2012 National Rowing Championships PREDICTIONS

The entry list is out:  The 2012 NRC's list of elite athletes making the trip to Victoria, BC for the best in Canada! It is time to make the researched and peer-reviewed list about the details of the 1-2-3 prediction in each category.  These names below are the opinion of me, and me alone. It is not a judge of character or popularity. Just straight performance based on the entry list of Nov. 1st at Regatta Central.

Entry List online here

Women: A more difficult-to-predict section, due to not coming in contact with many females rowers (they exist?) other than the lwt's based out of Victoria.

• Lwt F 1x: Due to the fact that the two Olympians, Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee, are out of the entry list it has made for an even more difficult choice.  I'm surprised that Lindsay is representing BC, but I like it.  Possibly a BC sweep! 

1. Lindsay Sferrazza
2. Teresa Berkholtz
3. Erin Snelgrove/Trish Mara 

• Hwt F 1x:  Difficult, I do know know many of these talented and powerful women. The ones I do are impressive! A late addition, I had missed that Carling was in the mix. 

1. Kerry Shaffer 
2. Emily Cameron
3. Alyssa Weninger / (Carling Zeeman!)

• Hwt F 2-: Who really knows these, I have to say I do not know the stats. I read a certain M.McCabe on the entry for the start. Is this swimming Olympian, Martha, cousin to Conlin!? But, this is my prediction:

1. Black/Ganes
2. DeBoef/Roper
3. Goodfellow/Martins

Men: 

• Lwt 1x: This would have been my category if I was around to race. I, however, will unfortunately not be in a boat. I have a strong connection to these guys and I have been keeping a keen eye on the guys out west.  And yes, I think a Mexican will be the Canadian National Champion. Bold prediction - yes. 

1. Saul Garcia
2. Nick Pratt* (possible injury!?)  Mark Henry
3. Taylor Pluzak

• Lwt 2-: This is the category I raced in last year with Eric Woelfl. I enjoyed it immensely but feel the competition has increased in the past year. I got to see the U23 lwt men through the summer training at VTC and watched with shock how fast these boys men got within a short period of time. But, with years of rowing together Rares and Matt will pull through ahead. John and Eric have a year of rowing together and performing well at Sr. Worlds in Bulgaria this August! Eric also has the super-human hulk style strength that can show up with the right combination of stress and fatigue. Watch out! 

1. Sasi/Woelfl
2. Crisan/Jensen
3. Schenck/Addison  or (Lattimer/Cheng) if they get bumped into lwt again. 

• Hwt 1x: Some guys have been training steadily through the summer, others took a few months off. Hard to predict. I'm quite torn on the 2nd place and 3rd place (runner-up) Very difficult. Who knows! 

1. SNV Van Knotsenburg
2. Jamie Abbass
3.  David Wakulich (Buie)

•  Hwt 2-: I feel this will be a large gap between 1st and everyone else. I'm also torn on the 2nd and 3rd place (runner-up). But, that's it. Also, I posted up the former lwts Max and Evan, due to my view of lwt's taking over the world someday. Go get 'em boys. 

1. Dean/Crowley
2. Brazeau/Schudlo 
3. Alm/Schrijver - (Lattimer/Cheng)

The opinions in the above predictions are my own. This is in no way binding or a judge of character.   Send me a message if you think otherwise.

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Crosstober

The past weekend was the "Cross on the Rock" #5 race in Ladysmith at the Transfer Beach park. It was wet and muddy for most of the morning, with saturated mud puddles and slick grass. I enjoyed the race, but flatted in the first (of 4) laps and had to run the lap and trade up bikes. Luckily, a friend Jamie lent me his slick carbon TREK bike , for the remaining 2 laps. I enjoyed myself immensely. My pal warmed up my bike in the Beginners race and ended up 2nd overall - while falling 6-7times and getting back up every time ready for more. See the video by Pelle Gustavs at the bottom!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite costume; the bush-man. 

Hartland Sessions

Keeping variability in my outdoor activities has been the theme of the past two months.  It seems as if I don't want to do repetitive actions or activities, even close as between two successive workouts.  For example, if I go for a run in the morning I definitely don't want to go for a run that evening and even the next day really have an urge to do something different.  This may be the exact shift that I needed for multi-sport enjoyment (and performance).  I think that I'm going to an early morning swim workout (let's see if I wake-up for it!)

Just the other day I had a great run with my pal Clay around Elk Lake. The classic 10km loop is a good one to push the pace on and test out what the legs are feeling like. We followed the run up with a 2hour loop of Hartland Mtn Bike trails with GPS to track it.

Hartland trails system 15min N of Victoria. 

Follow along with the link:

Rowing has been on the backburner as of recently. I find that I get myself thinking about rowing and its quality as a full body workout. But, yet I find myself not scheduling in the time to get at it. 

Why Is This?

The 2012 Canadian National Rowing Championships are in two weeks (Nov. 10 - 11) at Elk Lake. I notice the excitement building and athletes peaking for this while also trying to complete RADAR testing at the same time.  Good Luck!

Next Adventure: Cyclocross

CYCLOCROSS!

My wife (the best) surprised me with a wonderful gift that I never thought I would ever see... A new cyclo-cross bike! This is something I have been bitching talking about for a long time. I looked at this exact bike in mid August just as I was finishing full-time rowing and was excited to get into a new sport.  But, as a recent change from serious athlete I felt I couldn't go and buy something new after I just took a year off full-time work.  So, I held off an decided to stick with my 1994 GT Force road bike for the time being.  Little did I know, that she would surprise me with the bike for my 30th birthday!

Cross on the Rock is a local series all over the South Vancouver Island. Check out the website for more detailed description and schedule of races. It is a traditional Belgium race the occurs in the fall at the end of the serious summer road cycling racing. It involves an off-road circuit usually in the rain around a park with many obstacles along the way including sand traps, mud, stairs, and barriers to hurdle over. Any way to get through the course the fastest wins.  this includes dismounting and running with the bike over the shoulder. I enjoy it because of the relaxed atmosphere and the multitude of activities to occur in one race.   Technical off-road skills, power hill climbs, steep drops, and running with the bike are all part of the race.  Also, most importantly, it involves drinking brews and heckling from the sidelines. Many spills and tumbles occur but it is on sand, grass, mud and trail so rarely are serious injuries occurring.  The photos below are from the COTR Kona Kup in Nanaimo, Oct. 8th.  The video is by a friend Pelle Gustavs!

Barrier to dismount and carry bike over.

Hill climbs through trees

steep descents on bumpy contours 

Sand trap to run or ride through

RCA - Changing of the Guard

I have read 10+ different newspaper articles and blogs posts (not to mention the passive-aggressive twitter fight) about the recent Rowing Canada news release.  It has to do with the hiring of a new line of High Performance Coaches for the next quadrennial (think Rio 2016).  Mike Spracklen was NOT re-hired back and effectively fired from the position. It brought heavy criticism from the current and former members of Mike's core Olympic group. I thought it was a dramatic finish that needed to happen such as the microcosm of Mike's career relationship with Rowing Canada. He will be missed by some and the party has just begun for others.

Scott Frandsen's Blog   vs.  Lindsay Jennerich's Blog

One more note; the lightweight men's program is being moved from Victoria, BC to London, Ontario to train through the frozen winter indoors. I don't have much more to add to this conversation.

Cyclical Adventures

 Originally, I assumed, it was going to be for the month of August. Then,  August turned into September. Now, it's already half way through October and it looks like it is going to continue long into the future.    The next adventure is about to begin.
I have been enjoying the break from serious training and getting to spend quality time with my wife Amber.  Since we got married on Sept. 1st of this year we have been able to go on some great outdoor adventures together. This would not have been possible trying to maintain a 2-3x/day six days a week training schedule I had with rowing. In my mind, it is has been the healthiest thing I have done for myself in along time... and it involves NOT heavy training.  I feel really good and actually have been feeling more motivated  and confident for racing/training in the future. But, in what sport(s)?  

I have decided to make the commitment to not commit to one sport.  I know I said that "I'm Back" recently, but I will only be rowing recreationally for cross-training in the next few months. I love the other things in life too much to focus only on one activity.  Turns out, I live for those days that multiple activities can be enjoyed while not worrying if I'm going to break an arm or injury myself.  I have a feeling that I will still push myself at something in the future (cycling, running, triathlon, or rowing...) But, it will involve a creative (read exciting & non-traditional) training program.   As of recently I have been racing bikes in a local circuit of Cyclocross.  I would like to (running) race in the Island running series: Frontrunners Island Race Series.

It may be time to change this blog to Outdoor Pursuits. Lets see how soon that happens. 

Hill repeats on our local Mt. Tolmie in Victoria.