Photos from OKC riversport

Photos

Check out the photos from Marathon Worlds at https://picasaweb.google.com/116456173267559650427/23SunWorldChampionshipStart900

Race time

Learned a lot from our K2 race at marathon worlds today. Ready to practice sprinting the portages along with a few other things so we can improve on the 8th place finish today! Still a good result but definitely want to get ready to nail it and win on home turf in 2014!

Live stream

The race is can be seen live HERE

Women K2

Maggie and I will race tomorrow morning at 9:30am local time.

Rome

The OKC contingent of the USA canoe/kayak marathon team arrived in Rome safe and sound. We had a little snafu at the airport when the race organizers failed to pick us up so we took the scenic bus tour of the city and then of the central bus/train station and then a brief walking tour! But how cares we are in ROME!

Heat

113 degrees, 111 degrees can put a damper on training. But OKC athletes are managing to beat the worst of the heat with back to back workouts. 7am and 10am we are out on the water, by the time we are done with the second workout its only up to about 100-103 which at this point is a manageable temperature! Lets put it this way I am super excited for the the cold front which is hitting OKC this weekend, 100 degrees is supposed to be the high.
Despite the pain of training in the frying pan we are making the last training push til nationals and building speed for marathon worlds championships in September. I am super excited to be competing in Rome for the WC (www.rome2012.org). I will be competing in the K2 with Maggie Hogan, after our success in the 1000m at the World Cups I am really looking forward to testing our skills at the WC over a slightly longer distance.

Final Push

After flying back from World Cups we started right back in to high volume training. Most of our days are consisting of 2 on water sessions, running, biking, and weights..... lots of weights or and some short intensity session. This training is the final push before we leave for Lake Placid, NY and Canada.

WC2

Maggie and I saw some improvement during the second world cup with a silver medal in the K2 1000m . Our 500m races were extremely competitive putting us in the mix for that event we finished off in 12th place again but we made some good improvements on the water during the races and posted times that were competitive in the A-final. Apparently the next step to bring our performances up to the next level is experience!!!!!! patience... patience.... patience.

Duisburg

Racing in Duisburg starts tomorrow! Check out the action and results at www.kanuduisburg.de

Paddlers win bronze; UCO rowers earn All-American | Outdoors

Paddlers win bronze; UCO rowers earn All-American | Outdoors

Bronze

Saturday was a great day for the K2 we had solid races from the get go. As always there are many things which we can improve on but it was a good day. In the 1000m K2 race Maggie and I managed to put in a solid 250m sprint at the end of the race to edge out the Slovaks and almost take down the World champs for a Bronze in the K2 1000m. Know one can say the race was not competitive in the 1000m because  more then 5 people in the race who were world champions. The 500m races were tough but we managed to be right in the mix. Our races were decide in the hundredth of a second verses seconds which was rough but good at the same time because it meant we were truly competitive with the best in the world!  Now off to race the B-final with awesome form and speed.

Collegiate Champs to Poland in 24hrs

      Collegiate sprint championships were held this past Saturday on the Oklahoma River at the Boathouse district. OCU finished off the day winning the overall title and myself and Cedric winning the overall athlete titles. It was a lot of fun even though we crammed in 7 races each for the day. The event was run in conjunction with the central youth rowing regatta which at times made life very interesting. At one point a novice male had fallen in to the water and was still in the middle of the course as a varsity mens 8 was bearing down on the finish line and the poor guy!
     The very next day I was on a plane to Poznan, Poland for the first world cup.

Collegiate Nationals

Collegiate Kayak nationals are coming to #OKC this weekend. Come watch #OCU compete on the Oklahoma River for a National title!

New Article

The Daily Hampshire Gazette  The local paper were I grew up in Northampton just wrote a brief article on me.

Blah my brain and body have crashed after 1.5weeks of hard training combined with finals, and oh yeah team trials....writing all that down makes me tired. But Maggie and I will keep pushing through it in the K2 making sure to put the time in the boat to good use whether we feel good or not. There is always something we can take away from the work out, even if its something as simple as we need to relax our shoulders....it makes a difference.

US Olympic Trials 2012, Gold Medal Boat K2 500m with Maggie Hogan.

 The 2012 US Olympic trials finished up this past weekend in OKC. I had a good series of races a Bronze in the 500m a Silver in the 200m and Gold in the K2 500m. Overall the times were slow but I am happy with the results and will get the chance to rock the world cups in Poland and Germany with Maggie!

Oklahoma City University paddler Kaitlyn McElroy has overcome obstacles | NewsOK.com

Oklahoma City University paddler Kaitlyn McElroy has overcome obstacles | NewsOK.com

Oklahoma City University Athletics - OCU's Knopp to be honored at Sports Spectacular

Oklahoma City University Athletics - OCU's Knopp to be honored at Sports Spectacular

Energy?!

I was naive in thinking that I had my energy coming back whahahaha. We paddled 12km at L2,  then we went over to Katrin Wagners house with the other girls to eat cake and chocolate and drink coffee. It was a lot of fun and it broke up our two morning training sessions nicely. We then did a resistance workout  8x250m with one ball. I came back to the house had food and passed out til we needed to leave for are two afternoon session! I think I may actually still be tired!
I'm going back home to OKC on Sat so not much longer to push, then I get a recovery week!!!!! so excited.

Energy?!

After two full weeks of training with the German team I think my body is finally coming around to the idea that it can handle the volume. Over the past two weeks I think I have felt everything except for energetic. I may not be moving exceptionally fast but I am definitely no longer completely trashed every minute of the day. Its amazing what a full day of rest can do, we finished training on Sat. and my body was toast I felt like I had just paddled the entire Ausable Canoe Marathon! I am hoping this means my body is recovering, becoming stronger, faster and fitter. This is the last week I am in Florida so I am hoping to make the most of the group training. Because once I get back to OKC i will be on my own the two other girls who are with me will be staying down here to train, unfortunately I am not able to do that damn this whole being an adult thing.... Actually I'm looking forward to going back and training in OKC.

Norway Joins our group

A Norwegian girl (Mira) joined out little international training group today. She's really nice and will only add to an already great group.
Whenever I think of putting top female athletes together in a training group I shiver because it can turn into a "bitch" fight really quickly, not the case with this group. I think the reason why is that everyone of them is so confident in themselves that the petty stuff goes away. Each practice doesn't turn into a race and you focus on what you need to do better instead of what the other persons doing. 

German Team

      The German women's team and coach has been incredibly welcoming to Jen, Maggie and I,  we really couldn't ask for a better training situation. I was really nervous coming into the training camp because I had expected that the team would not be happy with us training with them since they are so much faster. That hasn't been the situation at all, during the longer paddles they have been happy to switch off wash leads with us etc...granted we have to go fairly hard to keep up the pace but it will make us faster.
     Over the past 2 days we have had 4 sessions a day and are completely exhausted, luckily we have this afternoon off to recover! The focus of the sessions has been on power at a low stroke rate, it really pretty amazing how much power those girls can generate at such low rates! Its definitely something to work for.

Florida

After two days in the car and only one or two minor "things" we have reached our destination Debbie Paige's house in Melbourne, FL. Melbourne is a mecca for sprint kayakers in the winter and spring months, with teams coming in from all over the world to train.
We will get on the water for a short paddle in the morning then catch up on school work the rest of the day. On Monday we will start getting "after it" for the next three weeks, on the water, in the gym, on the road and perhaps in the pool.

PowerBar Team Elite

Super excited to be a new member of PowerBar Team Elite!
Tomorrow morning a few members of the US team myself included are taking a road trip to Florida to train with the German team for 3wks!

Swimming, Lifting, running repeat....

Swimming, lifting, running, repeat...oh don't forget the 1hr core session either! As I continue to improve in these areas I seem to need more sleep as a result and over all I seem to have more muscle soreness! I thought that as you improved you were suppose to be less tired and sore, somehow my body missed this memo. I am going to attribute this all to the fact that I can push my self further as a result of my improvement.... I don't know how accurate this theory is but it doesn't matter I need something to explain it!