New Boat

Hello world, meet my new boat! Time to start Spring training with a new Nelo Quatro - I named her Frelsi.

Heading Home from PanAms

We had a great regatta at PanAm Championships, Mexico City. Now I'm headed home. I competed in a bunch of races (K1 1000m, K2 1000m, K4 500m, K2 200m, K1 5000m) and I'm thankful for all of the experience I earned from this regatta. Thanks to all my teammates, coach, as well as the Mexican team and new friends for their support.

 

PanAm 1000m K1 Champ!

Bright and Early Saturday morning, I won gold in the 1000m singles race! It was an experience like no other, this is my first international win, and I'm stoked to have been able to accomplish such a big result at such a big regatta.

How it went: This was my first race of the day which usually means I still have the extra nerves. It's always nice to have a heat or smaller race earlier in the day to slop off your jitters. Not my luck. My best choice was to go out for a hard warm up prior to the race. I had a decent start. Everyone at this level is a great sprinter. I got off the line in about the same position as Canada and Mexico (these are great women on and off the water). As always, I knew my strength would be my middle speed. Coming from my marathon background, I tend to rely on my endurance and steady middle pace to get me ahead. After we each transitioned out of our hard starts and into our middle speeds, I could feel my competitors dropping back. I had my coach riding next to the course on a bike shouting the whole way: my support system and my set of eyes. In the race, there's no time or energy available for looking right or left. I relied on his shouts to indicate how my position looked on the field and where I should do my pick ups. I gave it all I had left for the finish, crossed the line, and then felt all of the energy of the win. It was such a rewarding experience.

My favorite part? The anthem. There is nothing like standing on the highest block of the podium, watching your coach award the medals, listening to your nation's anthem. It's an honor. I was so thankful for the opportunity to compete in this race for the USA.

The next step: This was not the biggest race in the world, but it was a big step for me. It's back to training in the hopes of getting faster at even shorter sprints: the 500m and the 200m distances. I'll do a good bit of distance training this fall, and in three weeks I'll compete at the Marathon World Championships conveniently hosted in Oklahoma, USA. Then it's back to a sprint mindset.

 

 

 

 

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!

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.

 

 

 

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. 

Local News!

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