Hard work has made it easy. I'm feeling strong as we get closer to trials.

Spring Training

These days we are training down in Florida with the Canadians, Danish, Irish, Mexicans, Japanese, etc. Melbourne, FL is one of the top winter training destinations for teams around the world. The weather and water is perfect, housing conditions are easy, and with so many competitors around, there is sure to be great training in international groups.

Team USA is mostly training with the Japanese team these days, but every now and then I sneak over to do a workout with the Canadian women. This month has been some of the best training I've ever seen. So great o have a lot of my international buddies coming to train in America, my home.

Mexico Winter Training

I'm nearing the end of my 5 week training camp in Monterrey, Mexico. The Mexican national team women are awesome and endlessly accommodating. Family is so important down here, and I can feel that in everything we do. In town, in workouts, we're always together. I'm at the point where I can nearly pretend to understand Spanish; yet my responses are generally just an exaggerated "Siiiii." Their training program is grueling, and I can feel the progress I've made while being here. Thanks to the Nuevo Leon team for accepting me into your family for this past month.

Pull-Up Yahtzee!

New favorite game to play at the gym: pull-up yahtzee! Role the dice, do the pull ups.

Fall Training

Fall training is back underway in Gainesville, GA. Time to get stronger! As the weather gets cooler, we turn our focus to the gym. Follow our team on our new Instagram (Performancepaddlers) and Facebook pages (performancepaddlersoflanier) !! See the crazy stuff the 7 of us do day to day.

North Shore Cup

I had an awesome day of racing at the North Shore Cup in Summerton, SC today. The conditions were brutal! I heard it was a race on a lake; so I mistakenly figured I could get away with my sprint boat. Big mistake! I got a clean start; we started in an inlet protected from the wind and waves. I took off with a hard sprint, but the waves began to build as I headed out towards the hot-spot. I felt my pace dropping and the rhythm in my stroke breaking as I saved my butt on a few hard braces. Shortly after the hot-spot, we rounded a buoy and headed with the wind and waves. I caught rides as best I could in my narrow little sprint boat, but for the most part, I spent more time bracing than I did paddling.

It was insane! I've never seen such a rough lake. But on the bright side, I've also never surfed a sprint boat as hard as I did here. My mantras for the day: "Stay in the boat, stay in the boat" and "Harden up, harden up." This was a whole new type of race; I felt like it was me against the elements. I kept giggling to myself about how silly I was to try and do this in a sprint boat - the runs I could have gotten on these waves in a surfski! I truly missed out in that reguard. I sacrificed my shoulders with aggressive braces and saves; those muscles were completely beat by the end - "just stay in the boat, just keep moving forward." Somehow I miraculously kept myself upright, or the very least, slightly above horizontal. In the last mile, we approached the protected shore, and I have NEVER been happier to see flat water. With one mile to go, I took off for a final sprint to get across the finish line in first. So thankful I stayed in the boat.

This races was incredibly fun, and one of the biggest races I've seen on the east coast. There were 10 women in the 12 mile race! Enough for us to have our own start. That's insane! Thanks to all the guys who helped put on such a great event. This is a great race; one I will definitely do again in the future. Check out their site! http://www.northshorepaddlerace.com/

LCKC Fungatta

This weekend we hung out with the little athletes at the Fungatta. Middle-schoolers from all over the area trained for weeks to compete in these races - first regatta for most of them. Really fun to meet and hang out with this little pros. We got to hang out in a tent and tell them stories about our summer races. Even with the endless rain, they seemed to have a great time, and paddled hard! Congrats everybody!