By: Stepfanie Romine, SparkPeople Blogger
2/24/2010 10:50 AM   :  71 comments   :  8,315 Views

See More: motivation, olympics, healthy eating,

Nicole Joranstaad has been curling since she was a teenager, but this marks her first Olympics. This 29-year-old Madison, Wisconsin, resident is committed to healthy eating and goal setting to help her achieve her Olympic dreams. Though they're out of the running for a medal, they're still playing and giving each match their all!

Stepfanie: What is your favorite go-to meal?

Nicole: Turkey enchiladas! I use ground turkey, enchilada sauce and then whole-grain tortillas, with low-fat Cheddar cheese. That's pretty much one of my favorite things to cook.

Stepfanie: How important is nutrition to your performance?

Nicole: If we fuel our bodies correctly, then we'll perform better. Our game is 2 1/2 hours, so it's kind of a timing thing with food--and we play several games a day--so in the morning, I always want to start with oatmeal and berries because that keeps me going longer. And I always bring different fueling snacks out on the ice with me.

Eating the right foods at the right time, making sure I get enough carbs and protein because our sport is so long is key for us.

Stepfanie: How did you fall in love with curling?

Nicole: My dad had played and then got me involved when I was about 15. I got on a junior team that was quite successful--we went to nationals in 1996--and I had only been playing a couple of months and was 15 almost 16. And we got to go to New York. I thought, "Wow! You get to travel." That was kind of alluring, and I played every day. My dad had to drive me an hour and a half to north Seattle just to take me curling…. It just became an addiction. … And I decided if I was going to curl, I would need to move to the Midwest, and they supported me moving to Madison 10 years ago.

Stepfanie: How important is goal setting in your training?

Nicole: Our team has always been big on goals. We set short-term and long-term goals. Four years ago when our team formed, our long-term goal was to get into the Vancouver Olympics. But short of that, we wanted to be playing in the national championships and winning, going on to the world championships and medaling.

We have goals for pretty much everything. We all have fitness goals, we have certain commitments to off-ice training, on-ice training. We all don't live in the same city, so a lot of that reinforces our team work.

Confession: I knew almost nothing about curling before learning that I was going to interview Nicole. She said the biggest misconceptions are that most people don't realize that the stone weighs 42 pounds! Also, though they say that they "throw" the stone, they really slide it. Do you know much about curling? Have you ever played it? Want to read more of our Olympics coverage? Click here.