WCC Training Blog

Frank Havens 10K

2008-11-06T15:29:00.000-08:00

Our coach is off in Poland for a few days this week for some much needed rest after a long season. Yo D how's that new U.S. missile system coming along? Anyways, just before he left the WCC hosted Frank Havens 10K. Pictured are a couple of Ross's, a Havens and a Rhodes havin' it out.

Also, a bunch of us but epic kayaks. The word on the street is they are awesome! Except the rudders are prone to leaf collection which is annoying especially if you already are training with resistance.

And last but not least, Peter Metzger, recent transfer from CMU to Georgetown is training with us in the morning. He's got a ton of speed, he spontaneously yells at the top of his lungs, and we really like having him around.

Szia!

2008-09-15T15:25:00.000-07:00

I scoured the earth searching for a club more disheveled than WCC. I found this good candidate while on vacation in Budapest. Behind me are two dudes with mullet-moahwks warming up with an under-inflated kickball. Despite the poor conditions, they had about 20 kids in the water paddling around with a few coaches on the dock barking orders. Perhaps its not surprising though considering the Hungarians make national heroes out of their paddlers. Earlier in the week I saw a poster advertisement for a bank with a kayaker slicing through the water.

Sheik Djibouti

2008-08-26T20:13:00.000-07:00

The Rising Price of Petro

2008-08-21T10:51:00.000-07:00

Peter Petrovics dominated US Nationals with Gold Medals in the 1000 and the 5K. Earlier in the week Peter earned a spot on the US Junior squad and will represent the US in Moscow this Fall at a Junior Worlds warm up event.

http://canoekayak.teamusa.org/news/article/2926

Yeah Peter!

The OKC Memorial

2008-08-11T21:34:00.000-07:00

On the left there is a small field with a chair for each victim of the attack. There is another archway opposite the one pictured with the time "9:01" inscribed on the top. Timothy McVeigh was convicted and ultimately executed on June 11, 2001, which also happens to be the same day my dog was put to sleep.

2008-08-10T13:05:00.000-07:00

General Billary Clinton

2008-05-28T10:42:00.000-07:00

WCC paddlers did their thing in NY this memorial day weekend. Looks like they had a strong showing of paddlers and some beautiful weather.

Thanks to Blaiser for capturing it all on his high tech digital photo device.

I was in Austin TX over the weekend for a really fun triathlon. When it was over I naturally decided to play Rockband in a bar on 6th street.

Capital of Texas Triathlon

2008-05-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

In austin for a triath. This place is prime for a kayak team - think Gainesville Georgia climate with a great town for studying, working, and partying. Apparently they already have an occ.

FWD:

2008-04-10T19:19:00.000-07:00

stretch at the new nats stadium

Multisportage

2008-03-10T09:52:00.001-07:00

Team,

I have joined the group of wcc paddlers that is kayaking, training for a triathlon, and raising money! Your contribution can make a big difference for those diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma and various other blood cancers:

http://www.active.com/donate/tntnca04/tntncaJDeRigg

2008-02-29T01:15:00.001-08:00

Altitude training!

Aspirational

2008-02-22T10:09:00.000-08:00

Our boys Sam and David are hacking their way towards 2012 and this new website is their public relations machete.

www.kayak2012.com

Get it on!

2007-12-28T05:58:00.000-08:00

I Hope everyone is having a happy holidays!

Bright and Early

2007-09-11T05:50:00.000-07:00

We resumed regular practices , albeit with a start time that is thirty minutes earlier than usual. At first I decided to protest the new 6:00 AM start time by not attending practice. However, I soon found out that avoiding the workouts has a detrimental effect on speed and endurance.

We are in the midst of a big time presidential campaign season. Check out this interesting look at the latest candidate to enter the ring:

Michael Scherer on Fred Thompson

Of Possible Interest

2007-09-06T11:10:00.001-07:00

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/08/private-paddlin.html

Awwww Yeah.

2007-08-30T08:27:00.001-07:00

This image best encapsulates how I feel after taking a week+ off after nationals. In other news...we went to nationals in Seattle, it was fun. EJ and Peter went to Junior Worlds, they had fun. Ariel, David, and Sam went to Pan American Games in Rio, they had a whoole lot of fun.

image source: http://www.fritchman.com/images/lazy-five-ranch/groundhog-a.jpg

Gladiator Arena

2007-07-18T10:42:00.000-07:00

Radley, Darek and Johnny D have been frustrated all year that Nationals is not being held in the swelteringly hot swampland of Gainesville Georgia. To ameliorate the effects of our sadness we decided to have an all out fight to the death grudge match over five 1000 meter pieces on a muggy mid July day on which the air quality index was somewhere between crappy and Mexico City. The residual effects from the battle were divided equally between emotional and physical trauma.

AdirondAction!

2007-07-09T08:39:00.000-07:00

We survived a wet and wild weekend of racing in the Olympic laden town of Lake Placid. Results are here:

results

Ariel, Sam, David, Peter and EJ were staying in the Olympic Training Center for the two weeks prior to the race in preparation for Pan Am games and Junior Trials respectively. Peter and EJ's fate on the Junior National team was to be determined late last night. If anyone has the latest news regarding this please spill it.

Latest From the Front Lines

2007-06-29T08:04:00.000-07:00

Heres the latest from Jim Ross reporting on Junior Trials.

Hey all well there was a very big wind on the lake today so NOBODY made any time standard in any boat. K-1's; both boys made finals but Peter jumped the start and was called back so he had a bad start to the actual race and got 5th; EJ had trouble with a swivel seat that didn't. (swivel) and he got 9th. In the k-2 they did much better and won the 500m by just a hair! Ian and Sean both made C-1 finals and Ian got 6th and Sean 4th. As with the k-2 they did much better in the tandem. They got 2nd in the C-2 by just a hair (two tenths out of first) So that was it for the first day of races the 1000's are tomorrow and they are hoping for quiet winds. All-in-all not a bad showing for the WCC crew. Everyone is still certainly in the hunt for a berth on the team. Talk to you tomorrow, late afternoon cheers jim

Time Trials and Tribulations

2007-06-17T16:37:00.000-07:00

Wcc paddlers were freakishly fast this weekend during our regular time checkup. Some may attribute the team's collective speed to fortuitous-Potomac-River-tidal-vicissitudes but I think its just cause were dang fast.

Jan has completed his transformation into a full blown traitor and is now paddling for a club that goes by the oh so prestigious name of the "Royal Leamington Spa Canoe Club". I wonder if their towel service is better than ours.

You might get a kick out of their famed annual August event (check out the name of the gallery):

http://www.rlscc.org.uk/gallery.aspx?galleryid=1

The World's Toughest Canoers

2007-06-15T04:49:00.000-07:00

President Andrew Soles is among them. If you see Mr. Soles you might notice that he looks like he just got in a fight with a heard of cats and then fell down a flight of stairs. Thats because he decided to do the World's Toughest Canoe Race

Check out these hilarious pictures

Fish Fry!

2007-06-14T06:21:00.001-07:00

Rock star revelers dancing the night away at the Washington Canoe Club's famous fish fry.

Pan Amania!

2007-06-03T19:24:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Ariel F, Sammy R and David P as they all were officially chosen to represent the United States in the Pan American Games in Rio next month.

Time trials went according to plan today as John D and David P decided to let EJ and Peter win the 1000.

Holla!

Bad Omens

2007-05-31T14:05:00.000-07:00

Before today's workout we all watched in horror as a crane (or is it egret) plucked a snake from the river and shook it for several minutes hoping to kill it. Eventually the massive bird decided that it was too hungry to wait for the little guy to stop squirming and just swallowed it whole! I evaluated the experience as a sign that the workout was going to eat us alive - which it did.

Gods and Generals

2007-05-29T11:19:00.000-07:00

Our local lord of the river glowing after a solid outing on the Susquehanna. He and other WCC members dominated as expected. Here's the proof results.

The men's relay team did well, finishing just behind "smokin' joe's bbq". They kept it close most of the race, a few errors in course selection and transitions between relay groups probably cost them a repeat of last year's victory.

our mixed relay teams finished in first and third. Things were close, with the (eventual) second place team opening up a substantial lead in the 2nd leg, but our teams paddled hard and Andrew Stephens and Emily Harris squeaked into first by an incredibly narrow margin.

Dan Havens was the hero of the day.

Rich Libby won the unlimited Kayak division, even after trailing the leader by up to 4 minutes.

Adrian and his dolphin nose boat led the race in the deep lake start, but got into trouble in the upper swamp section, where he capsized four times. At some point the nose section of the boat began to leak water at the seams, allowing his competitors to sneak away from him as he bailed water.

Andrew and Radley managed an unofficial 11th place, only swam twice. No photos are yet available, but radley's dad has some video we want to get posted on youtube.

The sprint team mimicked a race scenario in which John and David P were unexpectedly placed in a K-2 with little to no forewarning. Luckily, they are both butchers (latest term for bad ass paddlers) and were able to find some semblance of power-synchrony.

Demons of the Speed Variety

2007-05-23T06:04:00.000-07:00

We are delving back into speed work this week and Darek is pushing everyone to their limits. Monday morning's breakfast featured eight healthy portions of 200 meter pieces followed by a slovenly run up the capital crescent trail. Absent was the ever-redolent Jan Vorberger who was no doubt at home coping with the effects of heightened separation anxiety stemming from his upcoming departure from the Washington Canoe Club.

Many club members are headed up to NY to do battle in the famed General Clinton. Good luck guys!

I just set something up that lets you track site usage. Check out the stats for the blog over the last two days! Anyone know what bounce rate means?

Region	Visits	Pages/Visit	Avg. Time on Site	% New Visits	Bounce Rate
California	5	2	101	0.2	0.4
Maryland	3	1	0	0.333333	1
District of Columbia	2	1	0	1	1
(not set)	2	1	0	1	1
New Jersey	2	1.5	82	0.5	0.5

Woah Dude Preakness is Crazy

2007-05-21T09:27:00.000-07:00

I decided to cap off the "easy" week by heading to Preakness to see what people do when they are allowed to bring as much alcohol as they can carry into the middle of a race track on which the second portion of the famed Triple Crown is held. Hilarity ensued. I was in the general vicinity of these true athletes :

Life's Fine When You're Bearded

2007-05-15T15:17:00.001-07:00

Life's Fine When You're Bearded, originally uploaded by kayakwcc.

Here we see Radley, widely considered to be a keen hunter/gatherer, in his natural state devouring ice cream with reckless abandon and ultimately vitiating(word of the day) his beard in the process. The photo stream does not capture the delicate art of stalking the lunch lady which preceded the kill.

Bodaciously Loquacious

2007-05-14T07:45:00.000-07:00

That's how I would describe the participants in this jovial yet informative email thread between two mainstay's at the WCC.

Dear Dr. Rhodes:

You look like a guy who rarely misses a meal. How can I know if I need to eat while I am exercising? I plan on doing an idiotic 40 hour paddling race in a few weeks. One of my pals recommends tubes of mayonnaise. Another says expensive sport gels are the way to go.

A Safari Sole

Dear Sole,

You’ve got to be kidding. No human can sustain intense athletic output for 40 hours without nourishment! Instead of sucking down tubes of warm mayonnaise, I recommend you consider the following facts.

Fatigue during a workout or sporting event is usually caused by lack of water, salt or sugar. Most athletes in sports that last more than a couple of hours know that they should drink and take in some salt, but they also need a source of sugar.

When you exercise, you get your energy from sugar and fat stored in your muscles and sugar and fat in your bloodstream, and, to a lesser extent, from protein. At first you get more than 80 percent of your energy from fat and sugar stored in muscles.

Usually at the start of exercise, almost 45 percent of the energy comes from stored muscle sugar. As you continue to exercise, you use up fat and sugar stored in muscles and get far less from these stores. After two hours of exercise, you have used up most of your stored muscle sugar (glycogen) and get less than 15 percent of your energy from that source. At four hours, your muscles have almost no stored sugar at all.

When your muscles are depleted of their stored sugar, they become difficult to coordinate and feel heavy and hurt. Your muscles can get some sugar from gluconeogenesis, a process in which your liver makes sugar from protein (branched chain amino acids), but that is not enough for all-out exercise. During intense exercise, you need a source of sugar. It can come from sugared drinks or any carbohydrate-rich foods. You can use special sugared exercise drinks, sugar gels, carbonated soft drinks, exercise bars or any food that contains sugar or flour.

Personally, I recommend tubes of frosting. They are tasty, yet nutritious!

Good luck in your Silly Safari,

Dr. Rhodes - Response mostly pirated from Gabe Mirkins’ website…http://www.drmirkin.com/about/AboutDrMirkin.htm#whois

Mother of All Recaps

2007-05-10T09:12:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the delay in posts to this blog. My only excuse is that the task of conveying the significance of recent and upcoming events over a simple blog post was so daunting that I chose to put it off, hoping that the pressure would dissipate. Instead I was taunted day and night by my own guilty conscience, ballooning in the pit of my stomach as if I were cautiously sipping on a two liter bottle of Diet Coke chased promptly by a few Mentos every night. However, now that I am writing this I think waiting an extra week or two was a good idea because it gave me a chance to fully digest the significance of all the latest happenings at the Washington Canoe Club.

We have a new coach! Darek Oborski was recruited from a top notch club in Poznan Poland and has been tasked with growing the sprint team into a high caliber program (not that it isn't already, I'm just sayin...) and to instill fear in the teams with which we compete. It became clear early on that his knowledge of the technical aspects of the sport is immense as he systematically identified various flaws and quirks in each of our strokes. Darek also thinks its funny to mock our feeble strength by jumping in on a set of bench press and treating the the 185 pound bar like its a twig. All in all he's a great guy and a perfect fit for the team.

Jan is leaving! (boooo!) Our much beloved friend and training partner is packing his bags and heading across the pond in pursuit of unlocking the ever present mysteries of the universe. And on the side he will be training for the Olympics with a club in Coventry England. We will miss you Mr. Jan. You were the spotter for my bench press, the rider of my wake, the lone laughter after my bad joke, the anti-American remark to my "U.S.A!...U.S.A!" chant. Please come back and visit us when you can (and don't be surprised if you get a visit from a throng of WCC paddlers). Good luck and all the best with your new endeavor.

Today's photo is in tribute to Jan. When you hear the word Jan the first image that comes to mind is often of Jan himself, changing in the grill room right before a workout. Apparently he does it in other countries too! Here he is disrobing behind a boat rack in Germany. My those English are in for a treat!
In other news, Maia, Johnny D, Radley, and President Soles ran the Charles River. And by ran I mean we paddled some twenty odd miles down a river littered with portages, rapids, and slower paddlers hahahaha. Soles also participated in what is known as the "World's Toughest Canoe Race" which took place in Texas, of course. Radley and Soles are doing another marathon race in NY this weekend - Radley gave me the details this morning but I forgot them because I was too mesmerized by his attractive yet confounding hairstyle.

Making 'em Cry

2007-04-24T13:33:00.001-07:00

Pay Attention, originally uploaded by kayakwcc.

David shows no mercy when mocking all the teary eyed paddlers he left in his wake last weekend. Thanks to Sammy R. for taking this photo and alerting us of its existence.

Day Two! More Coverage of the Clobberage

2007-04-22T16:42:00.000-07:00

Sam and David made a strong case for their place on the Pan Am team today as they slayed their fellow B Finalists. Good job to all racers as they were taunted by free food at the cafeteria and rabbits.

Results! And Oh My, They Are Good!

2007-04-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

Everyone did well this weekend ,especially team mascot Jan Vorberger, and most especially Sam, David, and Ariel as they came in top 11 in their respective categories. Check below for photos of the non stop fun and a link to all 500 meter results. Tonight we rest up for tomorrows upcoming maelstrom of 1000 meter massacres (it is us that does the massacring, not us getting massacred - we hope :-)

http://www.usack.org/2007_SP_TT_results_day1.pdf

Live at the OTC!

2007-04-19T12:15:00.000-07:00

Our very own Princeton boys have been innovating away as usual. Check out their latest foray into changing the world

blog.pinpointetching.com,

We have big time races this weekend. I am updating this post from the ultra plush at&t athlete connections center. It looks like this:

http://blueroom.att.com/sports/teamusa/otc/imageviewer.php?id=after

2007-04-17T18:48:00.000-07:00

Half the paddle. Twice the man.

2007-04-10T09:39:00.001-07:00

the beave on the canal

Gosh its hard to find them Easter Eggs under all that darn snow

2007-04-09T07:10:00.000-07:00

Not sure whats harder to keep up with - seasonal vicissitudes in D.C. or David Petrovics in a K-1. Both are able to change state in the blink of an eye.

Today Was a Little Cold. Oh Yeah and We Had an Epic Disaster

2007-04-05T11:27:00.000-07:00

It was unfairly cold out this morning especially after being teased by a weekend chalk full of warm weather, giddy tourists, and cherry blossoms. Despite having an Epic paddle crafted by the venerated engineer-kayaker Greg Barton, Maia was able to overpower the epoxy job on the shaft and pull the paddle apart with her bare hands. Now she paddles a canoe.

"Wake Me OUT Before You Go Go"

2007-03-29T07:01:00.000-07:00

Not gonna sugar coat this one - we were really slow this morning. Is it because we are flat-water snobs and can't handle motor boat wake? Have we been neglecting to take our post-workout ~~juice~~ protein shakes? Whatever it is, I feel totally housed. But wait, maybe its good to feel housed since that would make us namesakes of this very talented paddler:

Morgan House

Today's blog posting title was inspired by this timeless little number:

Hooray For 2K Tuesday...

2007-03-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

and for Maia because she was accepted into an institution of higher learning.

I title this one "Coachless"

Two thousand meter peices,
Fighting rower-borne chop.

We had nary a coach,
Nor anyone to yell stop.

Jan is a human odometer,
He can measure out a course with his canoe.

Maia got into GW,
Because shes fast and shes smart too.

If you're reading this right now,
You're probably behind on your dues.

You can pay up on this new web site,
it takes less time than tying your shoes.

Take It to the Bridge

2007-03-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we will hammer through many sets of 0.5047279502320697 km. Get ready, it's gonna hurt. All (0.5047279502320697 km) *(many) of it, where many is a non-zero, non-negative, exorbitantly large number generated by Coach.

Sparta!

2007-03-20T07:35:00.000-07:00

I thought we were all pretty good at pull ups. These dudes take it to another level. Although to our credit, we're not Spartans, we are just paddling loving Arlingtonians, and Upper Georgetownians (Georgetownites?), and Marylanders...and German.

Today was the first day back on the river for most of us. Remembering how to navigate the current was challenging.

Jan and John (translation: John and John) Are Not at All Emasculated by Riding Bikes to a Parade Together

2007-03-15T12:01:00.000-07:00

Pain

2007-03-13T08:13:00.000-07:00

Today's workout was so difficult that I am considering checking into a mental health clinic to see what new techniques psychiatrists have for treating victims of prolonged emotional trauma. Resistance from shallow sludge and intermittent logs will make paddling through deep warm water feel entirely effortless, or so I am told.

Luck O' the Irish! Warm Weather at Last

2007-03-12T08:35:00.000-07:00

The northern hemisphere tilts back towards the sun, zealots with red hair don green shirts and hats, pots of gold appear at the end of rainbows, Chicago dyes their river green, and us paddlers get to kayak outdoors. We had it out on the canal for two grueling days this weekend. Some were thrown by the accelerated start of daylight savings and didn't make it out on the water until some point embarrassingly late in the day.

March Madness Brings Greatness in April, and flowers. Or is it showers? I can never remember how that saying goes.

2007-03-02T06:42:00.000-08:00

If February is a bed of rusty nails that you were forced to lie on for 28 unrelentingly painful days, then March is that perfectly shaped Adirondack chair with a cup holder for your lemonade. March also brings an early surprise this year as daylight savings goes live on the 11th! Credit to the Bush administration as this is clearly one of its biggest accomplishments in the past six years. Perhaps moving the date earlier in the year is simply a diversionary tactic intended to shore up support for the disheveled Republican party in the midst of a Middle Eastern Quagmire the year before a national election. But hey, I say divert on as long as it means more daylight for us.

The surface of the Potomac is back to its liquid state leaving most of us paddlers drooling in anticipation of the chance to paddle on a naturally formed outdoor waterway.

And my apologies for the lethargic rate of blog updates. I was actually running away from the warm weather risking bodily harm (my own) in Colorado. Check out my Mentos commercial:

Dude, Where's My Hat It's Like Nine Degrees Outside

2007-02-06T10:02:00.000-08:00

Old Man Winter finally decided to start flexing his muscles as temperatures dipped into the single digits this morning. Perhaps he is worried that all this talk about global warming is going to trump the attention he usually gets from previous pseudo natural disasters such as "ice storm '96" and "blizzard of the century" or one of the other names that the fear conjuring hype masters of local news live by in D.C. Or perhaps he is challenging local athletes as if to say, "You know, you could stay in bed under your wimpy down comforter that your mom bought you at Target. Or you could brave the cold and fight for your place on the awards stand by hitting the gym as hard as you know you can."

Luckily, relief from the ice flows comes in the form of a ballroom filled with ergometers. These machines are great because they roughly replicate the pain one feels when paddling a kayak, without being distracted by the exciting sensation derived from actually paddling on the water.

Dog Days of Winter

2007-01-16T07:23:00.000-08:00

Temperatures hovered around 70 degrees for the second straight weekend this month. Most paddlers were unsure whether to act elated to be paddling in short sleeves, or to be concerned about the prospects for planetary survival over the next several decades. In the end we decided in favor of savoring the short term gratification of unseasonably warm air and put off worrying about saving Mother Earth until Monday, or perhaps Wednesday since thats our day off.

Jan made it back safely from Germany with chocolaty gifts in hand. The team is no longer devoid of funny jokes and interesting commentary regarding the physical sciences.

And news just came in that Maia is representing well down under after winning a gold medal at Sate Championships in Penrith. Yay Maia!

Jerzy the Great

2007-01-12T07:52:00.000-08:00

Jerzy's presence in the weight room was hard to miss this morning as repetitions were moving at a faster clip than usual. Everyone's notion of low intensity training was altered as we ended the workout by stumbling out of the gate crippled by excessive lactic acid in our veins.

Becoming increasingly weary of the northern hemisphere, Maia decided to make the long trip down south for the Australian Youth Olympic Festival where she will be competing in big time races on the 18th and 19th of this month. Best of luck to her and all the other American paddlers. Be sure to follow the action here:

http://olympics.com.au/ayof07/sports.cfm?SportID=8

In other river related news : apparently the Anacostia is polluted, perhaps so much so that revitalizing the riverfront may be impossible:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/08/AR2007010801738.html

Happy 2007 Y'all!

2007-01-03T07:22:00.000-08:00

Hopefully everyone had a great New Years and had a chance to savor their extra days off from training as there wont be too many more before our next push towards greatness this spring.

I posted this video below in the spirit of giving your brain a break from all things paddling. And because its darn funny (has audio).

Shouldering the Brunt of Injury Prevention

2006-12-21T15:06:00.000-08:00

Y'all - when it's cold out you are advised to warm up your joints and muscles before indulging in heavy lifting or paddling. Maia recently injured her shoulder and is relegated to watching me and Andrew get really huge in the weight room. This is not ideal.

Your shoulder deserves extra care because it is essentially the conduit of energy between your massive torso and the dinky paddle in your hands. Shoulder exercises may be annoying to do but they sure can do a lot towards maximizing your durability. So next time you are in the weight room it is suggested that you get cozy with one of the therabands or light weight dumbbells. I mean seriously, think of everything that your bursa sac and rotator cuff have done for you over the years. The least you could do is show them the same respect you give to your abs and pecs and lats.

Visibility is For the Birds

2006-12-15T09:49:00.000-08:00

It took some time for the 630 AM crew to come up with an explanation but it was ultimately decided that heavy fog was to blame for the disappearance of Key Bridge. Despite the added resistance from the low lying clouds we all managed to eek out some pretty good times for both one mile runs.

Click on the album link below to see more amusing photos. Thankfully Jan was able to adjust the settings on his camera so the pictures would be large enough to show Andrew's freakishly large biceps.

weight room

Brazen, Fearless and Friggin Freezing

2006-12-11T08:30:00.000-08:00

Paddlers entered Saturday's physical fitness test looking to set high marks on several key exercises. Their scores will serve as benchmarks on wich to improve throughout the rest of the offseason (note that "offseason" is a bit of a misnomer here considering our level of tenacity does not diminish during the winter months). Everyone did well - a clear indication that most have been working hard over the past few weeks. Results will be posted here soon.

The Sunday paddle session featured another opportunity for each paddler to become familiar with the limits of their own physical and mental capablities during a tough workout with sixty minutes of total on time. Radley inducted himself into the Polar Bear club following a brief lapse in balance near the end of the workout.

Today's picture shows some of the Canoe Club's heartiest members. It may be difficult to discern what year it is by looking at the clothes these guys are wearing but I assure you the photo is recent. From left to right are Dan Havens, Rich Libby, and Will Rhodes. Photo courtesy of Blaise Rhodes:

Can You Say VLOG?

2006-11-27T11:57:00.001-08:00

Saturday's unfavorably cold conditions put us on the canal once again where we paired up and devoured a generous portion of three minute pieces served up by Coach Jerzy (good to have him back on the bike/launch). Many paddlers were disgruntled by the calamitous combo of cold air and reverberating wake that comes with paddling between cement walls. In the end we can all rest assured that both our balance and pain tolerance are much improved.

On Sunday we were back on the river doing 2 km pieces, followed by a team huddle in the grill room with the heat provided courtesy of a brand new wood stove.

Not sure why it took me so long to figure out how to embed videos but anyway - check out this strong paddler from down unda!

Jan's comment just reminded me that he has only half a paddle, and therefore requires twice the attention. This ones for you my friend:

The Time is Now

2006-11-26T19:33:00.000-08:00

Paddlers should be aware that only 4 months remain in this offseason. Do your best to stave off cold weather induced complacency and direct all the controlled aggression you can muster towards training for the next 16 weeks. For your motivation:

Technorati Profile

Carnage on the Canal

2006-11-21T11:37:00.000-08:00

With many of our out of town paddlers coming back to DC for the holidays, weekend training sessions are suddenly reminiscient of the long gone warmer days of summer in which some 10-15 boats are on the water at the same time.

Heavy storms on Thursday and Friday resulted in a ridiculous amount of wooden debris floating down the river on Saturday and Sunday. To avoid risking damage to our kayaks we opted to have it out on the slow and steady C&O canal - where Peter and John broke their boats...on debris.

Danke!

2006-11-15T12:53:00.000-08:00

I am happy to say that our team's blog has gained international attention. Many thanks to Markus K. for dedicating an entire post to this site. Please show your gratitude by frequenting his blog.

http://www.knuf.net/

My German is, well, non existent but judging from the pictures it appears to be related to flatwater racing and other things athletic.

In accordance with this post's German theme, today's image shows Jan descending into nirvana as he begins his third and final set on the bench.

And finally dont forget to ask Peter and Radley about their foray into white water kayaking as both raced in this past weekend's run-paddle biathlon. Radley did exceptionally well, blazing the run portion of the event and ultimately finishing in second place. We also offer our condolences to Radley as it must have been difficult biking home with all that cold hard prize money weighing down his back pack - what a fighter.

Cut and Run

2006-11-07T08:19:00.000-08:00

Or as Johnny D would say, don’t run at all. I decided to forgo the running portion of today's workout in favor of giving myself an extra 30 minutes to lie in bed and psyche myself up for my first attempt at touch screen voting. I was pretty nervous considering all the recent press reports claiming that even the people whose job it is to show you how to use the machines are irreparably befuddled by the technology. Ok this isn’t supposed to be a political blog, nor is it supposed to be sarcastic or cynical so I'll stop here. Today's picture is a view of the section of river on which we most frequently do battle. We like to inter-mingle metric and standard measurements - this is reflective of the diverse cadre of national and international paddlers we have on our team

Anaerobia Phobia

2006-11-06T06:54:00.000-08:00

Today we decided to see what it feels like to unexpectedly gain 10 pounds the night before an intense sprint workout (workout demanded we add 10 pounds to our boat). Everyone focused on maintaining a consistent pace for each piece despite a seemingly endless barrage of "ready-set-go" commands from Andrew "the man with the watch" Soles. Above is a satellite image of our beloved 250 meter course (its 246 meters according to Google Earth)

La Resistance

2006-10-30T07:04:00.000-08:00

Despite fighting foliage-borne resistance all weekend, today's workout required each paddler to add 10 pounds to their boat and hammer out 250 meter pieces on limited rest. The ageless Andrew Soles's ability to take a week off of paddling and then leave everyone in his wake was on display once again this morning. Another highlight featured the return of Radley Spring - hopefully he will become a regular part of the morning sessions.

"Dont Sweat the Technique"

2006-10-26T07:20:00.000-07:00

After another grueling morning in the weight room, Maia and John managed to make big strides towards perfecting their already not-to-shabby paddling technique. Coach D pressed Maia to drive her paddle into the water and leverage her tremendous strength towards moving the boat. This effort clearly paid off as she catapulted ahead much to Jerzy's delight. John's near irreparable inability to pause at the begining of the stroke finally showed signs of improvement following 13 years of ineptitude.

(Title of today's posting is from the 1992 hip-hop album by Eric B. and Rakim)

Get Your Pogie On

2006-10-24T07:13:00.000-07:00

So it turns out that paddling is not easy after hitting the weight room really hard for an hour. Throw in 20 mph wind gusts and an air temperature of 35 degrees and you will try to justify to yourself that there is a good reason for not going out on the water. However, John and Maia's collective motivation was strong enough to brave the maelstrom of adverse conditions and managed to eek out a 45 minute cruise (Maia sans pogies)

Building a Big Bad Base

2006-10-22T20:50:00.000-07:00

The team continues to focus on the arduous task of developing a solid base of strength and aerobic endurance in preparation for next year's sprint races. EJ dazzled the team by demonstrating some football style stretching maneuvers that were clearly foreign to most of the non ball-sport people in the group (maybe it was just me). Breaking out of the stretching circle, we ran in v formation for 20 hard minutes along the capital crescent trail. Peter P is sure to be one of the fastest on land this winter as he broke 20 minutes in a 5K cross country meet yesterday morning After finally getting onto the water the team enjoyed flat conditions while hammering out 4 sets of 2 mile pieces to mile rock and back. The original plan called for the first two sets in singles and the final two sets in team boats. However, not having enough paddlers field a k4 it was collectively decided to finish the session in K1s.

Tomorrow promises more opportunities to battle - albeit with more clothes on as temperatures will drop into the high-30's.

Wild Weekend

2006-10-16T12:35:00.000-07:00

Saturday's Capital Waterways Challenge was a surprisingly adventurous race. High winds produced massive swells causing nearly every competitor to capsize whilst attempting to traverse the the turn around Hains Point.

Photos are here

Racers did their best to follow this course map

Today the 6:30 AM paddlers awoke to air temperature in the low 40's - a harsh reminder that winter is well on its way.

Foggy morning

2006-10-10T22:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our first training day following this weekend's races. Several paddlers left over from the masters regatta joined us for four tough sets of 6-3-1.

Thanks to Jan V. for capturing these great pictures - click here