Wii Commercial!

The Wii commercial is online, starring me and Mags! Click here to watch.

Climbing Mountains

Yesterday Mickle and I did something we haven't done in a long time: hiking! (We used to do this on Sundays during the off-season, but in the competition season, it's tough to motivate ourselves to get out and do things on the only day we're allowed to be lazy.) But since I was feeling pretty bummed about not being in Lake Placid this weekend to watch the Ironman, I figured I'd get off my butt and do something worthwhile. We set out for Cuyamaca Rancho State Park [the mountains east of Chula Vista] early in the day to avoid the heat... and also because we never sleep past 6am, even on our days off.


Cloud-shadows



This squirrel stopped by while I was eating a peanut butter sandwich at the top. Then he used his cute-ness to force me to give him some of my lunch.


Mickle's hiking technique



My victory technique

On the way home we bought peaches, cherries, and pineapple from a roadside stand. *swoon*

Tyler is famous

Woohoo! Check out Tyler's book on amazon!

Pleasant Saturday mornings

I happily woke up at 5:30 this morning to watch the penultimate stage of the Tour. I don't have a tv, so I'm trying to stream it online. (My internet isn't really fast enough to do this, so I'm settling for just listening to the commentary.) Things could be worse. I'm drinking coffee and stretching, getting ready for my own training session which will commence in 2 hours. My training session-- 6x 250m-- is quite different than the Mt. Ventoux stage-- 167 kilometers, including a punishing mountain climb-- but there are lots of similarities, too. I think there's much to be learned from these riders, especially in the category of "Ferocity."

Introducing the women of Team USA

I got to be a coach for a day today and I must say I highly enjoyed being on the other end of the spectrum. I rode on the coach boat, operated the video camera, and shouted encouraging things. I kind of like this whole "coaching" thing! hehe. Here are some photos I took of the day.



The women's k4, front to back: Ariel Farrar-Wellman, Jen Burke, Kaitlyn McElroy, Maia Farrar-Wellman


Mickle enjoying her post-workout recovery snack of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. What a model athlete.


K4, and Mickle and Mags in their k1s behind.

Estrogen Fest '09

Last week, Nathan left for Lake Placid with the trailer full of boats and the men's kayak team. They're enjoying the cool mountain air while we're melting in 100-degree desert heat. But it's okay, because we have a secret weapon: Delyanya Dechava, our interim team-boat coach for Worlds!! Hailing from Bulgaria, she's a 2003 World Championship medalist and was 6th at the Athens Olympics in 2004. I find it interesting to get an elite female's perspective on technique and training, especially since she was so recently at the top of her game.

So, since the track athletes have left for World Championships, Nathan took the kayak boys away, and it seems like most of the employees here at the training center are female, I have named this month Estrogen Fest '09!!

Here is the press release from USA Canoe/Kayak about the Worlds Team.

Newest excitement

My coffee maker broke last week, and I decided to order a new one online rather than going to the store in order to better enjoy the anticipation of waiting for it to arrive.



Hey, whatever gets you through the day.

Trials Report

I am pleased to announce that World Championship team trials went well and I am headed to Nova Scotia in a month!!

I placed 3rd in the k1 500m, and Mickle and I placed 2nd in the k2 500m, behind Maggie/Arasay. The team of me, Vinson, Mickle, and Arasay won the k4. There was a bit of shakeup in the team roster in the end. Not everyone can race everything, so there were some choices that had to be made that affected the lineup.

I now present team USA!!

Maggie Hogan- k1 500m
Emily Vinson- k1 200m

Emily Wright & Emily Mickle- k2 500m

Jen Burke, Ariel & Maia Farrar-Wellman, Kaitlyn McElroy- k4 500m

And the boys:
Morgan House- k1 500m, k1 1000m

Pat & Ryan Dolan- k2 500m, k2 1000m

Tim Hornsby, Dion Maxwell, David Petrovics, & Sam Ritchie- k4 1000m

Pre-Race Day of FUN

I was asked "What do you do on they day before an important race?"

I don't do anything special. I woke up, washed dishes, and made a pot of coffee. I watched stage 7 of the Tour on TV before meeting Mickle (who is also my neighbor) to walk to the training center (that's what neighborhood ladies do together... they walk... and bake pies. Tehe!) We ate a leisurely breakfast in the cafeteria and then headed for the boathouse, where we washed our boats and went for a light paddle on the course.

This afternoon I'm going to lay in bed, continue plugging away at Atlas Shrugged, and maybe have a nap. The goals for today are to relax, eat plenty of food, stay hydrated, and not really give tomorrow too much thought. The training and the preparation have been done. In the immortal words of the Forge members, "Tomorrow I will go as fast as I can go... and that will be as fast as I can go."

I like to spend the day doing fun things like reading, watching movies, and hanging out with good people. That way I end the day feeling relaxed, calm and confident.

Good luck to all of us (10 girls and 6 boys) who are racing for spots on the World Championships team. I'll announce the lineup on Sunday evening!

World Cup Videos Online

Nathan posted some great videos from the World Cups that are on Youtube. They are kind of like highlight-reels. I like them. You should watch them.

World Cup 1 in Racice, Czech Republic
World Cup 2 in Poznan, Poland
World Cup 3 in Szeged, Hungary

Pie-making

The Fourth of July is on Saturday, and Mickle and I were [no surprise here] looking for ways to be festive. We settled on baking an apple pie (using the home-grown apples I'd picked from my friend Thure's apple tree last week!) What could possibly be more American?



It turned out really well and we adorned it with star-cutouts for the holiday. We gave it to Steph and Jamie, the USOC sports medicine interns who [sadly] have just finished their year-long internship at the training center. We're going to miss them!

Little Fem goes to Hollywood

Yesterday Maggie and I went to Hollywood to shoot a commercial for Nintendo Wii! There's a new Wii game coming out called Sports Resort that features table tennis, archery, basketball, and a bunch of other sports, including canoeing. We were asked to be a part of the commercial because we are "canoe experts." It was tons of fun, save for the awful traffic in LA. We got star treatment: our own dressing room, make-up artist, and stylist!


Mags and me pre- make-up... and also pre- taking-out-my-eyebrow-ring.



Gettin' our hair did

I can't believe how much work goes into one commercial! I'm fairly certain some of the crew members were there for 12-15 hours. We were only working for about five and a half, but it was surprisingly tiring. Everyone has to work hard to get the whole thing just right on camera.... otherwise you have to keep shooting over and over until it's perfect.


Working on my diva attitude



I'll post a link to the commercial when it comes out in a month. It's going to be aired on the internet as well as on the actual Wii system.