Speed Skating With an Olympic Athlete

KEARNS, Utah <br/> Feb. 18, 2010&#151; -- Putting on a speed skating suit is sort of like squeezing a glove over a foot. It's not an easy task, and it sure doesn't feel natural.

I'm sure it gets simpler with some practice, but when I was handed a suit and told to be careful because they rip easily... well let's just say that didn't make it any less problematic.

Then came the skates. I have never been comfortable -- competent maybe, but not comfortable -- on ice skates. But these skates were long and sharper than anything I had ever worn before.

So why go through all this hassle? I had come to Kearns, Utah, just south of Salt Lake City, to experience what is lovingly called "The Fastest Ice on Earth."

The Utah Olympic Oval was the site of the speed skating events in the 2002 Winter Olympics. Thanks to Utah's high elevation there is less air resistance at this track than any other in the world except Calgary, Canada, home of the 1988 Winter Olympics.

To date, every single world speed skating record was set at Calgary or Salt Lake, with Salt Lake the site of the most records, making it the fastest place to skate on the planet. Vancouver's skating oval is at sea level, so don't expect any new world records to be set at this year's Olympics.

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To show me the ropes, Olympic speed skater Nick Pearson took some time out of his training schedule to lace up his skates with me.

"Speed skating is a sport that, if you watch it on TV, it's hard to actually see how fast we are going," said Pearson, 30. "For a sprinter, which is a 500-meter and a 1,000-meter skater, the guys get up to 40 miles an hour."

Of course, even with Pearson's expert tutelage I wouldn't be going that fast.