With the 2010 Winter Olympics fading into history books, the ice on the tracks long melted away, nice sunny weather finally arriving, and that familiar “I think I'm gonna puke” sensation flooding back full force-- it must be the off season. As I mentioned in previous blogs this time last year, winter athletes are made in the summer. This year is no exception. In fact, I have tried to ramp it up a bit.

This year I have decided to focus even more on my push start, and as such have cut back on the number of shifts of work I do per month. Last summer I was working over full time, combine that with “full time” like training schedule, and as you can imagine it was a little hectic. I have also made another major decision. I have switched strength and conditioning coaches for the time being. It was an extremely difficult decision, because my old coach was fantastic. He was super dedicated, hardworking, and did an amazing job. Unfortunately with my crazy work schedule, group training at the same time every day wasn't working out for me anymore. I now have a training schedule that takes into account every shift I work, so now there aren't any excuses to miss workouts anymore! Great...just great.

Hopefully this new strategy pays off. I have already seen improvements in some areas, but have a long way to go. Next step is to get my nutrition in line, which is a challenge with shift work. Since March I have seen my body fat decrease by nearly 3%, which is encouraging at least.

For now I am travelling to Eastern Europe for a couple of weeks with my parents and husband, a much anticipated voyage. My parents have recently retired and my husband has summers off so it's the perfect time for them to get away. But alas, no breaks in the training for me, this time of year is too important to sacrifice too much time away. Anyone know of a good track in Budapest? ;)