid Dude.
Speaker 3:She's going to love the discipline. I mean, I honestly think everybody should go in the military. Yeah. Just for the experience of getting trained, getting the discipline regimen, kids thrive better. I mean there's so many studies when kids have structure they thrive ten times better versus oh yeah, you do whatever you know. Blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly. So now how can my listeners follow you and also sign up for your marathon?
Speaker 3:Okay, real easy. So we're on all social media, tiktok, uh, facebook, instagram, youtube. I have a youtube channel which I gotta update some videos, but our website is floridainlineskatingmarathoncom. Really easy, you'll see. We have tabs where it's very easy to navigate. And you know, we I think the last tab is the registration tab, see the last of first. But anyways, you know, click on that shows you what the current price is for different races. So we have the full marathon. Well, we have a full marathon plus. So it's not exactly, it's a little bit more. Um, we just want to make sure everybody's going to get you know, their money's worth. Yeah, so we, we have a, you know, half marathon plus a 13k plus and stuff like that okay we also have a 5k.
Speaker 3:We actually made it. Uh, we have a 5k just for kids. You know that's been actually gaining a lot of traction because you know a lot of um parents who, you know, young kids I actually I'll have to show you some pictures of that. But you know a lot of parents who, you know, young kids I actually I'll have to show you some pictures of that. But you know they're not great skaters, but they'll do one lap around Benerson park and they love it, they. You know it's an achievement and you know parents will do it with them, so it's a good bonding moment.
Speaker 2:Yeah, nice, so I appreciate you coming on the show today. Yeah, thank you. Thank you, since we finally made it happen. Exactly, a little bit of scheduling First week was you, second week was me, third week we made it happen you, thank you, thank you.