MCLAIN WAVES

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Mexico City, Mexico Training for PanAmerican Champs

Hi guys,

My training group and I are back to work in Mexico City. This is my 2nd trip here this year (1st in March). It's a great course and a great training environment. The purpose of the trip: train up for PanAmerican Championships which will be hosted here the first week in September. We had to get here early because Mexico City is in 2,200m of altitude. There's a lot of theories on altitude training, but we generally believe it takes about 3 weeks to acclimate to the lighter air. The first week is hard; the 2nd week is harder; the third week, you're about back to normal. I'm glad I've already experienced the cycle once this year and know what to expect- more or less. It's a great training opportunity here: my Cardio should be great for the fall. The Mexican team is helping us out a lot with boats and figured out. They're great friends!

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

The IceBucketChallenge!

Thanks to Andrew McLain (my little brother) for the Nomination. I have done the bucket Challenge, just after practice today, to promote ALS awareness and research. I donated to the cause and did the challenge! Good Luck to everyone who takes the challenge on next.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Marathon Trials 2014

Just finished marathon tryouts this past weekend. We missed the first trials in Oklahoma this year because of our Euro-trip. But got special permission to do a second trials during our brief time at home between trips. I had a solid run, keeping just under a 12k/h pace with 6 short laps and lots of portages. It was a great day for all of my teammates as well. We're all excited about the hopes of representing team USA at Marathon World Champs in America this year (Oklahoma City, end of September)! It'll be cool to do a world champs in our home country.

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Local News!

Look for us on local News (Northern Goergia) this weekend as we talk about nationals!

Nationals

Just finished a week of National Championships back in Georgia. It was very nice to have my club hosting. We got that 'home court' advantage. With some of our top American women off racing at World Championships, I had some top finishes in my Nationals races. I'm very happy with all of my K1/singles races (distances: 200m, 500m, 5000m) where I placed 1st or 2nd in all of them. As well as my K4 race where my teammates and I took 1st again. Fun week, great too see old friends from around the country! Nationals is always about the team (versus National Team Trials in April which always feels more like independent races). It was great to come back from Europe and see so many young faces competing on our team for the first time. Love that development program.

Friday, July 4, 2014

Romanian Training Camp

Hi guys,

I’m still training away in Romania. Since World cups, we’ve spent the past 6 weeks in a grueling training camp. We did a 4 week long “cycle” of hard training: 12 paddle, 6 lifts, and 3 runs - a week (Sundays off). Then took a long 3 day weekend complete off. Now we’re back half way through our 2^nd training cycle. The first cycle took a lot out of me. Most days, I felt like I was on top of the world and fought hard, pushing till I had no more to give. This cycle, I keep grinding away everyday but with less of that spark I saw in the first training cycle.

They say you improve the most when you’re struggling and tired. So this feels like the time to keep powering along as hard as I can through paddles/lifts/runs. I’ve been learning how to find my 2^nd winds, 3^rd winds, 4^th, 5^th. I learn how to push when I thought I had nothing left. I learn how to bounce out of soreness and tiredness. I think that’s where improvement comes fastest: pushing when you’re down. It’s all about keeping a positive mental outlook and finding that “fight.”

We have another 2 weeks of training here in Romania. We’re at probably my favorite place to train: Lake Snagov which is the site of the Romanain canoe/kayak home base. Nothing to do here but eat/sleep/train. Life is so simple and focused. Then I get a week back home with my family in Maine. Hallelujah. After that, it’s preparations for National Champs (end of July), and then PanAmerican champs (beginning of September). What a summer!

Happy 4^th of July, America!