Halfway thru camp, hurting bad and LOVING it...

Well, a little over half-way I guess, since this is day four of six. Today we completed a 22km paddle, complete with boat-surfing, bailing-while-paddling, and a 500m sprint at the very end. As soon as we got back onto dry land we headed to Starbucks for double espressos and then hit the hot tub until our muscles were mushy and happy again. Pics are coming as soon as we can borrow a cord to connect the camera to the computer...

heading to training camp

The day is finally here!! I'm watching the clock so I can get out of work, run home to throw a mountain of belongings, paddles and kids in the car - and start our adventure! Warm southern waters here we come! G and most of the team will fly down on Saturday.. first training is on Sunday morning. Can't freakin' wait!

we absolutely NAILED the fit test.

My day started off with a text from G at 6:15 am. "Can't sleep. I am shaking. My tongue is cold." Yeah, meeee tooooo! We drove up to Montreal as nervous as could possibly be... what if..? How would we strategize on the bench press? What if we couldn't do the chinups? The ride was pretty quiet, with snatches of pretty serious and subdued conversation as we wiped our clammy sweaty hands on our pantlegs and shared a  banana for a bit of last-minute energy. It's like we're going to our execution we joked.

Got to the gym, walked the death walk to the door filled with dread and anticipation all rolled into one . Warmed up slowly and quietly. G went first. Coach got up on a box so he could have the bar at eye level. G breathed deeply, and put one foot in the purple elastic band.  She hung for a moment, and then up she went. Chin over the bar... ONE! Came down, controlled it and went back up. TWO! Down again, her face tight with concentration and up... THREE! Could she get one more out of it? She'd been struggling with the fourth one these past few weeks at the gym... up she went, looking so strong... FOUR! YES!! Came down and went for another one. This one was harder.. she got her chin to within an inch of the bar, pawed at an imaginary step - got a teeny bit higher.. but not quite enough. The official count was four...but oh man.. she was right there at that fifth one. WAY TO GO LITTLE BEAST!

2 minutes rest, then onto the lactic bench (2 minutes of pumping the 45lb bar as many times as you humanly can). Last time she'd managed 57 reps. Her goal was to do 67. She got down on the bench, ready. "Please tell me every 15 reps," she said to the man doing the counting. Our team captain yelled GO! and off G went, pumping that bar as fast as she could. 15... 30... 45... 60... Standing behind her, I could see her starting to waver and slow down just a bit, taking rests between every two reps. She fought it for ten reps. "You just did 70.." I said quietly... and tired as she was, she perked up and nailed it for three more. Goal of 67 met. And surpassed by 6. BEAST.

2 minutes rest and over to the erg. My test was coming up and i had to start warming up. But I saw she was in good hands with another teammate who sat down to talk her through the row. As i ran on the treadmill, i kept an eye on the mirror and G as she began her 500m. She sat tall, kept the air in her lungs and made that machine woosh woosh with power. Total focus on her face, stone cold determination. She started out fast, eased into a good pace, and then banged it out for the final stretch. 1:51. SOLID.

Soon enough, it was my turn. I was still trying to decide whether to go for the unassisted chinup which i wasn't sure i could do, or to use the lightest band which i knew I definitely could do. I asked one of my mentors on the team.. "go for it..." she said. "Just go for it." I admitted my hesitation to my coach, the one officiating and making sure all chins got above that damn bar. He echoed that same sentiment. "If you do it unassisted, you get 100 points. Hell, you get 90 just for trying." Alright then. Go for it. Being as tall as I am, i didn't need to stand on a box to reach the bar. I looked over at G. She was mouthing something at me. What? Lip-reading, much like math, is not one of my strongest talents. W-O-R-L-Ds she mouthed. Oh fuck yeah. Worlds. That's what this is about. I reached up, wrapped my hands around the bar, and went for gold. I heard a big fat "YEAH!" as i got above the bar. HOLY SHIT. I did it. Could i do another. YEAH! I don't know how but i cleared it again. Did i have one more in me? What did i have to lose, right? My mind played in slow motion as my body just took over.. i went down, and then back up.. struggled a bit ... and then I heard the most amazing sound. YEAH!!!! I let go, looked around.. i hadn't imagined it. There were my teammates, hooting and hollering, coming at me with high-fives. And there was G, in the middle of the pack, almost in tears her smile as big as Alaska. I started jumping like a mad woman. Hoping to get up there for at least one, I'd done three. This training thing really works!

2 mins of rest and then off to the bench. My last test I'd done 59. My coach had set the goal at 70 for me this time. Got there, laid down, heard the "GO!" and went for bust. I vaguely remember G somewhere around me, felt her presence more than anything, and somehow managed to just keep pushing that stupid bar up. I think it was somewhere around 75 that i felt like my arms were no longer mine. I held it at the top for a beat, and there were G and our awesome captain... bring it down and PUSH. It's amazing what you will do when you're dead tired and there's someone yelling at you. So I rested, brought it down, and drove it up as hard I could manage. 80...81...82...83... my mind went blank... pause, push, pause push.. was all i could think of. My arms hurt, my throat burned...  ah shit.. no more. That was it. All I had in me. And then I realized, HOLY SHIT. 87... what a dream!

And then the erg. My nemesis. I had done it in 1:43 the first test. 1:44 the second. Coach had said in our last meeting no one on this team had ever broken 1:40... so that was my goal. Could i do this in 1:39:9??? I was gonna try for sure. I heard "GO!" but couldn't get my stupid shoe in the strap. ARGH. Finally i stuffed it in, tightened it and went off... started out strong, the first 200m at around 1:37... and then lost it a little between 300 and 400m. And then I heard G's voice. "BIGGEST LOSER" and "WORLDS" and "you can do this, NOW DO IT!" and i tried. I went as hard as I could but it wasn't quite enough. It was amazing, and better than I'd ever done.. but not quite the 1:39:9 i'd wanted. Still, 1:40:9 is something I am pretty damn proud of.

I have to say, in the last 100m of a 500m test I get pretty loud. I'm a bit of a grunter. Not proud of it, but what can i do? So I started making some noise. Come to find out, the coaching class upstairs heard me and thought I was having a baby. "It's a boy!!" was apparently the consensus. HA! Glad I could provide a little entertainment :)

What an amazing experience. The two of us glowed the rest of the morning. Once our throats had stopped burning and we'd stopped hugging each other, we rallied around the rest of our teamies still waiting their turn. When the last one got to the erg, we formed a big protective circle around her, and just did it with her. I know I wasn't the only one whose hips were thrusting back and forth as we stood there mentally pushing our girl on.  And when she finished, oh the hugs and high fives and beaming smiles. Awesome awesome day.

We said our goodbyes, hopped in the car, and headed south, back to the USA. When we drove up to the checkpoint the officer greeted us with the biggest smile. "Hi ladies.." he said, in obvious recognition. "Dragonboating today?" "Yeah!!!" we responded. And he smiled, and sent us on our way. How cool and fitting is that? Love this life!!

halfway done

got a lovely text from G today... "I have had the best 25 weeks ever with you." Aww... the feeling is totally mutual. I'm happy to say that we're still having as much fun and liking each other just as much (more!) as when we started out on this journey. This has been a stressful week though.. Saturday we have our last fit test before the final cuts are made and it's making us crazy. Today as i was standing in my kitchen, making myself as healthy and full-of-protein-but-non-calorific a lunch as possible, i literally started shaking and thought i might actually puke with the stress of it. Will I be able to get my stupid face up that last damn half an inch and have my chin come to the bar or not? "It's easy" says A, "just bring your shoulder blades together." URGH. (Not all that helpful, tho your faith in us is pretty awesome!) G's been the same... Breathe girls, just breathe. The amazing thing though, is that despite training like demons, we feel amazing. Nothing is broken, no pulled muscles, we're feelin' strong. Hard to believe it's been 6 months already since we began this program.

SO yes, 25 weeks done. And next week we head to the warm sunny south for a week-long training camp. Sun, water and warm temperatures.. and a whole week with our team. Can't wait!!

what is a dragon boater??

this little video says it all: http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/8225839/i-am-a-dragon-boater

now do you understand??

thanks julie and guy for sharing!