National Team Trials 2011

Update from San Diego,
The racing was fast and furious in a massive cross wind but OKCHPT managed to pull through with 3 athletes named to the U23 team 1 athlete to the under16 squad and Jen and myself to the senior national team! I had a rough 500m but made it down the course with out flipping which was significantly better then last year, that afternoon Jen and I teamed up for the K2 500m and smoked the competition coming in a close second to Carrie Johnson and Maggie Hogan! I was very pleased with my 200m performance my time was slow for me but I pulled out to a close 3rd place best ever showing in a 200m and I beat out girls who I have never beaten before !
Jen and I are really excited to head to europe for the world cups. Now that this first race is under my belt my nerves have calmed down significantly, I am learning that I need to work on my calm factor prior to races so I am not so hyped up on adrenaline for so long because to much adrenaline is detrimental to racing well!

cheers
K
I will be make more frequent post and add pictures now that we are heading to europe!

Indoor kayak Challenge OKC

Stream videos at Ustream

Snow

OKC is about to enter its second week covered in snow and ice. Lets just say that it is rather inconvenient to train when the river has several inches of ice on it. The craziest things is that it was 70 degrees last weekend and we were out on the river paddling in T-shirts, then the very next day this! Everything in OKC has been shut down and I think we are still in a state of emergency, for us northerners we laugh at what people think is the end of the world out here. But the truth is that for the same weather its 10 x worse in OKC because the state doesn't have the equipment to clear the roads and to top it off no one knows how to drive, plus the buildings aren't insulated correctly so the pipes keep bursting!
Enough grousing training is going well I pulled a 1:51 on the erg today for 500m a little slow but faster then last year. The 200m that I pulled after was awful but i had bad technique because I was just focusing on going fast instead of the mechanics which is what you really need to do.
Next weekend is the Indoor Competition which should be fun!
Work and training are consuming my life but thats OK sorta the norm for me I guess but I am starting to enjoy my new job and I think its a great opportunity for me in the long term as well.
cheers
K

Jet-lagged and forgetful? It's no coincidence: Memory, learning problems persist long after periods of jet lag

Jet-lagged and forgetful? It's no coincidence: Memory, learning problems persist long after periods of jet lag

Thanksgiving

Cold blustery New England weather jump started my brain as I walked out side this morning, the only thing was I am in OKC . Once my brain and body wrestled with the disconnect for a minute I was able to brave the cold to the gym with greater ease. I nailed the running workout, cleaned up, dropped Jen off at the airport and am now getting ready to go to Dylan's for my first thanksgiving turkey in 13yrs !!!!

Finshed Testing

Testing week is finally over and I am exhausted, I feel like I shouldn't be because we really didn't do a whole lot of volume but I am still dead. It could be residual exhaustion from our month of crazy training we just finished. The endurance weights and max pull ups went well I improved on all of them which was heartening, I also improved on my running despite bad stomach cramps during the test. Note do not eat a snickers bar within 30min of strenuous exercise! We finished off the week with a 90min K2 steady state paddle, it felt good we had the right ration of speed:technical focus. People often think that technical focus means going really slow, it doesn't the boat speed and power need to be up so that your technique is correct, you cant go all out but the power application needs to be in the correct spot, the only difference is that you have a longer recovery phase between each stroke so you can keep it up.
On another note I have discovered a new cafe, Red Cup! I have decided I am moving in lol, it reminds me of Northampton and so many college cafes I have frequented in the past!
cheers
K

Testing Week

‎6:33 pace for a 4km...now if I could bring it back to 6:00 and under like I could long ago I would be thrilled...hell I used to be able to jump over shit and go 6:00pace. Tomorrow we have max reps for 1min on bench press and bench pull with 30kg and max pull ups.