Hey everybody!
What's the good word? It's hard to believe we're more than half way through October. A lot has happened though, and it's been fun so far. It was a beautiful fall here in Ottawa, and only recently started to get cold. Despite the nice weather, I decided that I needed some serious time off the water and so have only gone on a couple of easy paddles this fall. Both physically and mentally I definitely needed the break. It was a long and stressful season, and it took a lot of mental energy to keep myself going the whole way. It was a season with a lot of mixed feelings for me. I had some good races during the year, but I also had my share of bad ones. It felt like things just weren't always clicking like they sometimes do. I was still paddling fast, probably as fast as I ever have, but it wasn't coming as easily as it usually does. It felt like I was going up hill, or I guess you could say up stream, the whole year. I just never really got on a roll, racing wise or confidence wise, and I think that's what made it extra hard. Going into the Olympics, I still had confidence that my best race could get me on the podium, and I still believe that 100%. What I now can recognize is that I didn't have the confidence that I was going to have my best race when it counted. I hoped I would and I told myself I would, but because my races had been up and down all year, I didn't really know what was going to happen. Another thing that was hard was how quickly it was over. Sometimes during a regatta, even if you go into it not feeling 100%, you can use early races to improve and get on a rol going into the final. At the Olympics, I only had two races, one good one and one bad one, and then it was over. I didn't have time to get on a roll. Maybe if I'd taken one more stroke in my heat I would have, but there's no need to speculate...
Anyway, so that's why I needed some time off. I still love paddling, but it's been nice concentrating on my classes for once, and I've found that I'm actually enjoying going to school! I still don't do quite as many readings as I'm supposed to, and have pulled a few all-nighters finishing essays, but all in all I've been a surprisingly good student. It's nice writing a test and knowing almost all the answers instead of guessing on half of them! It's actually quite similar to when you line up for a race that you've completely prepared for, compared to one where you aren't ready at all. When you know you've put in the work, you are full of confidence and look forward to the race. If you've been slacking off or just didn't have enough time to get ready, you are probably feeling pretty nervous, or are pretending like you don't care. There is always a chance that you could still pull it off without proper preparation, but it doesn't happen very often and the feeling you get from it is more that you had good luck than true satisfaction. The feeling of accomplishment you get when you are 100% prepared for a race, and then go out and nail it, is one of the greatest feelings out there. It's the same with school, and everything else in life too.
Ok, nice analogy Mark, write that one down, school visits here we come...
Other than school, I've been doing some biking, running and light weights so that I don't get completely out of shape. I've also been travelling around a bit. We raced at the Mazda Knockout in September which was a great event as always. Team C4C defended it's title in C4, as well as having 3 of the 5 finalists in C1. Things are looking good for next year. I've also been up to Adam's cottage to help him clear out the bush and get it ready for building. Hopefully we can make it up again sometime this fall. I also got home for Thanksgiving and had a great day with the Oldershaw clan at my Aunt Lynn's house. We enjoyed some great food, a great game of "football in the tree", and a nice swim in their pool and hot tub. I had a lot of fun and it was great to see everyone again.
My big trip of the fall was a trip to Portugal, courtesy of our amazing boat sponsor, NELO, for their quadrennial "Meeting of Champions". They brought together paddlers from all over the world that use their boats to celebrate
everyone's success. While there were a lot of great
paddlers there, what really impressed me most was NELO itself. It is no wonder they have become by far the best boat company in the world for canoe/kayak. The professionalism that I saw in all of their employees, from the top down to the bottom was really amazing. We got to tour their factory and actually see how our boats get made from start to finish. On top of first class boats, the way they treat their athletes is really second to none. There were around 80 people flown in for the event and they made sure we had the time of our lives, from sunny beaches to paintball to driving lamborghinis, and of course an occasional night out on the town. This is just an example of the way they treat us throughout the year, making sure we always have the best equipment and service everywhere we go. I'm not just trying to kiss a sponsors ass here either, these guys have become good friends and I want to thank them for everything that they do. So to all the kids out there, buy a Nelo. Not just because they are the best boats and you can order sweet paint jobs, but because if you keep using one and get really fast, they'll take you on awesome european vacations!
Ok, well, that's all for now I guess. I'll be posting more often now that life is a bit more in order. Next big event is a Hallowe'en Party we're throwing, which should be a blast. Things are going to get spooky though, so be ready. Until next time, thanks for reading and keep your paddle in the water.
Hey everyone,
Well team C4C has certainly been silent for quite some time now. The last few weeks have been pretty hectic, so it's been hard to find the time to get on the internet and post. Once we got home from the Olympics we headed straight to beautiful Dartmouth, Nova Scotia for our National Championships. After a disappointing race in Beijing, it was great to get out and race tons of different events at Nationals with lots of great team mates. I had a lot of really great races and I had a great time the whole week, despite the heavy rain fall. I also got to cox two war canoes this year, which was a lot of fun but meant that I had 10 races. After focusing on racing just one or two races at regattas for the most of the year, this was quite a shock to the system and I still think I am feeling fatigued by it. It was all worth it though, especially because our club came home as the overall National Champions.
Since then I've been back in Ottawa. I just had my first class, which was fun because I've been out of the classroom for quite some time now. Last week almost all of my time was spent fixing up the basement of the house we just moved into. There are 4 of us in the house and only 2 bedrooms, so we've been doing some major construction, adding two bedrooms to the unfinished basement. It is turning out really well and has been a real learning experience. My dad has been doing most of the work, but I've been trying to help as much as possible and learn how so that next time I can do more of it myself. It's made me really want to buy my own house and renovate the whole thing. When we need a break from construction, we have also been lucky enough to have Kyle's motorboat at our dock, so we've been tearing it up water skiing and wake skating. Only a couple of strained tendons and broken bones so far. It's the off season now though so if there is ever a time to do it, it's now. Alright, I think that's all for me right now, I have to get going to my second class. I didn't really talk about my my race at the Olympics, I think I'll save that for another post when I have more time to reflect back on my summer and experiences at the Olympics.
Thanks for reading and keep your paddle in the water.
