Hey sportsfans!

How's it going? Things here are going well, today was a beautiful, sunny, hot day in Germany, the nicest weather we've had so far for sure. We spent a lot of time hanging out on the dock, watching our physio Paul try out our boats for the first time. He didn't take to kayaking so well but he looked pretty good with Gab in C2, so Aruss better watch out! Training has been going well, we've been working pretty hard and I've been feeling pretty fast when I want to be, which is good. One more practice tomorrow morning and then we have the rest of the weekend off to rest and recover, which I definitely need. I need to be fresh next weekend if I want to do well. Over training now would be a big mistake. I've posted a bit of training video to check out. I will get video of the races up soon, just having a few technical difficluties at the moment, check back soon though for some exciting 5k starts and corners. Thanks for reading and keep your paddle in the water.

Greetings,

Hey everyone,
Well that was quite a weekend! Saturday afternoon ended up being just as windy as the morning, and my 500m definitely did not go as planned. My boat started filling up with water and I was catching all sorts of crazy waves, and I never even really felt like I was racing at all. I felt prepared mentally to race in those conditions, but my boat didn't agree with me. I'll be looking to get one with higher sides in case of similar conditions in the future. I also realized that I should probably practice in those kinds of conditions a bit more often as well. The winners of the race probably didn't have as much water in their boats, but they also paddled much better than I did in those conditions. I wasn't as much dissapointed with my result as I was with the fact that I wasn't able to test myself against those guys. I don't think I would have won the race on flat water, but it would have been nice to know where I measure up and what I need to work on. Anyway, enough about the bad stuff, on to Sunday!

I woke up early sunday morning and immediately looked out the window at a beautiful, calm regatta course and a bright sunny day. I knew things were going to go better that day and was excited to get out there and redeem myself. I was right between Tom Hall and Vadim Menkov, who were 3rd and 4th respectively at last years Olympic Games, so I knew I was in for a tough race. Mathieu Goubel of France, who I have trained with in Florida the last two years, and who won the first world cup of the season was two lanes to my left, and Sebastien Brendl of Germany was two to my right. These were the guys I was expecting the most competition from, and I was glad we were all close together. I got off to a great start, taking the lead from the first stroke. I got into my travel speed pretty quickly, and felt like I was paddling well techincally, using my whole body, focusing especially on my legs. During the middle of the race, Menkov made a great move and pulled ahead, and Tom also caught up and got a bit ahead of me. I didn't panic though, which I was really happy about. I just stayed with my own pace and knew I had a little bit extra for the finish. With 250 or so to go I made a move and was able to pull into second, and was closing pretty well on the leader, but had let him get too far ahead to catch. It was a great race and felt so good crossing the finish line and getting that medal. Since I was 4th at both World Cup races last year, and didn't get the Olympic entry in the 1000m, and I was dissapointed from the 500 the day before, it was an especially good feeling for me.

After coming second in the 1000 I was feeling pretty confident and really excited about racing the 5km. I was also feeling pretty tired after a hard weekend of racing though, and was a little worried if I was going to last the whole way. I watched the kayakers races before me, so I learned a little bit of strategy beforehand. Both races had a two person break away group who made their move early in the race and stayed ahead. So that was basically what Gab and my plan was. We didn't want to get caught up in a big group, especially around the corners where you can get knocked around and even fall in the water (as we saw our team mates Corey Hamilton and Victoria Tuttle do in their races). I was prepared for a fast start, but I was still surprised at the speed of the race off the line. I was going as hard as I could just to keep up for the first 250m. Gab quickly got on the wash of the leader, a strong Polish paddler, and I cut across the course to follow suit. We only settled on his wash for a couple hundred metres, and then I saw the corner coming up and decided to just go for it right away. I sprinted off the wash and got ahead of the group. Gab, meanwhile, cut around to the other side of the Polish, who couldn't handle the wash I was giving him. I kept sprinting until the corner, and got around cleanly. I heard someone right behind me breathing, so I said "Gab?", and was super relieved when he answered "oui". I set out at a good pace and he jumped on my wash, and we pulled ahead of the group. We had practiced our corners earlier in the week, and they went perfectly, with no collisions. We switched leads on every corner and worked together to stay ahead, despite a valiant effort from a Chinese paddler who just wouldn't quit. The race was really hard, we were both breathing really heavy and tightening up a lot, but it just went back to on of the many many washrides Gab and I have done together over the years, and we were able to keep going. It was a great experience to race with team mate and work together like that, especially because it was with Gab. It was awesome standing on the podium first and second, representing Canada and C4C!

We're training in Germany now until the next World Cup. I'll be training hard and really working on perfecting my technique and my race plan. I raced well on the weekend, but I know that I can still be a lot faster and am going to need to be to get back on the podium in Hungary. I'll get pictures and video up as soon as possible. Thanks for reading and keep your paddle in the water!


Oh and here's a link to a news story about our race.
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/news-centre/newsid=10961.html?cid=rsstsn

Greetings,

Well World Cup #1 is under way and things are going great so far. My heats yesterday felt good, they weren't super hard but I was able to feel good technically and gain some confidence. Today we awoke to a massive tail wind, slightly from the left. The waves really start to build up at the end of the course, so you have to be careful not to sink. Nelo built up my boat with extra splash guards, which kept me afloat, although a lot of water still came in. I think I will need a specially designed boat so that doesn't happen, as similar conditions are fairly likely at least one of the days at the Worlds in Dartmouth. Because the wind and waves were such a challenge, it made it feel less like a race and more like survival. It definitely wasn't the worse I've seen it here in Poznan though, this course is known for some pretty big waves. What was important for me was the mental state I had going into the race. I stayed positive and just went out there to have fun, knowing that anything could happen. I knew I couldn't control how big the waves were, and I knew I might sink, but I also knew that if I had the right attitude and determination, I would be able to get into the final, and I did. I'm really trying to stay happy and positive during regattas now, even before big races, and I think it is working well. The best races I've had during my career have usually been the ones where I was smiling on the start line. What I thought to myself today was this: "Is there anywhere else you would rather be right now?" And the answer, truthfully, is no. This is what I love, this is what I do, this is what I train for every day. So why shouldn't I smile? Of course I'm still focused on my race and I still get nervous, but racing is fun, and that's all a part of it. I will have the same positive attitude for my finals, and hope that they go well. They are going to be really hard, but they are also going to be a lot of fun, and I'm really looking forward to it. That's all for now, thanks for reading and keep your paddle in the water.

Hey everyone!

Hey everyone!

What a weekend! I'm happy to say that I was able to win both of my races at National Team trials for the 4th year in a row. I was a little surprised at how good I felt to be honest, considering it was the first race of the year and I had not spent as much time in Florida as usual. I guess the experience I've gained over the years helped a lot. Actually that was something that I really noticed this weekend. The wind was blowing mighty hard, especially on Saturday, and I was able to handle it really well. It reminded me of racing in Nova Scotia in 2002 when I was 19, and it was a huge head wind. I remember looking at the older guys and being amazed how well they were handling the conditions. I was the same speed as a lot of them in practice or even in calm conditions, but once we got in the big wind, they just killed me.

I got to be on the other side of that scenario this weekend, and it was a nice feeling. I was one of the "experienced" guys. I felt great in the wind, and knew what small adjustments I needed to make to my stroke to move the boat. It actually led to a great talk I had with Cory Rublee and Larry Cain (a canoer with a fair bit of experience himself). Cory was wondering how to change his stroke to adjust to the headwind, and after I put in my two cents it was Larry that summed it up best. He compared paddling to riding a bike, in the sense that on a bike you have to change gears depending on how fast you want to go or if you're going up hill. The same goes with paddling, you have to have different gears for different situations, and you have to know when to use them. It's a lot harder than simply switching a gearshifter on a bike, but it can still be done. Sometimes it is done during a race, after the start or when you start a big finish. It also needs to be adjusted depending on the conditions. You can't paddle exactly the same in every kind of wind. In big headwinds you need to stay a bit lower, and think about really getting down to the water and putting all your weight on the blade so you can power through the wind. A tail wind will often call for a lighter stroke, possibly sitting up a little bit more at the end and focusing more on gliding between strokes. These are just guidelines, everybody is different and you have to practice and race in all kinds of winds to figure out how you do it best.

Leading into these trials there was some sort of stomach bug going around my house that I caught and slowed me down a bit. I was feeling pretty nauseous on and off the water the week before and was a little concerned about how it was going to effect my racing. I tried to be patient and let myself get better, so I took some extra workouts off and rested a lot. I also remembered a story I heard from Steve Giles about the time he was really sick before a big race in Duisburg and ended up having a great race and coming first or second, i can't remember exactly. He talked about how because he wasn't feeling 100% physically, the mental part of his race was going to have to take on an even more important role. He pictured the race over and over again the week before, going over exactly how he was going to race and completely focusing on himself and his raceplan. When he got to the race, even though he was sick, he knew exactly what he had to do and his body responded. I tried to do the same thing, and all week I pictured myself going down the race course, how I was paddling and how I knew I would feel at different parts of the race. Even if I was feeling like crap and lying on the couch, or sitting on the toilet (which was more often than usual), I was thinking about my race. It turned out that I started to feel better Friday and woke up Saturday morning feeling back to normal, but the extra mental training I did really helped me in the race regardless, and I will definitely spend more time mentally picturing my races from now on. Being sick also reaffirmed how important it is to rest properly before racing.

So while the two greatest Canadian Canoers of all time both helped me in their own way on the weekend, I still had to get out there and race for myself, so I'll give you a little low down on how the races went. The 1000 m finals were postponed until Sunday morning because of a crazy sidewind, which was a bit annoying because I was feeling really great on Saturday and was really excited to race. I had to wake up at 530 am to get to the course on time, which sounds early but I actually woke up before my alarm because I was eager to race. I got to the course and got a good warm up, and going out to my race I felt surprising calm and not that nervous, at least compared to other trials I've raced at. I felt really happy to be racing, and thought about the opportunity to win rather than the possibility of losing. I also looked up on the start line and saw the big train lift bridges of the Welland canal, and it made me think back to my days racing there as a bantam, and how much fun I had racing. This was my course, it was my race. With all these positive thoughts in my head, I got off to a great start, feeling very relaxed but powerful at the same time, and was right with Rich who was setting the pace from early on. I could feel some people staying in touch in the far lanes, but knew pretty early that it was going to be a two man battle. I stayed with him until the last 200, when I found an extra gear and was able to get past him by the end. It was a really fun race, one of many battles that Rich and I have had over the years. Congrats to him and everyone else on a great race.

My 500 was later the same day, and while I was seeded number one, I wasn't quite as confident in my 500 travel speed as I was in the 1000 m. This is natural early in the year, as a lot more sprint work is done during the summer. Still, I was able to get off the line pretty well and get a decent lead by half way. It took a lot of effort to hold of Rich and Tom who were battling each other and making up ground on me, but I felt pretty strong right to the end and was happy with the way it went. I'll need to work on my speed a little bit the next few weeks to keep up at the World Cups, but I know it will come pretty quickly once I start racing more.

So now it's off to Europe for the second and third World Cups. I'm really excited to get over there and race, and to just be on tour with the team again. I think it's going to be a great trip, there is a nice mix of old and new faces that will hopefully gel well and have some great results. Congrats to everyone else on some great racing, it was exciting to watch when I wasn't in the race, and an honour to race against some very fast canoers. I'm off to Ottawa tomorrow for some training back at R.O.C.K. and the Rideau Club before heading off to Europe on Sunday. Thanks for reading and keep your paddle in the water.

Hey everyone,

Well, it's less than a week until the racing season begins! Our National Team Trials are this weekend coming up, and are being held in Welland, Ontario. The welland course is only an hour away from my house so I will be able to stay at home during the regatta, a new experience for me but one that I'm looking forward to immensly. I've also been racing in Welland since I was a kid, and while it is a different race course than the one I raced on growing up, the welland canal has always been good to me and I hope it will continue to be.

Last week I was training here at Burloak and got some really good sessions in on the creek. With racing coming up it's important to balance training and resting well. Extra rest and a little bit less workload is necessary to get ready to race, but you need to maintain some intensity, especially at race speed. We've been doing some shorter, harder pieces as well as some sprints and working on our starts so that we are sharp come race day. The first race of the season can be hard sometimes so it's important to get some good work in at race pace before hand. The draw for trials is up, with no big surprises, except that the C2's have to race heats instead of a direct final, so no sleeping in until noon for them anymore. In C1 there are 4 heats, which means everyone has to go to a semi-final to qualify for the final. Normally at the first set of trials there are only 3 heats, meaning the winner of each heat qualifies directly for the final, which I have been able to do the last few years. This means I'll have 3 races per day instead of 2, which I see as a good thing because I think the heat and semi will be good preparation for the final. At the beginning of the season you tend to improve with every race you do, so as long as I go into the regatta feeling fresh and rested I'll be right on my game for the final. I'm looking forward to a good race. The last three years we've gone directly from Florida to the Trials, so everyone kind of had a sense of how fast each other were going. This year, with almost a month back home getting ready on our own, it's more of a mystery. It should be an exciting weekend of racing that I encourage people to go see if they are in the area.

In non-training news, C4C members attended two great events last friday. My three team mates were all in attendence at the Mike Scott Roast in Ottawa, celebrating the legendary man behind the Rideau Canoe Club for the last 60 years or so. Mike is truly a great guy very worthy of such a great night. Morty helped MC the event and I hear everyone had a great time. Read up about it soon on their blogs. As for me, I couldn't make it to the Roast because Burloak was having their Icebreaker party to kick off the new season and welcome everybody back after a long winter. It was a great event, lots of great food and a really good atmosphere. As usual, the National Team athletes had the privilege of being the judges for the dessert contest. This year's theme was Nova Scotia, in honour of the World Championships being held there this summer. There were some great tasting desserts, but of course the winners were those that made cakes looking like lobsters. Geoff "webmaster, K2-meister" Clarke and Kaylynne Parkes took home top prize with a great lobster cake covered by a gingerbread lobster trap. Great work guys!
Also, this weekend I saw the movie Wolverine, and it's pretty wicked. That dude kicks some serious ass, and there are lots of other wicked mutants showcased as well. My sister is now working on drawing everyone at our club as superheroes, hopefully I'll be able to post some of them here soon.

Alright, that's all for now I guess, more to come this week as I prepare for racing. Thanks for reading and keep your paddle in the water!