Satarday the 1st-Tuesday 11th

Sataurday the 1st, enduro session, shorter than the last week but beginning portages every session!!! has a blitzing session, right off the warm up i found myself and conor just off the front....we set ourselves the challenge of staying out the front....and there we stayed, making time each lap!!! strong leads, good washes for breaks...i honestly recon this paddle was my strongest ever enduro session!!! throughout the session my focus was on droping my tempo (this has been working very well for me) and increasing the quality and power of each stroke!!! with this new attack i'm finding i'm going much faster with far less effort!!!! win win!!!!

Wednsday was a doubles session...i found myself again in close proximity with conor!!! this time in the same boat =D it has been a VERY long time since i had paddles with conor and what a session it was!!! we started very well, good air time, powerfull strokes, good balance!!! this form droped a little in the middle of the 16 x 500m session...i found myself again trying to hard, air time droped, quality lowered, with myself being in the front seat i left conor with little option but to follow and our session lead droped quite significantly!!! this did not go unoticed and after a promp from pete the rating was lowered again and faster we went!!!! all in all a very good session, and despite going what i felt to be quite quickly, for the first time i wasnt completly naccad @ the end of an sprint session =D=D=D

Friday nights training was canceled, unfortunatly because i actually would have been able to make this 1 =P Sataurday brough time trials, and i couldnt have been happier to see them! after what i felt to be recent good form i felt i could not onli beat but smash my PB!!!! unfortunatly my performance told another story!!! after a strong first lap i soon found myself with no feeling whatsoever in my feet, probably due to poor posture, leg drive soon ended and givin the strong headwind it was a bad time to loose a high percentage of my drive =[, i'm sure a few might have noticed my disipointment in the trial, especially after a good first lap, but hopefully after a few more improvement i'll get the time i was hoping for and better next time!

Monday brough a far more relaxed session, 10km of 3mins on 2mins off @ high level 2 low level 2 respectivly, this was a good team session as all the lads got together for the sesh =D i must admit i wasnt feeling particularly good by the end of the session possibly due to tecnique falling!!! following this we hoped out of our boats and did a lil bit of practice feeling the water, after that, back on the water for some starts!!! these felt AWFULL!!! after the imence preasure on the blade in stationary paddling i just couldnt seem to get a good lock on the water, perhaps it only felt this way, but i'm thinking my starts will need quite a bit of work before sprint season!!!

Tuesday!!! what a wonderfull day, i the morning i woke to find i had a spare in the morning, which lead to the realisation i didnt have to go to school until recess =D=D so slept in i did, after a very relaxed morning and a big breaky...i filled up a bottle of water, put a 4-Pen in ma pocked and chucked the runners on!!! 14km in 55 mins, not a PB, but fairly quick considering!!! 1 word to describe the run was HOTT the sun was punishing and i found maself slowing in area's of shade!!! i've been quite dehydrated all day despite full bottle on the run! but hopped on some electrolyte formula's once i got home and the headache disapeared!!!!!

Wednsday 29th October

Well as has been goin on for quite a while now we had another progession in sprint sets 2night up to 14 500m on 2.30! the session went a lot faster than i was expecting tonight, i had a new focus for the night being paddling well rather than 'quickly' and found that by the finish i wasnt as tired as i would usually be, however i was somewhat further back in the group than usual, tonight we leant a lesson in a different area, being water courtersy! holding a somewhat straiter line (finally)!! and for the most part starting on the line (although sometimes a tad difficult as we diddnt have an over ubundent time to turn around) but that left one behind the line as much as over it!!!

Tuesday 28th October

Tonight i hit the road bike for the first time in months!!!! felt gr8 for about the first 100m!!! hit the hill, and the heartrate skyrocketed despite the speed staying down, by berwick had to stop and get the heart rate down coz it had hit 190....so from there i droped the speed RIGHT off and crused down along the freeway to dandy, i had quite a long break and a big drink (was really quite hot)! time to head home, my usual self challenge of headin up the hill on my biggest chain ring was definaly off for the day, by the top the feeling of sick had well and truly set in, and a new experiance, felt like my ears were full of water, couldnt get it to go away, terribly frusterating!!! it had been a while since i was on the bike but i dnt expect to have droped off THAT much givin the trip took nearly 2wice as long as it should have....just not my day i think, big night of sleep tonight coz we have a big 500m session 2morrow!!! hit up the roady thursday again i think, on a more farmiliar track, so i can compare times heart rates and see if it really was just an off day or if the drop off has been that big!!! having said that, my sprint on the bike has greatly improved! short uphill bursts in my warm up went VERY WELL!!!

Thursday 23rd, Sataurday 25th & Monday 27th

thursday i hit the gym, wasnt realii in the mood for a massivly long session, i was styull feelin the burn in ma lats from wednsdays session so i desided to try and do as many chin ups as i could, my targer was 100, in sets of 10, i only made it to 70 =[, next week perhaps!

sataurday was a nice long session, but wow i missed portages tho! legs got a tad sore, but it was much faster than the last 9 lapper we did!!!! we started slowdy but 2nd half got better, and as for the wash pack....WOW! we were organised, smooth, very well done!

Monday was an awsum session, after quite a long period of hoping that dad would actually make it home intime to take me after saying he could, we made it, a tad l8t but we made it! awsum session, worked on tecnique and lowering my stroke rate, made things a lot easier! all in all 1 of the best paddles i've had in a long time!

Current Focuses; sitting aggressivly, exit early (as helped by bent elbow)

Monday 20th October

Left of Pizza! what a wonderfull thing it is, shake for breaky as usual followed by 2 slices of pizza, then more pizza for recess =D 2 sandwidges for lunch and another sandwide on the way home! l8t dinner of steak and stirfry after a ryd, gotta say felt fairly flat today, perhaps because of the race yestaurday, but not particualarly hungry @ any 1 point in time!

Monday 20th October

couldnt get to training tonight coz we styll havent finished fittin out da old skool ute with kayak racks =[, so hit up lysterfield for the first mtb ryd in a very long time! legs were realii quite tired from the previos day! felt gr8 to get back on the fast tracks again tho, especially now there is a noticable lack of mud!

5 & 10km Vic Champs

Well headed off nice and early to geelong today for the vic 5&10 champs!!! and wow what a race, gettin their fairly early i had a good amount to eat after a huge breakfast and then set off for a half hour warm up paddle, upon my return i was feeling gr8! had a short stretch and a run then another stretch! hit the water on time (congratulations pete!!! that hasnt happned in a very long time)!!!! got off to a woafull start out the back, but after a short sprint i found myself in the chace pack followed shorty with being out the front of the chace pack! it was all legs today, felt extreemly good, strong controled, diddnt fatige to quicky, very efficient!!! got me a 2nd in my catagory and 5th in open mens after a race of swapping wash with just 1 other boat! doubles was a diffent story =[, after the k1 efforts everybody was feeling rundown, we raced fairly well but i have to admit i struggled very much to keep up with burkeys tempo, which i honestly recon was @ about my usual 1000m stroke rate, but it did lead to a very tired jon by the end =P all in all a very good day, and i'm looking foward to sleepin 2night =D