1st Run Workout

Well I am off to a slow start. Tonight I decided (stupidly) to go run with the Cardio Core workout group at the track. When Amber said track, I should have clued in, but no. When we got to the track there was only one other person from the group there. So we did about three or four warm up walks around the track. Then the leader showed up, and announced that tonight workout was going to be a "speed" workout, I thought I was going to die.

We did four warm up laps and then 100m on, 100m off for two laps. Then 200m on, 200m off for three laps. Then for "fun" we did two 100m sprints. (can you so ouch!) Thank God it was over. Now it was just one cool down lap and stretching.

The first run workout was a hard but a rewarding one. Since I started running I might as well continue. Now it will be three times a week.

March Racing Calendar

ICF Congress Update

The ICF held their annual congress in Rome Italy on November 28 – 29.

Here are some of the highlights from that meeting:

The 2009 Championships will now include a 4X100m sprint relay (male and female K1)– in an effort to make canoeing a more exciting sport for TV. This should be an interesting event, you can see a test event here.



At the 2010 Championships they will also include a 5000m long distance event for both male and female K1’s.

Flatwater Racing will now be known as Canoe Sprint, Slalom Racing is now known as Canoe Slalom, and Marathon Racing will be Canoe Marathon.

I really the really interesting thing was that they changed the events to make it again more TV friendly. So they dropped all of the womens 1000 meters events. As well as the mens C4 1000 meters, mens K4 500 meters, mens C4 500meters, mens K4 200 meters, womens K4 200 meters, and the mens C2 200 meters. See chart below.



Here is the "new" format for the World Championships.



As you can see the regatta is in two sections, the first being the "Olympic" events, and the non "Olympic" events.This should make the regattas next year quicker with having less events. That's if the local regattas follow the same outline as the ICF.

Unfortunately it is the women who will be getting cheated out of all of the 1000m events. It will be interesting to see if this happens at the local level. I certainly hope not. Well see.

Masters Technique Session

Today was a Masters Technique class at Burnaby Lake. I have missed the last three or four sessions.Since that time the ranks have swollen to over 12 paddlers. There was around 13 or 14 K1s out on the lake today. It was a prefect day for paddling, no rain, no wind, and it was actually warm out. I had to strip down to one long sleeve shirt after one lap of the lake.

I got to the lake early so I could set up my Thunder and get a good warm up and stretch. I did a short dryland warm-up of running in place, with high knees and wide stance, much the same as in P90X. Then I did all my stretches, especially working on the my legs, or so I thought.

There were so many boats that there was a line up to get out on the water. Once on my way down the lake, I realized that I did not in fact stretch my Hamstrings enough, because boy could I feel them, they were really tight. I even considered turning around to go back to the dock to stretch them, but I kept going.

My balance was pretty good today, I had no emergency braces at all. My stroke rate was medium, some where around 80, and I was just concentrating on technique. After about two laps of the lake, the call came from my coach, to turn around and see her. She said she was going to video me and observe my stroke. I told her to give me a few meters for the steam on my glasses to clear up. She said I didn't need to see.

So off we went down the lake. It never fails, the video camera always makes me nervous, and it sure showed. Then we stopped and discussed my areas of improvement. As usual, I am leaning too far back, and losing it at the catch. (Hamstrings too tight) I was going to slow with my rotation at the hips (Hamstrings too tight) and not enough slide. I was cycling too fast and not pausing for the setup. I need to slow down at the setup with a horizontal shaft, "before" putting the blade in for the catch.

This is why you have a coach. They are able to see where you cannot, the errors in your technique, and give you ways of correcting the problems.

After the video section I did two more laps and then headed in. It is good to see so many new faces to the club. Most of them are from the Tuesday night races in Deep Cove. Good job Chris and Gary for promoting the club. Next weekend I will back at the slough to train in K1.

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.

Starts, Starts, and More Starts

Today's workout started like the rest, with stretching. Having my muscles warmed up and loose is very important to having a good session. I start with the legs, and then move progressively up the body:

Calves
Hamstrings
Quadriceps
Lower Back
Upper back
Shoulders Arms
Neck

I did two loops of the slough, before heading to the beach to practice balance and starts. First up was balance drills. Side draws, backwards paddling, bouncing the boat,etc. Then I though of a new one, I took my feet off the foot board all moved them side by side towards my butt. I managed to get my heels touching the seat platform. Then I paddled around in that position. I almost went in doing this. I got a cramp in my right leg, and pushing my feet back to the foot board, I tipped over, but saved it right at the last moment.

Then I started doing the start progressions. Starting with just sitting still and keeping my paddle in the start position. Each time I would try to hold it longer, from one second all the way to the full ten seconds. Next was paddling backwards and then one hard stroke forward. Again with each time I would increase a forward stroke all the way to eight strokes.

Then it was full start from a stopped position. Always lining up to something and looking both left and right to line myself up. Then it was a quick hard stroke, and building to eight strokes. Then session was really good, and I didn't go swimming. So since the water was warm, I decided to really go for it. This time I would pull as hard as I could, if I went in, oh well. I managed to stay dry and it really increased the speed of my starts.

As always a planned one hour session turned into a hour and a half session. Once things are clicking, you just don't want to lose it, so you keep going.

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

Good & Wet K1 Practise

The K1 practise today was at Deas in the Thunder. It was raining non-stop the whole time, but the good thing about it was it was warm.(Not like winter, when it is raining all the time and cold.) I liked it, because you can regulate your temperature better, then in the heat. If you get too hot you can strip off a shirt or two. In the heat there really isn't much of an option than to get wet.

After getting my gear ready and my boat down to the water, I went to the rowing club's porch to do my stretches. I wanted to stay dry for a little longer, before going out and being soaked for the next hour and a half. My coach is really on me about stretching before paddling, and the more I do it the more it becomes a habit. I can really notice the difference if I have not stretched before hand. My rotation is not very good, and my legs really cramp up.

So now before I start paddling, I make sure that I have done my stretching routine. This workout was going to be a steady technique paddle, and after each lap get out of the boat and stretch. The water on the first few laps was flat from one end of the slough to the other. During all the rest of the laps it was a different story, the wind had kicked up and made some nice waves to practise on.

It was not the same from one end to the other though. At the club house side, because of the trees around the slough, the wind was low, but at the marina side, the wind was blowing. This was great. I like paddling in bouncy, wavy water to get used to it. Especially in the Thunder. With these conditions I would practise powering up in the flats and then in the wavy section focus on getting my blade in vertically and power all the way through the stroke.

Turning at the marina end was fun as well. Practised cranking the tiller bar over, and turning slowly around, to maximize the effect of the beam waves on the boat. I wanted to practise technique with the boat really rocking from side to side.

After about an hour and twenty minutes, I decided that was enough. My technique was going south rapidly, and I was getting tired. The one good thing about it, was that even though I was tired my balanced stayed the same. Usually at this point I am bracing like mad, but it was only my technique that was suffering.

K1 + Ski Boats = Swimming

Today was a short (one hour) paddle at the slough. When I got there, a water ski boat was attempting to get his kids to water ski. Good to start them young. As I was doing my stretches, I noticed that he was getting a large inner tube setup to pull behind the boat. I though, humm this is going to be good. I need some practise in some larger waves, and it was hot out, it might serve two proposes. You can see where I am going with this.

Just as I was getting in my K1, the boat took off with two kids in the tube, and heading off for the far end of the slough. I waiting a second or two to let the water settle down before going. Once I was moving I saw that the boat was hanging around the middle of the slough. One of the kids had gone airborne, and was regrouping. Just as I was getting even with them, they took off, but this time spinning donuts, making some rather large and confused waves in all directions.

Since I knew this was coming, I thought I was ready for it, boy was I wrong. The first set came complete beam side and they were big rollers, which I managed to stay up in.But I forgot being so close to shore, the reflective waves nailed me on the other side. In I went. I did not mind in the least. I needed cooling down from the heat, and it made for a nice short swim.

After emptying my boat, it was off for a couple of laps, with the odd power up, and some steady state paddling. Then about 10 to 15 minutes of balance training. It was a good short paddle / swim.

K1 Technique Practice

oday was a technique practice in Deas slough with the Thunder. Each time out now I am getting better with both balance and technique. Mind you there are set backs some times.

I have been paddling for almost a week now with my new one piece paddle. It is a Think carbon mid wing blade, and has a different feel to it than either my Epic or my Set. This is going to be my main paddle from now on. It has a bigger bite at the catch and has a smooth exit. I would like to thank Daryl of Think Kayaks for setting me up with the new paddle.

This practice was all about technique and distance. I worked on what Lynn was telling me the day before about pausing at the catch or setup and then powering through the “entire” stroke, not just at the beginning. By moving my seat up really helps in this regard, as I can really push hard off the foot board.

I concentrated on slowing my stroke rate down, and make each one count. Trying to setup each stroke properly with lots of rotation, and putting as much weight on the blade as I could without getting tippy. With each time out I am improving this aspect of my paddling. Also keeping my on side arm straight through the stroke is working out. Doing this helps keeping the power on the blade through out the stroke.

You can really feel the boat jump forward. After a couple of laps, it was time to practice some balance. Did the usual, eyes closed, side draws, forward, backward strokes, as well as I started to try bouncing the boat. Having your eye closed gives a whole new meaning to being able to feel the boat.

Then it was off for three more laps of the slough. This made the distance by the time I was done, to 11 kilometers. I am looking forward to the next practice. Whenever that maybe, with work being so busy right now.

The thunder is definitely my hardest boat to paddle, but it is still my favorite. It gives you a sense of accomplishment being able to paddle it.

Masters' Technique Session – Deer Lake

Today was a Burnaby Lake masters technique class at Deer Lake. I was looking forward to it, because a had missed the past four sessions. I got there early so I could stretch and do a bit of a warm up paddle in the Thunder.

There were not very many people at today's session. So it was pretty much one on one for coaching. Lynn (my coach) was saying that I was dropping my hands too much and bending my on side arm as I was coming through the back of the stroke. As well as, pausing at the catch. So that was my focus for today's session. Slow my stroke down and pause, then rotate keeping my hand up, and pulling the blade straight out of the water at the exit.

Easier said than done, especially in the Thunder. I did a short loop so Lynn could watch what I was doing, and correct my mistakes. At some point close to shore I went for a unintentional dip. It sure felt good because of the heat. After about ½ hour of that, I decided to do some balance exercises just off the beach. So I would sit in the boat in about three feet of water, and close my eyes and sit there. At first I was just sitting without moving the boat, but after a while I started doing side draws and paddling forward and backwards with my eyes closed.

I even got real brave and tried a start with my eyes closed. I got exactly four strokes before face planting into the lake. Then Lynn said to paddle around with no paddle just my hands. So off I went along the shore with just my hands. I could paddle forwards and backwards, but side draws with my hands just wasn't working and in I went. It was pretty funny. Good thing it was a warm summer day, and not a cold winter day.

I stayed an extra 30 minutes after everyone had left, just to keep practising. It is my goal now to stay in the thunder until the end of September.

K1 / Surf Ski Practice at Deas

Today we were in singles, Amber in the EVO, and myself in the Thunder K1. It is hard to tell someone how to paddle when you can't really see them. Being in the front of the K2, it is not very good to keep looking back to see how Amber is paddling.

So we spent about an hour and a half, just working on technique. The one good thing is that Amber has good balance from rowing, so she can just hop into the EVO and go. It makes it a lot easier to just have to worry about technique than it is to add balance into the equation.

We did some drills were you touch the opposite side of the boat after each stroke to hep with rotation. As well as, taking one stroke and rotating two more time in the air, and then taking a stroke on the opposite side, and so on.

We were at the slough at the same time as the rowers from Deas were out, and they were giving Amber the gears about paddling instead of rowing. All in good fun.

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.

Deas K1 Practice

This morning, since I came home early was going to be a K1 practice in the Thunder. It was low tide and breezy. This was go for a technique practice, because you can turn in any direction to paddle different conditions. With the wind, against the wind, across the wind, etc.

The one thing that I was concentrating on for this practice was leg drive. I wore my stickiest shorts, so I would have to really push hard in order to get any kind of rotation. You really need good contact with the foot board in order to get good drive. With this in mind, I kept moving my seat up after each lap. With each adjustment I could feel I improvement in the drive and the control of the boat. Now I see why my coach was bugging me do move my seat up for the past year.

By the time I was finished a hour and fifteen minutes later, the set was as far as it could go towards the front. Now I need to back it off a notch and move the foot board closer to keep the trim level.

Another good practice with some improvements made.

Training Paddle At Shomway Lake

Since yesterday's regatta was only one day, I decided to come back today and do some training. The other paddlers were here to do some racing to qualify for funding. I could have joined, but really, what is the point at this time.

When I arrived at the lake, the wind was blowing pretty good. This was going to be a good hard session, at least going into the wind. Since I got there at a more casual time, all the racers were there already getting ready for there first race.

I got my boat ready and headed out. On my first of two laps of the lake, I headed south to the part of the lake I had not seen yet. It was an easy paddle up to the section where the lake makes a 90 degree turn, right into the wind. The valley funnels the wind and it bounces back and forth all the way down the lake. So at one end of the lake the wind is blowing one way, and at the other end it is blowing from another direction.

I made the turn and started heading back north with the wind and waves. At this point the waves were not very big, and you could still catch rides. The farther I got towards the race course the higher the waves got. At this point I was starting to get some good speed. I was thinking to my self that I should be paddling my EVO instead. Passing the race course and heading towards the north end of the lake, the wind was getting faster and the waves were getting higher. Now the front of the boat was going through the wave in front and submerging.

This was fun to be paddling in. I got to the end of the lake in record time. Now it was time to make the turn, which would be a little dicey. I got to within 3 to 4 meters of the shore, where the waves were big and the reflective waves were coming from the opposite direction. I made the turn and now the waves were coming directly across my beam. This was a little concerning, with the boat rolling from side to side, but I just went with it and paddle to the opposite shore and started to paddle south again. Now I was going against the waves, and it was a slog going back to the dock.

Once I got back to the dock, I went and rested at our club tent and got ready for the next lap. After about 25 minutes and a cup of coffee, I was ready to go. this time I was going to go the other direction first. Again the wind was blowing pretty good, and my trip north was fairly quick. At the end of the lake the waves were even bigger than last time. The boat was really rolling going along the shore line. When I turned to go south the boat was jumping up and down on the waves.

The bow would go completely under water, and the way to the combing. I managed to see a big one coming, and was ready went it hit. It came right up the deck and nailed me in the chest. I had just enough time to grab my glasses and hat or they would have been blown off my head. This was fun. The waves stayed this way all the way to about three quarters of the race course, then dropped a little.

After the race course the waves were about half the size and smaller than that the north end. During this time I just kept practicing technique. For the rest of the paddle it was all technique with some power ups. This turned out to be a good practice session. A big difference from the day before.

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.

Last K1 Practice Before Kamloops

Tonight I skipped the Tuesday night race in favour of a K1 practice at Deas.

The shorter paddle length really helps out with stability, and I was cruising along quite nicely in the Thunder.It was just an easy paddle, just concentrating on technique and some playing around in the boat. The wind was up a bit, and it made for some nice wave riding on the way back from the bridge.

The safety boat for the rowers was out making some good waves to play on. So now it is off to Kamloops for district qualifiers on the week end.

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.