Chris Cook- MTB

Northside update 4

So the mountain bike season has come to a close, and I would chalk it up as a success. I completed six races without having a mechanical, knock on wood, but much better than the three I racked up last season! I finished the season at the Ore to Shore in Marquette last weekend. I ran the 28 mile Soft Rock and it could nearly be run on a cross bike if it weren’t for all the nasty sandbox sections. We covered the 28 mile course in 1 hour 28 minutes with an average speed of 18.9mph, which is absolutely ridiculous considering most mountain bike race averages are around 13mph! Running a dual suspension was a bad choice…the battle wagon of choice would have been a hardtail 29er, but I made do. I ended up finishing third in a three man group sprint for the victory so I was happy with the result, and it was a good close to the season, assuming I can’t find one more race to fit into the schedule…

It’s back to training without racing this week. Have to knock out one more large volume week this week then a slight recovery couple of days before I head out to whistler for an intensity camp at the Olympic venue. I am definitely looking forward to whistler to get some hard training in with the rest of my boys. Head to head hard training is really the only way to really get after it.

Gone training. All in.

Rebecca Sorensen- Road to Victory

A poem that hit home...

The Road To Victory

Gazing at the sky, clouds drifting by, all at once the imagination is sparked with the sincere desire to create a legacy that will truly inspire The belief that you reach your destination is the torch that lights the way Through the darkness called doubt, Determination is you companion Let there be no distractions in each of us there is a still small voice that is our guide be watchful, for there will be those to encourage us on They have also traveled The Road to Victory.

Written by a dear friend who published her book with Classic Day in 2004. Pathways of the Soul by Victoria L Heim is a marvelous collection of poems in english and then translated into many other languages for not only a great poetic experince but an educational one.

***The photo is of a favorite rock climbing place just outside of Lake Placid. I really enjoy climbing too!!!

Jennifer Rodriguez- Tough Week

Well I must say, this has been a very tough week! I think Tuesday was probably our hardest day yet! A very tough day on the ice, then in the weight room. Its good though. Its nice to feel like you’ve put some hard work in and you’re actually getting something out of it.

As of today, myself as well as a couple other of my teammates get to back off a little for a couple of days in preparation for our team pursuit camp in Milwaukee. We’re leaving on Sunday and getting back on Thursday. I’m expecting it to be pretty tough. Milwaukee is a super cold rink, so I’m not looking forward to that, but it has been a while since I’ve been there and our Olympic/World Cup trials will be there in October so it will be good to get on that ice.

My hip is doing much better. I still have to do regular treatments on it, but I don’t have any pain while I skate, so I’m real glad about that. I haven’t done a whole lot of starts yet. That might be a little tricky but I’ll deal with it one step at a time.

Outside of skating, my boyfriend is trying to get me to listen to country music. I have to admit I’ve never been a fan, I’m a city girl! But some of the songs are quite catchy. I do like a good western movie, so I may as well get into the whole kit and caboodle. What is the world coming to. :)

Chris Cook-

Northside Update 3

The Northside really provided some outstanding weather for a large volume week, and several times I found myself wondering if it was indeed already fall. So far I have gotten in half my hours for a 25hour volume week and have been able to train in massive cold winds, rain, and high temperatures barely cracking the 60 degree mark. Go Wisconsin. I hear this makes you stronger or more resilient, but it mostly made me cold. Nonetheless I can’t complain though the training has gone well. Knocked out some solid running intensity, rollerskiing speed work, and I got out on the mountain bike for a solid ride.

This coming week I will get a week off from the motocross camps which means, chad and I will have at least one morning next week where we try and destroy each other on mountain bikes. This ride turns into an all out how can I ride the other guy off my wheel for a good hour. It doubles as a great intensity session and you better be ready for it. I just have to make sure it happens early in the week because the Ore to Shore will be arriving next Saturday and I want a podium finish up there. It should be my last Mountain bike race of the season and everyone likes to go out on top.

The last training sessions of the week will entail some skate rollerski intensity along the lines of 5x5min all out efforts and a 4.5 hour road bike epic. Should be a nice little weekend…

Well, time to sign off and knock out a 2.5 hour double pole distance session, temperature 54 degrees, go Northside.

Jennifer Rodriguez- Vancouver Camp

Well, I don't have much to report this week. I got back from my 2 week camp in Vancouver on Sunday. It was a very tough but productive camp and very nice to be back on the ice again. Even though the ice wasn't very good, its still beneficial to be at the venue where the Games are going to be.

This week is a recovery week for my team and it is very much needed. I was wasted after Vancouver! I'm only now beginning to recover and its Thursday! So this week the training volume has been cut way back so we can get ready for the upcoming hard weeks. I'm looking forward to it!

I have to admit that its been awesome sleeping in my own bed again. Not that there was anything wrong with the hotel, its just that there's no place like home...and I'm a homebody. I've also been using this little bit of downtime to catch up on all my other things, like paying bills and fun stuff like that. Its always nice to be on the road because its easier to focus on the task at hand...training, but when you get home there's so much stuff to play catch up with. I'm not complaining, that's just the way it is.

Anyway, that's about it. Sorry I don't have any exciting news. Maybe next week!

Until then...

jrod

Rebecca Sorensen- power time

Training this last week has been great. We are getting into more speed work type workouts with some emphasis on power. Starting some stairs and bounding with starts off the block as well.

I plan to go to Calgary on Wednesday to get in 3 days of pushing on the indoor ice surface.This last week I got to have dinner with The Hartford and hear all the amazing things they have done for athletes over the years. What a great company!!! Well- those are my two highlights.Hope all is well in your world!

Rebecca Sorensen

So I decide not to go on a semi-planned trip to Calgary to push in the indoor ice house. Too much money and time spent for just a few hours on ice. It was my decision and one I don’t regret at this point. Only one woman from our national team went. When that happens, we don’t really get a fair idea of where your training needs to go. We hope that the whole team will be there in Sept. In loo of the trip, I worked on equipment. Sanding runners, re-padding and taping my sled and getting speed-suits repaired and altered. It is always a big job getting everything we need together for the next season. Last year I finally made a list as the season was ending, so I would have exactly what repairs were needed to which items. I’m getting close to being ready to go!!!

In other news... I started reading the book- The Dynamic Path. I have enjoyed how the author ties the sports world and the business world together. A good read so far. The author is: James M. Citrin in case anyone was interested. I think that’s it for now... I hope everyone is doing well!

Jennifer Rodriguez-another week down

This past week has been a real tough one. We upped our intensity and started working on some higher speed stuff on the ice. It was actually fun! Usually the couple of times I try to go fast each year is a complete disaster. I'm out of control and feel like a spazz. This time I actually had some sort of control. Surprisingly enough, my lap time was faster than anything I came up with last year! Granted last year was my first year back after 2 years off, but still...I was happy. Hopefully I can keep things building in the right direction.

This week was also my teammate Nick's 30th birthday. Another one to join the 30 year old club! We all went to a free reggae concert down in SLC. It was a lot of fun and I'd have to say the people watching was even better than on South Beach. I didn't know SLC had such a collection of people. Good times!

Today is my day off and so far its been real nice. I've been so tired and have had some long days, its nice to just sit back, relax and play catch up on a bunch of errands and whatnots. Tomorrow the week starts over again and its going to be another tough one. Next Sunday I leave for Milkwaukee for a 3 day Team Pursuit camp. But first, the focus is this week.

:-)jen

p.s. the pic is of my roommate's dog Hurley

Kaitlyn Farrington- Passes On-Snow test!!

Passed

July 31, 2009 by kaitlyn farrington

Today was the day I did my back to snow test for the second time… I PASSED!!! My knee is all good for snowboarding in New Zealand.I leave on August 8 and won’t be back till September 20. The first 2 weeks I am there I will only be able to cruz groomers just to get my feet back under me. I am really looking forward to being back in the PIPE!

Nicole De Yong- Recovery Week!!

Recovery Week

After a quality week of training in Utah, this past week was a recovery week…a chance to get rested and do different activities! Recovery weeks are not always easy for me; I am one that does not like to take a day off. Instead of filling my recovery week with “off days,” I used “active recovery” to fill those days. In other words, I used low impact activities such as swimming and biking to let my body rest and recover.

Every other day I either swam or biked to allow my legs to recover from the fatigue I’ve been feeling for the past couple weeks. This was a good way to give my legs a break and get them back under my feet.

In addition to doing new and different activities, recovery weeks are a good chance to get out and explore and travel to new areas. This past week I drove through Yellowstone National Park, over Beartooth Pass, and into the Gallatin National Forest in Montana. The drive was absolutely beautiful and I saw several buffalo, grizzly bears, and coyote along with other creaturesJ I went for a run at Insideout Trailhead and explored the beauty of the Gallatin National Forest.

My recovery week also allowed me spend some time at the YMCA Kid’s Summer Camp. We had fun making “kitchen creations” ranging from rice krispies to chocolate covered bananas. We also had fun painting each others faces…although Alonzo wouldn’t let me paint his face after he painted mine!

I feel rested and ready to hammer into my volume week!

Jennifer Rodriguez- In Vancouver

Well, I'm still in Vancouver at my training camp and things have been going very well. Two weeks now on the ice and I'm finally starting to feel normal out there again. Actually I already have a much better feeling on my skates than last year. Speedskating is such a "feel" sport, so I'm glad to be getting my feel back!

My hip is also doing a lot better. I was actually able to do a few starts yesterday. I was very nervous about how it would respond, but so far so good. I think with continued therapy I should be able to get through this season with few problems...I hope.

Last Sunday, I was able to check out a little bit of Vancouver. An old skating friend of mine came to town to visit, so a few of us did a little sightseeing. We checked out some market place, Stanley Park and where the Olympic is going to be. Its still under construction, but it looks nice. It sits right along the river.

The Kazakhstan arrived here over the weekend. I actually have a Russian friend who trains with them, so I'm pretty excited. the Japanese and Koreans are here as well. Its always fun to see the other countries training. Its great motivation, plus since we are a small sport, its kind of like a family environment. We don't actually race one another, we race the clock. So that competitiveness against athletes is not really there like in most sports. We are a time trial sport...it makes a big difference.

Tomorrow we begin the long process of selecting our team pursuit team. We will have a number of camps to narrow down the selection. So we'll see how the first camp goes.

Anyway, I head back to Utah on Sunday. I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed again, but its been a great camp. Its always good for team bonding.

Ciao everyone!!!

jen

Chris Cook-

Northside Update 3

The Northside really provided some outstanding weather for a large volume week, and several times I found myself wondering if it was indeed already fall. So far I have gotten in half my hours for a 25hour volume week and have been able to train in massive cold winds, rain, and high temperatures barely cracking the 60 degree mark. Go Wisconsin. I hear this makes you stronger or more resilient, but it mostly made me cold. Nonetheless I can’t complain though the training has gone well. Knocked out some solid running intensity, rollerskiing speed work, and I got out on the mountain bike for a solid ride.

This coming week I will get a week off from the motocross camps which means, chad and I will have at least one morning next week where we try and destroy each other on mountain bikes. This ride turns into an all out how can I ride the other guy off my wheel for a good hour. It doubles as a great intensity session and you better be ready for it. I just have to make sure it happens early in the week because the Ore to Shore will be arriving next Saturday and I want a podium finish up there. It should be my last Mountain bike race of the season and everyone likes to go out on top.

The last training sessions of the week will entail some skate rollerski intensity along the lines of 5x5min all out efforts and a 4.5 hour road bike epic. Should be a nice little weekend…

Well, time to sign off and knock out a 2.5 hour double pole distance session, temperature 54 degrees, go Northside.

Rebecca Sorensen

Another question that comes up often is how does a skeleton athlete train in the summer. Some folks think that ice still exists somewhere for us in the summer months. Not a bad assumption- with enough money even some ice would be possible during this time of year. But, unfortunately, no ice is available, no downhill wheeled sleds are available and no real sliding options are at hand. So we do the best we can with running, lifting, pushing different objects and sport specific drills. Occasionally, we get to go up to Canada and pay to use their indoor ice pushing facility; complete with timing and the use of a real skeleton sled. I am currently planning a trip to Calgary to push during the week of August 10th. Otherwise, all is well. Training super hard and enjoying everyday!!!