Race

Race practice was pretty easy. We kept it somewhat light so that people didn't wear themselves out before the race. They kept the reccers that were racing together with me. This worked out well because we ended up being faster than the other two canoes.

Being able to use my steering blade was nice. I could dig because it was actually long enough, and at the same time the handle wasn't unwieldy. Unfortunately it was taking some time for me to get used to the paddle again. Also, when I tried to Kahi with it, it would vibrate. I think it has something to do with the angle I plant the blade and the thickness of the grip tape I applied. Somehow they're resonating with each other.

I was a bit cautious with poking on the right. I tihnk that lift from a few weeks ago has left me just a bit gun-shy. That plus not having had a chance to steer much before the past 2 weeks means I'll have to get over it quickly. I should be better during the race since there'll be too many things to think about for me to psych myeslf out.

Breakfast was PB&J sandwich. This ensured I was starving during lunch. We tried to go to Extreme Pita, but that ended up being out of business. We ended up at Chipotle again, which was pretty good. I had chicken instead of the barbacoa. Dinner ended up being wings and rice, so that I could finish off the rice.

Finished paddles

So finished the steering blades. I actually ran out of the spray varnish. If I hadn't I would have liked to have added another coat to the handle. It doesn't quite feel like the handle has enough varnish on it.

No exercise today because no paddling. I was completely exhausted from trial to go to the gym.

Eating wasn't super healthy. I got Subway for breakfast ( which actually caused me to be too late to be able to park in Old Town). Lunch was Chipotle ( barbacoa) and then dinner was salmon with rice.

Race

Short course crew vs long course crew. We did the same loop we did last week, this time racing between teh two crews. The short course crew did really well. At one point we were leading by a nose. Considering that I was forcing the Short Course crew to recover and back off at certain intervals, this was very good.

Steering with that shorter blade really did a number on my shoulders. Because its a much shorter blade, it forced me to arm paddle when trying to make corrections. This killed my arms quickly.

Other than that it went well. Got a good workout, despite steering.

Food was mixed. Had a breakfast burrito for breakfast, but then had a chicken wrap for lunch. Had my PB&J sandwich for pre-practice snack. Then dinner was the other PB&J, plus 3 hardboiled eggs.

No exercise

Absolutely no exercise today. I really wasnt' feeling well, and told Casey that I wasn't. She said to just go home and rest. Unfortunately I got the message when I was already at De Anza. I stayed for an hour and helped out as best I could. By then I was feeling sufficiently crappythat I went home.

Took a nap from about 10am to 2pm. That helped quite a bit. I got the mail and found that my Garmin had arrived. Went to the office to pick it up. I tried it a little, but couldn't get a GPS signal because I was indoors. I would have tried it outside but it was already raining.

Food wasn't good either. Breakfast was McDonalds Sausage McMuffin. Lunch was CA burrito and fries ( none of which I actually tasted). Dinner was salmon again.

No practice, another bonus paddle.

Today was the ho'olaulea. Spent the whole day taking pictures. We didn't have race practice, so no big workout for me. We were able to get a paddle in. I took a small group of people for a short intro paddle, and then 6 of us paddled Tieva back to Hanohano. Again we only had 3 regular paddlers and the other 3 were newbies. 2 of the newbies were the ones from the day before, and another was completely new.

It wasn't that bad. I was stroking this time, Ryan was seat 4 and Casey steered. I asked that Ryan be seat 4 simply cause the bay was getting choppy. The wind had picked up and was against us almost the whole time. It took about 45 mins to get to Santa Clara point. I had to slow down a few times to let the people behind me keep up with the rate. Though towards the end I just let myself naturally speed up, they seemed to keep up fine. How much power they were providing, I'm not sure.

Had McDonalds sausage mcmuffin for breakfast. Lunch was a plate lunch consiting of rice, korean chicken and a slice of korean bbq. Dinner was Pho.

I'm not feeling that well, so the pho was really nice. I was freezing towards the end, so hopefully I'm not getting sick.

Bonius paddle

Helped get Hanohano's Tieva wa'a to De Anza cove for tomorrow's Keiki Heihei wa'a. Was nice to paddle, stretch out my muscles a bit. We had a full 6 people, but only 3 of us were regular paddlers. Jess stroked, I sat seat 2 and Casey steered. The other 3 were completely new to paddling. One was a keiki mom, and the other two were from Casey's crossfit gym.

They seemed to be trying hard, but its difficult to get good efficiency on your first try out. We didn't stop from Santa Clara point to De Anza cove.

Food wasn't good news. Breakfast was subway sausage and cheese on flatbread, lunch was this super greasy chinese food. Dinner was decently healthy. I had salmon in the oven, no rice. I did top it off with the hard boiled eggs I brought to jury duty but didn't eat.

Steered

So ended up steering again. Almost didn't make it because of jury duty. Got a few good runs in. Around the bowling pin we had a nice little race between the canoes. Even though I was steering, I was able to get a good workout out of it.

Because of Jury Duty I ate pretty badly. Had a powerbar for breakfast. Then some chips for mid-morning snack. Then chipotle for lunch. Finished up my chips before practice and then some wings and rice for dinner.

I was exhausted from Jury duty. I literally got home and as soon as I was able to sit down, I felt drained.