Boats back to their burrows

As winter is coming up, we cannot leave the boats in the bay unprotected, but we need to keep them indoor so that the number of damages can be minimised. The guys had already driven the boats to the Kelenföldi power plant but the cleaning was left to be done. Since 11 a.m. on a Saturday is not the most popular time to do community work, only 8 people showed up. We had 6 boats to clean altogether, both from the inside and outside. Some of them were really dirty with dried mud and fall leaves at the bottom. Once they were tidied up, we had to lift them and turn them up so that we could polish them from all sides. One such boat weighs a minimum of 250 kilograms, so it was not an easy task at all! But most importantly, all the boats are clean by now so we wish them sweet dreams during the cold winter period.

As for the trainings, we have officially started the winter preparation, i.e. off season which includes a lot of work-out and practices at a pool on Népsziget. Pool paddling consists of having the paddlers sit along side the pool with slimmed down paddles:


We were video taped during the competitions and festivals this year and an analysis will be done by the coach in the following weeks. It is essential to check the different positions, especially if we want to improve our technique.

To call it a season, we will go out for a team dinner next Friday. I am already excited.

Still in love

Oj, I have been neglecting this blog recently. Sadly enough I was down with flu during the Székesfehérvár festival so I could not take part in the races but trust me I was supporting the team from home. They performed well and made sure that our medal collection would grow.

As the weather is gradually getting colder and cloudy, we have decided to call it a season and switch to the indoor trainings. These will include workout and pool paddling sessions. The focus of the latest is technique and conditioning. I will try to post about my improvement on a regular basis.

Just to give you an idea on where we had the on-water practices, let me show you some pics:


This is the path I was biking along every Monday and Wednesday to get to the boat:


And fall is here:



but the dream and fun go on... INDOOR.

Dragon Boat Festival, Szeged, Hungary, 4-5th September

I am back from the first dragon boat festival which I participated in. It was a two day long programme organised in Szeged which is a nice town south of Budapest. I was there once before for a computer linguistics conference back in 2005 but never did I think that I would come back for a dragon boat race 5 years later.

Well, dragons and fish do get along and they attract pretty much the same sort of audience.While the teams were busy paddling on the river Tisza:

the huge crowd of idlers was also cheering for the participants of the open-air fish cooking competition on the riverbank. This international event nortures the gastronomic traditions of the region and the delicious fish dishes are protected by the dragons gliding smoothly through the water.

Day 1:

We left for Szeged at around 6.15 on Saturday morning and eventually it was Kata driving me. We met Viki and Kwame downtown and had breakfast together before we would start the trip. We were supposed to have a meeting in Szeged at 8.30 and we got there just in time:


The team is actually made up of two groups: "Fekete Gyöngy" aka. "Black Pearl":



and "Friss Fekete Karibok", i.e Fresh Black Caribs. The more experienced guys with a longer training background belong to the Black Pearl team while the Caribs just started to search for these pearls this summer :)

Black Pearl were involved in more races, and whenever they were on water:


we were cheering for them. Vi skapade stämning :)

Our first race was scheduled for 17.30 and that was my favourite two kilometres. For me, the most fascinating part was while approaching the boat, picking the right paddle and getting into the dragon. You are moved by a bunch of mixed emotions ranging from anxiety, tension to enthusiasm and a modified state of consciousness throughout the whole race. It was a long time ago when I took part in a sports competition last but it was definitely worth reminding myself of this set of complex emotions that are generated. Out of 10 teams, we came 7th which I am very proud of as most of the competing teams have been training together for years. But Black Pearl came 2nd, within 10:16:94. Well done, guys!

Lessons learnt:

• 2 kilometres is never gonna be less that 2000 meters. I'd better accept this fact.

• Paddling upstream on a flooded river does not make life easier. We have our practices in a smallish bay where there is only a slight difference between the directions if there is any.
  

• Getting the boat moving from a standstill upstream at the right time requires a sophisticated start technique and the most directed concentration. I think there is room for improvement there so we will definitely work on our starts.
  

The technique we usually use for our start includes a total of 25-35 strokes before we "settle out." The first five strokes are strong and powerful done in unison. The essential thing about them is that they are not for speed. They are for strength to get the boat up and moving from a still position. The next 20-30 strokes accelerate the boat and once the racing speed is reached, the crew then settles out and maintains a set of long, strong strokes.

Day 2:

We did go out a bit despite all the warnings from the coach. Just to chat and have a couple of drinks. The second day's programme was also intensive with the women's 150 metres. It was a race with 4 rounds, 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. Hell yeah, I enjoyed them so much. I love short distance, I like to see what I need to accomplish. I really dislike the loneliness of the long distance runner/paddler :)

After all, we ended up with a bronze medal which is my first and so far most precious acknowledgement in this sport. But the best is yet to come :)

For more pictures, click here.

13, 20, 2000

Short, but hardcore training for a Monday. Inconvenient weather conditions. Breakdowns. Unknown position in the boat.

As I was biking towards the bay, it started drizzling. It felt like crossing a remote, haunted park with no screaming kids, controlling parents and lovers around. Fall is here. I almost turned back halfway though as the pure thought of paddling in 13 degrees Celsius freaked me out. I warmed up a bit after the streching part but when I sat down in the boat, I was shivering. No kidding.

Peter asked me to sit on the one but last bench. It is a position I had been unfamiliar with. Well, I heard rumours about how quick you need to be on your exit and how your strokes get shortened up when paddling on the last few benches. The rumours are very true, I have to admit. As soon as I buried the blade, I had to start releasing. The first 2000 metres were a very intensive mental fight. Thank the Lord, thoughts are not visible. Each stroke was a battle I had to win. I could not concentrate on the dynamics of my movements, all my energy and strength were directed towards overcoming the idea of giving up. As the blades hit the water, my clothes and body got wet by the drops. They were tepid, felt like 20 degrees at least. Comfort :) I could only think of the hot shower I was gonna take after the practice. I will take the longest, warmest shower ever, I thought to myself. While my mind was busy visualising, the stupid thoughts on when to stop paddling got blocked. Well, honestly they were rather decreased to a managable amount.

The next 2000 metres went better, I was more into what I was doing. I really need to focus as we only have one more training before the weekend. And yes, I did take the world's longest and warmest shower after all...

60 for a Sunday

We haven't had any trainings since Tuesday. Well, to be honest Attila organised a practice for Thursday but then I got busy doing other things so I could not show up. Individual exercises are not really meant for me I guess, I get bored and lose my persistence easily. It is so much better and stimulating to do them together with the team. Anyway, after five days of complete reluctance I finally got myself together this afternoon and did some series of push-ups, sit-ups and chasing. I had to look up "chasing" because I was not familiar with the English term and also because I came up with my own terminology and just refer to this exercise as "fly away" :) or "whale". Just to give you an idea, it looks like this, yet, we keep the arms straight:

So after some streching, I did a series of 60: 60 push-ups, 60 sit-ups and 60 whales (this is my own blog, so why not use my own register?) To drive my thoughts away from the boring side of just going over the same movements in a room on my own, I put this song on repeat:



And tomorrow the serious and goal-oriented preparation for the upcoming Szeged festival begins. Paddles up! :)

Soft(er) Tuesday

Today's training was shorter and a little bit softer than yesterday's. To be honest, I still felt a little bit stiff and weak in the top shoulder so the one hour long active practice squeezed the hell out of me. One can't train without pain... Yet, somehow I performed vaguely in terms of my mental capacity. The first couple of 200 metres went fairly well, I am improving on my sprint strokes and investing more power into my long strokes as well. But the 2000 metres! 2000 metres sound like snake or spider to other people. It freaks me out. After the first 5 deep strokes, I spend the next 70-80 concentrating really hard and then just letting my body taking over. However, around 1200 metres my mind interferes and starts questioning my physical fitness so there are like 20-30 strokes which drive me away from the boat. Eventually, I get myself together and come back for the last series but this transition takes up too much energy and creates an unnecessary mental fight. Take 2000 metres as it is. Meter by meter. Stroke by stroke. Decide at the very beginning that you will do it no matter what. Don't leave any room for uncertainty. Don't think in terms of 2000 metres. Think meter by meter, that can be exhausting enough :)

We don't have any more trainings this week :(. Rest is needed before next week's hard practices 'coz the festival is coming up next weekend:

Training log nummer ett

As the Szeged festival is coming up in less than two weeks, we have started the official preparation. We usually do a 20-25 minute stretching and warm-up exercises before we get into the boats and start paddling. We were enough to fill 2 boats this time with me ending up in the Black Pearl team. I always consider it a privilege to train with them as I learn an awful lot just by observing their movements and trying to copy those instances where I think I have room for improvement. One such example is that I am still keeping my top arm a little bit inboard which means that from its ideal position behind my neck it comes down to my torsoe. Consequently, I am not falling on the blade which is further realized in a weaker impulse power. I need to work on that. The biggest part of today's training was made up of several 200 meters where we were practising the sequence of 5 deep, 10-20-30 sprint and some 30-40-50 longer power strokes. I was paddling on the second bench, right behind the lead strokes. I love that place in the boat. You sit close to the guys who set the rate, the water is not extremely quick, but you really need to concentrate as the rest of team is pretty much dependent on your strokes. Then, we did some additional 200 meter rounds where after the first 5 strokes, we increased the paddling rate up to 40 and then finished off with some long strokes. I have learnt that my psyche is my most powerful enemy which needs to be defeated again and again. During each training, I win this battle more often which is a wonderful feeling. I am going to bed now so that I would be fit to perform on the battlefield tomorrow also. The second training of the week is held on Tuesday.

Why dragonboating?

Trust me, it was not planned at all. I was biking along the river Danube in Budapest on a late afternoon in June when I ran into a friend whom I had not had much contact with in the previous months. After an hour of chitchatting, he mentioned some kind of a dragon boat festival in the Lágymányosi bay that he would participate in the following day. I was curious to see him paddle so despite the gloomy, discouraging weather I did go to check out the race. Love for the first sight? It was, indeed. I could hardly wait to satisfy my ferocious desire to jump into this humble boat and try out the rhythmic movements. Yet, it took three days before I actually showed up for a practice and decided that I would regularly attend the trainings. The crew is fantastic, my coach, Péter is a strict and determined, yet funny man who makes sure that we gain the most out of every single occasion we meet for a two, two and a half-hour session. I am simply loving every minute of this sport and my mind has never been so untroubled as it is while on water. Not only have I become stronger physically but I have also improved a lot mentally. That is why I have decided to keep track of this complex improvement of mine and share my experiences. This blog is a record but I am hoping that it will eventually reach way beyond that.