B.C. Masters Day One

Today the first day of the B.C. Masters at Whonnock Lake in Maple Ridge. One of the first races to go was the masters K1 500 meters. I was in the first heat of two. The progression was going to be the first three to the final and the next three fastest times of the heats to the final. I was in lane five, just looking to get third place or better, so I could move on.

My start was a little shaky, but I recovered quickly, and soon found myself sitting in forth. So I started to pull harder to try and move up. as I was doing this I could hear the referee start yelling at boat two. He was telling him to move to the right, that he was out of his lane. Then I heard the guy on my right yell to him that he was in his lane, but there was no stopping him. He came flying across all of the lanes. Seeing this I knew that he was going to be disqualified, and I was heading to a third place finish.

Sure enough I managed to come in third and boat #2 was disqualified. I felt bad for him because two years earlier, I had done the exact same thing. If you look just a little to the left, it looks like your lane and you follow it. You don't realize that you are crossing lane, and the referee is yelling at “you”. After the second heat, and the times were posted, I checked to see if the DQ hadn't happen would I have still made the final. It turned out that my time would have gotten me in anyways.

Next up for me was the K4 500 meters. This was about an hour and a half away, so I had lots of time to relax and eat. Since it was cloudy and cold, I made sure that I was dressed warm. We got our boat setup, and headed out for a warm up. I was in seat four, which comes in handy. People can't see how badly I am paddling. So the order in the boat was Jeff, Dan, Hugh, and myself. We practised a couple of starts. Six hard slow power strokes , and then smoothly building the stroke rate up.

Our start was a little rocky , but after about 50 meters we got into sync. We held our own, but could not catch Victoria, and came in second. It was a good race. After thanking everyone for a good race, it was off to the beach, and some warm clothes. Another hour plus wait before the 500 meter final. The sun actually managed to come out, and the warmth was appreciated after a cold morning.

I managed to get some sleep before the final. For the final, I switched the high seat for the low seat in the Super Lancer, which would help me put more power on the blade without having to deal with balance. I was in lane two, for the final. After a brief warm up, I headed for the start line. I looked down my lane and made sure that I had the correct colour of buoy on my right side. That way I would not cross into the other lanes.

My start was ok, but still needs work. Right from the get go, I was about four boats down on the start. For some reason I could not concentrate on technique and was basically flailing around. This does not make for speed in the boat. I think I came in sixth or seventh.

So I managed to make my goal of making it into the finals of the K1, but I was hoping to be closer to the front at the end. Being that regattas and racing against guys that are faster than you, helps you determine how much training you need to do. In this case, a lot. Also you get to observe the technique that makes a boat go fast. By watching the younger and faster paddlers, you can see what works and what does not, in terms of boat speed. It is helpful just to sit back and watch.

Next up was the 2000 meter race. I was number 10, but the order really doesn't make I difference. No one really line up in order on these races. The starter tries to get it right, but the paddlers are not really helpful, by lining up before being called to the line. My self included.I moved over to the middle of the start line, to get a better line to the turn at the end of the course.

The start was fast, with Jaden and Garth blasting off. By the time I was almost at the turn, I think I was sitting in 8th or 9th. The whole time I just kept concentrating on putting the blade in vertically and pulling hard. I was behind Karol the whole 2000 meters, and could not get any closer than about three boat lengths. I did manage to keep other people behind me from passing. I could hear Steve behind me, and it acted like a motivation thing, to keep pushing.

It was a good hard race, and I am happy with my performance.

Readership Expanding

When I started this blog on January 2nd, 2008, I thought this was a good way of keeping a training log for my lead up to the World Masters Games in 2009, and to promote kayak racing in general.

Since then it has been read in 73 countries and over 2,000 unique visitors as per google. This is cool, and I hope some of my training will help others in their goals as well. As well as my failures. (learn from my mistakes)

Thanks for reading.

Darrell

K2 Practice at Deer Lake

Today we decided to do a K2 practise at Deer Lake, since Burnaby is full of weeds and lily pads this time of year. We arrived at the club house at around 11:30 and packed up the K2 on top of my car. Since we were only going to drive about 4 kilometers, it would be ok on top of the Focus wagon. It sure is a lot longer than my surf ski when you get it up there.

The parking at Deer Lake was nuts, even with the added stalls which basically doubled the parking. Parked in a no parking zone to unload the boat, and gear. Just as we were finishing unloading, a car pulled out, and we quickly scooped up the spot.

We adjusted the boat to our liking, and pushed off the beach. There were quite a few people curious about the K2, having probably never seeing one before. Today's workout was just getting used to paddling together and working on a couple of things.

The first lap was good, with no shakes or wobbles. We just had to pull over top do a little seat adjustments. The timing is getting better with each outing, so we were trying to work on rotation. Once around the lake, we went to the beach to go over some of the basics.

Then it was out for another couple of laps in the blazing hot sun. Once back to the beach for the last time, we tried some balance drills. Basics like side draws in both direction at the same time, as well as one person at a time. Holding the paddles up in the air, and bouncing the boat. We managed not to go swimming, which is a good thing.

Bad Regatta, Frustration Level High

Today turned out to be one very bad regatta for me. Right off the bat when I got there at 7:15 no one had a schedule of races. After a while I figured that the regatta did not start until 9am , and not the usual 8am start.

Then I found out that the entire regatta would be one day. I had planned on two days, so tomorrow I will be going back to the lake for a training session before driving back to Vancouver.

Anyways back to the racing part of today. My first race was not going to be for an hour so I had time to chat with Keith, who I had not seen since last year at a Deep Cove race. There were not many masters so we were group with either the juniors or the open class. Our 1000 meters race had only 5 people in it. This would be the theme for the rest of the day, every race was a final.

The wind was not at the famous Shomway speed yet this morning, so it was just at a light breeze for this race.(that would change later in the day) Keith and I cruised down to the start line, Keith in his SRS Vulcan, and me in my Think Super Lancer.

The referee called us to line, and handed the race over to the starter. The lanes for the races were actually rowing lanes, which are really wide, so there were going to be two boats per lane. I lucked out and got lane #1, with no one in lane #2, so I had the whole lane to myself. This is were my luck ended. Right from the start, I was doomed. I had a slow start, but a smooth one, and managed to go about 100 meters before I was bagged. Gee only 900 meters to go. This was a race of pure survival and pain. I have no endurance what's so ever. So needless to say a came dead last.

Next up was the K2 1000 meters with Keith as my partner. This was good, because I have always had good races with Keith , and today would be no different. (it was the only good part about today) We had a little shaky start, but soon recovered and had a decent race.

Next was a long wait until our next race. This is normal for a regatta. You can have a huge gap between races, sometimes 6 hrs can go between races, but that would be the extreme, the average is about 1-1/2 to 2 hours. The opposite is also true. You can have no time between races and they hold the race for you.Which they do not like doing, and tell you so at the start line.

Well we got to chatting, and lost track of time. The regatta was behind schedule and when we finally got to the start line the referee was not happy with us and warned us that this was the last time we would be late. We tried to use the excuse that we were old, but he was not buying it.

This K2 race was even better than the 1000m before. We had a good start, and were in sync for most of the race. We were smooth, and in time, and managed to finish not far behind the juniors.

The next race was suppose to be an exhibition K4 1000 meters race, since we were not all from the same team. Since this regatta counted towards nationals, the boat had to consist of members from your team, hence the exhibition status of the boat. I don't think there was a single member of the boat that really wanted to do this race, and I know I was glad when we found out the there were four teams and only three K4s. So we scratched from the race and rested for the K1 500 meters.

It was a 2 hour wait for the K1 500 meters. We got up at the scheduled time and started to take our boats to the launch area, when we found out that they were really behind schedule now, but Keith and I decided to go anyways. When we got to the start area, there was a line up of different classes waiting to race, so I headed over to the shore and got out of my boat and went swimming. the heat here in Kamloops is higher than what I am used to on the coast. It was 31 / 32 degree, and a little cooling down was in order, since I had time before our race.

It was another 15 - 20 minutes before they called us to the line. This race was the same as my 1000m race, pathetic. This was just increasing my frustration level, by preforming so poorly.

Back to waiting for the next race. This fortunately was going to be a shorter wait than before only about 20 minutes. Once they switch to 200 meters the schedule goes really fast. When we got to the start line they were behind schedule again. This time we had to wait about 20 minutes in the famous Shomway wind. There was steady wind blowing up the course, with some really go gusts, that blew my boat back quite a ways, and almost sent my hat to the other end of the lake.

Now the waves were starting to get larger, and the wind just a little harder. One group went, and then nothing. The officials weren't calling us to the line or anything. It was about 5 minutes before a bunch of K1 juvenile girls showed up and started to line up. Apparently they decided to hold the race for them. This wouldn't be so bad, except for the wind and waves.

What can I say about my 200 meter race. Well let's say three strikes you're out. it was so bad, I just gave up with 20 meters to go, and just cruised over the finish line, totally pissed with myself.

It was a crappy end to my day. Now it was time to make a list of what went right and what went wrong at this regatta. Even though it was not a very good regatta, there are still things you can learn from and work on to fix. So that it what I am doing over the next couple of days. The stuff that I had no control over does not get on the list. Things like the heat, wind, waves, and the schedule are things that I just have to forget and move on.

Things that I actually can control will be on the list. i.e. endurance, speed, power. I will have to evaluate which of the elements gets priority, and to what level, to get ready for September and the BC Masters, which is the next and last sprint regatta of the year.

Kamloops Warm Up Paddle

I got to Shumway Lake just before the club trailer showed up.As I was pulling in the trailer was right behind me. Perfect timing. The wind was a little breezey, nothing too big, as I have heard that this lake can get pretty big waves on it.

Unloaded the Super Lancer, and took it down to the lake for a warm up paddle and to check out the lake. Jim was ahead of me in his Thunder, by about 500 meters. He stopped at the start area at the north end of the lake.

I was having some difficultly in keeping the boat from going to the left. I would need to adjust the cables when I got back to the dock. It was a good paddle going with the waves and I turned at the start line and had a look down the course. Then I started to paddle up the course. Just an easy technique paddle to get the feel of things and to look at the course.

It seems that the course actually turns a little to the right at the end. This I don't think will be a big deal.Once at the end of the course, I headed to the dock and adjusted the cables. Then it off again heading back to the north end of the lake.

That is when I had noticed that I had adjusted the cables in the wrong direction. So I pulled over to the bank and adjusted them in the other direction. Then off to the start line for the 500 meter races. Lined up, and headed to the finish line. I then called it an afternoon, and headed in. Just a short paddle to check out the boat and the lake.

Looking forward to racing tomorrow. I know I am entered in the 500 meters and the 1000 meter K1 races, plus the k2 events as well. Not sure about any K4 races yet, I will have to see which races my coach put me in tomorrow morning.

K2 Practice, Skipped Deep Cove Race

Today we decided to do a K2 practice instead of going to race in Deep Cove. I was tired from racing on the weekend and it turned out that tonight was a good night to go to Burnaby Lake. Amber and I went out to practice timing and technique.

At first we were a little rocky in the Sagitta, but after about 5 minutes we seemed to settle down. I was in front setting the pace and steering, or should I say trying to steer. It was not easy keeping the boat going straight, and required quite a bit of corrections. We did the first 4 kilometer loop, and then stopped at the dock to stretch and discuss what we needed to concentrate on. I was having trouble rotating, and my right leg was going numb. Before we started the next loop, we did some turn practice, turning hard left and hard right, keeping the same stroke rate and technique.

Then it was off for the second loop. As we were approaching the 1000 meter platform, my right leg was going numb again, so I decided to cut the loop short. We turned around and headed back to the dock. We were looking straight into the sun, or I was being in front. I was not wearing sunglasses, so it was hard to see. So I decided to do a blind drill. I would do 4 strokes with my eyes open and 4 strokes with my eyes closed. I did not tell Amber what I was doing counting 4 stroke sets. I did not want her to freak that the driver had his eyes closed.

It was a good drill, you really get the feel of the boat on the water. We finished off our workout with a couple of starts. This we will need to work on. On the start I was three strokes ahead of Amber. The main thing is that we are in sync. If it means pulling the blade up sooner, than that is what has to be done. It is not very efficient for us to be out of time at any time during the race.

Ted Houk Sprint Regatta Day 2

First up was the Open / Masters K1 500 meters. Technically I thought I had a better race than the day earlier, but finished in 5th place. This time I was positive that I did not make the final, and started to get ready for the K2 500 meters with Daryl.

We were going to use the Sagitta K2 in this race. Since we were going to go against some very fast competition, wash was going to be an issue, at least for me. Daryl said that we should just concentrate on being smooth, and I totally agreed.

The start was fast, but not for us. It is amazing to watch these guys race. when they start, it is like an explosion. The boats just jump out of the water and rocket away. Unfortunately they were rocketing away from us. Daryl and I got into a pretty good rhythm and were cruising down the course, watching the race in front of us. At the end we came in 5th place. We were head of the other K2s by a good amount, so I think our race was a good one.

Next up was the K4 500 meters, but because Daryl had to go, we had to make some team changes. At first we had Dion Maxwell paddling for Daryl, but he found out that he was actually in another boat. So we picked up Nick Foellmer to be our 4th. I asked Jim which boat we were going to use and he said the white and red one. I was a little concerned because I have never paddle in that particular boat before. I have been in the more stable Plastex K4. This was the real tippy (according to me) Lightning K4, which is similar to a Nelo.

This was the seating arrangement: 1st – Jim, 2nd – Nick, 3rd – Eliot, 4th – Darrell.
Well the race did not go exactly as planned. My balance was the subject of discussion after the race. I am used to a little "rolling" during a race, but the guys were not used to that kind of movement in a boat. So Eliot was doing some heavy duty bracing to try to compensate for the roll. This of course slows down the boat, and puts everyone out of sync.

We managed to come in 3rd place. Not bad, in my opinion. Nick, according to his mom, had a good time in the boat. He does not get too many chances to race with the older guys.

The last race for me at the regatta was the 5000 meters. this was going to be specially fun, because the notorious Green Lake wind had kicked up. There was about 24 paddlers in the Open / Masters class, and would make for exciting race. I had already decided that this was going to be a fun race, and would use it for training. We all lined up, and off we went. Right from the get go, Dion, Jim, Eliot, and the rest of the faster paddlers were gone. I was right behind Daryl and Brent for the first up wind leg. The waves were coming right up to the cockpit, and at times coming over. Without a spray skirt, I did managed to get a little wet. I wasn't really gaining on the two in front, but I wasn't losing any ground either. Around the top , and then the down wind section is where they I started to lose ground. I never really do well going with the wind, and would not catch them for the rest of the race.

At the bottom turn, this is were all hell broke loose. Side waves like crazy. I was coming out of the turn, and bang a wave push me all the way over, right to the cockpit rim in the water. I did a huge, boat stopping brace, and managed to stay out of the water. So here I was completely stopped in the waves. I quickly started paddling, to get moving or I was done for. Going up the course again, the two lead girls from the group behind had caught me. They were powering through this stuff. One of the two was Kirsten who has raced a many Tuesday nights in Deep Cove, so I knew she was going to do well in this stuff.

Going to the top and back down the course was pretty much the same as the last. Lost more ground to Daryl and Brent. As I came around the bottom, I heard a familiar voice, it was Steve in his Thunder coming beside me. I though good someone to paddle to the end with. We managed to stay together up to the top of the course, then as usual I started to slip back a bit. Just then Katja had caught us, and was motoring by. So I used her pace to set my own pace, and managed to pull in some distance on steve, who was about 5 meters in front of me by now.

At the end Steve got me by about 6 to 8 seconds. It was a fun race, and I really enjoyed my regatta weekend in Seattle.

Ted Houk Sprint Regatta Day 1

This morning a felt rough. I got real late after the scratch meeting at Green Lake Kayak Centre, and did not get a lot of sleep. So getting up was a real chore, and I ended up sleeping longer than I was suppose to. Now I had to hustle because racing was going to start at 8am sharp, and the Open / Masters K1 1000m was going to be one of the first races. They decided to combine the two groups, which basically cut my racing in half.



There was enough racers to make three heats, and I ended up in the third heat. So when I got at the lake, I could not take my time, and had to get my boat ready to race. I am racing the Super Lancer this weekend. It is such a nice boat to use. I got the boat off the trailer and found my number,then headed off to the start line, which is at the other end of the lake.

As I was paddling, I was just not feeling right. Humm the sign of things to come. Our race was called to the line, to get ready to start. I was in lane 7, which was close to the starter. I had only one racer on my left and no one on my right. this was good, only wash from one side. the starter lined us up, but he kept calling racers up to the line. this makes starting very long. the tarter is only suppose to call the racers back, if they go over the line. It i the racers responsibility to get the bow up to the line. Normally we put the nose over the line and wait for the starter to call us back. Waiting for paddlers to get to line is time consuming.

After a couple of races getting caught way back, will get them to get to the line faster. We finally got lined up, and the starter said “start with in ten seconds” go. Well let me tell you, the wash from the left was pretty big, and had the boat going all over the place. the first 500 meter of my race was bad. Nothing was working, my breathing was going nuts, steering was areal chore, and I felt bad.

Once I got to the 500 meter mark, everything all of a sudden started to click. The wash was gone, I could ease up on my out of control breathing, and concentrate on my technique. In the last 100 meter I was able to crank up the stroke rate and keep it there. In the end I ended up coming in 4th place. The top two from each heat and the next three fastest times moved on to the final. This was not I good race, and I did not think I had a chance to make the final. So off I went to test paddle a Think Carbon Legend.

After about 30 minute of paddling the Legend, Steve came up to me and said I had made the final. I checked the time, and I had only 20 minutes to get ready and to the line. I grabbed my number and my boat, and off I went. Made it to the start line with a little time to stretch on the shore, and think about what kind of strategy I was going to use. I had two very fast paddlers on the left of me, so the strategy was fairly easy. I only had two choices, either start fast and try to stay ahead of the wake for as long as I could (which would not be long) or start easy and let the wash go in front of me. I picked the first choice.

Soon as the starter said go, these two were off like rockets. I managed to get on the wake on the guy next to me, and rode it for as long as I could. I managed to go about 100 meters on his wake, then I slipped back into the mixed waves. This was hard to steer in, and I kept turning all over the place. After a while, I managed to get it together, but by that time I was fighting just not to be last. It was close but I got beat right at the line.

Next up for me was the Open / Masters K4 1000 meters. Our boat comprised of: Jim, Brent, Daryl, and myself. As we were warming up, Daryl was having problems sliding around on his seat. This resulted in some amazing bracing on Daryl's part. This is where Daryl's whitewater skills came in handy, and we managed to stay dry. Since we had time before the start, we went over to the swim area, to sort it out. After some fiddling with the foot board we were off to the start area. We had to wait a couple of races in front of us to go, before we were told to go to the line.

The start was ok. We powered it up, and managed to get off to a decent start. As we were heading down the course, Daryl started to brace again, as he was starting to slide around again. Jim realizing that we were not going to compete for 1st, or even second, he backed down the stroke rate only to have everyone behind him crank it back up again. He tried this a couple of times but we kept increasing the rate. I guess we need to follow the driver a little better. Anyways, it was a fun race.

Thats was it for day one. Tomorrow was the 500 meter and the 5000 meter races.

Registered For Worlds Masters

Registration opened for the World Masters Games last week , and we are now signed up to race in Sidney.

I am registered for K1 200m, 500m, 1000m and Mixed K2 200m, 500m, 1000m.

It feels good to have one more thing on our "to do" list for the games. Now we or should I say Amber, just have to tackle the next 500 or so items left. ;-)

Amber did a great job of getting us signed up for our respective regattas.

World Masters Games Roadshow Reminder

Just a reminder that the World Masters Games Roadshow is this Wednesday June 11th.

It takes place at the Best Western Richmond Hotel & Convention Centre, 7551 Westminster Hwy, Richmond, B.C. in the ballroom, and begins at 7:00 pm.


I have been asked to be one of the guest speakers, and will be discussing our experiences at the last games, and my preparation for the games in Sidney.

First K2 Practice

Today was Amber's and my first K2 practise of the year. Until her main rowing regatta is over in six weeks, we won't be having very many practises. We trained out of Burnaby Lake today. We started by setting up the boat. A Simon River Sagitta K2, which is one of the best intermediate K2s on the market. I really like this boat. To the point we are thinking about buying our own, or a Fenn XT double surf ski. One problem is that I was very disappointed in the fit of the front seat in the XT. I assumed it would be like the single, but it was not. The front seat setup is not for someone with short legs. If we get one of those I will have to make a custom foot board.

Our goal for today's workout was going to be trying different set ups , and to work on timing. For the first round of paddling, I was going to be in the front. I know this boat very well so it was a quick couple of adjustments and I was ready to go. Once Amber was ready to go, we headed out into the lake, because we were going to be changing things often, I decided to stay in the area by the club house, to make it easier to make adjustments.

Right off the bat, I noticed that our collective balance was actually pretty good. We started with a medium stroke rate. I was using the Epic large blade again, and I didn't want to go too high of a rate. We settle in around 70 – 80 strokes per minute. The boat did rock the occasional time, but nothing too concerning. In other words no huge braces to keep us from swimming. Since Amber started working with a trainer her balance has improved quite a bit.

We don't have the “wobbles” like we had the last time we paddled K2 together. After about 10 – 15 minutes we headed in, and changed it up. Amber went in front seat and I went in the back seat. This made a big change in the balance of the boat. We became fairly twitchy, and our we weren't in sync with our stroke. It took a while, for us to get it together, but we did manage to get the boat moving ok.

On our next stop at the dock, we talked about stroke technique. It is good that Amber has not developed bad habits, and can be coached to do the proper stroke technique right from the start. We discussed rotation, the catch, and rotating the body, and not the arms. We sat on the edge of the dock, and worked on the position of the body at the catch or set up as it is being called in some circles. from there we worked on rotating the body and holding the arms locked in position. This is to get the feel of using the truck for your propulsion and not the arms. The arms are to hold the paddle in position.

Then it was back into the boat, and out to paddle some more. I was back in the front seat, and the boat was reacting better. We will still switch seats, so Amber can get more practise steering, and so I can see her technique. I could tell that Amber was trying what we talked about because the boat was starting to rock a little. This is good, but the main focus is on timing. We have to get our timing down as a main priority and then technique.

Our workout was only 50 minutes, but it was a very productive. I don't know when we will get a chance to paddle together in the next 6 weeks. Hopefully the time gap won't be too big.