How to survive a fitness test

New season, new attitude. Tomorrow we are going into the first fit test of our new season confident, calm and ready. We are not stressing about any of the numbers (scale, bench weight, chinups, erg time, etc). We're  just gonna go in, do our job, and get out. It's about winning the mental game now.

(We'll see how that works out. Stay tuned!)

Also we found the light switch for the sauna. No more scaring little children with our nudity!

While some trained, others ate

We skipped our Montreal weekly session tonight, and feasted instead. Sometimes family, friends and laughs are exactly what a body needs...especially right before the first fit test of the season. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Training hard without breaking

The regulars at the gym have been taking notice of our workouts of late. 

"Wow, you girls are really hitting it hard lately!"

"I love to see you two in here lifting every day."

"So I hear you had a really great summer. What's next?"

Ahhh...  I could fall asleep in here
(not recommended!)

What's next indeed? Hopefully representing the USA in Hungary come summer that's what. And making sure we hold onto our spots with our Montreal team - because nothing is a given. Five new girls are trying out - and coach is going to be making some cuts in the next few weeks already. Why? There's no way to keep 28-30 of us on the roster: we don't all fit in the paddling tank and we have to switch out constantly - which makes it tough when coach is trying to put us through an endurance, multiple-set workout. Don't get me wrong - we manage, but it's not ideal. For us or for our coach. Neither do we fit into our circuit room. Especially when we're benching with regulation-size bars. One of those in the thigh or head is not pleasant! And when you're doubled over in pain trying to suck in all the air you can - but it's all sweaty, hot, polluted air.. well, you tend to keel over ;-)

So anyway, back to the story. We've upped our game already, this early in winter training - simply because we have to. We have to hold onto our seats. We have our first fit test Thanksgiving weekend. We are going to be competing against women from across the country for the US national team next spring. And after a really welcome almost 2-month break (from paddling, not training!) - we're re-energized and ready to go.

We have a new, 2nd assistant coach who is already not hesitating to kick our butts. He did that this morning, and then coach P alleviated all the pain Coach Y inflicted upon us with stretches that made us scream and squeal ... After a hot shower all I wanted was a looong nap. Til at least Tuesday. But I can't, because tomorrow G and I have a date to go get some wet heat therapy... splishy fun in the hot tub followed by languid stretching in the sauna. Heaven! And not just fun - but important. So we can keep coming back and working hard... [and getting noticed.. yeah, we sorta dig that :) ]

We're Back and We're Naked

Big workout today. MONSTER. So big in fact that a gentleman who'd been valiantly working away on an elliptical machine for an interminable time before he decided to go hit something heavyish came up to us as we were axe-chopping our way through a stack of weights on the cable machine.

"Man, I can't wait to do shoulder exercises like you."
Hmm...okay....
"I saw you hitting it hard over there.."
"Yeah," I laughed, "today's a big shoulder day!"
 "I had rotator cuff surgery six weeks ago, and one pound hurts like mad."
Aaaah.... the post injury workout attempt. I understand that one. It sucks.

Interesting mix of folks in there with us today. An especially memorable pair were two 20-something  hot tamales, in full make-up and pricey-looking outfits. I think they worked out their mouths and eyes more than any other parts of their bodies - though I did see them do two gym-lengths of walking squats with a 5lb dumbell in each hand. Afterward they plopped on the mat and "stretched." Chuckling, we left them there to their social event. They reminded me of me, twenty years ago, when all I had at home were 2lb, 5lb and 8lb pretty pink dumbbells and I thought my Billy Blanks Tae Bo VHS set was badass. Is it wrong to channel an old Virginia Slims ad? Ah to hell with it - WE'VE COME A LOOOOOOONG WAY BABY!

Anyway...spent, we hit the sauna. Naked of course. We laid towels down to protect our cheeks and plopped our bums down on the top bench. G looked right, I looked left, our eyes connected and.... we dissolved into fits of giggles.

"Here we go again.. we're back! Winter training has begun."
"Did you even SEE the summer? It was like zoom zoom zoom HONG KONG zoom zoom zoom END OF SEASON."
"Yeah, I have no idea where it went. It just whizzed right on by."
"Yup we're back. And we're naked."
"Hey G.. could you build a sauna please? So we can enjoy this with our men?"
She squinted at me. "So you can hang it out with my husband?"

More giggles.

"Oh right, yeah, probably not," I said when I could breathe again.
"Actually, he wouldn't care. He'd be down with it." Hmmm.. would A? I'll have to ask him later.

The sauna door is glass, and looks out onto a hallway that leads to the sinks, toilet stalls, lockers and the pool. It's a heavy traffic area. Right on the inside of the door is a lamp. It has a very bright bulb in it. So bright, that if you are sitting on the top bench inside, which we do, you are illuminated brilliantly and, your nakedness is, shall we say, not hideable. Not that we give an iota. We stopped caring a loooong time ago. So we're hanging out, chatting, laughing, glistening all over as the heat melts away all our aches and tension... and suddenly we see the pretty girls approach the door. And turn abruptly away right before reaching it.

Yet more giggles.

But within 2 minutes they were back, tightly toweled and hiding behind their still-fresh-from-the-laundry sport bras. We did the only thing we could do. Clamped our knees and draped the corners of our towels over the tops of our thighs. Courage summoned, but keeping their eyes averted, pretty girls came in, slunk over to the corner, and carried on the same conversation they'd been having in the weight room. We eavesdropped for a while, trying desperately not to laugh too obviously.

G turned to me, eyes wet with contained tears. "So, L, that pumpkin K carved..."
"What? Is it rotting now?"
"Well yeah, but it was soo funny..." and she collapsed into a fit of giggles. Which was contagious and seeing as i was ready to bust at the seams anyway I joined in. The pumpkin actually wasn't the real joke - because if you've seen it you will see it is the ultimate in coolness.
"I just needed to say something so I could laugh," G mouthed at me. "Yeah pumpkin!" she said louder, and we dissolved into laughter again.

I think they spent about 10 minutes with us in there, consoling themselves about a multitude of inane things, and departed to study and eat. Ha.

We flung off our towels, relaxed our knees, let our shoulders drop a little bit more, and laughed and snorted until we could snort no more.

Yeah. We're back. And we're staying naked!!

Happy Halloween

Monkey Arms and Rhino. Two of our lesser known nicknames... well, G's is pretty well known now, since she officially adopted hers (bestowed upon her by one of our northern pals). The little latina rhino that charges into everything with immense gusto, sometimes without really thinking it through and then having a good laugh about it later.

And monkey arms? Where does that one come from you ask? That one came from Ms. K - her attempt at complimenting me on my sculpted shoulders and arms... I think she was going more for the powerful gorilla visual but instead the first image I got was of a spindly lemur leaping about tree to tree vine to vine stopping every once in a while to delicately peel a banana and stuff its sweet little cheeks. Still, it stuck, and that's pretty much that.

All the same, I think it's damn awesome. Especially when you consider K carved us into this jack-o-lantern for all eternity. Ok well maybe just a week or two - the poor thing is already starting to rot and cave a little... but the image, memory and wonder of it will last much much longer. Some people have bobblehead dolls. Or lunch boxes. Or hand towels. We got the coolest, one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted, tribute ever. Love it.

First fit test is coming up in less than a month. Crap. Guess I better put that candy BACK in the jar and walk away. Fast. Straight to the gym.

what's next? a movie of course!

As if we weren't having enough fun... now we get to be in a movie too!

I may have mentioned this earlier this summer - at one of our Montreal competitions footage was taken for an upcoming documentary about our sport. It will include a lot of athletes, but our team will have an extra special focus as I understand it. Check out this trailer - it's just beautifully done. Can't wait to see the full thing!

And while we wait, we continue to train. Coach has cranked things up for us... the workouts are killer. Today I wanted to die.. and give up (for a moment anyway).. and then I remembered what I was doing all this for... and suddenly giving up was no longer an option.

On Friday, my daughter joined G and I at the gym - it was G's birthday and we decided to have a little fun with it. So when I saw a Zumba class on the schedule, I thought why not? G was enthusiastic. "YEAH!! We can shake it up on my birthday! Woohoo!"

When my kid heard what we were plotting, she was all over it too. "I love Zumba! I wanna come!" Ok, she had no school, so sure why not.

But first she had to endure a weight workout with the twins.

I think we got her to try the bench press once, and she managed a set of 10 assisted chinups. And a few medicine ball tosses and squats, but for the most part she just watched us do our thing, and helped time our planks. I think she got a new appreciation for her mom and auntie that day... :)

After our workout we rested a little and double checked the schedule.

"Hey G?" I said, "what does Zumba Gold mean?"
"Old."
"No not old, GOLD," I clarified.
"It means OLD. Don't tell me you picked Zumba Gold for us!"
"Um, well, yeah, it's the only one on the schedule..." Sheepish grins followed by loud bellowing laughter ensued. My 16-year-old looked horrified. "Really? It means THAT?"
"Are they gonna let us do it mom? Are we too young?"
HAHAHAHA. Sweet kid.

Sure enough, it was Zumba with the senior crowd, but I think that may have actually been a blessing in disguise. Slower pace and less intimidating. I have two left feet when it comes to any sort of choreography... you should have seen me in the 80s trying to keep up with exercise videos in my living room... ugh. Anyway... this was marginally better. (NO they didn't throw us out, they welcomed us with open arms.) I only hit the equipment stacked up at the perimeter walls three times I think. My neighbor, a sweet lady with a tolerant smile got fed up at that point and tried to move a few stacks of aerobic steps out of my way lest there be a fourth hit.

"This is a great workout!" G mouthed at me. My kid was smiling, her fear gone, tho later she said to me "I didn't really get a workout mom, and you and G were sweating!"  When I reminded her that she couldn't hack our earlier workout... then it was her smiling rather ruefully. Hee.

Of course G wants to go back -- and to the high energy regular class, that is pretty much packed wall to wall with coordinated bodies. Guess I better find me some youtube videos and practice ...

Vacation's over - we're back in the gym

True or false? We love:

• chinups
• the paddle erg
• deadlifts
• squats

TRUE!! (ok maybe not the first two so much, but we're back at it and if we didn't love it we wouldn't do it right?)

We were planning on meeting at the gym, but they had a large power outage so we decided to do the workout at G's instead. We had to improvise a little, as she doesn't have either a cage or a cable machine, but we had plenty of options. The only less-than stellar part of either the home gym or the real gym is having to do chin-ups with elastic straps. And since our workout had high reps, there was no way we were going to accomplish them without the straps. What's the problem with getting a little assistance? I don't know about boys, but those darn elastics near cut a girl's vagina in half. It's really not a pleasant experience!

No matter, we muscled and groaned and grunted through a killer workout in anticipation of Thanksgiving weekend. Not so much for good turkey and pumpkin pie - but for our first fit test of the new season. Who needs a food coma anyway - bring on the chinups!

Nexus Trusted Traveler!!

So, back in June, after one too many times waiting in a loooong line at the border hoping we'd make it to practice on time, and watching the odd car zoom through the Nexus lane and be on its way with barely a pause, I decided to get my own "Trusted Traveler" card. The name reminds me of the days I used to fly alone, yo-yo-ing between parents in different countries. They'd hang a "young traveler' tag around my neck, give me a bag of stuff to entertain me in-flight, and send me off down the ramp with an immaculately dressed, beautifully made-up and coiffed stewardess. (Yes we were allowed to call them stewardesses back then, when political correctness hadn't even been thought of as a concept yet.) My favorite part of those trips was collecting the little wing pins they'd give you - you had to amass a certain number to get cool stuff - and getting to go in the cockpit and hang with the pilots. Try doing that nowadays. One pilot even let me push buttons. I was terrified of sending the plane into a careening spin, almost wet my pants as I reached out to put the plane on autopilot, but we all survived.

Anyway...I have digressed. So I applied for this Nexus card, and waited. (You apply online, and you have to keep going back into the online system to check on the status of your application. They don't send you a message that you've been approved.. that's too easy. They make you work for it. If you don't check, you won't see that you've been conditionally approved, won't get to select an interview date, won't see that you have a conditional approval in the system that you need to print out and bring to your interview... etc. So you have to write down this insanely long and pointless-to-try-and-remember username and password (and hope you don't lose it because trying to get it reset is an exercise in futility) and remember to check where things are.)

I went to Hong Kong while my application was pending. When I got back and checked on it, there a few alerts in the system - I needed to respond and pick my interview date pronto or I my application would be terminated. Argh! So I picked a date. The first available was... early October.

On the appointed day, I drove to Champlain, New York, and followed the strange instructions on my letter. "Drive around to the building marked X (it didn't say X it said something else but I've since forgotten). Don't drive up to it, park your car in the lot, walk up to the building, go through the second set of sliding doors.." buckle your seatbelt three times, turn around twice, you get the idea. Anyway, I made it, I walked in, I got to sit in a cubicle with a nice US agent, then moved over three feet to chat with a Canadian agent, and we were done. "Do you want to go get your retinal scan now?" was the final question. "Uh...?" Oh sure, what the heck, I was already there and I don't have any privacy anywhere anymore anyway, what's a retinal scan gonna do?

So I got back in my car, hopped back on the highway, crossed into Canada ("you're going to that building, but don't go over to it there, go right here, then take a left at the THIRD stop sign, then go around to the side entrance..."), parked the car, shimmied myself between a jersey barrier and a bright yellow security gate thing, and marched up to a side-door (hoping it was the right one and I wasn't going to be met with pistol-wielding border agents).

Blah blah blah, got my eyes scanned, had a laugh, and off I went. Crossed back into the US and was on my way home again in less than 10 minutes.

So.. on Tuesday, with my brand new card, I decided to give it a whirl. I approached the border, saw that lane 5 was the Nexus lane, and pointed my car at it. Shit - there was the scanner thing and I'm rolling too fast and don't even have my card out of the protective sleeve yet! I pulled it out quickly, scanned it as I rolled by, thinking 'yeah, that wasn't even close to the 3 seconds pause they told me to make, oops' and continued to roll up to the booth and the lift gate/barrier. It's a booth identical to the other lanes, but it's empty. Instead, there is a little box on it, like at the Burger King drive through, with a note taped to it. "Press red button to speak to an agent."

Now I don't know about you, but in my advanced age, I find it helpful to mutter and read instructions and things out loud to myself. It gets the point across better somehow. So there I am, looking perplexed at this thing and wondering what the heck I'd gotten myself into.

"Press red button... I see a silver button, there is no fucking red button.." and just as I realized I'd sworn out loud at this box, a nasally crackle came through it.

"Bonjour madame!" Shit!
"Bonjour monsieur!"

Luckily the agent wasn't offended. Instead, he asked me a few questions, pressed his own button to lift the gate to let me pass, and wished me a nice day. Next time, I know what to do. (Keep mouth shut, press silver button, don't embarrass self.) Now if G would hurry up and get HER card too, we'd be all set.

Last competition of 2012 coming up

We're less than 7 days away from our last competition of the year. Aptly, it's on our 'home' turf in Montreal. We'll be racing the 200, 500 and 2000m. And, for the first time, I'll not only be paddling, but also steering the women's crew that I coach in their first competition as a team. I'm super excited for that!

Haven't seen G in about 3 weeks... she had family stuff going on, then I was away working... tomorrow we'll meet in the gym for the first time in what seems like forever! Can't wait - it's time to get back to the business of lifting heavy stuff because our first fit test will be upon us almost as quickly as this cool fall air seemed to hit. I had to throw on a sweatshirt and socks for the first time at home today. I even closed the windows a bit, the breeze was just a tad too chilly for me. I also succumbed to the grocery-checkout-line-marketing ploys and bought a collection of hearty soup recipes. Yup - summer is ending, the boats will be coming out of the water soon, and we'll be paddling in the indoor tank sooner than we want to admit. But we have absolutely no complaints. It's been an amazing season - our first international championships (where we showed the world what hard work and determination can accomplish); our most successful national championships ever; and too many amazing memories and experiences to list.

Champions of all the world and...

CANADA too!!

Silver for the Mixed SA Division; Gold for the Women's!

So we competed in the Canadian National Dragonboat Championships this past weekend... we went in determined to win (not only because we're a super competitive bunch of women but also because it would be mighty embarassing to have earned the champion-of-the-world title only to be beaten by a home-grown team...) and danced out of there with not one, but TWO medals. Silver and GOLD!

But I get ahead of myself.

So, for Hong Kong we had hoped to put together a mixed (i.e. co-ed) team but for a number of reasons and logistics it couldn't be pulled together in time. Instead, the team (dubbed the "all-stars" - which has such a nice ring to it) gelled for the National Championships. Even so, it was a rather hasty effort and we were only able to practice twice as a team. Because of travels and conflicting training schedules, some of the crew really only were able to get in one practice. So, for us to walk off with a silver medal in our division, and beat some premier and U23 teams in the process, was incredible. (We won our first 500mm and 200m heats, but were edged into the 2nd place spot in the finals by the teeniest of a dragon's nose-hair. We placed 3rd in the 2K, but racked up enough points between all races to place second overall. As you know my math skills aren't stellar, so don't ask me to explain the point system please.) Almer was our on-water coach, with Mike and Jon analyzing and strategizing on-land. The speed we moved at was awesome - and having A yelling at and pushing us hard (especially in the 2K, I don't think he let up on us once) was great, we didn't have time to be tired or lose motivation. Everyone had such a great experience that there are plans in the works to not only make the team a permanent fixture next season but to also earn a berth for the 2014 Club Crew World Championships in Italy. Hooray!

Where we were almost "relaxed" with the mixed boat, it was a very different story with the women's. We had a title to defend. A big one. On day one, we raced the 500m. In the initial heat, we placed first by almost two full seconds. We were elated, but knew that nothing had been won yet. What counted was the final. If we didn't place first in the final, we wouldn't be going home with our favorite color bling.  Coach gave us pointers, instructed us to warm up well, keep loose in the marshalling area, get our focus on, and nail the shit out of the race. And nail it we did...we crossed that finish line a FULL 3 seconds ahead of the second-place boat. Can you imagine the jumping and yelling??

We enjoyed our win for an hour, then focused on the 2k. This was going to be brutal - though not as bad as Hong Kong. This at least was flat water, though shallow in areas, and sans current. A big improvement! And tough it was.. we had a few challenges, and I think we racked up a 5 second penalty for something (it is a dragon boat demolition derby after all) and placed 3rd. Coach was bullshit. Coach was not pleased with us. At all. "That was NOT your best race," he said. And that was the nicest thing he could muster. I've blocked the rest of his post-race speech, but suffice it to say it was not pretty, we all felt dejected and broken, and I recall leaving the event site mad as hell. Mostly at him. Damn - I worked my ass off in that race, and I know my girls did too. Urgh. Ok, put it aside, and refocus. It was now up to the 200m the next day - it was win or go home in shame.

So day 2 dawned, and we were on freaking fire. Our drummer corralled the burn and we screamed down the course in the initial heat. Excellent work - but again, it's the final that counts. Enjoy it for an hour, Coach said, and then be ready to go again. I've said it before, but we're pretty damn good at doing what we're told. In this case it was to be more aggressive on our start, to really nail the first 5 strokes and get the heck out of the gate, and pull away from the other boats right away. Well shizzle... we did it. We bombed down that course and when we crossed the finish line, there was this palpable pause, as we all glanced left, then right and, seeing that there was CLEARLY nobody there with us, we started screaming like tweens at a Bieber concert. Ok maybe we sounded a little more mature, but you get the idea. "That what you meant?"we asked Coach when we got off the boat. He could only grin. Thank goodness. I for sure didn't want to see cranky coach again. Him I don't like so much.

Oh yeah and in the middle of all of this, as if there wasn't enough excitement going on, there was a film crew taking footage for a dragon boat documentary. And guess who the focus was? But that's a story for another day...

So what's next?

Holy crap our dream came true!! Now what?
(Photo: Rafael Veve)

So, we're back from Hong Kong, our dream of becoming world champions firmly realized. What's next? Sitting on our laurels reveling in the bliss of it and cashing in on our fame and fortune? HELL NO. ('Cause there actually isn't a whole lot of fame and certainly no fortune!) We're back to the grind, hitting the gym and the water with gusto - more so than ever perhaps. We have Canadian Nationals coming up this weekend, and are paddling on TWO teams - our beloved womens and a new mixed team, which is super exciting. It's a whole different vibe, which brings with it new challenges, opportunities and, yes, even new dreams. Dreams which include paddling for Team USA in Hungary next year. So it's time to buckle down and form a new strategy. One which includes regular OC1 time, because team selections are based heavily on time trials in an OC1... which becomes a bit of a challenge when you don't have a (or access to) an OC1. Looks like we're gonna have to find ourselves a couple in order to train ourselves for this element of our journey - but that's no easy feat when they run close to $4k a-piece! Who knew this sport was gonna be so expensive? Urgh. Bake sale anyone?

That aside, it's time to get back to training. So yesterday G and I hit the gym for our first time together since we got back. And right away things went back to their usual hilarious stupidity. 

"OK, bench press is next. So for 12 reps...how much weight do you want?"

"Well, I want 50% of my body weight. So that's....???" G calculated in her head, her mouth turning up at the corners along with her eyebrows as she pondered the problem. "OK, well, let's round up to 80. And for you.... 90."

Should be simple enough, right?

I put two 25lb plates on. G looks at me like I am completely retarded.

"Umm... that's 95. Not 80."

"Oh. Duh. Well, it seems so puny. OK, so what do you want?" I take them off, and add two 10lb plates to each side instead. G goes over to the bar, touches it, then points to each plate ... 

"45, 55, 65, 75, 85.. no, still too much."

"Glargh!" OK off with two of the 10lb-ers and on with 5lb-ers instead. 

"OK, let me see here,"G's brow is furrowed in concentration again. "45, 55, 65, 70, 75. Now it's not enough. And she adds two more 5lb-ers. "No wait, that's not right either is it?" Duh, now we're back to 85. Different plate combinations, same frigging result. Of course by now we're cracking up so much our faces are red and our eyes are little slits with tears starting to squeeze through. 

"OK, little ones!" We take off the two 5lb-ers and replace them with two 2.5lb-ers. 

"45, 55, 65, 70, 75, and five... yeah, 80!" Hooray, only took us ten minutes to figure it all out. She pushes her 12 reps and then it's my turn. Mindlessly I pick up two 2.5lb-ers and them on. She looks at the bar, ponders, looks at me, looks at the bar again.

"Yeah... no... yeah... oh, no! That's only 85." Well shit already! Off come the little plates and on with two 5lb-ers. "Yeah, ten pounds. Right?" And we go through the whole calculation again. 

"45, 55, 65...."

We might be World Champions but we're still total crap at addition and subtraction! I hope nobody was looking!

Last day of racing - could we do it again??

Sunday July 8 - last day of the championships and our attempt at the 500m

Photo doesn't do it justice, but this was the golden-ness
we woke up to that final morning of racing.

Drummer girl and I woke up to an incredible sky. At 5:30 or so (yes in the morning), there was a distinct golden haze to our room. Mostly the sky wrapped around our corner windows was dark, but above the building to the left of our hotel room was a billowy white cloud backlit by bright gold.

"I like it," I said squinting and stumbling groggily to the bathroom. It's gonna be a golden day!" 

J giggled. "I like your morning comments!"

It was the last day of racing and our toughest distance was on tap first thing. Three back-to-back 500s. We've historically had trouble with that last half...we can kill the start, bang out the first 250-300m, but lose ground on the last 200. This was not going to be easy. But after medaling in every other category so far, I wanted this one even more. We all did. We needed a clean sweep.

"We've trained for this," Coach said. "We've done this back-to-back-to-back in practice too. We are the strongest team here. Be aggressive. Kill it. Go do this." Just as with the other races, as soon as we hit the marshaling area, our faces turned to stone. Complete focus. No more talking, no joking around, no interaction with anyone else. Game faces on. But with even more grit and determination than before. This was it. Our last chance. Our last day. It was all or nothing.

We had lane 7... a great lane! This was a good sign. Relatively calm water. Good for us, good for our steer M, who had been sucked all over that insane course the day prior with the Senior B mixed boat. She had this we told her. No problem. But did I? Did I have the guts for this one?

Our start wasn't our best, our pace a little fast...and we crossed the line second, with a time of 2:09.981. Shit. I immediately regretted the second boiled egg and croissant I'd had at breakfast. I felt sick to my stomach. 

We got off the boat and huddled with coach. He told us what we needed to do. "This is your last race. There is no third race. Don't save anything. Go out there, and effing hammer it." Ok, right. Got it.

I'll say one thing for our team. We're damn good at following instructions. What coach tells us to do, we bloody-well execute. We tore out of the start gate like rabid dogs. Or, as G likes to call it, huskies unleashed. Coach told us to be fierce, and fierce we were. On the transition, we got even fiercer. The focus, power and pure grit were tangible in the air above and around us. That mist you see on the start with really good teams (and I am so happy to be able to say WE ARE A REALLY GOOD TEAM!) stayed with us down that course. In a way it felt easier than the first race. We were so connected, so relaxed in the air, snapping our exits... it all just came together. And when J called the finish... man, we just took off. For each stroke of each series in that finish we surged forward. You know those football or hockey movies when the underdog comes through at the end and just nails it? Ha, we were the movie this time. As with the previous races, the second heat times were a bit slower. But we beat team #2 by almost a full second and-a-half. May not seem like much.. but trust me, it's pretty huge. 

"One more," we said to each other, as we docked the boat and herded ourselves back up the ramp toward our customary huddle with our coach. "One more." Wow. Ok. Focus.

This one's for our families, friends and cheerleaders.
And to those naysayers who said we were nuts and
didn't think we would stick with it- thppppt!
What use is a dream if you don't reach for it?

But when we got back to base, coach was grinning at us like a crazy person. "That WAS your last race, you all didn't believe me but that was it. They're behind, so they've eliminated the third heats for everyone. That was it ladies."

We were stunned. And then he continued. He got emotional. He choked on his words. I was too stunned to remember anything but his last words. "That was dragon boat ART."

Even more stunning was that the dragon boat art we'd pulled off had gained us our third medal of the competition, in that coveted gold color! Some girls screamed, others cried. Me, I don't know where it came from but I went super quiet. Suddenly the whole thing just enveloped me and washed over me. This was it. Done. Over. No more going out in the boats, dancing with the waves, finding the connection. This was the culmination of two years of dreaming, of training, of praying, of pain, anguish, excitement, fit tests, training camps, dinners without us for our families... This was it. I felt drained, out of breath, feint. Give me a moment.. the feeling is coming back...

Mission Accomplished - we are WORLD champions

Pinch me. It still doesn't seem real. But I'm getting ahead of myself. (Actually, I'm woefully behind. My last post was about the pre-race. I've written about the 2000m - our first race and first medal of the championships. But I have written zero about our other two distances - the 200m and the 500m. Shame on me! Correcting that right now.)

Friday July 6 - the 200m
This is your race, coach told us. This is what we've been training for. We've done this back-to-back-to-back in practice. You can do this. Go get it!
We walked into the marshaling area confident, but not cocky. Cocky can mean the tiniest difference between a win and an almost win (which is, simply, a big fat loss). Cocky is no good. But confident - that's critical. We have the muscle. We have the endurance. We have to have the mind too.

In the first heat, we screamed down the course in 53.788 seconds. Pretty dang astounding considering the waves, the current, the crooked course, the lanes that narrowed and widened indiscriminately, and the fact that nobody could really tell where exactly the finish line actually was. No matter. We crossed that line, wherever it was, first. We were elated!

Then our captain spoke.
"We've won NOTHING yet ladies. We have two more races to go. Enjoy this, but realize nothing is decided yet."
Right. Knock it off. Forget it. Focus on the next heat. We circled back to the docks, brought in our boat, disembarked, went to huddle with our coach and get our instructions. Then it was right back to marshaling for heat #2.

Times were a little slower for all teams in this second heat, the wind and waves had picked up some, but we still managed to pull off the start and over the finish line ahead of the others. 54.665 was enough to give us a solid shot for the gold. It would all be up to the last race.

We did the little dance again - bring it back to the docks, disembark, analysis and pep talk, marshal, into the boat, out to the start line practicing our first 5, then 10 then 15 strokes on the way. Then it was time to go. This was it, the deciding race. More waves, more wind... heh, bring it on we all said!

I'll cut straight to the point. (Mostly because I don't really remember the race, other than it felt &$(%(!!! amazing. So strong, so powerful, so connected. We gave it EVERYTHING. That boat fair flew as far as I was concerned. And the clock confirmed it. 56.837. First again. Would it be enough for the gold?? It seemed like we waited for the official results to come out for hours. And then, suddenly, quietly, they were there. Gold. Gold. Gold. HOLY MOTHER WE HAD TAKEN THE GOLD!! I got goosebumps all over my body and cried like a baby.

When we got to the podium, and saw who would be presenting us with our medals - the tears started to flow in earnest. From the whole team. It was N - husband, now widower, of our dear departed matriarch, S. We'd lost her just before this trip, and it was so very fitting, and so incredibly special, that he be the one to place these beautiful medals around our necks.

The teams on the podium with us thought we were an incredibly emotional bunch of girls. "Wow, is this such a surprise?" we were asked. "Did you not think you could win?" "No no, it's not that," we explained. And when we told them the story, they were all crying too. These were tears of joy, of sadness, of loss, of sympathy, of empathy, of gratitude, of victory. Oh sweet victory!

Golden, world-championship smiles! Holy crap - we did it!
Photo: Eric Bindman

Pre-race success

OMG...i forgot to post about a major event! So on Monday instead of a practice we raced in the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Carnival...the waves, the water were insane. 


We raced 500m and walked out with a bronze medal and a cool dragon trophy :) Great start to our time here...!

2000m race...done!

2nd turn, about to pass a boat :) Photo: Eric Bindman

Went down to the 2000m course early with my roomie (also our badass drummer) to check out the water, wind, course anomalies, etc. Good thing we did cuz things were craaaazeeee down there. A starting setup like we'd never seen (running start til you hit a designated "start" buoy which began your clock); last minute course adjustments at the turn WHILE boats were getting the air horn to go; and other little things that made us go "hmmmm" and make mad notes in our heads. This was gonna be one interesting and exciting race. We couldn't wait to get out there.

We watched a few races and headed back to our room to change, chill, and get our heads in the zone. At 11:30 we met up with the rest of the team in the hotel lobby. The mood was quiet, somber (or, if u talk to R, "funeral-like"). The girls were focused, visualizing the race, centralizing their energy into one spot and one spot only: the boat. We walked together to the course...a big red and black (our team colors) snake of women and paddles. None of us spoke...not even to the guy trying to hawk his tailoring services to us as we passed. (Really? He thought we would engage NOW?)

Just before we marshalled, coach pulled me and J (drummer) aside. "Be fearless," he told us. "And hug those buoys L." OK i thought. Take no prisoners and don't steer wide. Got it.

We got in the boat. Coach yelled at me from the dock. "Give that oar a good shake! Make sure it's not loose." I shook it...the u-bolt looked wobbly. I got on my knees and stuck my head out over the water, under the steering arm. There was no nut on the second bolt leg, and the one that WAS on the first, was very loose. I hand tightened it and crossed my fingers. One of the dock guys held out a flimsy, fraying, plastic rope to me..."do you know how to make a loop and tie it down?" he asked. Fuck no I thought as I shook my head at him. "Never mind then," he said. "Just go." Comforting. But whatever. Bring it on right?

We backed out and headed down the course to the start line. I felt relaxed. Excited. Ready. We had so many people rooting for us, watching us - here and back home - we would not disappoint them or ourselves. "This is OUR race," J yelled at us from the drum seat. This tiny woman sounded like she was ten feet tall. Fearsome AND fearless.

The previous night, our captain had challenged us all to find and fight for the extra inch. An inch can be the difference between winning and losing. We were NOT here to lose. We were going to be the 7th boat out of the start; we would have waves and wash; I had a short, bendy oar in that wobbly U-bolt. I grinned and looked around me. Touched the little gold maple leaf at my neck, thought of my guy back home, and looked at the Hong Kong skyline around me. The beauty of this sport is that you never know what you're going to get. Not weather, not water, not equipment, nothing. The only constant is you and how you approach the challenge. Once you step onto to dock and get in the boat, it becomes a mental game. All the tips and help and coaching were over. It was up to me now. I had this. Period.

Out of the start the boat did not respond well, and I had to fight to get it on track down the lane. In case you don't know, the boats used here are not the same make we train in, their interior dimensions are different, and the steer's platform is convex. Where i'm used to planting my feet solidly flat, and with ample room to maneuver, here i was squished and unbalanced as hell. As we approached the first turn i hugged the buoy tight, then went a tad wide on the others. Shit. On the second turn, I went in tight again...and found myself with a choice. Sit my butt down and stay in the boat, or keep standing and risk a swim. I sat my rump down and cranked the oar hard. It should have been easy, the turns were pretty wide, but that water was heavy and the boat was jumping. And the oar was flexing. Urgh!

Thankfully, it worked out. J called for a pickup out of the turn and we surged forward. Come to find out later that she was shitting her pants, willing me to stand back up so she could call that pickup. Little did she know that I was well aware that my weight on the back of the boat needed to be shifted forward, but it was so unsteady back there it took me several attempts to get back to my feet. I'd seen a few steers slip and drummers fall off...I certainly didn't want to be the next swimmer in Victoria Harbor!

The third turn was the same thing. Only it took me longer to get back on my feet. And when I finally managed it...J and I just let loose. "Reach! Fight for that inch!" I screamed. Between us, we yelled the entire last 500 meters. "Do NOT give in!" I challenged the girls in my back eight. I can't even remember what J was yelling up front but we worked together, taking turns yelling for more digging, more power, more push.

And push it we did. All the way down The line. At the last 200m J called for a finish. It would be the longest finish ever. It was brutal, and totally mental. "Empty the tank! Everything you have, in 3, 2, 1', GO!"

We returned to the dock exhausted, ready to pass out. Coach was beaming. "I don't think you could have given any more out there," he said. "And L...you nearly gave me a heart attack on those turns. I know I said make them tight, but...." his voice just trailed off as he shook his head at me, grinning in disbelief still. (Should I tell him I couldn't actually see those last buoys on any of the turns? That I was aiming for where I thought they were and praying that I would be on the right side of them? And that each time I saw that I was, I was fist pumping (mentally) with joy?)

And what did the officials think of our performance? Or, realistically, the clock? It took forever to get the results and the times back...but when they did we all screamed and jumped like tweens with Bieber-fever. Silver. Holy shit, we were going to the podium on our first day of worlds. Bang bang bang!

Tentative racing schedule

Our sleepy little haven has begun to transform....the breakfast buffet has been mobbed by dragonboaters of all ages and sizes this morning. Many of our teammates are stuck in Toronto, but a few have made it! The energy change is palpable...it's starting to feel like a competition here!

Livestream link will be: http://www.livestream.com/idbfdragon

And our tentative racing schedule is as follows:

Wednesday, July 4th
Senior A Women – 2000 Meter - 13:20 (Final)

Friday, July 6th

Senior A Women – 200 m - Round 1 - Race 95 - Time 08:10
Note: Time from Round 1 added to Round 2 at 0850 and Round 3 at 0930

Senior A Women – 200 m - Round 2 - Race 103 - Time 08:50
Note: Times from Round 1 and Round 2 added to Round 3 at 0930

Senior A Women – 200 m - Round 3 - Race 111 - Time 09:30
Note: Time in Round 3 added to times from Round 1 and Round 2 to decide the final places

Sunday, July 8th

Senior A Women – 500 m - Round 1 - Race 265 - Time 08:10
Note: Time from Round 1 added to Round 2 at 0850 and Round 3 at 0930

Senior A Women – 500 m - Round 2 - Race 273 - Time 08:50
Note: Times from Round 1 and Round 2 added to Round 3 at 0930

Senior A Women – 500 m - Round 3 - Race 281 - Time 09:30
Note: Time in Round 3 added to times from Round 1 and Round 2 to decide the final places

Nothing like a typhoon to keep things interesting

Woke up early, went for a walk. Hot and humid already by 9am...but we kept at it, marching briskly for a full hour. Of course, it wasn't just a walk...there was adventure involved!

Halfway thru the walk, my three cups of coffee and double espresso began calling for a bathroom. So we ducked into a metro station and found a public toilet. The stall was skinny and tall, i had to step up two steps to...a lovely porcelain-surrounded hole. Suzanne's "never refuse a challenge" flashed in my head so i firmly planted my feet on either side, squatted and aimed in such a way as to prevent any splashback. I am happy to report that i succeeded...and that my two years of incorporating squats into my training really paid off. Boys, I have new respect (or maybe disgust) for you. (The aiming sans splashback thing.)

We continued on our adventure...Blah blah blah, finished walking, went home, showered, etc.

Day's plan: to go see the Big Buddha and monasteries with some friends who'd arrived. So we headed out to the metro, with a quick stop to the bank for some cash and to the pharmacy for a compression sleeve for my leg. The pharmacy was fun...i had no idea where to look for what i needed, so asked for help. The pharmacist led me to the right aisle, grabbed a box, looked at my leg, and said "hmmm...i better measure your leg." Really? Ok...whatever. She got her tape measure...measured the girth of my ankle, the length of my foot, the circumference of my calf. "No sorry, i don't have anything big enough for you." really? Am I THAT big? But she did have a tube thing she could sell me by the meter..which she did and cut in half and it was perfect for 1/8th of the price :)

Made our way to the metro, bought our tickets (that was an adventure in itself) and off we went. Oh the metro...a people watcher's heaven. Schoolkids in uniform, young adults, old women, tweens giggling between texts and sharing their mall finds. Kids are the same everywhere we discovered...no matter their clothes, culture, country. The route took us above ground past an amazing cemetery...i need to look that up and see if i can find it and go visit it. G thought that was creepy but i love cemeteries. I am as fascinated about rituals surrounding death as by those surrounding life.

We transferred trains successfully, but getting OUT of the metro station was another adventure. No matter what turnstile we tried..we couldn't get out. Felt like idiots. Seriously contemplated jumping the turnstile. Until we discovered we needed to find those where we could insert our tickets into the machine and presto..we were free. Phew. Ok...off to find a bathroom, some food and the cable car to Buddha.

Peed in the biggest outlet mall i've ever seen. But Couldn't agree on an eatery, so went to the cable car. "closed due to typhoon." well SHIT. But there was a bus, so we thought eh, why not. It wouldn't be the same effect, but hey, we'd still get to reach our goal destination right? Wrong. The sky darkened, the wind picked up, and the rains started hammering down. Of course, none of us had thought to bring an umbrella or jacket. Did i mention that we'd need to climb some 200 steps to the monastery? A few of us were ready to risk it, but others wanted to take a raincheck. So, given the view would be nil on top of crap weather, we decided to go try and exchange our tickets for another day.

Hahaha.....fat chance. The ticket agents were rude and nastily refused to consider or even acknowledge our concerns. So we headed back to the mall, found some eats at the food court, and took the metro back "home". The whole day was just ridiculous. Think Seinfeld does Hong Kong. In trying to accomplish something we ended up doing nothing. How ironic is it that we went halfway around the world to go to the mall and eat in the food court? Sheesh. We consoled ourselves with the thought that with 10 more days here, we'd surely have enough time to have another crack at it.

We wound our way back to the hotel thru the tight little streets, stopping for water and to peruse the exotic offerings of the bakeries and stores along the way. Then we went off to the upper level bar to check the web for updates on the weather and our teammates. And herein lies an adventure totally worthy of these two dragons...and one that may even merit becoming the opening scene of our movie. (oh yes, there will definitely be a movie.) but that's a tale for another day.

Day two in hong kong

My internal clock is a bit messed up...but not too bad. Crashed at 6pm local time, woke up at 11pm wide awake so hoofed it down to the hotel lobby to catch up with my sweetie, 12 hours back on the other side of the world. The lobby, next to the hotel bar on the 38th floor, is the only wifi-accessible place. So when i came down, all two chairs and most of the footstools were taken by a variety of internet-hungry youngsters from different countries. Talk about a global arena! I sidled over, settled on an empty stool, and logged in :) (As soon as i figure out how to add photos from this iPad i will!) All I could hear was the rush of fingers on keyboards of all types...iPads, smartphones, tablets. And giggles and sighs as people communicated with others out in the virtual world. A was hard at work, so mostly I just rambled and spoke of our day. That's the hard part....doing this adventure without him and trying to convey all the sights, smells and feelings thru a few words. Around midnight I went back upstairs and crawled back under the covers. Woke up at around 5:30 restless and starving. But my roomies were still snoring. What to do? Go into the bathroom and observe the neighbors of course! So into the bathtub I settled. I love to people watch. So it was incredible to just sit and REALLY look at the view. Where we first were a bit aghast at the view from our room, now i was intrigued. I love to see the real side of life when i travel .... the manufactured view created for tourists just isn't my thing. So these few moments alone were amazing. What did i see? Through one window, and old man and woman beginning their day. It looked like she was making their lunches for the day. The fridge opened and closed, he rubbed her back, she smiled at him, he went to the window and reeled in the laundry hanging outside... That laundry! Hanging from every window and balcony. Dishtowels, pants, kids' shirts...so many colors...such a commentary on daily life. In another window a woman was washing dishes. In another, a man in his undershorts making his bed. The outsides of these apartments are as varied as their occupants. On some, the stucco is dingy, dirty, peeling. The doors and windows sagging or broken. On others, there is fresh paint, new balcony railings, new windows. The pigeons are the constant...they land on laundry indiscriminately. I wondered how much of that clean laundry had to be rewashed each time due to pigeon poop. That would annoy the crap out of me (no pun intended). Our first crewmates have arrived. We swapped stories and recommendations over breakfast. Now we are going to take a walk to the race site, check out the course, hit the gym for some cardio and light weights, and then head to the ferry and street market :)

Day one in Hong Kong

We were checked in extra early by a lovely lady at the front desk, and were able to shower and get rid of our travel stink right away. Then we hit the streets. Heat was not as unbearable as expected....yeah it's hot but we are not drenched in nasty sweat :) Besides, there are so many shops to duck into and get cool! The breeze off the water helps too. Having so many people vying to sell you stuff however...that's new to me. Some of them can be really persistent. One tailor for example, followed us right back into the hotel trying to make a sale. Jewelers too can be a bit intimidating. But it's all part of this amazing adventure and we are loving it. Found a couple of great bakeries, a supermarket, and plenty of restaurants frequented by locals...always a good find. And marvelled at the use of thick bamboo as scaffolding...watched mesmerized as two shirtless men scrambled up lengths of the stuff tying it together (and anchoring it to road signs and whatever else the street offered) in amazing combinations. Tomorrow, a street fair, the ferry, and some cultural immersion away from the Rodeo-drive-ish-ness we saw today. Can't wait. Needed to get my swollen foot on ice after tho...so back at the hotel went hunting on our floor for an ice machine. None found. Instead we found a very sweet housekeeper eager to help ....unfortunately she did not speak English. "Ice?" she repeated, pointing hopefully to the teetering stack of towels and toiletries on her cart. We nodded in the negative. How to explain ice? How would you do it in charades? Well, you'd make stupid facial expressions and crunching mouth gestures of course. Yeah, no, that didn't work. Nor did trying to fashion a big block of ice out of air. Or, R's tactic of switching to Spanish. That just perplexed the poor woman even more and prompted her to try looking up "panol" (as in "habla esPANOL") on her cellphone. We thanked her profusely and backed away sheepishly. And went down to the front desk where i was able to arrange for some to be brought up to the room. Yay! Ok, sleep deprivation starting to hit. Off to bed!

We are in the dream...!

Holy crap we made it to Hong Kong. My foot is swollen like an old lady's, we almost didn't make it out of burlington, and the ride from JFK included screaming kids, a migraine and throwing up.... But we made it! The Hong Kong airport is super-impressive...clean, gorgeous, huuuuge. Also loved the Jet Blue terminal at JFK....to be in Saarinen's (restored) building was goosebump-good. Terminal 8 however...gross. Dirty, nasty, skincrawling ickiness. The trip from airport to hotel was amazing. So many colors...cranes, shipping containers, ships....so much water, so much activity..such a busy trade port. Never imagined that much life. We ate some amazing food, showered up and are now heading out to explore our neighborhood :)

Knocked out but not down

A fabulous day of racing was ours on Saturday - at the Lachine Knockout in Montreal. Not only because of how we did, but also for the lessons learned. Some good, some gut-wrenching. We made it to the A Final, with 3 premier women's teams (translation - a whole division above ours) one of which is arguably the best premier women's team in Canada - so getting to this top final was huge for us. A knockout is exactly what it sounds like - 4 boats race down the course, the last one over the finish line gets eliminated and the other three race again. Repeat until there are only two boats left and one is declared the winner. Though we finished a hair on the wrong side of the finish line in that first race of the knockout final, we had met all our goals and challenges (and then some!) for this event.

There was a downside to the day though. G & I also paddled with a mixed team in a different division. It's the team (albeit a little re-configured) and the coach with whom we started our whole amazing Montreal adventure. We did great in our first two races, and made it to the A Final in that category also. Unfortunately, our two finals were a race apart - leaving very little time for recovery for G and I. Coach A compromised by changing the lineup, putting G on the drum, me on the tail, and himself in the boat with a paddle. It was a good plan, but ultimately a rushed compromise that created just enough of a change in dynamic to bring us in fourth over the line in the knockout round. A crazy wave, caused by a big motorboat on the other side of our (outside) lane, that hit us in the final third of the race and gave us a solid shove in the wrong direction wasn't too helpful either. But there are no excuses in dragon boating.  In our women's final, we just needed more. In this one - same thing. In retrospect... we were overly cautious and should have just stuck to the original plan. We know that physically, we're fit enough to have been able to handle it. And we totally should have. Instead, even though we had gone down the course with our team, we left feeling like we'd let our entire boat down and busted the day's great groove. Maybe we did, maybe we didn't - but I personally felt like a rotten, squishy, festering tomato. Granted, two paddlers don't make or break a boat - but the mental aspect of racing is just as big as the physical. Maybe even more. That's what we're being warned about over and over again as the World Championships approach. Being physically strong is very important - but we have to be mentally fit too. And in Hong Kong that's going to be critical.

So we learned a lot from this weekend. Good and bad. I guess that's how you evolve and improve right?  There have to be tough lessons along the way. On the mixed side, we made a shitty choice in compromising one team for another and in the process let ourselves, our team and our coach down. You can bet that won't happen again. On the women's side - we'd had the wrong attitude earlier in the day. We had the second-best time going into that final race - which was the entirely wrong thing to have in our heads. Did it really affect our game? Did we paddle any less? Who knows. Ultimately, we didn't fight hard enough. Sometimes it comes down to just one stroke. One extra push. One extra bit of power that, this time, we didn't harness. As coach pointed out at the end we weren't second best. We were fourth best. The standings are based on the last race - not the semi-finals.  So we have a new plan, a new vision for the next race: Hong Kong.

Bring it on.

next time, we're not leaving without these grins

3 weeks til take-off!

This time 3 weeks from now G and I will be at the airport waiting to board our flight to Hong Kong. We'll probably be hyped on our signature double espressos and nattering excitedly about the championships and living our dream. In between the moans of dread at the looming 15 hour flight ahead.. blargh! Not looking forward to that at ALL. But what's on the other side... aaaah!

We spent the weekend in Connecticut, working a community festival that unfortunately ended in near crashes and a sinking only four races into it. Converging rivers, crazy currents and nutso waves forced an early cancellation - sometimes we forget just how dependent we are on the mother nature. We paddle through rain and snow, fire and .. ok ok maybe not snow and fire. But speaking of insane weather - we had tornado warnings here last week. And STILL G and I agonized over whether or not to attempt the drive to Montreal for practice.

"Oh eff it, let's just go."
"OK." ... five minutes later...
"Dude we should just stay home. One practice won't kill us. But the weather might."
"Yeah, ok, we should be smart. Let's stay home and just do a killer workout here."
"Yeah!" ... five minutes later...
"It doesn't look SO bad. Wanna just go?"
"Umm... yeah... but I dunno..."
And so on and so on. Really? We questioned a TORNADO? HAHAHA. That's dedication! (Or insanity? You decide!) Ultimately we decided to stay home. And then practice was cancelled. And 2.5 inches of rain caused flash flooding and insanity in Montreal - so it proved to be the right decision.

Here's hoping for sun and warmth tomorrow!

Less than a month to Hong Kong

Goodness... so much time has elapsed and so much has happened. G is mighty upset with me for letting this blog languish so long...

"So YOU write something then" I told her. Again.
"No, I'm afraid to."
"Why?"
"Because you told me I better not screw it up. So I am NOT touching it."
HAHA. Well I've been mad busy and completely irresponsible with it. So let's see.. where did we leave off?

Myrtle Beach Training Camp (mid april)
Totally brilliant, amazing time. We trained, we raced, we massaged our aching bodies on those goshdarnawful foam rollers, we soaked in the hot tub, walked on the beach, and bonded as a team. Brilliant. Then we came home. Yuck.

Myrtle Beach Dragonboat Festival (end of april)
G and I stayed an extra week to work a community festival, while the rest of the team went home. G took off for a few days to do some traveling, while I stayed put and worked the community practices. I bunked with three other coaches, all men, which worked out perfectly! Before you get any naughty ideas...i only meant that I got treated like a princess... as the sole girl I got the master bedroom (king bed, ocean front, private bathroom) while the three of them took the bunk beds and the couch. They cooked me dinner, drove me around (seeing as I was car-less) ... see what I mean? Perfect. The week ended all too soon though, and, with the culminating event on Saturday, our dorm-room disbanded. Then it was time for G, R and I to stuff ourselves back into the car and make the loooooong drive home. Which we survived. Friendships intact. (Krispy Kreme Donuts helped.)

Montreal Training Weekend (2nd weekend in may)
Two weekends after our return, we had another camp at our home base. G begged off to attend her son's college graduation (geez woman, where are your priorities!?), but the rest of our crew and I took on two days of torture from our assistant coach - by the end of which I was convinced I no longer knew anything about paddling nor was I deserving of a spot on the boat. Video reviews were embarrassing as hell.  On the funny side, coach decided to also give me some tips on steering the mad crazy turning 2000m race in Hong Kong. That I get to do on the FIRST day of racing. No pressure at all. To make a long story shortish... I ended up being catapulted off the back of the boat not just once, but twice. Luckily each time I neither swallowed the dirty nasty things-often-float-in-it water nor lost my newly acquired Oakleys. Luckily also I didn't smack the boat into the wall of the canal either.

"Run and shower. You have 10 minutes til the gym closes!" Coach P urged me at the end of that fateful  dunking day.
"Nah, I'll just shower at V's later."
"NO! You'll have an INFECTION by the time you get there. Go shower NOW!"
Well, he didn't have to tell me twice. I ran off to the gym, scrubbed clean, changed, got to V's and showered again just for good measure. And my health and eyesight?  All still good!

On-Water Practices (now til the end of summer....)
Fully on the water now (no more indoor tank!)... and 3 practices in I managed to figure it all out and get my "yeah I'm a good paddler" mojo back... the team is looking strong, feeling powerful and fast... it's goosebump good!

First Competition of the Season & a Marathon (last weekend)
Saturday we had our first competition in Montreal. 2 days before the races I am approached by a paddler from another team.
"Hey L, I hear you're steering the 1K on Saturday!"
"Err.. what?"
"Yeah, I just talked to M and she says she's not doing that one, YOU are."
WELL SHIT. There's only one turn but SHIT last turns I did I plummeted into the canal. Thanks for TELLING me though coach. Way to go.

Anyway.. blah blah blah... everything went even more brilliantly than expected. Our teammate M, who is new to the steering game and has been training hard to get herself ready for the world stage, steered us in the 500m sprints... and nailed it. Test 1 - done. Test 2? Ya, that one got nailed too. I didn't fly off the boat, didn't let anyone pass us, and didn't make my turn too wide. I hugged those four buoys on the course like my life depended on it. (And it did .. cuz G has threatened to paddle my butt if I mess up. Good naturedly of course. Just a little sisterly encouragement. Hee.) Somehow I managed to pull it off ... it was surprising how smooth and just plain gorgeous that boat of elite kickass women felt under my oar. It was sorta magical.

The next day G ran what has become our tradition - the Burlington marathon. This time I wasn't running though.. foot's not ready for that yet, but G CREAMED it. Ran her fastest time yet, and made me so proud. She's a superstar :)

G and crazy K running together last Sunday :)

Next... I need a nap.

Five Reasons Why You Should Go to Training Camp

We're in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at present...halfway through a week-long, intensive training camp. Since Sunday, we've been on the water twice a day - we're exhausted; we come close to puking several times daily; our lats, shoulders, abs, legs, backs are screaming even when we're sitting still - and yet we can't wait for the next round. Why is this such an important and welcome ritual for us? I was discussing the whole concept of camp with A this week... we discussed the cons (it's expensive, it's intensive, you're using vacation time (if you're lucky enough to have any or a job that gives you some), it's far away... etc). Could the same stuff be accomplished closer to home? In two days rather than six? Could you give the same amount of intensity at a day camp rather than an overnight away camp he asked? So I took his questions, pondered a while and decided that for any team that is serious about getting results on a world stage - camp is critical. Here's why:

1. Focus
At camp, there are no distractions. Sure your back hurts and, once you lower your groaning self into the hot swirling waters between paddling sessions, you don't want your jaunts in the hot tub to end, but there is nothing between you and improvement while you are here. You paddle when you're hungry, tired, sunburned, sick, aching, bleeding, blistered... and these are the times when you can really improve. If 20 of you can paddle through all of that - your team will be stronger, faster, closer to the gold.

2. Bonding
There is nothing like 7 days spent 24/7 with one another to bring you closer. When you eat, sleep, cook, play, work, laugh, console, cry, and more with one another in close quarters, you gain insight into individual personalities, including your own, and see what makes the team hum and roll. You begin to care for your team mates deeply - you massage each others' knots between sets; you pick up on subtleties in their expressions; you realize you love these people so fiercely that you would put yourself in harm's way for them. But the camraderie is just a bonus... what makes this bonding so crucial is that it becomes a precusor to #3. Without bonding, you can't have....

3. Unity
One of the first exercises coach had us do this week was get our rhythm going, and paddle with our eyes closed. This isn't a new concept, but it's incredibly effective. When you have 20 people completely connected with one another, with the movement of the boat, with the water - shutting off one of the senses deepens the sensation. Yes amateur teams can do this quite successfully, but when you get a team with THIS much experience... WOW. You can feel the whoosh whoosh of the paddles striking the water as much as you can hear it - perhaps even more so. You anticipate that push and glide. You can predict where it comes next. You hear a call for a pickup, or a stronger push - and you can respond in unison, as one big powerful machine because you have unity. You are no longer an individual - you are a component of a bigger, better, single unit. It's goosebump-crazy-good!

4. Inspiration
If 19 other people can do it - so can you. If you can do it, so can 19 other people. You lead by example and follow your leader(s). In the group - you all push one another beyond your limits, your perceived capabilities... there is no room for "I can't". In fact, "can't" gets removed from your vocabulary, from your consciousness.

5. Fun
Remember when you used to go out for recess and play with your friends? How you would swing on the monkey bars and try things you saw your mates doing? How you would play tag, and kick ball and get all sweaty and dirty with them? How you would come back inside all grass-stained, muddy, sticky and HAPPY? Camp is recess for grownups. It's good for the heart and soul as much as for your technique and form. You can't be a good athlete if all you have is a healthy body - you have to have the  mind to go with it. And fun is often the last thing on our list of considerations as we get older. But at camp we can leave our grownup woes behind - forget the bills and the to do lists and the stresses of our daily adult lives. Go regress, have fun, restart your happy!

How to increase your max bench press in five easy steps

And eat bananas, drink little tiny sodas and
learn how to drive with your knees!

1. Go heavy. Then go heavier than you think you're capable of.
2. Alternate between heavy negatives on the bench and heavy (h-e-a-v-y!) dumbbell presses.
3. Don't pout. Own up to it and just do it.*
4. Fockus. Laugh. Relax. Then really get your shit together and FOCKUS.
5. Throw in some bikram yoga, then go back to #1 and do it all again.

Yeah, not so easy, but that's the short and shorter of it. For weeks now we've been killing ourselves trying to figure out how the heck to improve on the bench. We've read everything (OK, I've read and G has gone along with my crazy ideas and experiments), tried all that seemed reasonable (and there's a lot that didn't) and really worked hard this past month. So hard in fact, that I haven't had time to blink, much less post anything here. Sorry dear reader!

And now, here we are, on the eve of the eve of the last fit test of the season. One more, and we're clear to hit the water in a sunny southern state for a delicious week of hellish training at the get-your-shit-together hands of our coach. The last few sessions have not paled from some of our earlier experiences. Far from it. For example, channeling both Coach A and my pal Larry (former Marine, hard as nails with a southern twang) in my head I picked up the 60lb dumbbells and went for the flat bench. I managed to get the weights on my thighs, then to my chest and laid (lied? reclined?) down. Now flat, I was ready to lift the suckers up - but I needed a little help. G was there, right and ready as ever.

"I don't know if I can help you," she said. "Those are HEAVY."
"Of course you can," I said. "You're a bloody RHINO."
"OK, let's go."

She leaned forward, ready... hands at my wrists.. but as we tried to go up, something went terribly wrong. Suddenly I couldn't breathe. Something was mashing in my face. Something soft and warm and... i had to drop the weights quickly. What the heck happened? Weelllll.... my nose got caught in her ample chest and guess what.... fits of pee-your-pants laughter began before the weights fully left my hands. Even one of the normally super-serious guys couldn't contain himself.

Five minutes later, I was able to try again.

"You're going to try the same weight?" G asked incredulously.
"Hell yeah. Just keep your boobs outta my face!"
G shrugged. "OK, let's do it."
We did it. So awesome.

Our routine has also now come to include bikram yoga. Now I have always hated yoga, but I can't live without this! Neither of us can. We missed our once-weekly-session last week... but today we were back. And oh-sweet-heavenly-angels we about died today. I'm not sure what G's problem was, but I was exhausted and the large snack I had 30 minutes prior was pretty poor judgement. Then there was this horrendous incense stick burning next to my overly-sensitive-nose which made me nauseous even before the sweat had a chance to glisten and glide down my skin.

90 minutes later, as we rolled into our last savasana (aka, aptly enough, dead body pose), G mouthed "we survived!" at me. I'm thinking, really, I think I'm pretty much dead and moved onto the next life here..., but I blinked at her in feeble agreement. And somehow made it out of the room, into my clothes and out to my car. I don't really remember the ride home...

*Credit for the voice in my head goes to Coach A on this one. Actually, probably 1-3 if I want to be totally honest. But I don't. I want to be able to say that I figured some of this out myself. And #2 goes to my friend Larry who is just a freakin' beast and who must know what he's talking about, cuz 425 ain't no joking matter if you ask me.

We have a new traveling companion...

We have such amazing supporters.

We got a package yesterday. Just a simple manila envelope with the words "to the Hungry Dragons. Open when you cross the border."

"It's from K," G texted me when she got it. "Do we trust her?"
I'm thinking no, but surely even she wouldn't put anything in there that would get us in trouble.

So we dutifully keep it closed til we cross the border. Then we rip it open with glee.

Inside are: dragon temporary tattoos, the two-headed dragon you see here (she will be traveling in whichever car we travel to practice in from now on, boy is she gonna get some mileage!), a stack of papers, a CD and an obviously used pair of socks. SOCKS?

Then, we get an email.

"I just wanted to let you guys know that I am really proud of you! Going to Hong Kong??? How cool is that!!!????


AND, you are going to represent Canada! Doesn't get any better than that. Sorry America, but Canadians are more welcomed around the world... And having a Canadian husband it's even more special!

GOOD TO KNOW, cuz I'm working on mine :)

So for that reason, I thought you should get familiar with everything about Canada: Imagine yourselves at the opening ceremony in Hong Kong and they start playing the Canadian National Anthem?? You gotta get familiar with the words, so from now on you have to promise you'll listen to the CD at least once on EVERY trip to Montreal!

Promise? (this is the part where you both say out loud: Promise!) Say it!"

WE PROMISE!!

"I have also included a print out of the anthem and some facts about Canada. Since I'm looking to save the environment it's printed on the back of our news prints. 

Go out there and paddle hard! 

Puke!!"

WE PLAN ON IT!! THANK YOU K and all the rest of you who have encouraged us, pushed us, listened to us, put up with us thus far... we could not have gotten here without you. XO.

How to change in a moving car and not get arrested for lewdness

Today was a tough day. We had a killer paddling practice, then an intense circuit, followed by a fast and furious drive home to a funeral.

"We need to RUN out of here at noon" G mouthed at me across the circuit room.
"Yeah, I know"... I was bumming because that meant no hang time with my bethrothed, who is leaving on a lengthy-for-my-lovestruck-heart trip, but you do what you have to do.

We finished the circuit, said our hurried goodbyes (left our teammates to clean up the circuit equipment), and booked it from the gym. We'd made our plan on the way up... G would drive to the border while I changed into funeral-appropriate attire; and then I would drive from the border while G changed.

First, we ate. My egg salad stunk up the car before i even unscrewed the container. Our stomachs growled  audibly. I smashed it between the two slices of bread and took a bite that I think demolished at least half the entire sandwich. Oh it was goooood!

"Holy shit, you INHALED that sandwich!" I'm not sure if G was impressed with me or sickened.
"Dude!! I was HUNGRY!"

Sandwich. Apple. Ghirardelli mint chocolate square. Heaven.

Now, to get out of my nasty, stinky, wet workout clothes and into something a little more civilized. I reached around the back of my seat, into my gym bag, and pulled out my bra and underpants. Off came my jacket, under which I was completely naked, and approached the challenge of a) hooking my bra behind my back (tough when every muscle is screaming in objection) and b) positioning myself in such a way as to not "show my wares" to passing cars.

We started passing a car on the left. I ducked down. Still couldn't hook the damn thing. Passed another, ducked again. Still no luck hooking (haha i know what you're thinking) and G starts chortling.

"See that SUV in front of us? I think the driver is a bit distracted. I think he's looking in his rear view mirror a LOT." Good for him. Hopefully he doesn't plow into the guard rail. Meanwhile, still can't hook stupid bra.

"Screw this. I'm doing it the old fashioned way." I take the thing off, flip it around and upside down, hook it in front, shift it back, shove my arms through the straps and adjust. Fait accomplis! Hoo-freakin-ray! I sit up, relieved as all heck and stretch out the cramp in my neck.

Too bad the bra's color is exactly the same shade as my still-otherwise-naked upper half. I quickly realize why the drivers of the cars we're passing are doing double takes at us. But I can't do much about it because G is making me laugh so hard that my aching abs can't take the pain anymore. We start going through role-plays of coming up to the border checkpoint.

"Hi sir. Yes we were at dragonboat practice."
"Why is your passenger naked?"
"Because she can't get her arms behind her back."
We collapse in fits of giggles. And on it goes... you get the idea.


I get the shirt on, then it's time for the lower half. Off come the lycra tights, on go the undies. Then the pants. No mean feat for a giant in a short-person's car. Even with the seat pushed all the way back and reclined. Try it sometime.

It's been such an endeavor I decided to attack makeup next, and leave my feet for last.

"Don't pull any bullshit now," I warn G, who is prone to slamming on the brakes at the most inconvenient-for-me times just to amuse herself.
"Don't worry, I won't do anything when you are doing your eyes. But lipstick, well, no guarantees there."
What's that word she taught me? ah yes.. "chocheta!"

I manage to make myself look presentable, mouth included, just as we get to the border. Ok, time for my feet. There are two lanes open. We get in the left lane, and advance. G decides to do the whiplash thing. I could seriously smack her. Why am I thinking about it, I ask myself, and punch her in the arm. She's not phased at all. Were she not driving I might have considered a throat punch. But as it was...

I put my right foot on the dash, hike up my pant leg, and pull on a knee sock (I'm gonna be wearing tall boots). What does my traveling idiot do? Gestures to the guy in the car next to us, points to my leg and starts mouthing "sexxxxxy leg!" ARGH!! I punch her again. She of course, is trying not to pee herself with laughter. What's that saying about laughing at your own jokes??? :)

We get up to the checkpoint, I look great and she looks like sweaty crap, we make small talk with the guard and are waved on through. We pull over and Part 2 of the Changing Game begins.

I have to move the driver's seat back, a LOT. G gets into the passenger seat and comments how spacious it is. "It's like an entire bedroom. Wow, you're big." She's trying to get her underpants on now.. and I collapse in fits of giggles as I envision this car being on an episode of CSI where they fingerprint the car and discover two different butt imprints on the passenger seat.

2 minutes later: "How come you, a giant, were able to change so quickly, and I can't?" Envision: G's ass is in the windshield, her head up by the sun roof, and she's trying desperately to adjust her clothes on her increasingly sweaty-from-the-stress-of-it body. I of course decide this is the perfect time to slam on the brakes of this zippy little Cadillac. Hot damn!

Blah blah blah... fast forward.... and get in a sober mood. Because we are pulling into the parking lot of a little church, parking the car, and making our way inside to say goodbye to a friend.

This friend was a member of our mother organization, the one where we started this whole paddling adventure. D was one who had made a deep impression on us - a kind, generous, giving soul who ALWAYS asked us how our training was going and was TRULY interested in the answer. I remember him getting on my boat and not wanting to get off. When I first started coaching and steering, he and his wife were always there, paddling their hearts out. When I challenged the crews to start training for the insane-sounding 20K race... he was always one of the first to show up with a huge smile on his face. (Did I mention this man was nearing 70 at the time?) He did double practices, helped out with the boats, always up for whatever needed doing and ALWAYS ALWAYS had a good word and a smile. Until I read his obituary this week I had no idea just how incredible this man truly was. And then today, hearing so many stories at his memorial service.. well, I cried for the loss. Because the story is tragic. D and his wife were traveling from VT to ME to visit family. Just a few miles from their destination, D succumbed to fatigue, nodded off, was awakened when his car hit the rumble strip, over-corrected, and crashed. His injuries would be fatal, while his wife would survive. Dear mother help me understand this one. Though the story is tragic, the lesson is magic. D's legacy is this: love deeply; give selflessly; talk to strangers; take a gazillion photographs; give blood; connect with your community and; wear silly hats.

R.I.P. D - you will be very very missed.