4th of July at the USA embassy!

For the 4th of July we were super thankful to be invited to the US Embassy for their celebration! The event was incredible. There were tons of dignitaries present; countless venders offering complimentary American foods, drinks, and even gum; and even a couple airplanes spewing red/white/blue smoke across the sky as they played God Bless America. It was pretty great to see so many Americans together celebrating our holiday from a country far away. We were super spoiled, I'll admit. We even had the opportunity to shake hands with Klaus Iohannas, the Romanian Presendent. It was pretty cool that he took the time to visit the embassy for our celebration. This was by far the most lavish 4th of July party I have ever visited. If you ever find yourself in a foreign country in early July, definitely contact the US embassy for tickets to the 4th of July party.

Interval Training

Here's a clip from todays interval session. The water was a bit rough from wind chop and motorboat traffic, but that makes us stronger - a good session for balance training. Otherwise, it was another beautiful day on Lake Snagov. Today's training: 4x (60seconds, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10), equal rest between pieces, 5 min rest between sets.

We made it to Romanian National TV!

The other day, we had a quick interview with a Romanian National TV channel. We talked a bit about how awesome it is to train over here. Romania provides perfect training facilities and awesome training buddies. We like it here, and we were stoked to tell the whole country about it. My TV début!

Training in Romania

After Germany my training group and I flew to Bucharest, Romania to stay at our "home away from home." The Romanian Olympic training center on Lake Snagov. This is the same place we trained for two months last year, 2 weeks in 2013, 2 months in 2012. It really is starting to feel like another home to us. I'm the only woman in our team USA training group here. So I'm very thankful to say, the Romanian national team women have welcomed me into their training group. They have a solid group of 8 women (2 K4s) that train together and live at the center. They focus primarily in team boat competitions, but still, when we're all together in singles, they prove to be excellent training buddies! I've been training with them for the past week now, under their coaches training program. A summer with these girls could make me fast! (And also fluent in Romanian, the other learning experience to be gained here).

World Cup 2 - Duisburg, Germany

Just finished up World Cup 2 in Duisburg. Races this weekend were.... challenging. This world cup proved to be twice as big as the 1st World Cup. We saw many more of the international big names here. Times were generally a bit slow because of the cold water and usual headwind. Competition was fierce making it hard to advance in these races. I again raced the 1000m, 500m, 200m k1s. The experience I got from the races was priceless, but I'm most thankful for the spark these World Cups weeks have given me. I cant wait to get down to some serious training for the next few months as I get ready for World Champs in Milan, Italy (August).

World Cup 1 - Portugal

Just finished up World Cup 1 in Montemor-O-Velho, a nearly coastal town in Portugal covered in Castles and known for is 2km water-sport course. Race's this weekend were ok. It was the first international regatta of the season. So it's great to feel the pressure of international racing again, but man, there's a lot to learn and a huge ways to go. I'm stoked I found my way to the B-final in the 500m race. I need a little work in some of my other races. World cups results don't matter too too much. They're mostly just a chance for athletes to get some race experience early in the season. Some countries do use these as race off opportunities to select their national team athletes. For me it was about experience which meant I was entered into a good number of races- 1000m K1, 500m K1, 200m K1.

This is the first time I've raced sprint so close to the ocean- you can feel some of the coastal characteristics impacting the flatwater course. Like the wind. The wind would be calm in the morning. As the sun rises, a light onshore breeze would develop meaning a tailwind at the course. Throughout the day the wind would build and shift to an off shore breeze and side wind on the course. Watching the flags all day, you can see the wind growing and shifting the same way it would the day of a beach surfski race or something. It mirrors east coast USA conditions perfectly. All of this meant that the timing of your race and your lane assignment on this narrow man made channel could leave you with very different results. These were all factors we mentally thought out before each race. Just another cool part of being an outdoor water sport. This aint no gym treadmill workout.

It was really cool to see all of the international racers: some old friends, some new ones. There were like 25 countries at this regatta. This number is rumored to be doubled next week at World Cup 2 in Duisburg, Germany. It's all just part of the journey; adventuring throughout Europe!

Portugal

My training group and I just got to PORTUGAL this past weekend. We've been training the past few days at the Montebelo Aguieiro Nelo Training Center. This place is amazing! The water is beautiful, flat, and big. The climate is perfect: warm and sunny. The facilities are a bit tooo nice. There are a few other teams training here as well: China, Argentina, New Zealand, South Africa, etc. We have World Cup 1 this upcoming weekend at a venue about a half hour from here. I'm stoked to be racing the K1 1000m, 500m, and 200m. Should be quite a fun weekend! We have a great team USA here. I think we're creating the stereotype that all Americans are endlessly giggling and playing games. I guess there are worse things.