Team I-Canoe: June 2009

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

A bit of after work flatwater fun..

Hey,

Last night myself, AD & Paul went for a quick blast on the canal outside the shop for a wee blast. I have some sweet new paddles to try out, Paul took the Bid Dog for a walk and AD was testing his pain threshold in his new squirt boat. The canal was like a swimming pool it was that warm.

Colm got in a couple of different sizes in the Kaos which is their full on freestyle boat, they are surprising roomy inside. we all kinda agreed the the thigh braces might need some tweaking with some foam before we were 100% happy but apart from that its looks and feels nice.

As we were on the flat its hard to say what it will feel like on a wave or hole but it does give that very loose feeling when paddling it. Adrian D being the self proclaimed flat-water loop master had to jump in and see if the Big Dog could measure up to his Smoothy?

The Big Dog boats are available for demo now, give the lads in the shop a shout and they will sort you out.

One of my favourite shots of the evening is one AD snapped of Paul.

If you click on the photo you can see the look of determination on Paul's face who hasn't play boated in a while giving it socks mid stern squirt.

I took delivery a couple of sets of sexy new paddles that I am as excited to look at as I am to get them out on water proper.

"They are a thing of beauty"

We spent ages messing about as it was such a nice evening, all nice and chilled.

AD getting some mini sinky action in his pain machine aka his Squirt boat.

That's all for now, keep an eye on the Blog as Colm / Wai Har / Jammers / Fran are off in the States hitting up Hell's Canyon and have promised some updates.

Laters,

Adrian

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The Machines European update

Hello again,
Don't have much video or pictures yet but i'm sure I'll get some,
the gear is all going well, I put a small line of glue on the inside of the deck and seems to have worked. on with the blog;

Day 9:
Technique 1 hour 176/126, on the National Coures (from the bridge down, supposed to be easier of the 2) met 2 local paddlers, Boris a young up and coming paddler and Yann, club coach and a C1 paddler, Paddling the same boat as me ond a righty too, how lucky. I joined in on their 1/2 run session 6 runs for them 5 for me, Just watchin their first run, they paddling with them, not hard, just trying to get a feel for the water. The water is hard to paddle, difficult to keep on line and never keeping the boat flowing. By the 4th run had the top half sorted, bottom half not so good. Had my first roll of the trip and missed a gate in the process, but apart from that got all the gates. Arms sore after each section.

Forgot to mention how happy I am with the new NRS gear. The Hydroskin tops are great in the cold alpine water and the fit; the first top that fits a skinny body and long arms at the same time, excellent. I also got some Hydrosilk tops, perfect foe the short runs in the serious heat, while keeping the sun off. Then the light weight Hydroskin shorts are great in the weather too. The only downpoint; they don't make cagdecks, yet? I wonder if they might consider it, that wound be perfect. A big thanks to Bennett and all at NRS and also to everyone in I-CANOE.

Second Session:
Technique 5 x 1/3 runs 1 hour 161/116 International Course, above the bridge. Easy gate set up. Like creeking on a Grade 5+ on the first run,can't see past the horizon line and all the time looking out for rocks and stoppers, would be a nice river run. At first 'trying' to avoid the stoppers, then starting to take the more direct lines, towards the end of the session started nailing most of the moves. Paddled down through the bottom course when finished to 'cool down' but started picking gates and paddling hard through them. Eventually got off and was buzzing, just like when you get off at the end of a big river run. Got onto the lake but started to paddle the gates there too. 20 minutes after finishing the session above the bridge, I had to drag myself off the water. Probablly my easy courses, but loving it.
Walked the top course later on and it was funny looking at my original "lines" around the stoppers.

Day 10:
Technique 6 x 1/5 runs 1 Hour 10 min 162/121 Bridge down. Again 1st run not so good, when trying to avoid 1 stopper and cross behind it, not getting far enough over and rolling up through next stopper. As session went no getting mostly better, paddling hard, keeping boat moving and driving hard into eddies. Felt much better on the water in many ways.

Second Session:
Aerobic 150/124 255 mins. Easy paddle down through both courses, very like a river trip, playing on waves and dropping into stoppers. Used some gates but only paddled hard when playing. 2 runs 25 min on first, 10min easy walk back then another 20 min run. Very enjoyable.Boat has taken a few knocks and bumps but nothing at all serious.

Day 11:
Lactic; 30 on 30 off x 5 x 3, 25min 176/140. 3 gates set up where 1 good sized eddy on both sides. Start and finish at same point, crossing the flow 4 times. Same set up each time, have to get bach to start on about 30 seconds, Have 30 second rest then go again, flat out 5 times, then 5 minute easy paddle to rest and do the full set 3 times.Very hard when compared to the same session at home, each time I crossed the flow it seemed to try and push me down further. Felt like I wouldnt be able to keep it up a few times but had to dig deep because the more you get pushed down the eddy, the longer the run gets and the less rest you get. Did all runs between 30 and 34 seconds, very happy at the end and tired. Went for a long easy paddle up and down the lake to cool down.

Day 14: 1/3 runs x 4 38 mins 166/115. Arms feeling tired, will rest tomorrow Technique: short sections twice x 6 30 mins 164/115 on Moutiers course, much easier course but water still fast flowing.

Day 15: R+R Rest and Repair the boatWoke up at 7am to a strange noise outside getting louder. When I looked out I saw cattle with bells on being hearded along the quiet road I was on. Went back to sleep laughing. Repaired some damage to the tail of the boat and to the fittings which were starting to come loose. Again, huge thanks to Yann and the club in Bourg.

Week 3 Still some good and not so good sessions, overall I think I'm improving, hard to tell out here.Had a few easier days in L'Argentiere, along with the most enjoyable river trip I've done in years. Ran the Gyronde with Brian and the gang from Lacken Kayak Club. It was great to be with similar accents again, thanks for the company, and the sponsorship; free food is always greatly accepted.I paddled in a small regional race, all French divisions paddling together. I was slow, about 17 seconds slower than the winner but I was happy with 2 clean runs

Hello again.Arrived in Nottingham this week and the water looked slower and easier than when I was here last, and after a few sessions it felt slower and easier so the training in Bourg is paying off.Had a good week's training before a double Div. 1 race at the weekend.Saturday had a slow messy run and then a much faster clean run. I won by 0.29 of a second.Sunday had a slow clean run then a very fast run with a few mistakes, 2nd place by 1 second. Still inconsistent but improving, need more race experience.Another week training in Nottingham and then another Div. 1 double next weekend in Washburn. I need 1 more win to get promoted into Premier Division, hopefully before I go home.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Hey Hey

Hey Hey just seing if this blog thing works..

This monkey was part of the drinking squad of Easky 2008. some say he sliped on a bannana skin and some say he had a little to much of the good stuff

Saturday, June 13, 2009

"The Machine" Checks in from Europe

Unedited in Mark's own words:

"Well a week into the trip and its either all over or just getting started. In my first international race I finished 41 out of 42, missing 2 gates in both runs, mainly due to the water being so fast compared to anything I train on.

The week so far;

6 June Day 1 : Home to Roslare 138 miles about 3 hours. Strange feeling leaving home for 6 weeks, think I was glad Maeve wasn't around for it. Felt better once I got a few miles done, excited now that a life's dream is starting. Bad weather driving down, clearing as the ferry left the coastline behind. what lies ahead?.......Feeling good.

Day 2: 11 30AM Off the ferry in better weather with very heavy showers. 268 miles, 5 1/2 hours. Sleep for an hour, have dinner then another 294 miles before bed at midnight. Sounds of crickets and frogs in between the traffic noise off a motorway somewhere.

Day 3: The final 95 miles driving into the Pyrenees to Foix. Pulled into the canoe club's carpark and poeple busy everywhere, putting up marquees and getting the site reqdy with music and communications.
First training session: Aerobic loops 50 minutes Max Heart rate 172 average 134. 3 runs of the course, not too hard, trying different gates and getting a feel for it. A bit wobbly at first but got better.

Day 4: Sassion 1: Technique: 3 1/4 runs Max 177 Avg 121. 48 min. A full course split into 4; do 1, get your breath back and do the next. Getting better as session went on.
Session 2: 2 half runs; Max 179 Avg 126. Good session

Day 5: Session 1: 2 Full runs Max 181 Avg 121 33 mins. 2 minutes on each run and got all the gates I set, happy with that. Feeling better.
Session 2: 2 Aerobic Loops. Max 174 Avg 126 45 mins. Got some harder moves, missed some others.

Day 6: 2 1/5 runs: Max 176 Avg 126 40 min. Course split into 5, paddled hard on each, feel ready for race tomorrow, just need to get even 1 run over to settle down.
Rest
All getes taken down for course set up tomorrow. 'Fairly uninteresting bit of water now, just a few wave trains and eddies'

Day 7 RACE DAY: 12 30 on for warm up, 20 min paddle, stretch and go through all strokes on the flat.
2 30 1st Run Max HR 171. MISSED 2 GATES, both exiting from an upstrean gate and using a wave to get to far side, but nose caught in wave above and turned down too quick. Very unhappy. Can do better later.
5 10 2nd run Max HR 180. Missed 1 of the same gates again, plus another. Very unhappy/disheartened.
So there it is, 2nd last in my first big race. Wouldn't be so bad if I was just slow, but even taking myfastest time WITHOUT penalties I would only move up to 33nd.
Ah well. I'm here to learn how to race on bigger/faster water, so its off to Bourg St Maurice for a week's training.
200 miles in about 4 hours (22 degrees at 9PM)

Day 8: 220 miles into Bourg, 6 hours with a few stops in the heat (26 degrees at 11 and getting hotter)
Paddling in the morning with the club coach at the site, looking forward to it."

Keep up the good work Mark. It's all part of the training. You can only get better from here on!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Irish Freestyle / RTE at Sluice..

Hey folks,

Earlier this week RTE did a bit of a TV shoot for the program Nationwide which will be shown this Friday at 6.30. There were also some of Team i-canoe there, James was there with his camera capturing some of the action too.

Check out the slide show....