Since my last post I have traveled quite a bit! My last few days in Alaska brought me on yet another adventure. I traveled south of Anchorage, to Homer, and enjoyed some great camping, fun, food and play with my family. We took a water taxi across the bay to Halibut Cove and spent some time kayaking, hiking, and gallery walking; the small town is known for their amazing art talent. The weather was perfect and it reminded me why I love Alaska so much!br /br /div style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/SptK7ZRlgiI/AAAAAAAAAbw/2fLLC3nor7A/s1600-h/nic+003.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/SptK7ZRlgiI/AAAAAAAAAbw/2fLLC3nor7A/s320/nic+003.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375972964454203938″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-style: italic;”A view of Grewink Glacierbr //span/divbr /div style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/SptK7pTmcXI/AAAAAAAAAb4/zZWHORIpHa4/s1600-h/nic+002.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/SptK7pTmcXI/AAAAAAAAAb4/zZWHORIpHa4/s320/nic+002.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375972968757621106″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-style: italic;”My mom and sisters, headed to Halibut Covebr //span/divbr /div style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/SptK60acc4I/AAAAAAAAAbo/SIB3NeZg1BI/s1600-h/nic+004.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/SptK60acc4I/AAAAAAAAAbo/SIB3NeZg1BI/s320/nic+004.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375972954559247234″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-style: italic;”A beautiful sunset, with Mt. Illiamna in the foregroundbr //span/divbr /I returned to Ketchum for a short three days before I was on the road, headed to Whistler B.C. for a training camp. After 16 long hours of driving in the van, and pulling over for a 5 hour sleep, we arrived in Whistler! We are currently training with the U.S. ski team in this wonderful town, host of the 2010 Winter Olympics. As always, it is exciting to be here training at the venue, becoming more familiar with the town, and training with fellow competitors.br /br /div style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/SptK6BcDqUI/AAAAAAAAAbY/feW03XRLyY8/s1600-h/nic+005.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/SptK6BcDqUI/AAAAAAAAAbY/feW03XRLyY8/s320/nic+005.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375972940875802946″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-style: italic;”Part of the crew, lined up and ready to start intervalsbr /br //span/divThe focus of the training camp is intensity…we have five interval sessions in a span of ten days! It is great to be training with some of the strongest athletes in the nation. We are focusing on improving our transitions, our speed and just becoming familiar and comfortable with the courses. Being here gives us the opportunity to visualize and imagine what it will be like to race the course and sprint the final 300 meters to the finish. Each workout is done with complete focus and purpose. The final countdown is on…every month, day, hour and minute counts!br /br /div style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/SptL79wsCvI/AAAAAAAAAcA/hYxkT_N15Co/s1600-h/nic+007.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/SptL79wsCvI/AAAAAAAAAcA/hYxkT_N15Co/s320/nic+007.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375974073759959794″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-style: italic;”Adele, working on her stand-starts/spanbr /br /div style=”text-align: left;”More from Whistler to come!br //div/divdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5903545846797966075-1972120583243418582?l=in-the-arena-nicole.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div