The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Catching up with Meg George
08.19.2010 | Rowing
Aug. 19, 2010
Meg George came to the Forty Acres as a student, and she left a rower, and since graduating in May, George has been training at the Oklahoma City National High Performance Center in Oklahoma City, Okla.
George, who walked on to the UT Rowing team as a freshman, recently recorded four top-four finishes at the U.S. Rowing Club National Championships in Oak Ridge, Tenn. She notched a fourth-place finish in the women's intermediate single and posted a trio of second-place finishes. George and her crews claimed second in the intermediate quad, intermediate double and intermediate pair.
George visited with TexasSports.com about her new experiences in Oklahoma City.
Can you provide a little synopsis of what's happened to you since graduation day? Since graduation, I have been training with a group of pre-elite women in Oklahoma City at the Chesapeake boathouse. It was a pretty natural progression from one to the other because I didn't have a lot of time off in between. I didn't know what to expect at camp, but I knew I was well prepared because of everything we had been doing in terms of spring racing at Texas leading up to this past summer.
Provide a glimpse of a typical day for you -- when do you get up, train, what do you eat, etc.? A typical day is on the water from 7-9:30 a.m., breakfast, sometimes a midday workout that takes an hour, then returning to the water at either 3 or 4:30, depending on if were lifting weights before the afternoon row. The days vary from sometimes having two rows, midday and weights in the same day, to having either one row or a day totally off. I eat a lot of Greek yogurt because it is high in protein and has virtually no fat, and I avoid fast food and soda. It's the same regimen I followed at Texas, but it's more effective now that all I'm doing is training twice a day and sleeping. There's no stress about school or erg tests or gossip with friends. The coaching staff at the boathouse has made the best environment possible to develop without distraction.
What kind of development have you personally experienced during this time? I have personally improved my small boat skills. I can confidently row any boat type at this point and know that while I may not be perfect at it when I first get going, I know what to fix in order to be competitive. Developmentally, I am in better shape now than I have ever been before. The training and lifting programs are geared specifically towards the individual's skill level so it's always you working to better yourself first, and then focus on the people rowing next to you at practice.
What's your goal -- what are you training for? I came to Oklahoma City to see how good I could become at what I spent my undergrad years learning. If that means the Olympics, that would be amazing, but success at any level beyond college rowing is what I'm working toward. I'm no longer U-23 eligible, so I am technically training to be among the senior national team women in the next couple of years.
How did you find out about this training opportunity and what encouraged you to see this through? I was invited to OKC because I did not get invited to U-23 camp. The national team coaches had seen me at U-23 camp the summer before and knew I had potential, but also that I needed more time to develop. When I found out about potentially going to OKC, I already had grad schools and a summer job lined up -- it was extremely hard for me to pass up that plan, but I knew myself well enough to know that if I didn't explore my rowing options, even if that meant going to Oklahoma, I would always wonder "what if..."
Would you have believed as an incoming freshman with no rowing experience that this sport would impact your life course in such a way? I had no idea rowing was a possible future for me until I was invited to the U-23 camp last year. That was the first time people other than coaches Graves and King told me I had potential, so I effectively threw myself into training and set new athletic goals for myself.
Given the intensity of the training now, did your time at UT with Coach King and Coach Graves prepare you especially in any way? Mentally, there is no better training than rowing for Carie Graves. She and the coaching staff at Texas were and will always be the foundation of my experiences as a rower, but it is really interesting to spend time with other coaches with different styles and methods.
If you have any down time, how do you enjoy it? I brought my dog with me to Oklahoma, so I usually spend time with her, reading or napping.
Aside from this, are you eyeing any particular career path or goals? I would like to continue my education as soon as possible and from there determine what career options are possible. Hopefully, that will be something where I can still spend the summers working as a white water rafting guide in Idaho!