MILWAUKEE — Long-track speed skating is basically a matter of will, says U.S. team member KC Boutiette.

"You don't get to rest at all," he said. "It's just you against your body the whole time."

Given the distances, you can see how a body might get a bit tired. This weekend's World Allround Championships feature men's races of 500, 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000 meters (6.2 miles). The last two are changed to 3,000 and 5,000 meters for the women. Every competitor races in every event over two days.

U.S. allround team coach Bart Schouten said he's hoping for a good showing this weekend.

"It's in our home town, so we really hope to get away with something," he said.

The U.S. allround team trains at Milwaukee's Pettit Ice Center, the site of the competition.

During the past two weeks the U.S. skaters have been tapering down their training, eating pasta and and conserving their energy. While the speedskating season continues through March with World Cup and other events, the world allrounds are undeniably a high point.

"I'm anxious to skate and see where I'm at," said Derek Parra, the current U.S. allround champion, who barely beat out Boutiette in the national competition in December. "It's hard at the beginning of the year, with work and schedules and all that. The last few months have been great."

Parra (San Bernadino, Calif.) and Boutiette (Tacoma, Wash.) are the only U.S. men who qualified for the championship at last month's Continental Cup, held in Calgary, Alberta. The event was a good one for Parra, who set three U.S. records in the 1,500 meters, 5,000 meters and allround samalog.

Jennifer Rodriguez (Miami, Fla.), the reigning U.S. women's allround champion, also qualified.

Long-track speed skating has three different types of championships, allround, sprint and single distance, each with its own championship competitions.

Overall allround champions are determined by combining racers' scores in the four different races. The result is dubbed the allround samalog. (Racers can medal in the component races as well.)

Sprint competitions include only the shorter distances of 500 and 1,000 meters, which are combined to form the sprint samalog. Single-distance championships are determined just the way you would expect, with winners in the various distances.

While speed skating is a niche sport with scant attention paid to it by mainstream media, this weekend's competition is getting some press. Parra is hitting his stride, and the human interest angle is satisfied too, in that Boutiette and Rodriguez are engaged.

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"It's great," Boutiette said. "You get to travel together, train together."

"Train" is right. World-class allround skaters polish off the 10,000 meters in less than 14 minutes — an average of 27 miles per hour — and Parra said it's taken a long time for him to get to the point of racing that distance well.

"Before, I would go out and just explode and get tired out before the end of the race," he said.

Saturday's races are the women's 500 and 3,000 meters and the men's 500 and 5,000 meters. Sunday's are the women's 1,500 and 5,000 meters and the men's 1,500 and 10,000 meters.

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