Howdy from Oklahoma!

View of downtown Oklahoma City from Devon Boathouse

This post comes from the land of country music and big ol' boathouse dreams! Eleven of us from the Princeton Training Center are here in Oklahoma City, training out of the new Devon Boathouse for two weeks.

So far, our experience has been awesome. We kicked things off our first night with a trip to Earl's BBQ, which was only made better by the Grammys playing the same night: BBQ plus Bieber?! Amazing.

The training center itself is perhaps the nicest boathouse I've ever been in. There's a large erg/bike room, two weight rooms, four locker rooms, tanks, a perpetual swim tank, an ice bath, an altitude training room, and conference rooms with sweeping views of the Oklahoma River. Oh, and can't forget the giant flat screen TVs in every room! Everything is brand new--they've literally been painting and hanging pictures this week, and putting the finishing touches on all of the different rooms.

Our on-the-water experience has been okay. We arrived here the day the temperature shifted up about 60 degrees Fahrenheit, but although it's been warmer and drier here than it's been for our teammates still training in California, it's also been windier. In the works for the training facility is a 40' high wall that will run the length of the 2K course, trying to minimize the impact of the often strong winds on training and racing. The rowable 5K length of the river is partially sheltered already, as it's dug into the banks, but the best water we've had so far was with 9 MPH winds. That doesn't stop the 40 athletes or so training here from going out in singles, pairs, doubles, and single kayaks every morning, though!

Yeehaw! The ladies of USRowing: Team OKC 2011!

The OKC High Performance Center had an open house-style event on Thursday to show off Devon Boathouse and to welcome us. We met the leader of the push to make Oklahoma City a high-performance rowing and kayaking mecca, OKC Boathouse Foundation Executive Director Mike Knopp, and received some awesome cowgirl hats to help us fit right in here!

Teammates (twins?) Amanda Polk (standing) and
Natalie Dell (testing), mid-test

Today we're back at Devon Boathouse to get lactate testing done, administered by Dr. Fritz Hagermann. It was really neat for me to have this opportunity, because Dr. Hagermann actually did lactate testing on both of my parents in the late 1970s, at the since-closed Lake Tahoe Olympic Training Center.

Me with Dr. Fritz!

For everyone who asked, January's playlist is now February's playlist, and will be up this coming week. Just in time for you to find your pump-up jams before spring racing starts! (And just in time for my birthday!)

Good luck to everyone racing tomorrow at CRASH-Bs (and to Linda Muri & Co. with the volunteering)! Here's to puke-worthy PRs all around! :)