Najprije Čepljenje , Hrvatski

First stop is Croatia!

I leave tomorrow morning from LAX International. I'm greatly looking forward to a 12 hour plane trip to Munich and then on to Zagreb. I anticipate large amounts of crankiness and lots of sleeping on the airplane.

I had a lovely weekend leading up to my departure. I still feel a little tired on the water but I do see potential in my summer goals. I worked on both friday and saturday night to make a little cash for my trip. Hopefully I won't spend all my money trying to keep up with European fashion. I need to be a little more responsible than that.

I had a lovely breakfast this morning. I had a Greek egg white omellette and a banana, a walnut and banana pancake, and three cups of coffee. Delicious. Although, I didn't get to fully enjoy it because I was too distracted by my company. In a good way.

Our arrival is scheduled for Tuesday and we begin racing on Friday; giving us three days of preparation. Hopefully they won't loose our paddles like they did last year.

With the help of a kayaking buddy I'm going to try and do a little photo journalism and post them on here every couple of days.

Send me good thoughts!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

One of the kayak gals insists on parking in the furthest parking lot from the dorms, taking up three spots, and pointing down-hill. Security has asked her repeatedly why she parks like that. She parks on the hill because its easier to jump start that way (doesn't involve physical pushing). Her starter is going and has limited starts left in it. So she likes to save them for when it's completely neccesary. Ideally, she would replace her starter immediatley. Having to park a quarter mile away from her room and roll-start her car isn't motivation enough; she will wait until she is somewhere on deserted terrain and her starter dies before she replaces it.

Some people like to ignore red lights, warning arrows, and beeps and sirens when something is wrong. She's obviously one of those people.

I'm also one of those people.

I ignored a few red lights, and warning arrows with my training this year. I waited until trials to realize I have to fix something or do something different.

Trials was a wake up call. I didn't do as well as I hoped; but "hope" is not a training or racing method.

Trials could have been worse. Luckily I did decent enough to hopefully progress to further chances. I will know more this afternoon.

I'm not taking this experience negitively. I'm taking it as a motivaton; a huge kick in the ass. A kick in the ass with a steel toed boot. A kick in the ass from Ramon "Diamond" Dekkers with a steel toed boot. A pretty fucking hard kick, okay?

I need to train harder. I need to focus more. I need to lose weight. I need to focus on my K1. I'm at the two minutes barrier. I need to break it. I need to break it for myself. At this point, I don't think I'm worthy of any team boat without breaking that.

Trials was the first regatta of the year and not the last. I have 3-4 months of racing season left and I vow to be on top before it finishes.

This is no time for luck!

I start racing tomorrow morning. Send me good energy.
Yes, I'm nervous. Yes, yes, I'm nervous.

I'm begining to get edgy. I think that's normal though.

Everyone keeps coming up to me and asking me "are you ready?".
I hate questions like that.

But for the record, I was born ready.

People also insist on talking about trials, boats, how fast they're going, rules and regulations, and all sorts of political kayak things.

If you know me at all, you know I hate discussing paddling with anyone who isn't a team mate.

Ah well...I need to have a little patience for people I guess.

I'm keeping faith...

The Count Down Begins

Each year it seems to come so quick, racing season.
You don't feel prepared, you dread the pain, you miss mellow training days, you get nervous, and then all of a sudden you're racing and you remember how fantastic it is.

Trials begins in 11 days.

Yes, I'm nervous.

I'm also stoked. I trust myself more this year than last or at least, I'm forcing myself to.

I can also feel the training sessions coming together. We did broken 500m pieces today and I've felt the best I have in a while. I was completely exhausted from time trials before hand but technically, mentally, and tactically I felt very there.

I'm learning that mental outlook is a key ingredient to success. You have to force yourself to believe even if you feel like a dung heap. It sounds funny considering I don't have very much faith anywhere else. I don't know how to explain it, but when you can wrap your mind around the possibility of accomplishing something you thought was unimaginable you have a huge advantage.

What helps me, is remembering where I came from. Not too long ago (okay, seven years) I never even dreamed of making the Junior World Championship Team. Then I blew everyone's mind and made it to Brazil. Before that I could barely imagine being at the top of my meager club let alone the country.

Before you know it things change and if you're not going to be positive or accept the possibility than you might as well give up.

peace out kids