PanAmerican Games Collage

 

Interdependence in Life

The trust and reliance on other crew members in rowing is paramount. In the training for the past two months in larger boats than the single scull, I have revisited the thought many times about how important in this sport, as in life, to have the assurance that there will be someone on the other end.

I want to apply a microcosm of the real world situation onto my rowing example. Such as in real [everyday] life, we come to rely on certain people to consistently behave and act in ways that move things forward. With rowing, I need my pair-partner to show up every day at the same time. And, not only show up, he has to be in a state to physically do work. And, not only show up and be physically able to do work, he has to pull on the oar with exactly the same force as me in unison every single stroke (~1800 strokes per workout). Now that is what I call dependence.


It is not just a loose affiliation with the rowing pair partner. It needs to be a strong physical connection with the same goal in mind. I would roughly apply it to the same bond as a business partnership with a reciprocal agreement. If one side of the parternship is not pulling his weight, quite literally, then the bond becomes weaker. I recently experienced what it is like, as I had a minor injury this past week and was not able to fully participate in the workouts. This means that every workout that I can't complete, neither can my pair partner. Also, as I was easing back into full intensity, I started with some slow paddles around the lake. Something resembling a Sunday scenic canoe day trip. This means that my pair partner, who is in perfect shape, needs to lollygag around the lake with me. This puts pressure on both of us.

National Rowing Championships

Nov. 11-13 is the National Rowing Championships in Welland, Ontario. On an abandoned channel of the infamous century-old Welland canal. This is a very important regatta in selection to further teams/carding/personal growth. I have rowed here before and I'm exited for this familiarity.

For me, it is a bit of redemption from the finals at the PanAms. I want to show RCA that I have the abilities to finish in a top position. There is some work to do in addition to a 2km and 6km Erg test to be completed in the next two weeks.

My training has shifted slightly. Now we do a long morning double-workout and a shorter session of lifting weights or row in the afternoon. I hope my body holds up to the next line of training. I'm excited for the next few steps of this plan.


A write up in the local newspaper recently showed up on my door. I liked the article and it makes me feel a bit proud but also shy about this recent attention. The funny part is that it hints toward me being somewhat "old" at 28. First, I don't feel that way, and second I'm 29.

XVI Juegos Panamericanos Guadalajara 2011

My trip to Guadalajara is now over. The memories I have will last the rest of my life. I have a few favorite photos shared on the bottom of this post or see the link for more detailed images of my trip.

The 10 days I spent in Mexico were sensational. Some of the favorite memories I have:
- staying in the International Athletes Village
- traveling with the Rowing team to our satellite venue in Cuidad Guzman
- training with the team on Lake Zapotlan
- meeting international athletes
- chilling out at the hotel with everyone
- touring the city during local celebrations
- competitive spirit and racing other countries
- hanging out with my family who made the trip to watch
- partying afterwards before the long trip home

Some things I would like to change the memories of:
- fibre 1 bars
- getting to 153lbs (international lwt status)
- 24 hrs of transit to get to Victoria

More photos on my web-album

PanAm Finals Rowing (LM4-)

What a day! What a week! I had one of the most exciting events in my life so far. I will provide a summary when I get home tomorrow but I can say it was a hard-fought battle. And, very close until the 1850m mark.

In the Results we ended up 5th in the finals! 2011 Pan Am games.

I was a bit emotional at the end, especially going to see my family in the stands afterwards. It's almost overwhelming. Overall, I enjoyed it immensely. I can't wait for the next race!

Thanks for following! I will add some photo's soon...

Heats in the Mexican Heat

My first International race is now over and done. It is so relieving for it to go relatively well. It sure is good to have the other guys in the boat, who have many years of experience, to keep me grounded.

The results are here (http://200.57.183.69/ENG/RO/ROR173A_ROM14214210000002ENG.htm)

Some other PanAm Rowing Canada stuff from yesterday.


We move on to the finals (top two teams from each heat) Success for today!

The Calm Before...

The day before racing starts here at the Pan-Am Games. The opening ceremony is tonight in the OMNILIFE soccer Stadium in Guadalajara near the Athletes Village. We are at a "satallite" village and will have our own little rowing Team Canada get-together. There is a specific opening ceremonies outfit that we have been under strict orders to not wear until 3pm today. Let the top fashion of The Hudson Bay Company shine through, clear the runway, red on red on white is coming through for next top model.

Today, Friday, the weather has pulled through for us. The glass-flat water and sunshine was a blessing this morning. The Lwt4-, that I row in, had an excellent 4km race warm-up practice. Everything is feeling great. I have had so much extra energy with this taper, hours of lounging between practice rows, that I want to go for a long run to burn off some extra steam. I know, however, all this energy is going to saved for the race - with nothing left. It is important for us to place 1st or 2nd in our first heats, so we advance on to the finals. Instead, if we come 3rd or worse, we will have to re-race in the afternoon in the reps to try and re-qualify for the finals. Often, I am told, that the wind picks up in the afternoon and blows down the valley creating a big side/head wind. I feel it is better to row in calm water under top performance instead of working the wind and waves. For example, yesterday afternoon we had waves coming over our gunnels most of the way up the course during a practice row.

Today I went for a walk down the street from our hotel with Travis. A few blocks away we found ourselves in the middle of a large parade that was about to start. There were probably 7 mariachi brass marching bands playing with people dancing and singing all around us. We found out later that during the whole month of October in the Guadalajara area there are religious and harvest festivals held.

Hola Mexico

Our arrival to Mexico was somewhat eventful, as we lost a fellow athlete to the US Customs interrogation unit and we flew into Guadalajara where a hurricane recently touched down along the coast. The resolve of both of these issues happened overnight in successful format, an we now have a full team and the hurricane blew/rained itself out by the time it hit us inland.

The first night we stayed in the international Athlete's Village in Guadalajara or "Guad" as the locals call it. What a crazy and amazing place. Huge flag's draped all over the buildings on respective countries buildings, Brazil and Dominica Republic had 2 story flags hung to display glory (and catch the storming wind though the night). There were the regular amenities; huge food tent, shopping in the village complete with grocery, banks, starbucks, and even burger-king! On the first night, which was also my birthday, we went to the "Sports-Bar lounge" and watch a fierce battle of Mexico vs. Brazil futbol Soccer. Huge groups of Brazil athletes on one side of the room at one TV, and even bigger Mexican group of athletes on the other side. The game was tied 1-1 heading into the 75th minute and all the Mexicans were cheering loudly. The game ended with Brazil blasting a goal on a break-away, and the Brazil side of the room erupted. What a cool experience.

The next day we all piled onto the bus and headed south to Cuidad Guzman, 90min to the south of Guad. A medium sized city, within farm land and large mountains lining the valley. An "old-town" perches on the side of one hill with large old church and city hall towers looking over the streets. Our hotel is brand new with decent sized rooms, large dinning hall, and reception hall to use the internet and meet other international athletes.

The rowing site is also new, a big boathouse and patio/deck (tarmac) for the boat racks. The racing lanes are on the side of the lake, exactly 2km long, with yellow/red buoys every 5-10m covering 6 lanes. At the 1000m mark on the course there is a Bar complete with tables and chairs right on water level! That would be the best place to watch the race with cerveza in hand!

Two more days to go - a bit of a waiting game now. We will have training rows at 9am and 4pm Thursday and Friday, then racing starts on Saturday! I'm getting amped and also a tiny bit nervous. The only thing we have to focus on as lightweights is to be ON-WEIGHT (70km avg). I was 70.7kg this am. It is hard to sweat out any weight without hot showers other than layers of clothing.

CBC Coverage of PanAm Games!

It looks like CBC will be covering the 2011 PanAm Games.

Have a look:

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2011/09/29/spf-panam-coverage.html

My Pal Andy

I have been thinking about this important point to bring up for a while and I should have done it a long time ago; My pal Andy. When I started with Victoria City Rowing Club (VCRC), a nice, funny and very speedy dude was showing up consistently to every morning practice. For the first three months of rowing there wasn't even a remote possibility of keep up to this guy on the water, he was so fast. As time went on and he gave me pointers on how to speed up the boat and I was able to work on my technique with my Coach Doug White(and stopped flipping the boat), I was able to start to work together with Andy and we could competitively train together. Little did I know at the time that this guy was the fastest lightweight in Canada, that was not on the official National Team. He was the first Canadian lightweight at the 2010 National Rowing Championships! (3rd overall). What are the chances that the small club-team that I pick to row with last August, happened to have the fastest, nicest, and wittiest man in Canada.

Andy is now back in the books completing his Masters in Architecture at UBC. He moved to BC from Ontario a few years previously, first in Vancouver, and training with the UBC team, then on to Victoria. In Victoria he lived a block from the boat house with his lovely wife, Kim, and trained full time with the "big group" at the Victoria Training Centre. A big setback which started as a small shoulder injury, quickly turned for the worst under heavy training. He was forced to quit training with the group due to inconsistent participation but the biggest frustration with his injury was that he had little to no access to therapy! His injury had no resolve, and he still has flair-ups of the same condition over a year later. After leaving the VTC, Andy, I'm sure, had a serious life changing experience about his focus with rowing/career path. He went back to work as an Architectural Tech, and then came back to rowing, for the pure love of the sport with VCRC - the same time I joined VCRC.

I was able to spend some time with him outside of rowing as he is also and avid road-cyclist, tree-crushing mtn biker, foodie, is into indie music, and owned a truck and helped me move. On-top of being a super-nice guy, he has let me use his Fluid racing shell (single sculling boat), as he left it in Victoria at the boathouse while he is away at UBC. It was very important for my August time trial to help me reach previously unobtainable time standard (91% GMS) That is important for that endless RADAR testing.

Some day I hope to row and possibly race with him again. He mentioned 2016 Olympics....

Lightweight Status

Now it is coming into the final weekend before we depart to the PanAm games. Our training has dropped the volume to relatively manageable levels, the intensity has bumped up again to consistent race-pace and race-pace++ stroke rates. And now the one last thing, specific to lightweight status, is the body mass. International standards for the avg boat weight is 70kg (154lbs), Which means that there can be a person over 70kg in the boat but someone has to counter balance that weight with below 70kg.

This is my first full experience obtaining international standards of weight. My body is in the "happy zone" around 74kg, where I can eat as much as I want, whenever I want, and then train as hard as I want and maintain that weight. This dropping of weight is tied into a long-term subtle decrease in daily caloric intake, with keeping training loads at high level. I really wanted to hit a healthy weight loss plan, but I now get to experience what it is like to try and cut the weight down. This all applies to increase the Power-to-Weight Ratio, a good article to help explain. The less weight with a high power output will move the boat with the highest velocity. Check out the physics here.

My fiancee is a healthy-food specialist and we have combined together and with proper research based, nutritional information approved, plan to cut weight. On the whole, it has worked excellently, but I do get bouts of hunger-frustration. On multiple occasions, I have caught myself pacing the kitchen; opening fridge looking for an easy snack, then closing the fridge and moving to the cracker and peanut butter cupboard, then on to the pantry shelf where the trail mix is... then moving to the cereal shelf above the sink and then in the end just grabbing a pint of water and filling up my belly with pure H2O. Not as sustainable, but working.

We are going to bring our home bathroom scales with us to Mexico, to be able to weight-in in the comfort of our hotel room. The official weight-in is 2hrs before the start of the race.

My Favorite; PB and banana on an slice of Dutch pumpernickel.

Support

The most important detail in allowing this adventure to move forward is the support I receive from the people all around me.

First, it is the guys I row with, and their endless patients with my back-to-basics questions that must seem completely elementary to them. Terry, Travis and especially Eric, have helped me out immensely. The PanAm Games lightweight coach, Chuck, has put in many solid hours helping us move forward (literally), sorting out our differences, and then spent more time at home editing, analyzing, and distributing video from the long days. His descriptions of how to get a certain technique or point across is sensational! Paul is the main Pan Am coach, and also one of the Development go-to guys at Rowing Canada Avirons, always solid comedy but focus at times of need.

I have really appreciated the long chats to my parents, Don and Reg, who have helped to ground me and take a step back from all the focused hard work. Same to my bro, Karl, who recently moved to Victoria, and is always open to meeting up and helping me get my mind off training, not to mention a good laugh. My two dear sisters, Christy and Lisa, are always there when I need a good chat (or listen) and both have exciting things going on in their lives.

The most important person, of all the previously mentioned, is my dearest lady-friend; Amber. Not only is she my personal chef, house-organizer, and laundry service, she keeps healthy food in the fridge and cookies in the jar. On most days, there is fresh baked muffins/scones/cookies when I walk in the the door from morning practice. And I love it! Did I mention she also works full-time as an Optometrist! She is my future wife and my best friend.

One Week to Departure

Next Tuesday, Oct. 11th the PanAm Games Rowing team boards a flight to Mexico... Well, it turns out it will be 4 flights getting to stop-over in three different airports, making our way to Guadalajara. A day in the PanAm host city, and then we board a bus to Cuidad Guzman, on lake Zapotlan, a town of 80,000, 2hrs to the Southwest.

I'm getting very excited, but also a bit antsy about how everything will go down. We have prepared well, and the guys I'm in a boat with are in very good shape. There is nothing more that we can do, except keep our technique perfect and work on short Race-pace rates.

In the past few weeks I have noticed my body is starting to handle the high volume and intensity of full-time training. Even the "sweep" technique of twist/rotation around one pivot point has started to become familiar. I know immediately if the set of the boat is off, and I usually can key into what needs to be fixed if it isn't.

I explain to my patients at work (Lifemark Sports-Medicine) that I recommend it best NOT to use repetitive, rotation/twisting motions for long periods of time. Yet, this is exactly what rowing (not sculling) with one oar is! How do I justify this? Well, I feel that is important for me to go through the experience of what my patients feel during the course their conditions. I will put my body through obnoxious situations to find out what it exactly feels like and then describe in detail later on what has happened and come up with the best solution and treatment is to the problem.

Roadie

I recently went in a NON-Rowing activity. Seriously, it happened. I went for a nice evening ride around the Saanich peninsula with my pal Emrys. It was one of those warm fall days that feels like summer but the leaves on the trees say otherwise.