K2 with a new crew

Started the day with a L2 K2 20km workout. This was the first extended work out which maggie and I have done together, considering paddling 20km in a K2 can be challenging for a crew which has trained together for a while. I was pleased with how it went for us. I think by the end we both stated to relax in the boat and work more comfortably together. The other positive thing is we didnt want to kill eachother after the paddle which in and of itself speaks volumn! I am looking forward to getting back to base training for a few weeks before we ramp up for Pan American games, for some weird twisted reason (which I hope some athletes can back me up on) I find base training a calming influence on my life. Granted scheduling time for school and work when you have a heavy training load can be rather challenging, but I think I have started to figure it out soo bring it on.

Pan American Games

I found out today that I won my seat race and will be going to Pan American Games at the end of October!

This fall has started off with a bang,  as usual I decided I wasn't doing enough already as a result I decided to go back to school full time train full time and work part time.....mmmmm its been a bit of a rough transition but I think I got the hang of it ish. My grades are the best I have ever had, hell my Professor wrote perfect on my lab and thanked me for it, plus gave me lots of little smiley faces. I had the fastest 2km times back to back this morning granted I was riding wash but....I'll take it.
Chech out the Pan America Games

K2 1000m A final Szeged 2011

The crowd in Szeged was like nothing I have ever experienced. It really cant be compared with anything I have ever seen at a competition. The fans are incredibly enthusiastic, loud, and full of character. Actually the whole thing looks more like a giant beach party then anything else. 

On day 2 of the World Championships Jen and I raced in the K2 1000m A final,  the conditions were great for us a stiff head wind and a late afternoon start (we have discovered that we prefer racing later in the day).  Going through boat control on the way to the water was a little nerve racking for me, mostly because I was in the situation where I was out of the boat and forced to look up and across at most of the girls.  When I am in the boat I tend not to notice the disparity in height and width between myself and the competition. Even though I know that its the strength to weight ratio which is important in kayaking, I definitely had a few moments of “how on earth can I compete against those girls”!

We went through our warm up and were in the starting gate before I knew it. Ready. Set. the gate goes down and we’re off. We had a typical start for us meaning we let everyone have a good head start before we start chasing them down (we are working on that), once we got up to speed the boat was moving well, we kept up the pace working through the wind,  leaving everything out on the course. At the 250m mark there was a deafening roar, the noise was completely overpowering and almost physically pushing you, it was the crowd. The roar lasted all the way through the finish. It was by far the coolest thing I have experienced in a competition. 

Our goal in the K2 this year was to make the A Final at the World Championships in the 1000m event, we accomplished what we set out to do this year and can build from there for next season.

Day 1 Worlds Championships 2011

Day 1 of the World Championships in szeged started off a bit rough. We felt flat in the K4 and were knocked out in the heats, it was a tough blow because we have raced and trained really well up until the event. The times we have been hitting regularly would have put us right up their. Unfortunately or fortunately thats racing, otherwise we would all just send in our top times and call it a day.
Next Jen and I had the k2 1000m heat it went well a few bobbles but a solid mid section. We went on to the semis later in the day where we qualified for the A final in that event! It was a super solid run and we felt like we had a "good start for us" however, according to others it was still nerve racking because of the methodical (I will call it methodical) way we start our races. It was definitly an improvement from the 1000m heat and we will improve on it again tomorrow in the final!

World Championships Start TOMORROW!

USA Canoe/kayak press release

Starting Thursday, the U.S. National Sprint Team will compete for World Championship medals and Olympic spots at the 2011 ICF Sprint World Championships in Szeged, Hungary, Aug. 17-21
Read press release

check out this article in the Oklahoma Gazette

Click here to read gazette article

Bellagio, Italy

We approached Bellagio from the scenic route or so I am told.....for those of us unfortunate enough to have motion sickness it was slightly less scenery and a lot more of.... huddle in the fetal position until we get to our destination. The little bits of the drive through the Italian country side I saw were breath taking. Small Villages on single lane roads (well supposedly 2 lane thats up for debate though) with the Dolomites rising up in the background and lots of woods all about, the best part was seeing Lake Como as we descended a narrow road toward Bellagio. 

It was one of those days that just fell into place perfectly without any planning at all. We drove into town looking for a parking space after a bit we gave up and were heading out of town to locate a spot further up the road when, a guy on a Harley starts honking at us and drives right up next to the van. It was Antonio Rossi a famous Italian kayaker, he informed us parking would not be a problem and invited us to his club in town. Club Lido turned out to be a swank little yacht club on lake Como right as you entered Bellagio. 

He spoke to the women at the entrance and we walked right on into the club. The Club had, there were cabanas offering shade to the occupants of white leather sofas which dotted an imported  white sandy beach.  Within a few minutes of seating ourselves on said sofas we were brought fruit kabobs and a giant bucket of spritz (some type of alcoholic concoction) with many colorful straws. We ended up spending a lovely afternoon lounging around and enjoying the finer aspects of Italy. 

Lecco, Italy

There is no bad scenery in Italy. Today we took a trip to Lecco,  the town is built around a lovely body of water and tucked into the dolomite mountains, so no good scenery a all ;)
On this trip I have seen more places and drank more cups of espresso then on any US Team trip todate its wonderful!