Putnam City Cancer Classic

The OCU kayak team raced the Putnam City Cancer classic 5km today. The race raised money for OMRF and cancer research.
The run took place on a day which reminded me of the kids movie Winnie the Pooh and a blustery day! The wind was seriously gusting to the point where you thought you may get blown away....or at least not be able to move forward.
It was fun to be in a road race again I think it has been almost 5yrs since the last one I ran, I planned on pacing this one really well but the boys decided to take off like bats out of hell and ruined my plan.....I tried to keep up thinking that I was just having trouble getting moving....nope they broke from their normal pace and tried to kill each other which mostly just killed me...ooops.
Overall it was a great event which raised money for a good cause.

Getting the base back

        Due to the fact our season went so long this year I feel as if I have missed a lot of prime base training time, this may be an illusion but mentally its very real! As a result  I decided to start base training immediately after Pan American games.  Currently my body is stuck, yes literally, the amount of weights and higher paddling volume have caused creaky joint syndrome which is generally co-morbid  with sorer then (please place appropriate adjective here).... However this is exactly what I wanted I think... I definitely feel that I am getting stronger and will be in good shape as a result....if I can move.

Pan American Games in one word.... Awesome....

Mexico

Team USA Canoe/kayak arrived in Mexico on Sat. It was an uneventful and quick trip from team processing in Houston, TX. We left the Airport and were escorted to the athlete village by the Mexican federal police, they literally were standing in trucks with machine guns and flanking our bus. We only got a quick glimpse of the athlete village before we were escorted to Guzman which is the city/town where all the paddle sport athletes are staying. Guzman is not a bad place, the athlete housing is nice and clean and its a cool little compound which is pretty much surrounded by federal police, local police and US body guards. The course is on a small lake. The lake is calm first thing in the morning and then the wind whips up real good throughout the rest of the day, so just like home!
Maggie and I have heats for the K2 500m on friday morning!

Oklavision

Maggie and I did a quick interview on Oklavision today check it out! Click on the link below then go to Boathouse district programing and you'll see us do the live broadcast. Watch here

Check out the Pan American Games website http://www.guadalajara2011.org.mx/ENG/01_inicio/ USACK will head out on the October 21st for processing in Houston.

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.