Well: The Workout: Speedskating With Eddy Alvarez

The Workout

An inside look at fitness routines, by Anahad O'Connor.

Being a successful short-track speedskater is no easy feat. Members of the United States team follow a grueling schedule that involves up to eight hours of training, six days a week.

They lift weights, they run and they cycle. And they practice racing around a rink at 40 miles an hour on two razor-sharp blades.

We asked Eddy Alvarez, who will be competing in his first Olympics in Sochi, Russia, in February, to take us through a speedskater's workout.

Nicknamed Eddy the Jet, Mr. Alvarez, 23, started roller-skating as a child while growing up in Miami, then transitioned to ice. He has won national and World Cup medals in speedskating. But his career was nearly derailed two years ago by devastating knee injuries, which required surgery that left him bedridden for a month. His doctor told him he might never skate again.

But Mr. Alvarez bounced back, and he is now considered a top prospect heading into the Olympics. Recently, we caught up with him at the Olympic Oval training facility in Salt Lake City to talk about how he trains six to eight hours a day to prepare for a 42-second race, how a "dino disc" helps prevent injuries and why he is superstitious about what he eats before a competition. Here is an edited version of our conversation.

How long have you been skating?

I've been skating since I was 5; I used to speedskate on inline skates when I was little down in South Beach. I was kind of a side-street attraction. I was even sponsored by a skate shop in Miami. I would wear their logo and jump over boxes and skate around on the streets of South Beach.

How did you get into speedskating on ice?

Ice was introduced to me at the age of 7. I still remember the first time I tried it. I can't tell you exactly where it was, but I remember the feeling. It was quite a rush for me as a 7-year-old, gliding and going fast.

What are some of the physical demands of the sport?

The positions that we're in on the ice are, honestly, excruciating. We basically skate in a squat position, but what we try to do is become a compact ball. If you watch us skate, you'll that see our backs are curved. When people ask me how it feels, the best way I can describe it is to say go and do a wall-sit for 10 minutes and then stand up. That's how it feels.

What is a typical day like?

I'm in two places every day. I'm either at the Oval training, or I'm at my house sleeping. I know it'll be worth it in the end, but I really hope I don't miss my fun years.

What are some of your greatest achievements in skating so far?

It's been a very long road. But the biggest accomplishment that I've had would be coming back from my injury. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to face.

Can you tell us about your injury comeback?

I always had knee issues growing up. We thought it was because I grew very fast, very late. But during the 2009-2010 season, it got to a point where I couldn't finish workouts. I would come home and cry. But I would tell myself to push through it because it was the Olympic season and I had nothing to lose. So I overdid it.

I fell short of the 2010 Games and didn't make the team, and then I finally went to get my knees checked. I got an ultrasound, and it turned out that I had torn the patella tendons in my knees. I had a total of 12 tears in both knees. The doctor was impressed that I was even able to be in skating condition, because my patella tendons were like strings – dangling strings, basically.

Can you tell us about the physical preparation that goes into the sport?

We put in a lot of hours. We train six to eight hours a day to go race for 42 seconds. The reason we train this much is so our bodies can recover in between rounds of racing. In competitions, we usually skate six or eight rounds in a day, and it's usually 15 to 20 minutes of rest and then you're back at it again. It takes a toll on our bodies. Honestly, I always get sick after a competition. That's how much I put my body through. Unorthodox is the best word to describe our training and our sport.

Does it require some muscles more than others?

Our sport is very lower-body dominant. The less weight you carry in your upper body, the easier it is. Unfortunately, I carry a little more than everyone else because I have a baseball background. The muscles in my upper body are a little different than the typical short tracker.

It sounds like injuries are a big concern.

Injuries are huge for us. We are hitting speeds of roughly 40 miles per hour, and there's falls and crashes. The training takes a toll on our knees, our backs and our hamstrings. At the stage at which we compete, I don't think there's an athlete that's going to be 100 percent physically, with no injuries. We train our bodies every day, and it's just something that we have to accept.

Are there exercises you do to address these issues?

We do extra training on the side to strengthen our weaknesses. I like to do exercises on something that we call a "dino disc." It's a little rubber disc that has air in it, and when you step on it, it's like a balance tool. I work a lot with that to strengthen all the little muscles that we don't have the opportunity to strengthen and activate while we skate. We also do a lot of rubber-band exercises at the beginning of the season to strengthen the knees and the muscles around them. Then we pray that it holds up throughout the season.

What are some of your favorite land exercises?

We do a lot of jumping exercises, and we do things to develop our accuracy and our foot speed. We're trying to simulate what we do on the ice. So you'll find us doing exercises like "dry skating," which is basically just straight-away pushes on land to simulate the lactic acid that we build in our legs. And we do something called turn-belt exercises, where they strap a long belt around your waist that looks like a seatbelt, and then you have someone else holding the belt as you're simulating the lean that we have on the ice.

What about cardio?

We do a lot of cycling and running. We run or bike for 45 minutes to an hour two to three days a week, and during the summer we do four-hour bike rides twice a week. We ride all the mountains out here in Salt Lake City.

What is your approach to diet?

I try to cook and eat at home as much as possible so I can control the amount and type of oils I eat. One thing I like to use is coconut oil. I'm also a big fan of juicing vegetables. I absolutely hate eating them. So I stick them in a juicer with some fruit like an apple to sweeten it up and I chug it.

Some days, we just have to eat and eat and eat to be able to perform. We don't want to sell ourselves short by not eating enough. We slice through body fat, and we have to fuel our bodies. You're not going to find me at McDonald's or Wendy's. But I like to eat pasta and bread and carbs.

Are there certain foods you like to eat before a race or training?

I have a superstition. I don't like to eat red meat before a competition. When I was little, I was always told that red meat is hard to process and sits in your stomach. So during competitions I only eat chicken. I have this thought that the red meat will just sit in my stomach and make me heavier. So I eat chicken during competitions, and some white rice and pasta.

What will it mean to you to compete in Sochi?

I dream about standing on that podium, winning a medal. It would be such an accomplishment for me because of everything I had to go through. After my surgery, I went through depression. I wasn't on the ice for 24 months. It's been a long road for me, and it would mean a lot for my family. They've been there every step of the way. I owe it all to them, and if I succeed, the satisfaction of them being happy is the most important thing in the world to me.

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