BRADENTON — Yes, you read that right. On a steamy Florida morning, far away from the dry heat of Salt Lake City and the familiarity of the Utah Olympic Oval ice rink, a group of U.S. speed skaters recently sweated through a workout on the IMG Academy track.
The group wasn’t made up of athletes training in for the NFL combine or part of the many elite soccer teams the sports training school draws to Florida. They were the national U.S. speedskating team, taking some time off from their headquarters in Salt Lake City for summer training in Bradenton.
“We just decided we were going to embrace it,” Olympian Sugar Todd said about the heat after a two-hour morning practice with IMG track coach Joice Maduaka, an Olympic runner and decorated British track star. Maduaka kept the team moving with a “Wicked Wednesday” workout, complete with “shin cradles,” lunges, sprints and exercises with weighted balls.
For the past two weeks, the long track United States speedskating team has trained with IMG track coaches Loren Seagrave and Maduaka and participated in the school’s mental conditioning and media relations classes.
“It’s like hitting the reset button,” said Todd, who competed in the 500 and 1000 meter races at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. “This is when we build our base for the competitive season.”
That starts in October, when the team begins to participate in world cups and championships before the two-year countdown to the next Winter Games. But for now, Todd said, it’s time to take these months of “less pressure” to focus on the things to change in competition. That is if the team survives the brutal Florida humidity.
Sugar Todd, left, trains with Brittany Bowe and other members of the U.S. long track speed skating team at IMG Academy in Bradenton on Wednesday. STAFF PHOTO/DAN WAGNER