Crankin' Up the Intensity...

                            Back: Tsuyoshe, Kuck, Brian, Nick, Roger, Pim, Bruce Front:  Jeffrey, Kosuke, Nancy Jr., Nancy Sr. (coach)

Coach Nancy Sr. being the BOSS :)

 It's been too long, I know, since the last blog post on our training and life. For sure I could have squeezed in time for a quick blog post, but to be honest, after:

coming back from Germany & London, settling back home in Wheaton for just over a week before getting up and moving up to Milwaukee, let alone focusing on giving 100% into every workout and leaving room to fully recover the body with driving to get ART (active release therapy) and massages, beginning ice workouts again when the Pettit opened up their ice, trying to be the best sister and rearrange my workouts around Johnny's (my quarterback star football brother) Friday night games, and more...there has been little room to just breath. 

But I hate excuses, so it is going to be my challenge as the season continues to get harder and more intense, that I post more regularly and give you all fun insights on our journey to Sochi 2014!

Here is a recap since London (which, by the way, look out tomorrow for a post on our experience there, as many of you have been asking how it was being at London 2012 AND not competing):

• traveled home and adjusted to workouts back here as I started up my lifting again back at CoreFitness in Chicago and my speed/agility workouts at TCBoost (not to mention meeting some Chicago Bears players while training there) Check out my video from training there here and TCBoost's website here
• Brian, Jeffrey and Pim enjoyed some 'vacation' time (though they still worked out) at Brian's Michigan lake-house all the while giving Pim the ultimate American experience...it was his first time in the US!
• welcomed 2 new skaters to our awesome training group for the months of August and September: Tsuyoshe & Kosuke from Japan
• made the move up to Milwaukee and began ice training late August when the Pettit National Ice Center officially opened it's ice for the 2012-13 season
• At one point, we had 10 skaters in our training group during the first week the Pettit was open including: Roger Schneider (our Swiss speedskating friend), Nick Goplan (a Canadian speedskater who's based in Calgary), Pim (a Dutch skater who holds a Junior World Record), Brian, Jeffrey, myself, Tsuyoshe, Kosuke, Kuck and Bruce Conner (who is one of the best Masters skaters in the World, holding 3 Masters World Records & 2 World Masters Sprint Titles). 
• we cried (not really, but are really sad...still) when Pim left us at the end of August after being with us for 6 weeks. But Jonathan Kuck and Liam Ortega came back to the Pettit to train after being in Salt Lake City and have been working in with our group here and there, making up for the void :)
• now as racing season is nearing...the level of training on the ice has intensified completely and the amount of work we are all doing is absolutely crazy. BUT, we've all been handling it super well, NO INJURIES (thank the Lord!) and even Brian is trying to learn some Japanese in the process, haha. Having the two Japanese guys in our group has been a great benefit to our group and it's been fun getting to share some American life along the way.

  
  
  

  Having fun after a hard practice skating 
  backwards and reverse!







Chris Williams, Chris Spencer & Roberto Garza 
from the Bears

training is a killer :)

Life of an athlete in training for the Olympics is definitely a full-time job, but we all love it. Training comes with plenty of sacrifices, but every single one we embrace knowing it teaches us important lessons and drives us to overcome our weaknesses. This subject always brings me back to what the Bible accounts of the Apostle Paul. Paul at times endured the unthinkable throughout his journeys as he preached the Gospel. Read II Corinthians 11:23-26 to be amazed! Again, to those who have encouraged and supported us along the way, we can't thank you enough; we can only hope that as you follow this blog of ours, you are inspired and see the fruitfulness of our faith in Jesus Christ.

An example of our lives: wake-up, eat, driving, skating, eating,
recovery, napping, second workout, recovery, eating, sleeping...REPEAT 

More Pics From Practice In Inzell This Week

Thanks Stephen Tellier for letting us use your awesome photos!

Such a cool rink

Our group, w/ Pim the Dutch skater who is with us until September

Skaters getting on the ice. Australia, Holland, Russia, France, Canada, etc.

Skating behind Dutch Pro team "Van Velde"

Skaters doing dryland before getting on the ice

An accel turn with Nancy Sr watching and assistant coach/filmer Aaron Boogard!

Watching film next to coach

Wrapping Up A Month In Inzell

For a whole summer month, the little cow-town of Inzell becomes an international hub of athletes. They cycle up and down the main road, wether riding between the rink and their "gasthaus" bed & breakfast or on their road bikes getting ready for a long haul through the bavarian countryside. You see their speedskating skinsuits of different countries drying on balconies in the sun after morning workouts. In the evenings we all go to the gelato ice cream shop in the town center and grab a well deserved scoop and talk in english, broken english and whatever other languages we mutually know.

It's interesting training alongside athletes from all over and seeing their methods of training and what technical points they're working on. How hard are they training? Do continue to push training if their bodies have recovered well the previous night? Do they care more about technique or strength and endurance? Who has improved from last year and why? What can we learn from what we see.

Our whole team got pretty sick with soar throats and bad sinuses this last week which messed up our training schedule a little bit. We're mostly back to normal now but we've trained pretty hard the last two days to make up for what we missed earlier this week. Today was the last day of skating because the rink melts the ice tomorrow so most of the teams here have left or will leave soon. Tomorrow we have a long bike ride and then we head to London on Teusday!

Inzell Stair Workout

Training on the long track ice here is going really well and we're focusing a lot on technique because the beginning of the season can set the tone for the rest of the season. We want to fix the technical issues right away. 

Each week here, we have 11 main workouts. Usually we skate in the mornings and then we have dry land training in the afternoons. So last week, one of our dry land workouts were stair runs and jumps and since we have the mountains all around us we try to use them as much as possible. Sylvester Stallone-style. Mother-nature style. Waterfall mist in the air and nothing but dirt, rocks, and trees. It always keeps training exciting!

Stairs + waterfall

Nancy discussing workout w/ coach

Brian doing step-up jumps on the road above the stairs

Side-jumps

...

TCBoost and Speed/Power Training

Last summer and again, this summer, I wanted to get some more power and quickness in my speedskating stroke. So i've been doing speed training at TCBoost in Northbrook, IL, that focuses on the specific needs of your sport and coach in order to increase your speed, strength, and overall athleticism. They've trained professional football players (Bears, Steelers, etc.) to Olympic athletes; tennis, lacrosse, NCAA star basketball players to the local high school and athletes that are rehabbing and they've all witnessed fantastic results. Throughout my training there this past June, I'm pumped that TCBoost put together a short video showcasing their work with me and it's cool to see the finished product! An athlete is never perfect, meaning that there is always room for improvement...so if you are reading this and desire to improve your athletic skills in any way, I highly recommend TCBoost! Check out the video below... Again, thank you TCBoost for the work you've done on me so far and excited to continue working with you when I am back in the US to carry on our success! Nancy Jr. 1 Corinthians 9:25