Where has the week gone? I've been trying to write this update since Monday night and I'm not getting much further along.
Most importantly - the pictures of the weekend can be found here.
In short: Special thanks to Marc for fixing the car window, and to Nick & Sue for letting me relax at their place on Sunday night and all day Monday.
We didn't finish as well as last year, but then last year the future provincial, national and Olympic canoe/kayak champions weren't competing with us (this week I found out that there was a Beijing Olympic medal winner paddling with the #1 team). We had been aiming for a top 8 finish, and ended up with top 5. Very proud of that.
On both Saturday and Sunday we had our shares of challenges to overcome during the races. Strong currents, paddling against the wind (in the 2k, no less), broken paddles, injured paddlers, trash talking from other teams, boats cutting into our lane, rain delays. The only thing that didn't happen was that nobody fell out/off the boat.
All in all, it was quite a weekend. Go Mix!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Thursday, June 03, 2010
No crying in baseball (treatment)
Saw my athletic therapist tonight to work on my right shoulder. Have been having problems with it since about March but after my last visit in April, things were better there for awhile. Since Saturday though, it's been far worse. To the point where I'm actually carrying around a bottle of Advil with me.
Anyway, saw the therapist tonight and he poked and prodded and rubbed and made me do a bunch of different exercises to tell me ... umm ... I swear, I was listening intently to what he was saying but really, what do I know about muscles and bones and stuff? Nothing. So - there are these muscles that make up your rotator cuff (?) and some of those are tight and one of them is m-e-s-s-e-d up. Probably from too much paddling, training, whatever. This one little one in particular is under part of some bone and along the top and it's rubbing the something or other. (Isn't this helpful all this technical talk?) Anyway, it's no wonder it's been so painful and that I'm having trouble doing push-ups, bench presses, etc.
The short of it is: I did not cry during the treatment! I did ask how many people he made cry every week. He said one or two and I determined I would not be one of those pansies. All I could think of was Tom Hanks in that girl baseball movie saying, "There's no crying in baseball!" Well, there was no crying in treatment for me. So there, sadist-therapist guy :P
I will have to go back twice next week to work on it though and just the thought of it right now scares me (as I sit here with my deliciously cozy hot water bottle on top of my shoulder.)
No paddling for me this weekend. We're having our 2nd dragon boat initiation day at the Basin. If you want to see what dragon boating all about, come over at 11:00am on Saturday. $45 gets you in, we supply life jackets and paddles, get you trained up on technique, have fun in a couple of races, door prizes and a fun post-day 5 à 7. See you there, rain or shine!
Anyway, saw the therapist tonight and he poked and prodded and rubbed and made me do a bunch of different exercises to tell me ... umm ... I swear, I was listening intently to what he was saying but really, what do I know about muscles and bones and stuff? Nothing. So - there are these muscles that make up your rotator cuff (?) and some of those are tight and one of them is m-e-s-s-e-d up. Probably from too much paddling, training, whatever. This one little one in particular is under part of some bone and along the top and it's rubbing the something or other. (Isn't this helpful all this technical talk?) Anyway, it's no wonder it's been so painful and that I'm having trouble doing push-ups, bench presses, etc.
The short of it is: I did not cry during the treatment! I did ask how many people he made cry every week. He said one or two and I determined I would not be one of those pansies. All I could think of was Tom Hanks in that girl baseball movie saying, "There's no crying in baseball!" Well, there was no crying in treatment for me. So there, sadist-therapist guy :P
I will have to go back twice next week to work on it though and just the thought of it right now scares me (as I sit here with my deliciously cozy hot water bottle on top of my shoulder.)
No paddling for me this weekend. We're having our 2nd dragon boat initiation day at the Basin. If you want to see what dragon boating all about, come over at 11:00am on Saturday. $45 gets you in, we supply life jackets and paddles, get you trained up on technique, have fun in a couple of races, door prizes and a fun post-day 5 à 7. See you there, rain or shine!
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Oh the pain
If you haven't already seen the pictures of the fantastic (because really, there is no other word to describe this) bruise I got paddling on Saturday, check out my new set of bruise pictures here.
Saturday's race was good. Not great but still good. We finished 4th overall. So no medal, no glory - but still, out of 45 teams, it's not too bad either. And if you consider that we have 12 new people on the team, it really isn't that bad at all. But I'm kinda greedy now with the glory of winning and didn't get what I wanted. Oh well.
The competition on Saturday consisted of one 1000m, one 500m and a 250m race. As I paddled in the first race, I could feel pressure on my hip and was a little uncomfortable but didn't feel too bad. As we started warming up for the 500m race, I could feel more pain in my hip but didn't really pay much attention to it until we finished the race when I had trouble moving my leg and standing up. When I went to change, I discovered my hip was already bright red and purple with bruising. It was throbbing and obviously swollen. Luckily, I got rotated off for the last race because I'm not entirely sure how I could've done another race in so much pain.
I'm still not sure why I have that bruise. The boats used aren't boats that we use in training practices but they are boats that we paddled in last year at competitions and I never got any bruising then. The only thing I can think of is that the butt pad I sit on is higher than my old one. Maybe I'm just sitting too high on the seat now and that is what's made the difference. I'll have to wait until our next competition to find out though.
In other muscular pain news, the right side of my neck is all pinched, as it the top of my right shoulder. I'm almost positive it's because I sleep too long on that one side and the pillow I have isn't supporting me properly. To help with that I have (a) booked appointment with athletic therapist to get that worked out properly and (b) bought new extra-firm side-sleeper pillow. Hoping that will help.
Saturday's race was good. Not great but still good. We finished 4th overall. So no medal, no glory - but still, out of 45 teams, it's not too bad either. And if you consider that we have 12 new people on the team, it really isn't that bad at all. But I'm kinda greedy now with the glory of winning and didn't get what I wanted. Oh well.
The competition on Saturday consisted of one 1000m, one 500m and a 250m race. As I paddled in the first race, I could feel pressure on my hip and was a little uncomfortable but didn't feel too bad. As we started warming up for the 500m race, I could feel more pain in my hip but didn't really pay much attention to it until we finished the race when I had trouble moving my leg and standing up. When I went to change, I discovered my hip was already bright red and purple with bruising. It was throbbing and obviously swollen. Luckily, I got rotated off for the last race because I'm not entirely sure how I could've done another race in so much pain.
I'm still not sure why I have that bruise. The boats used aren't boats that we use in training practices but they are boats that we paddled in last year at competitions and I never got any bruising then. The only thing I can think of is that the butt pad I sit on is higher than my old one. Maybe I'm just sitting too high on the seat now and that is what's made the difference. I'll have to wait until our next competition to find out though.
In other muscular pain news, the right side of my neck is all pinched, as it the top of my right shoulder. I'm almost positive it's because I sleep too long on that one side and the pillow I have isn't supporting me properly. To help with that I have (a) booked appointment with athletic therapist to get that worked out properly and (b) bought new extra-firm side-sleeper pillow. Hoping that will help.
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