August 2013 -Speedskating training update! #RoadtoSochi

So it's been a month since we've come back from our training camp in Inzell, Germany. The 400m oval of ice in Milwaukee gets taken out every summer til the end of August, so if we want to train on the ice, we have to go to other 400m ice rinks that are open for summer ice. If you haven't watched our Germany recap video, enjoy watching it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwLX9I2j_ec

For the first 2 weeks in August we trained out of our hometown in Wheaton, drove up to Northbrook, IL for some velodrome cycling with Brian Hansen & Robert Lehmann (our German Olympian teammate), and had a mini training camp at Brian's Michigan lakehouse including Darren Huang (our Taiwanese teammate). Darren made a crazy, awesome video from that trip, watch here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZKXIIvEyKQ

Ice officially opened up for us Milwaukee speedskaters on August 15th (during the 'off-season' from the end of March til now, the 400m long track ice is taken out of the Pettit ice rink because of financial reasons), so we all moved up to Milwaukee, where we will now be based for the rest of this season. The first couple days back on the ice is always super fun...getting to see everyone again while sharing that same excitement of a new season about to begin.

Since we developed a little skating base from our summer ice training in Inzell, Germany, we spent just 2 days adjusting back to the ice before we jumped into hard ice workouts. Jeffrey continually gets better day to day. Again, he is coming from just a couple years of full-focused speedskating training so compared to most speedskaters his age, his base is not as developed. But this year he is even stronger and technically more solid...I am excited to see his hard work pay off! Brian never ceases to amaze us with his almost flawless technique and his powerful workouts. He will be a force to be reckoned with this coming season. Darren also is improving daily and we all love his passion to make this next Olympic team...if he does, he will be the first person EVER to make the winter Olympics from Taiwan (you can read more about him on his fan page here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Darren-Huang-黃大原/340351086084934?ref=profile Robert has dramatically improved his skating over these last couple months of training with us and has rediscovered his passion for the sport while taking away some great life lessons from Coach Nancy Sr. herself. And then there is myself. I'm pumped to say that I am healthy and without injuries, as was my story the last three years. Training is going great and I am eager to continually build my base throughout these next weeks before the competition season begins and before we know it, we are at the Olympic Trials (Dec 27-31st!).

But as tough as these last weeks have been, we've still been able to incorporate a little fun in between to give Robert a taste of good ol' America. From a Brewers baseball game, to watching my younger brother, Johnny's, American football practice, to jumping in Lake Michigan, to getting a glimpse of a crazy Harley Davidson weekend in Milwaukee...we created some great memories as a team amongst our hard work. Sadly Robert had to go back to Germany, but he will always be part of TeamSwiderPeltz :) He was a great contribution to our team, obviously helping us out with workouts, but also giving us constructive criticism that has made us a better team. He will be greatly missed now, but we hope to be seeing him soon on the Fall World Cup Circuit in November.

As always, thanks for the support you give us to pursue our speedskating passion and it is our hope you enjoy reading about our journey to make this next Olympic team together! (visit our RallyMe.com site to directly support us here: https://www.rallyme.com/rallies/187, thanks!)

God Bless!

Nancy Jr.

P.S. If you want to follow us directly, click on our blog site here: www.teamswiderpeltz.com 

1 Corinthians 9:25