Nicole De Yong-

Whoa, it is nice to finally be on the road! The past week has been a whirlwind in preparation for leaving Sun Valley for the next 2 months! Despite the business of getting all the odds and ends finished before leaving, I was able to put in some final, quality workouts. My third ski of the season was a 13k skate time trial. The lack of snow and the compact trail made it a little difficult to get stability, but I tried to focus on staying smooth and relaxed. Now that I have been on snow a hand-full of times, I am beginning to feel more comfortable with the longer skis and adjusting to the balance.In addition to getting some quality workouts in last week, I enjoyed spending my last couple days with the kid's at the YMCA. It is hard to believe that I won't see them for 2 months! We had fun playing in the bouncy castle and the second grade girls surprised me by hiding the lockers!

I am currently in West Yellowstone with all the other cross-country skiers in the country! We are enjoying the new snow fall and the great skiing. The energy is high and people are anticipating the first races of the season! With the Olympics just 2.5 months away, you can tell people are more fit than ever.Our race schedule looks like this:Wednesday, November 25- Sprint QualifierFriday, November 27- 10k SkateSaturday, November 28- 5k ClassicStayed tuned for updates!

Rebecca Sorensen-

World Cup number 2 is done. Again, had some really great practice runs and ended up 13th for the race. So the good news is that I moved up 5 spots from last week. I know I can do better. It is just a matter of finding my race mo-jo. Another fun part of the weekend included meeting with hundreds of local school children who came to support the racers. We also filmed Stephen Colbert from the Colbert Report. He tried both bobsled and skeleton. I had to ask him which one he liked better and he said skeleton!!! I had no doubt!!! We leave for Europe and races 3-5 the next week. I’m looking forward to the trip and will be trying to move up the ranks a bit. I’m still fighting for qualifying 3 girls for the USA- for the Games. I’ll keep ya posted!

Nicole De Yong-

Yep! We are officially skiing in Ketchum, Idaho...well, technically we are skiing about 15 miles north of Ketchum. This morning I enjoyed a distance skate ski on well groomed trails with beautiful sunshine and a teamperature of 11 degrees, bbrrrr! There is about 8-10 inches of fresh snow with more to come in the forecast. I am hoping I can put the rollerskis in the closet for good!

We are headed to West Yellowstone in a week to kick off the first races of the season. From there we will travel to Bozeman, Silver Star, Canmore and then up to Anchorage for U.S. Nationals! Cheers!

Jennifer Rodriguez-

Well, I’m back from a 2 week trip in Europe for the first World Cups. It’s a gorgeous day here in Park City and it’s so nice to finally see the sun! We haven’t seen the sun in 2 weeks!!! I went on a bike ride here yesterday and it was so beautiful outside. Yay for sun! Our first stop was in Berlin, Germany and then to Heerenveen, The Netherlands. Lands of the constant drizzle. Yuck!
Racing didn’t go as well as I had hoped. It can be very frustrating at times. Things were going so well before I left for Milwaukee for our trials. It seems like once we started resting in preparation for all the racing, I started to lose my feel a little bit. Unfortunately skating is all about feel. If your off just a little, it makes a big difference in the overall.
I also ended up getting a cold and then the stomach bug while I was over there. It wasn’t much fun. Its crazy, this year I’ve been really good about taking all my vitamins, washing my hands and using that antibacterial stuff and I still end up sick! I guess you never know.
Now that I’m back home, its time to get healthy and get back to training again! I’m excited. We have about 2.5 weeks before we head over to Calgary for the next World Cup. After that, we’ll have one more here in SLC. I’m hoping I’ll be able to get my feel back by then.
Outside of skating, I pretty much have all my Christmas shopping done! I’m doing a pretty good job I must say. I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving next week! I’m not sure what I’m doing for it yet, but Philip will be here so that is something I am thankful for.
And that’s gonna do it for now!
Catch ya later!
pic is of Elli Ochowicz, Heather Richardson and myself in Berlin at the WC.

Rebecca Sorensen-

Just finished 2 weeks of training on the Olympic sliding track. I received 16 runs and got a true feel for the track and the areas in which I need to focus. I can only hope that I will be back here in February to represent the USA. My first ever world cup race is Nov 12 on home soil. My family will be there and I again hope that I will be able to have my best performance on race day. Every race this season will count towards an Olympic qualification on Jan 20. I wish my team members luck with their goals and, perhaps, together, we can get 3 women to the Games. I have learned this last week that life at the top of your chosen activity is not always as one might picture it- the important thing is always to try to stay focused on "your thing" while never negatively affecting those who are around you doing the same. In my opinion, these are where the real medals are won...

Nicole DeYong-

The past two weeks have been chalked full of intensity! Racing season is less than three weeks away and it is time to get fast! Last week consisted of a 3x(4x400m) + 4x200m track workout, 6x4min L4 classic rollerski intervals, and a 2x25min L3 mooshoofing interval session.

I gave myself a full day of rest before I jumped into a strength test the following week. I was happy to produce some improved results...indicating that my time in the gym is paying off. The test consisted of a minute of pull-ups, minute rest, minute of sit-ups, minute rest, minute of push-ups, minute rest, minute of box jumps, minute rest, minute of dips, DONE!!!! My arms were flooded with lactic acid when I finished but I set a new record!

The week progressed with another 3x(4x4oom) track workout and some L4 skate intervals. Whew! its been tough couple weeks but its the best way to get faster!

I topped off the week with a trip to the Sawtooths. I enjoyed a few nights at a friends cabin where I put in a couple hours of wood-cutting, took advantage of a "natural' contrast bath with a river and a hot-springs called the "boat box" and went for a great over-distance hike/run in the White Cloud Mountains! We ran into 1 1/2 feet of snow toward the top! We lucked out with a beautiful, sunny day...but definitely a little chilly.

The count down to the first race in West Yellowstone is 17 days! Lets hope for some snow and we'll be in business! This next week will contain some tough workouts but will be a fairly low-volume week. Time to bring it on!

Chris Cook-

Steinbock HQ, Ready and waiting… C.Cook
Saturday, November 6, 2009

SteinbockRacing has set up shop in Park City, Utah to prepare for the upcoming race season. The first races are only two and half weeks away, which leaves us just enough time to make our final preparations. I’m not going to lie though, I was hoping for a little less 60 degree weather and more snowy conditions, but we will make do. There is no lack of quality training spots here in PC and if the snow continues to elude us we will make our way over towards Vail, CO. It’s already been a success out here, as we got the whole crew together for dinner at El Chubasco so I can’t complain. AJ knocked out a solo TT, I got in a good run, Cory wants to put skis in a hot box, and we still can’t get ZSi off his bike, but you can’t win every battle in the war. Stoke level is definitely high here at SteinbockRacing HQ. Business as usual continues for us though, we have a morning photo shoot tomorrow and then I look to go out and get some training in with the group.Pin it Steinbock.

Rebecca Sorensen-

Traveling light...I have been training up in Whistler on the upcoming Olympic track for the past week. The track is fast and technical right from turn one. Lots of opportunity to loose speed and your sled if you are not careful. It is testing my strength and all of my weaknesses. I hope I will be a better slider at the end of our two weeks of International training here. Life on World Cup is great. A new team dynamic to deal with and daily coaching for one of the first times in my career are all good things. We are a great team and are working well together to keep everyone fast and safe. Till next time...b.

Jennifer Rodriguez-

Well...one step down and the rest to go! I just got back from our World Cup Qualifier in Milwaukee a couple of days ago where things went pretty well. I was able to qualify for World Cups in my 3 distances...500m, 1000m and 1500m. I felt pretty good during the races. I had a little bit of a rocky start but felt better as the races went on. I got the job done, so that’s the most important part!
Now we’re back home for three days before we head over to Europe for the first two World Cups. First we go to Berlin and then to Heerenveen, The Netherlands. It’s a little confusing but this is where we will try and qualify our spots for the Olympics. In the past we would have our own US Olympic Trials, but the ISU (International Skating Union) changed the regulations and now we have to actually qualify spots internationally at World Cups. It will be based off of rankings and times. In total there will be 4-5 World Cups through December. After that, we will know how many spots the U.S. will have at the Games per distance and for the most part who will be going. For those who are not going to World Cups, they will have one more chance to qualify for the Olympic Team at the end of December in SLC during a “skate off” qualifier for the last available position for each distance. Confusing I know but I hope I made some sort of sense. :)
So right now I’m doing the dreaded packing...it’s my worst nightmare! Tomorrow I will be headed overseas with the rest of my team to see what we can do!!! I’m a little sad we’ll be missing Halloween though! It’s one of my favorite holidays!!!!
I’ll be in touch to let you know how things go while I’m across the ocean!
Happy, safe Halloween!!!!
JROD