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.