Racing Begins TOMORROW!

Giving y'all a short update and the links for the Calgary Finale competition starting tomorrow!

Calgary Olympic Oval, Canada

Wow, a long day of travel yesterday finally got us (Jeffrey and I) to Calgary, Canada last night. Racing for me begins tomorrow (the 3000m) and Jeffrey will begin Friday with the 500m. Ice was wicked fast during race prep at the oval today, or so it felt like that to me coming from the slower/work ice in Milwaukee, so that gave me the extra confidence tomorrow's race should be a solid one! This will be the first time I've raced since my rock-bottom results from Nationals back in December. Yes, there is a bit of nervousness going into tomorrow's race, but what I have gained in my training the last couple months has given me the excitement for racing tomorrow. And though it seems a lot is riding on this race tomorrow: to get a fast time, end the season on a good note, prove that I am on a comeback going into 2014 Olympic year, to validate my training as of late...I have to say that the faith and joy I have found once again in my training in these last weeks has been the turning point I've needed in my career. But in all of this, the glory that results is all for the Lord (in victory and in failure)...who has blessed me tremendously throughout the trials/injuries I have endured since Vancouver 2010. He is the one who has given me this talent in the first place; He has given me everything. Like Eric Liddel admirably said,

"You came to see a race today. To see someone win. It happened to be me. But I want you to do more than just watch a race. I want you to take part in it. I want to compare faith to running in a race. It's hard. It requires concentration of will, energy of soul. You experience elation when the winner breaks the tape - especially if you've got a bet on it. But how long does that last? You go home. Maybe you're dinner's burnt. Maybe you haven't got a job. So who am I to say, 'Believe, have faith,' in the face of life's realities? I would like to give you something more permanent, but I can only point the way. I have no formula for winning the race. Everyone runs in her own way, or his own way. And where does the power come from, to see the race to its end? From within. Jesus said, 'Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you. If with all your hearts, you truly seek me, you shall ever surely find me.' If you commit yourself to the love of Christ, then that is how you run a straight race. I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure."

Now for the links to the results from this week:
Calgary Oval page and click on the race you want...I will be racing the 3000m ladies tomorrow (March 7th) http://136.159.129.160/Competition/Results.aspx

SpeedskatingResults.com: http://speedskatingresults.com/index.php?p=2&e=10459 and then click on the race.

Last resort, go to my Facebook fan page where my updated tweets on our racing will be posted as well:
https://www.facebook.com/NSwiderPeltzJr

The Calgary Finale full schedule:

Thanks always to our Support Team including (sorry if I failed to mention you, but you know who you are): our sponsors Extreme Endurance, Magnet Street, CoreFitness, Oakley (Megan&Steve). To our therapy team: Paula, Bannockburn Chiropractic (Dr. Yoss/Carl), and Major Chiropractic and Sports Injury. To Hilary Barreto who has done amazing work with our photo shoots. To our mom, our coach, who has sacrificially given her life to help us achieve our goals and teaching us life lessons along the journey. And to our family and friends, for we would not be where we are today if it wasn't for the people alongside us encouraging us everyday.


God Bless,
Nancy Jr.

1 Corinthians 9:25

Brian's first GOLD!!!

Brian's Gold in the 1000m today! With Stefan, Dmitry, 
and Nico. Thank you Kip for the picture!

Proud. proud. proud.

Brian Hansen, our training partner, won his first individual World Cup GOLD medal in the 1000m race today at the Erfurt World Cup (and he is just 22yrs old!). Darn it, I wish I could have been there for Brian's first Gold, but the best I could do was to catch him on FaceTime to chat afterwards. That guy is a world-class skater. But for those who have known him well, knew this success (and more to come) was inevitable! I am honored to have him as a training partner and to have experienced the Vancouver Olympics with him...we've had the best of memories.

Brian began speedskating at 10 because he just wanted to go fast on hockey skates which led him to the Northbrook speedskating club. Two years later, he (and his parents) found Nancy Sr., who has been his coach ever since. His career has been unusual in that he has constantly risen to the top with rarely ever having a bad race. His athletic talent and exceptional competitiveness combined with what we all think is my mom's unusual intuitive coaching expertise, is how we believe they're an unstoppable team. Day-to-day feedback from us and the one-on-one attention we get from her is what makes our team successful. 

A look into Brian's major accomplishments so far:

Brian will be competing in the 1500m tomorrow, the last day of the World Cup in Erfurt...catch his results at http://live.isuresults.eu/2012-2013/erfurt/index.htm or watch it on live streaming at http://nos.nl/sport/schaatsen/live/. The 1500m will be starting at 1:45pm in Erfurt, 6:45am Central Time/Chicago (early, I know) and Brian is 7th pair with Sverre Pedersen.

Or if you miss the live NOS feed, you can watch a recap of his 1500m anytime here: http://nos.nl/sport/schaatsen/video-en-audio/, just click on video "WB Erfurt 2013 1500 meter (m)". Watch Brian's 1000m race from today by clicking on the embedded video below starting at 0:53!

Brian is dominating...now I have to step up my game next week in Calgary. Ah!

God Bless you all,

Nancy Jr.

1 Corinthians 9:25

Wrapping up our 2012-2013 Season!

  Calgary Olympic Oval             

In just over a week....and my speedskating season will be over.

It's exciting but daunting at the same time because when training starts up again for next season in a couple weeks, it'll be for the Olympic year. For Sochi 2014. 

As I updated you all a couple weeks ago, my mom and I took a different approach to my training since our Nationals in December, and it continues to be a success. During these last weeks, I have gained back confidence in my skating and my body is holding up really well, which I owe completely to my therapy support team (Paula, Dr. Major, Dr. Yoss, Dr. Carl, Dena, my parents) and Extreme Endurance, a product that continues to give me great results each training session! 

My mom and I, along with my hand-made sweater

Races begin next Wednesday at the oval in Calgary, Canada, the site of the 1988 Olympic Games, which was my mom's last Olympics and the one where I was 1-year old, being strollered around the Olympic grounds while people attached Olympic pins on my hand-made sweater. I so wish I could have remembered all those memories at that age!

My mom and I at Calgary Olympics, 1988

This speedskating oval is one of the two fastest rinks in the world, so this season-ending competition attracts speedskaters all over the world, giving the racing a fun, international-competitive vibe. I will be racing the 3000m on Thursday (7th of March), followed by 4 more days of racing. Jeffrey will be also racing next week at the Finale, but also competing this weekend in the American Cup Final this weekend in Salt Lake City. Meanwhile, Brian has been in Germany training for the upcoming World Cup in Erfurt, Germany, followed by the World Cup Finals in Heerenveen, Netherlands and the World Single Distance Championships in Sochi, Russia. Our coach (mom) will be the backbone of this whole process...after just arriving back from Germany this past Sunday, she leaves this Thursday for Salt Lake City, then travels to Calgary, comes home for a couple days before flying back east to coach Brian back in Sochi, Russia. Then as soon as she arrives back home, end of March, she will finally be getting her knee replacement surgery. Something she is freaking out about, but it is desperately needed, as many of you know and have seen. So if you get a moment, please keep her in your prayers as that whole process will be coming before she knows it!

Calgary Olympics, 1988

To keep up with Jeffrey and my results in the next weeks, for Salt Lake City/American Cup race results on Jeffrey this coming weekend, visit: http://usspeedskating.org/athletes/results and clicking on "AmCup Long Track Speedskating Final/North American Champs/Champions Challenge".

For the Calgary Finale competition, visit: http://oval.ucalgary.ca/10_competitions and scroll down til you see "Olympic Oval Finale/Canada Cup Final".

Or for both Salt Lake City/Calgary Final competitions, you can also find results at: http://speedskatingresults.com

For Brian Hansen's World Cup/World racing, visit: http://www.isuresults.eu

God Bless,
Nancy Jr.


1 Corinthians 9:25

Old Skool

Back in mid January I raced outdoors near St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota. Outdoor competitions can be pretty fun but not if the weather turns freezing cold or gets too windy, which of course it did. Over two days of racing, we had wind of over 30 mph (which actually blew over a skater during his race, sorry Andy) and temperatures at 0 degrees. Even though it really sucks to be out there racing with what seems like no clothes on, I like the challenge and it turned out that it was probably my best competition all year!

Thanks so much for coming out to watch Jake and Robin

 

Back in the day, all ovals were outdoors and many were on natural lake ice (this oval ^ has ice artificially cooled by compressors underneath so people can still skate even if it's 45ish degrees or less outside). But speedskaters had to deal with the elements of snow, wind and sun that often times differed from race to race so results were unfairly affected by their race condition. For example, if the sun happened to come out for your race, it would make the ice gloss over and become way faster and glide significantly better. So in 1988, the Olympics in Calgary, Canada, introduced a new enclosed oval to the world and so began a more modern era of the sport. Since then, more and more ovals have been covered and most major competitions are indoors but it's good to keep alive the tradition of this sport in even if it means freezing your face off.

Our good ol' hometown oval in Milwaukee before it was covered in 1994.

The Milwaukee oval today

Much Needed Short Update!

Definitely needing to update y'all...sorry it's been a while! In brief, Jeffrey, my mom and Brian are in Inzell, Germany at the moment, training for a couple weeks after Brian's 1500m world cup race last Sunday. He dominated by taking another 3rd place podium finish! After these next weeks, Brian will race another world cup in Erfurt, Germany while Jeffrey and mom/coach will be heading to Salt Lake City for the American Cup Final and then onto Calgary, Canada where I will be meeting them there for my last competition this season, the Finale.

Since returning home from the U.S. Championships and Regionals out in Salt Lake City over Christmas break, I have been revamping and sketching out new goals for the next couple months and then into Olympic year. Yes, the 2014 Olympics are less than a year away now! For me, my focus right now is on the competition in Calgary, March 7th-10th. A solid race where I will be shooting for a PB (personal best) is the goal, which will bring back confidence in my racing leading into the Olympic season. Until then, I have been cranking out great workouts and perfecting technique even more. While my training partners have left me for beautiful Inzell, Germany, I have been blessed with other training partners while Brian and Jeffrey are gone. Jilleanne Rookard, Chase, Darren, along with Dano, Jacky, Tweddale...we've had some great workouts already this week and pumped to continue this change-up of training partners for a bit! You guys are great!

So as this Calgary Finale competition nears, I will be keeping you all posted on my progress and then the results from those races. Jeffrey, too, will be updating on his end the races he has in Salt Lake City as well as Calgary.

In the meantime, today is Valentine's Day. And though we love to share and show our love to those closest to us, let us be reminded on how God's sacrifice of His son was the ultimate love story. Giving us a chance to have a relationship with Him and life of eternity = hope. 1 John 4:19, "We love because He first loved us."

God bless you all,
Nancy Jr.


1 Corinthians 9:25