This spring began with a different view than last year. This year I am healthy and prepared to dive right in. We started with the regular road cycling and got our aerobic systems ready for the hard summer training to come. Now that summer training is here, it is as hard as I remember. The only difference is that I am spending more time on the ice than any summer before. Because the Olympics are coming up in a year and a half I need to be totally prepared. For me, that means getting skating as soon as possible so that I am in skating shape for the beginning of the fall season. Being on the ice is getting me in shape this summer, as opposed to dryland training, because my knee prefers it. I have been working with my coach to find the best training for me and that is skating. I am really happy with that because that is what I love!

Thank you so much to everyone who came out to cheer me on at the ING Speedskating Finale last weekend! Even though I missed my personal best by 2/100’s of a second in the 500m event, I felt strong and am looking forward to next year. I think the events hosted for me by my sponsor Nexera went well and they were lots of fun. It was great to meet some of the Dow AgroSciences employees and their families. The pictures are really good too.

p.s. I was so pumped that I won the travel voucher, so now Arne and I will be going on a one year anniversary “honeymoon” next spring!
Happy Spring!

I have some great news…I am in Japan right now. I was a last minute qualifier for the World Championships! I race on Saturday – the 500m. This competition is equal to the Olympics for our sport. We have it once a year and only the best qualify. It really affirms my comeback this year – I am so happy! I will be back in Canada Monday night. The jet lag could impede my racing a little at the Finale, but I should be just fine. See you next week!

World cups went really well. I finished first in Group B in Germany so I qualified to skate the World Cup finals in the Netherlands That also went really well – I managed 13th and 14th place finishes! Cant’ wait to skate at the Finale in Calgary and see if my times will be even faster.”

At the end of December, 2007 I qualified for the World Sprint Championships in The Netherlands. I also came really close to my personal best times from before the knee surgery. Being back on the world cup circuit feels really good and has increased my determination to work hard on my way to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. I skated pretty well there and even had my best finish ever in the 500m of 17th place. Now I am back in Europe for a sprint World Cup in Inzell, Germany. The oval here is one of the last outdoor tracks that the World Cups are held on. It is quite a privilege to skate here. The weather is amazing and the sun is shining. The oval is at the base of a mountain and surrounded by a small Bavarian town. Next big event on my schedule is The ING Finale Competition in Calgary, March 12 - 16. This is one of my favourite competitions and the favourite of many skaters to race in. It is the final skating competition of the season for the whole world. The ice is always fast and I am really looking forward to crushing my personal bests! This competition is a lot of fun for the skaters and I hope that you can all come out to watch and enjoy yourselves as well. I will be looking forward to seeing you there and chatting about skating and the future of Nexera canola.