30 January 2016

World Cup Stavanger Day 2




Short update, again because we need to get to bed for another big race day tomorrow. Jeffrey raced his 5k today and I raced my 1500m. Jeffrey's 5k was solidly consistent, but not his potential...and my 1500m was, well, lets just say my first World Cup race in 4 years. And it is a race from which I can only get better and improve. To be honest I was not happy at all, but as I sat down afterwards, I was just thankful to have the opportunity to be at this World Cup and gain international experience again. Perspective. I can smile though it hurt. :)

Tomorrow is the 1000m for Jeffrey and the 3000m for me. Jeffrey will be racing at 11:35am (4:35am CST) and I will be racing the 3k at 12:40pm (5:40am CST). The last day of racing!

Picture below is of our great and long-time friend Mats Roger Jensen who we've known from the days of summer ice camp in Hamar (Norway) that Mom-coach taught for years. Then he came to the US and trained with TeamSwiderPeltz for the 2010 Olympics but missed it. He's an incredibly hard worker, has a heart of gold and am so thankful we are able to catch up with him and his father Geir-Arne again. 

29 January 2016

1500 Meters Earlier Today


Real quick cause I'm going to bed–I finished 20th out of 20 in A group. So not a very good race today although I thought I was on a good one. It's ok though, it's been a great year! You can’t win them all–but almost all. Tomorrow both Nancy and I are racing. A 1500m for her and a 5k for me. Let's go!

UPDATE: By the way, here's the video of the 1500m!

http://www.eurovisionsports.tv/isu/#dm9kOzE3MTMz


28 January 2016

Jeffrey Racing the 1500m Tomorrow




Jeffrey will be racing the 1500m tomorrow at 6pm Stavanger time, 11am Central Standard Time for those back home! This is his best race and will be racing in the A group, first pair as shown above. This race combined with his 5k race Saturday will determine if he will then make the World Championships that will be held in Berlin a month from now! Support him, pray for him, cheer him on :)

To watch his race (because he is in A group and its shown live), one must be on the Google Chrome browser, download this: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/anonymox/icpklikeghomkemdellmmkoifgfbakio

When downloaded, there will be a blue X in the upper right corner. click on it, change the country to NL (netherlands), and go to this website: http://nos.nl/sport/schaatsen/ where there should be a yellow box or something that will say "live" 1500m men. Click on that and watch! Sorry I won't be able to help much because I will be watching him race live myself, but will keep you all update later unless you follow me on Instagram where I will post his results soon after his race..

For LIVE time results, click on this link: http://live.isuresults.eu/2015-2016/stavanger/d505.htm


25 January 2016

Arrived in Stavanger, Norway, for World Cup 5


We took a short walk around an old part of Stavanger and near our hotel today get our legs moving, then in the afternoon we headed to the Sørmarka Arena for #TeamUSA's first ice session! Races this weekend are Friday through Sunday (Friday & Saturday for Jeffrey, Saturday and Sunday for Nancy).

Front stretch













The turns are underneath a low roof



Posters all over town