The November testing period has ended and as most tests in life go....so had good ones, and some had bad ones.
They guys did a 6km erg test, two 2km races in the pair and two 2km races in their singles...we add up all the times and presto....we have an overall winner.
The result breakdown approx as follows.
6km Ergo test = approx 19mins
2x2km Pair = approx 14mins
2x2km Single = approx 15mins
We definitely had some very good performances with 5 of the top 6 finishers being from the 2007 Eight. Of the other three, two were injured and were exempt from testing and the last guy was just getting back after having flu-ish symptoms and didn't perform to his best.
That being said...we had one guy finish 3rd overall and he appears to be gunning for a position in the Eight. He was in the Eight from the Athens Olympics and has been in smaller boats since then, by his choice. He now wants back into the big boat again and is putting some serious pressure on a few guys to improve.
This is a good thing as it doesn't let people rest on their laurels, they must improve or risk being bumped out. Competition is what has driven our program to success for the past 7 years and it isn't about to change now....I'm looking forward to seeing 8 World Champions get pushed for the remainder of the winter.
Olympic Champion Cox - Men's 8
OLYMPIC CHAMPIONS!!!!
Friday, November 30, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Husdon Ad Campaign
The company who makes our boats always puts together a little ad campaign after the Worlds and it always includes the crews who won medals in their boats. I thought you might like to see the ad as it appears in "The Rowing News" magazine. It is actually a publication that I believe you can buy at Chapters.
The picture was taken right after we de-rigged our boat, 25 mins after the big win. I had to take my shirt off to match the look of the guys....as you know....I am not muscular....but I do what I can. :) We were told to look serious for the photo.
It was kinda funny. At this point all we wanted to do was get a beer and socialize about the big win. We just wanted to do the pose and start partying!
The boat that we use is Canadian made in London, Ontario by Hudson Boatworks. We have been using a Hudson since 2002, and we were the first crew to ever win the World Championships in one of their boats. From 2002-2007, a Hudson has won the Worlds or Olympics every year expect 2006. Traditionally, most people in the world always used a German crafted shell called Empacher. We definately helped "blaze" a trail for Hudson and this well made canadian boat.
The picture was taken right after we de-rigged our boat, 25 mins after the big win. I had to take my shirt off to match the look of the guys....as you know....I am not muscular....but I do what I can. :) We were told to look serious for the photo.
It was kinda funny. At this point all we wanted to do was get a beer and socialize about the big win. We just wanted to do the pose and start partying!
The boat that we use is Canadian made in London, Ontario by Hudson Boatworks. We have been using a Hudson since 2002, and we were the first crew to ever win the World Championships in one of their boats. From 2002-2007, a Hudson has won the Worlds or Olympics every year expect 2006. Traditionally, most people in the world always used a German crafted shell called Empacher. We definately helped "blaze" a trail for Hudson and this well made canadian boat.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Money for MEDALS!
The Canadian Olympic Committee unveiled their new Athlete Excellence Fund on Monday which basically means, if you win a medal....you get money!! The breakdown is as follows
GOLD = $20,000
SILVER = $15,000
BRONZE = $10,000
This is some extremely exciting news for me and my crew as we are most certainly in a position to win a gold medal. Make no mistake about it.....this is not the driving factor or motivation for me as I was and have been committed to winning a gold medal long before this most recent performance fund had come to light. This fund is not only providing to Olympic performances in the Olympic year but also the 3 years prior. In years 1 & 2 of the cycle, top 5 finishers will receive a $5000 performance bonus and in year 3 you must finish top 4 in the world to qualify for the $5000 bonus. This means that I have qualified for the performance bonus of $5000 based on our victory at the World Championships in August. (I don't think I will be receiving it till the spring though....could kinda use it now....but whenever they are ready....so am I!!)
This has been a long time coming as many, many other countries have been rewarding their athletes for years. Apparently in Italy the bonus for gold is 250,000 Euro!!!! That is a huge amount of money but personally, I'm happy with what the COC has put together.
All in all, this is another big positive step towards providing money for athletes who perform. Our current assistant coach, was the coxswain in 1992 when we last won the gold medal in the Men's 8, actually had to pay for their own uniforms!!! We have come a long way towards providing for our amateur athletes and even after I am done rowing....whenever that is.....I will most certainly be an advocate for getting money into the hands of the athletes who perform. At the end of the day, I don't do it for the money. I love the sport and want to compete for my country at the highest possible level and I love it when Canada is on top. I get no more satisfaction than knowing that in the "night before the race meetings"....other countries are trying to figure out how to beat those Crazy Canadians!!!!
PS. I have listed 2 articles regarding this most recent development....both dated Nov 19, 2007
GOLD = $20,000
SILVER = $15,000
BRONZE = $10,000
This is some extremely exciting news for me and my crew as we are most certainly in a position to win a gold medal. Make no mistake about it.....this is not the driving factor or motivation for me as I was and have been committed to winning a gold medal long before this most recent performance fund had come to light. This fund is not only providing to Olympic performances in the Olympic year but also the 3 years prior. In years 1 & 2 of the cycle, top 5 finishers will receive a $5000 performance bonus and in year 3 you must finish top 4 in the world to qualify for the $5000 bonus. This means that I have qualified for the performance bonus of $5000 based on our victory at the World Championships in August. (I don't think I will be receiving it till the spring though....could kinda use it now....but whenever they are ready....so am I!!)
This has been a long time coming as many, many other countries have been rewarding their athletes for years. Apparently in Italy the bonus for gold is 250,000 Euro!!!! That is a huge amount of money but personally, I'm happy with what the COC has put together.
All in all, this is another big positive step towards providing money for athletes who perform. Our current assistant coach, was the coxswain in 1992 when we last won the gold medal in the Men's 8, actually had to pay for their own uniforms!!! We have come a long way towards providing for our amateur athletes and even after I am done rowing....whenever that is.....I will most certainly be an advocate for getting money into the hands of the athletes who perform. At the end of the day, I don't do it for the money. I love the sport and want to compete for my country at the highest possible level and I love it when Canada is on top. I get no more satisfaction than knowing that in the "night before the race meetings"....other countries are trying to figure out how to beat those Crazy Canadians!!!!
PS. I have listed 2 articles regarding this most recent development....both dated Nov 19, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
My Daughter's Halloween Costume!
I recently visited the Clarke Blvd Trow branch in Brampton and I told a few of the ladies about my 5 month old daughters Halloween costume.....so here it is. I think she is pretty darn cute!!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
6km Test looms
Throughout the winter we have a testing period every six weeks. This is designed to give the coaches a chance to evaluate the athletes but it also give the athletes a chance to see that all the training and hard work they are doing is paying off.
This current round of testing is based mainly around the 6km erg. (the "erg" is slang for ergometer which is a rowing machine that you commonly see at many gyms throughout the world) The guys will get on the erg and see how fast they can cover 6km. This will take the cream-of-the-crop power guys about 19:00mins. The next range will be about 19:15-19:25. If you are a heavyweight who truly considers himself a contender, you don't want to be above 19:45.....it doesn't instill any confidence in you by the coach or your fellow athletes. Who wants to row with a guy who can't produce much power? Below is a picture of the guys cranking it on the erg at our gym
Our coach takes this test to another level....or should I say, a different level than the other programs on the team. He then gets the boys to row two 2km race pieces in a pair and then two 2km race pieces in a single. Next he adds up all the times up which then provides him with a ranking for each individual athlete. This ranking will then be used for boat priority, priority in the weight room and later in the season it could possibly determine whether you get to attend the warm weather winter training camp. It also lets everyone know what the current pecking order is.....in our camp....there most certainly is one and it is respected.
These types of tests can most certainly earn you respect as it can also go the other way....you don't want to take testing lightly, it could determine the difference between being on the team and not if it is very close between two athletes. Your ability to perform consistently over the winter and also consistently improve are a couple of big ways you can establish yourself higher up the pecking order of the heavyweight mens team.
This current round of testing is based mainly around the 6km erg. (the "erg" is slang for ergometer which is a rowing machine that you commonly see at many gyms throughout the world) The guys will get on the erg and see how fast they can cover 6km. This will take the cream-of-the-crop power guys about 19:00mins. The next range will be about 19:15-19:25. If you are a heavyweight who truly considers himself a contender, you don't want to be above 19:45.....it doesn't instill any confidence in you by the coach or your fellow athletes. Who wants to row with a guy who can't produce much power? Below is a picture of the guys cranking it on the erg at our gym
These types of tests can most certainly earn you respect as it can also go the other way....you don't want to take testing lightly, it could determine the difference between being on the team and not if it is very close between two athletes. Your ability to perform consistently over the winter and also consistently improve are a couple of big ways you can establish yourself higher up the pecking order of the heavyweight mens team.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Back training in the Eights
Now that we are back to Victoria and the Olympic Camp of 22 heavyweight men has been established, it's time to get on with training. This is where it gets more exciting for me.
The bulk of our training over the winter is done in pairs. This is the best way for the coach to teach guys how to move a boat. It has been said that you can "hide" in an eight as there are many people trying to move the boat and when it isn't going well, the blame is shared amongst them all. In pairs or even singles for that matter, if you are going slow.....you have to look at yourself.
This winter our coach has decided to train in the eight twice a week. We don't do this at the training centre as the lake is only 2.5km long. We head 45mins up island to the Shawnigan Lake School where we have use of their boathouse and the lake gives us a run of 7km. Since the lake is pretty much abandoned in the winter (a zoo in the summer) we have free use of the lake without any other boats getting in our way. This is some amazing training as we put 2 eights side by side and we compete for the entire 7km. This takes us about 21mins to go from one end to the other.
We keep the stroke-rate (strokes per minute) down low and controlled so that it doesn't burn us out.
Yesterday we had some great battles and it re-iterated to me just how much psychology plays a role in sport. My boat started hard at the proper rate while the other boat took off just a bit higher trying to get an early advantage which worked. Luckily I wasn't born yesterday and anticipated this. I quickly told my guys that they were over-rating us but we were holding them to only a two seat lead. I knew I could use this to rev my boys up and I made a call to drive the finish of the stroke with their legs. At the same time I called out the rate that our boat was at and then I called out what the other boat was at.....of course loud enough that all 16 guys could hear it. This told the other crew that I knew the game they were playing and they adjusted to the proper rate, but I had already made our "move" call and so before they knew it we were beside them and passing them. Within 4mins we had a boat length of a lead and they were scrambling to keep up.
You see, early on I could have scrambled and panicked to try and get the lead back but instead I chose to let my crew know of how the situation was unfolding and how I was going to proceed and get the advantage back. Their is nothing that frustrates a rower more than losing and having no plan of attack to get back. Since they knew I had control, they trusted me and did exactly what I told them to do.....once it started to work, the psychology switched to our favor and instead of being on the defensive, we went on the offensive and took control of the situation.
Can't wait to keep learning and re-iterating these lessons as this long winter of training is going to be invaluable once we hit the race course and do these same kind of things to the Germans, British and whoever else we end up racing.
The bulk of our training over the winter is done in pairs. This is the best way for the coach to teach guys how to move a boat. It has been said that you can "hide" in an eight as there are many people trying to move the boat and when it isn't going well, the blame is shared amongst them all. In pairs or even singles for that matter, if you are going slow.....you have to look at yourself.
This winter our coach has decided to train in the eight twice a week. We don't do this at the training centre as the lake is only 2.5km long. We head 45mins up island to the Shawnigan Lake School where we have use of their boathouse and the lake gives us a run of 7km. Since the lake is pretty much abandoned in the winter (a zoo in the summer) we have free use of the lake without any other boats getting in our way. This is some amazing training as we put 2 eights side by side and we compete for the entire 7km. This takes us about 21mins to go from one end to the other.
We keep the stroke-rate (strokes per minute) down low and controlled so that it doesn't burn us out.
Yesterday we had some great battles and it re-iterated to me just how much psychology plays a role in sport. My boat started hard at the proper rate while the other boat took off just a bit higher trying to get an early advantage which worked. Luckily I wasn't born yesterday and anticipated this. I quickly told my guys that they were over-rating us but we were holding them to only a two seat lead. I knew I could use this to rev my boys up and I made a call to drive the finish of the stroke with their legs. At the same time I called out the rate that our boat was at and then I called out what the other boat was at.....of course loud enough that all 16 guys could hear it. This told the other crew that I knew the game they were playing and they adjusted to the proper rate, but I had already made our "move" call and so before they knew it we were beside them and passing them. Within 4mins we had a boat length of a lead and they were scrambling to keep up.
You see, early on I could have scrambled and panicked to try and get the lead back but instead I chose to let my crew know of how the situation was unfolding and how I was going to proceed and get the advantage back. Their is nothing that frustrates a rower more than losing and having no plan of attack to get back. Since they knew I had control, they trusted me and did exactly what I told them to do.....once it started to work, the psychology switched to our favor and instead of being on the defensive, we went on the offensive and took control of the situation.
Can't wait to keep learning and re-iterating these lessons as this long winter of training is going to be invaluable once we hit the race course and do these same kind of things to the Germans, British and whoever else we end up racing.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Beijing, China trip CANCELLED!!
Wow....didn't see this one coming, especially at such short notice. We found out from our team manager on Saturday that we were not able to secure access to the train on the Olympic Rowing course. Apparently the approvals can take up to 3 months and since we were originally supposed to have this trip in September and then changed it till now, there just wasn't enough time to git 'er done!
As a crew, we had previously decided that it would not be worth it if we couldn't train on the course. Sure, it would have been nice to see our hotel, try the food, get a feel for the venue but without the experience on the course, we declined.
On another note....the my official invitation to the Olympic Rowing Camp came via email today....not that I was at all worried about not being invited, but now it is official.
The coaching staff has decided to carry 22 rowers and 2 coxswains for the Heavyweight Mens Olympic Camp.
As a crew, we had previously decided that it would not be worth it if we couldn't train on the course. Sure, it would have been nice to see our hotel, try the food, get a feel for the venue but without the experience on the course, we declined.
On another note....the my official invitation to the Olympic Rowing Camp came via email today....not that I was at all worried about not being invited, but now it is official.
The coaching staff has decided to carry 22 rowers and 2 coxswains for the Heavyweight Mens Olympic Camp.
Friday, November 2, 2007
THE GRILL ROOM - SunTV
Just wanted to let everyone know that I will be a guest on a sports talk show tonight called "The Casino Rama Grill Room".
I have a link below so you can check your local listings to see if it is available in your area.
The show airs at 11pm....lucky its Friday and you can stay up late to watch it!!!
Here is a picture of Gareth Wheeler, the host of the show.
http://www.suntv.canoe.ca/thecasinoramagrillroom/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
