Masters Race

35 degrees today, racing at 2.30 in the afternoon, one hot race, sort of glad we're paddling on glacier melt. I had a great race, easing into it at the start but going full pelt by the 5 minute mark where you can make a difference through fitness and effort. I caught Yoda (yes, that's right, Yoda) before the half way mark and he graciously gave space for me to overtake, then I had a great run down Boom Alley, A lovely line down Les Moutons and adequate lines thereafter. I was still exhausted an hour after the run, but Robert Knebel got me by about 1.8 seconds in the end, with daylight third. So now we're square, but I don't think I'll be fronting up next time. Maybe 2016- but as a holiday?? Everyone had been telling me how fast Robert is at the moment, so I'm going to accept the inference from that. By the way, we beat the 35-40 year olds, so a pretty good day for the old fellas.

What a day! The sun was shining, the river was flowing fast and cool and the racing was intense. I stuck to my plan and had a great run. Although I thought my heart rate could have been a little higher, I felt strong, had good lines and felt satisfied at the end which is all you can ask for. I ended up with a time of 14.06, which is 23 seconds better than my previous time trial effort, Stew was 2 seconds faster than me, Foo 4 seconds back and Rob bettered his time trial with a 14.25. What we were amazed at were our placings. Stew, me and Foo were 26th, 27th and 28th, with Rob 34th. We were outclassed on this river by the Germans, French, Czechs and Slovenes with a few other nations throwing up one or two good results. Australians haven't finished outside of the top 20 for a few years, but that's what happened today. I think its got something to do with this course: both it's legendary status amongst wildwater paddlers (everyone wants to do well here- it means something) and the fact that many nations have training camps here. Whatever, we're satisfied with our efforts. Ros managed fifth in the Women's C1 with only one practise run in a borrowed boat, she's looking forward to the sprint on Saturday/Sunday. Teams tomorrow, on paper we're the sixth best team. Hoping to defy that paper. I think the Master's race is going to be incredibly tough, with many past champions coming out of the woodwork, and some top current paddlers hitting the right age to compete. I only hope they use 5 year age brackets. Some pics today of the top women and C2s who raced after lunch. No pics of me because no one has ever taken a half decent pic of me in the Worlds :(

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Race day

Since the last post we’ve all completed our final pre-race training sessions, tinkered with boats, ate, rested, stretched and went to the opening ceremony, and now it’s the morning of the race. This is always a surreal occasion: something I have thought about and prepared for the last year or more, and it’s always seemed so distant, merely an idea, yet when I’m racing I know that the thought will strike me ‘Here I am again!’ It’s like memory and a prophecy combined with reality all at once. It can’t be more real, yet the feeling is so fleeting. The ceremony was relatively short and sharp. The wildwater racing interpretive dance was interesting but should have ended before the booty-shaking interpretive dance, but the highlight was when the flags were delivered by an eagle- the pic isn’t that clear, but you can see the French flag dangling from the talons of the eagle. If you’re reading this before 7pm on Wednesday night you can still catch the results live. Go to the race website www.laplagne2012.com there might even be a link for the video of the event. Look for wildwatertv by a crazy Italian guy. The rest of the week will look something like this: Wednesday (today): Individual Classic World Champs (5km race) Thursday: Classic Teams World Champs (5km, teams of 3 racing down the river) Friday: Masters World Champs (5 km, me against the other old bastards) Saturday: Sprint qualifications (400 metres on the most spectacular rapid) Sunday: Team Sprints (chaos- best for spectators) and Individual sprint final. Monday: Drive to Zurich, head home!

The day before the individual world champs

Tonight is the opening ceremony and parade, and today is that awkward time before the big race. There's almost nothing you can do at this stage to improve your performance, but there is plenty that you can do that will stuff you up. Too much rest is bad, however, and it's a mistake to lie around the house all day. Ros arrived here yesterday so we are now complete as a team. We walked the sprint course yesterday and explained things, such as the way Les Moutons kicks you viciously to the left if you are not driving right with a bit of right angle and strong strokes, but all the explaining in the world isn't worth much: much learning will only come from direct experience. There's a pic below of Ros having a learning experience. Kristy is doing it tough but we are all impressed with her amazing courage. Yesterday she had her 6th swim and lost (snapped actually) her second paddle. Lucky the rescue crews were here (they are awesome) as they have fished her out three times now and both she and her boat would be in worse condition if not for them. Question for the day: What feeling or emotion drives you to do your best in competitive situations? I'm not talking about being a better person here, but surpassing your own perceived limitation in a competitive/dangerous/critically important event where your personal performance matters. Is it pride, ambition, a desire to impress, fear, excitement, or something darker? You tell me yours and I'll tell you mine.

Time Trial Saturday

There are heaps of teams here now. Germans, Slovenians, Swiss, Slovakian, Serbians and should see many more tomorrow. We did a time trial with the Brits today, and I was truly nervous. Not sure why, but I just felt weak today.I was going as hard as I could while I was barely around the first corner but not really moving anywhere near as fast as I should. On this course the first 5 minutes are relatively easy, but still bouncy and with some manoeuvring,while the next three are fast flowing flat water and the final 6 and a half minutes are full-on, unforgiving and relentless technical and slappy whitewater. If you can't go fast in the early- middle part you can't go fast anywhere, and today was one of those days. I'm hoping that the misplaced sense of nagging self-belief that often rescues me in big events will hurry on up and deliver me from negativity soon! Foo had an ordinary day, on track for a very good time he spun out and rolled up in Les Moutons, while Stew put in a solid 14.16, Rob excelled with a 14.27 and I had to be content with a 14.29, only 2 seconds faster than a week ago with a higher HR, better boat, higher water and better river knowledge. We followed up with a teams run which felt a lot better. I think I need to ease into the first few minutes so I can go psycho bananas in the flat bit and then outdo myself in the big stuff. The challenge is to not lie to yourself. It's easy to back off in order to better survive the big stuff, but I also know I race well when I don't start too hard. Another 3 training days, then straight into the Individual World Champs, then, with luck, the teams race, and then the Masters World Champs. It's going to be a big week, and that's not counting the sprints.

Beginning to feel like a World Champs

Thunderstorms last night- some awesome lightning flashes! That also means the river is very high, we’ll see if it drops this afternoon before paddling. We’re teaming up with the Brits tomorrow to do a time trial. It’ll be the first day of ‘official training’ which means that the water level will be more controlled and there will be lots of other teams around and race officials. There are tents and banners and displays up everywhere, including a couple of old retired race boats sitting on the town roundabout. Got some screen shots from Skype and Club Penguin yesterday- Hamish is ‘Roaaarer’: he’s the one waving. Alice also gets in on the act but she finds it hard to bump Hamish off the computer screen.Boun Nuit.

Thursday 21st

The official training period is on this Saturday, which means the water should be at race level. At the moment the water fluctuates: last few days it's been higher than race levels, so while we've all got out amongst it we haven't done as much paddling as we would have liked. The high level is fun but it's also very draining, and while you go roughly the same lines, the rocks are underwater so we're not really fine tuning our lines. I did one run yesterday, Foo and Stew backed up with a PM run so I got some piccys. Had another boat rescue yesterday. Radka from the British team swam in 'Le Vignes' and her boat travelled a long way, past the race finish, the get out and past a rafting company's base. Two guys there rescued it and I helped them bash through thorns, scrub, across fences, railways and private property to get it back. It was a good outcome as paddler, boat and paddle were all fine (which is not usually the case when a boat travels a kilometre by itself down grade 3/4 whitewater!) Hamish should be home any moment, so I'll be having a great big Club Penguin session see yas!

Wednesday 20th

It's 7.20 in the morning and I'm sitting on cold paving stones outside the tourist bureau in the town of Aime because that's what we have to do to access the internet here. Hamish is at circus class so I'm doing this rather than fighting the forces of evil on Club Penguin, which is what I hope to do tomorrow (along with playing hide and seek with Alice). I had a rest day yesterday as I could feel some definite weariness in the interval session from the day before. I was very lazy, with lots of reading, and it was great. In the afternoon Kristy braved her first full classic run, and chose a solid level to do it at, but she made it down which is fantastic (see pics). Ben left us for better digs (see pics- the panorama is from Ben's place) and we went out for dinner for the equivalent of a counter meal. There should be a few more teams turning up in the next couple of days, so it'll start to feel more like a world champs. I'd better explain what it is that we do. Wildwater racing is a time trial, so all paddlers go off one minute apart and race against the clock. There are 2 distances, the classic, which is about 14-15 minutes here, and the sprint, which is about 90 seconds. There are also team races, where 3 paddlers from the same country race with each other, and for me there is also the Master's race for old boys and girls. That's about it. The whitewater is pretty challenging here, but that's why we all came over so early. GTG! ps: we got flies!

Sunday Time Trial

Hey person, Our special guest from Great Britain, Ben Oakley, who has been staying with us until the rest of the team gets here, goaded us into a time trial on the race course. Rob, Foo and myself took up the challenge with Stew declining. With a slightly low level we set off for the pre-start river get in, warmed up to the start line at Bellentre and went off at one-minute intervals with Rob first and Ben last. I was determined to go fairly hard but as I'm still getting used to the exciting bit (that is, the second half)I was also pretty sure I wanted to keep a bit in reserve. The heart rate monitor tells the story- I was working above anaerobic threshold level but not really at race pace (which means there is some lactic acid accumulation- lactic acid makes your arms and legs feel full and dead and contributes to a loss of control). The only mistakes were on easy bits where I just chose a slower route because I'm still learning the course, but the big bits were done reasonably well. The time trial results? Ben Oakley 14.11, Foo 14.18, me in 14.31 and Rob in 14.53. Good results for all of us and something to build upon- After 7 runs I now know I can race this course and can now work on getting faster. Heart rate and speed data can be seen on http://connect.garmin.com/activity/190197254 Days still lovely, ponies have moved in across the road, talk to you later!

Saturday drive

We thought we'd go for a sprint session on the high altitude lake at Tignes, but we were cruelly thwarted! The first big lake looked impossible to access, then we found the small lake at the resort of Tignes which was teeming with fishermen. We got on and then a man came running that it was 'interdit' which means it is not permitted for doing 90 second sprints. So wee got a photo, got off and went to another lake at lower altitude and ruined ourselves doing anaerobic work (that means short and hard so you finish in an oxygen deprived mess, have a short rest and do it again and again) Other activities have been looking in shops- would buying Alice some 'Hello Kitty' gear be wrong?- and that old wildwater team activity, fixing boats. Yesterday was over 30 degrees so the afternoon was spent relaxing, food shopping and...fixing boats. Going to try a time trial tomorrow, won't be a top notch effort but will be good to post a time to beat later on (that's the plan anyway).

Friday 15th

Getting serious now, with 3 runs down the full race course today. Three runs here is tiring, but I need to get used to doing 3 or more. Bit high for the first, felt I was getting kicked around, but in the afternoon it was a likely classic level and I feel there is more time to see what's going on.'Le Moutons' has more kick in it at this level: I'm feeling the boat getting shoved sideways a good metre or so in the second stopper of this rapid. 'Le Mouton' means 'The sheep' in French, it's got about 4 fluffy white stoppers in it, but you only hit 2 or 3 depending on your line. It then shoves you out at high speed, where you head towards 'Le Vignes' where, at low levels you're searching for a 50 cm gap while shaking the water out of your eyes and being buffeted by swirly eddies and chunky little waves. Kristy took a swim today and lost a paddle and did some boat damage. It's at least a 3-pot-repair (3 separate pots of resin) which will take a day or two, but she'll be back on the water soon. Rob's doing some good sprint work in addition to classic runs, I reckon he's got the most miles on the river out of all of us, while Foo, Stew and I are doing similar things. We're talking about a lactic session (90 second sprints which blow your forearms apart) at a 2000 metre high lake tomorrow just for something different, should make for some nice pics.