Finishing Strong at the end of the Season

Jeffrey racing his 1000m

Season is finished...well, for Jeffrey and I. Brian will be competing in the World Championships in Sochi, Russia in a week and a half with my mom, who left to be with him yesterday after being home for only 22 hours after Calgary. World Single Distance Championships will begin March 21-24th and the link to those results can be found at:

 http://live.isuresults.eu/2012-2013/sochi/

There should also be a live video feed of the competition on http://nos.nl/sport/schaatsen/live/ that I will repost when the competition nears.

Calgary Olympic Oval from the outside

Speedskater Art outside the Olympic Oval

But onto recapping this past week's Oval Finale competition in Calgary, Canada:

• Day 1: 3k ladies...
• Skated to a 4:12.5 overall time, which statistically is the 3rd fastest time skated by a US lady this season. I did slip a little with 2-laps to go, so I know I had a faster time in me, but from where I have been for most of this season, I was pumped to have finished this season with a strong 3k time. I am on my way back to my olympic shape :)
• Day 2: 500/1000m ladies, 500m men
• 500m/1000m, these races are not my strong races, but I wanted to see how I could finish this season with the 6-weeks of training I have done to rebuild my condition since our Nationals/regionals in early January. I was happy with my times being my season bests and though I didn't get any all-time personals, they were 4-year personals (41.7 & 1:19.7). In my 1000m, too, my second lap was less than a second of a drop from my first lap, so this shows that my training is giving me a good base and that I can keep up speed to the end of the race without tiring much.
• 500m men. Jeffrey raced a personal best right from the start, clocking in at 36.76 in his 500m. He said he messed up his second turn, so he knows he had a better time in him.
• Day 3: 500m/1000m ladies, 1000m men



Elli Ochowicz (3x Olympian), my mom and I

• 500m/1000m ladies. Third day in a row of racing and I was a tad tired going into these two races. Even though my times were not faster (they were less than a tenth slower), I showed consistency from day to day in my racing, giving me the confidence that my condition is solid and how I should be training for the next season.
• 1000m men. A good race, but Jeffrey was a half second off his best time from last year so he really wanted to get that personal in the same race the next day. (Jeffrey embedded a video of this race in the last post)
• Day 4: 1000m men
• Day off for me, but Jeffrey had his 2nd 1000m race. And after his 1000m yesterday, his goal for this day was to break 1:11 mark. He skated faster but it was only 1:11.54, just a few meters from breaking 1:11.00.
• Day 5: 1500m ladies/men and Mass Start
• 1500m ladies. Going into today, I had hopes of breaking the 2min mark and getting close to my personal best, but instead I crossed the line at 2:01.7. Times were pretty consistent throughout the race, though, and that is something to be confident/happy about for the brutal 1500m race.
• 1500 men. JEFFREY'S BEST RACE THIS YEAR. Wanted to break 1:59.00, got 1:58.99, he was so happy, haha. 



Mass Start: fast grouping, can you find Jeffrey?!
Click on the picture to enlarge it...

• Mass Start: So we were not originally going to race this race, but after our 1500m's, we were like "why not?! it's more training and maybe we can make some money?!" Jeffrey was entered into the faster group of men, who held a fast pace (for almost all 20 laps) and though Jeffrey won a prime lap and sprinted for another one, having finished the 1500m recently, his legs quickly got tired and he stopped. For the ladies, there being only 4 that signed up, we were placed with the slower group of men, though we competed in our own division. In short, I won both prime laps, but the Japanese girl took off with 1 lap to go (15 laps total) and I couldn't compete with her sprinting abilities resulting in 2nd place, still winning $30 Canadian!

In short, the Oval Finale was successful and together, we both had all season-best times along with Jeffrey breaking two of his Personal Bests! Again, as I always write because it is so true, thank you to everyone for your support in our speedskating goals/journey as we strive to make next Olympic team together. We could not do what we do without everyone beside us along the way. It's a team effort and always will be one. God gave us these talents, and to be able to share the journey with you all is worth the pain we put our bodies through. Ha.

To God be the Gory...

Nancy Jr.

1 Corinthians 9:25

I've already posted the following previously, but wanted to post it again:

"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."