In years past, I would start training with my dragon boat team in late January in preparation for the Alcan Dragonboat Festival in June. Alcan was always the focus. After Alcan, our training tapers off until the next festival - sometimes it would be Victoria in August, most times it would be Kelowna in September. But training for these festivals would never get as intense as the training for Alcan. I always thought it was a shame that we put in months of work in the first half of the year in order to compete in two or three festivals for the year.
This year, the summer will be different for me. Alcan was last weekend and instead of it being the start of tapering off, it puts my racing season into full gear - for dragon boat and outrigger. Looking ahead to July and August, I have two more dragon boat festivals and three outrigger races to compete in. If my dragon boat team decides to go to Kelowna, then that's another one I can race in come September. It's going to be a busy summer...
The other thing that's different is the amount of paddling I'm doing. In years past, the week after Alcan was spent off the water. This year, after racing in nine races during the Alcan weekend, I went out in the OC1 to practice for an upcoming time trial the day after Alcan. On Tuesday, I had a coached session in an OC1 and paddled around 8km. On Wednesday, I had a practice with the OC6 crew and we paddled over 12km. That's a lot of paddling. Tomorrow and Friday will be rest days. It's time for some rest.
So, if you're wondering what I've been up to lately, there's your answer. Paddle, paddle, paddle.
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