From the archives: an interview with Calvin Hassel

Since I'm taking something of a training break right now, I've been thinking about what else I might post here that would be useful and interesting to canoe and kayak racers.  For several years, from 2002 to '05, I wrote a series of columns about paddling to be posted monthly on the Outdoors, Inc., website.  I think one of the better ones I did was an interview in the summer of '05 with Calvin Hassel, a many-time national champion in marathon canoe racing.  Here's a re-post.    An Interview: marathon canoe champion Calvin Hassel by Elmore Holmes(originally appeared in July, 2005)      Though I've made occasional references to it in the past, some readers of this column still might not be familiar with marathon canoe racing, so I'll take a moment to fill everybody in.      Marathon canoe races are long-distance events (typically 6-20 miles, though a few races are much longer) that take place on flat rivers and lakes.  A marathon race boat looks pretty similar to what most people think of as a canoe, though it's a little funky-looking to meet length and width requirements without giving up too much speed.  Unlike whitewater and flatwater sprint canoeists, the competitors sit in their boats rather than kneel, and switch sides with their paddles throughout a race.      In the U.S. the governing body for this type of canoe racing is the United States Canoe Association (USCA).  The USCA style of marathon canoeing is unique to North America.  Although the International Canoe Federation (ICF) conducts an annual marathon world championships, it is not quite the same as the USCA version.  Competitors in the ICF event use boats similar to those of flatwater sprint rather than the style of boats recognized by the USCA.

     Marathon canoeing enjoys its greatest popularity in the Midwest, parts of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region, the Ozark Mountain region, Texas, and much of Canada.  Though little-known outside these parts of the country, it is arguably the most popular competitive paddling discipline in the U.S., with hundreds of paddlers traveling to the USCA Nationals each year and club-level races taking place nearly every weekend in the summertime.


*          *          *      Each Fourth of July weekend, the marathon canoe racers of northern Arkansas and southern Missouri converge on the tiny town of Tecumseh, Missouri, for the North Fork Canoe Race and Show-Me State Championships, a two-day slate of races on the North Fork of the White River and its Norfork Lake impoundment.
     Race director Rocky Caldwell, who for years has raced in the Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race at Memphis, told our Memphis racing group several years ago that we were welcome to race our kayaks in his event.  Always eager to support canoe and kayak racing in this part of the country, I made my first trip to Tecumseh in 2004.
     A guy from Nebraska named Calvin Hassel was there, and according to the canoeists I knew, he was a big deal.  They told me he'd won a bunch of national titles and even a world title or two in marathon canoeing.  They deemed him the prohibitive favorite to win the C-1 class, the first on the schedule for the weekend.
     I was one of two kayakers in attendance, the other being my friend and fellow Memphian Joe Royer.  We lined up with the solo canoeists for an eight-mile out-and-back circuit on Norfork Lake.  The gun went off, and Joe and I sprinted to the front of the pack.  I looked to my right, and saw that Hassel was sitting on my wake.  Mike Herbert, an Arkansan who had competed in kayak at our Memphis race a few times, also had joined our lead pack in his marathon canoe.  While I admired the way these guys got out with the kayaks in the early going, I wasn't that concerned.
     Don't get me wrong--Hassel was obviously a strong, fit athlete whose lanky frame propelled his craft with a smooth efficiency that was breathtaking to behold.  And Herbert was no less than a three-time Olympian and three-time world championships medalist in flatwater kayaking who had finished a heartbeat out of the medals in 1988.
     But come on... let's be realistic.  These guys were in canoes.  Their paddles each had one blade.  I, meanwhile, consider myself a pretty strong, fit guy in my own right, and I was paddling a 20-foot-long, 18-inch-wide surf ski with a rudder, and using a two-bladed wing paddle.  If these guys wanted to use my wake to get a jump on the other C-1s, fine, but I was confident that they would fall off the pace by and by.
     As we chugged along through the July swelter, not only did Hassel not fall off the pace, but after a while he took the lead and started pushing the pace.  I began to feel a hairline crack or two in my confidence, but I told myself to relax and get a good ride on his wake while he did the work for a while.  Herbert, too, was hanging right there with us.  I suspect Joe was having the same thoughts I was.
     As we neared the turnaround point, Hassel hugged the inside of a curve and used the shallow water there to try to bump us off his wake.  This guy's not just strong, he's a good tactician too, I thought.  As he made the buoy-turn at the Udall marina, he threw in a surge to try to break away, and I had to sprint as hard as I could to stay on his stern.  We were now over the hump, and though Joe had fallen back a bit, Herbert was right behind me.  "Just stay on his wake... just stay on his wake," I told myself.
     I stayed on Hassel's wake, and then... I wasn't on his wake anymore.  I can't recall exactly where it happened, but at some point not long after the buoy-turn Hassel threw in another surge and dropped me.
     By this time, I was feeling pretty taxed by all the effort I'd put in to keep up, and we still had nearly four miles to go.  I dropped back onto Herbert's wake to get a little rest, still not giving up hope that Hassel would fade and I could mount one final charge.
     But it was no use.  Hassel wasn't slowing down, and I was worn down for good.  Mike and I chatted a bit to pass the time as Hassel built his lead in front of us, but with a mile to go I could no longer keep up with Mike either, and he left me behind.  My body and brain cried "¡No Más!" as I limped across the finish line, soundly whipped by a pair of athletes who had, in essence, beaten me with one hand tied behind their backs.



*          *          *      The memory that has stuck in my mind from that day--besides my dull agony--is the view of Calvin Hassel as he pulled away from Mike and me.  I remain fascinated by the combination of power and smooth control with which he propelled his boat.
     As the Fourth approached this year, I looked forward to returning to Tecumseh to get another shot at Calvin.  I know it sounds lame for a kayaker to get all fired up to race a canoeist--sort of like a high school senior picking a fight with a sixth-grader--but Hassel is no ordinary canoeist.  I, meanwhile, had been racing well all spring, and had just returned from a couple of weeks of training at altitude in the Rocky Mountains, and felt ready to go fast with the king of marathon.
     But I wanted more than that.  This year, I also wanted to talk to Calvin and pick his brain a little.  Thinking that many other paddlers might have the same desire, I decided to draw up a list of questions for him to answer that I could post in my column.
     I got to Tecumseh ready for a great race and a great interview... and Calvin wasn't there.  He had a conflict and had to miss the race for the first time in about a decade.  So I came home empty-handed.
     I tried to think of other topics for this month's column, but my infatuation with Calvin's marathon mastery continued to "Hassel" me (sorry--had to get that one in somewhere).  Finally, I decided to write Calvin an e-mail asking if he would answer my questions online.
     I was a little nervous about doing so.  I hadn't really talked to Calvin at that 2004 race other than to say "Hey man, good race," and didn't know if he was the kind of guy who would be receptive to such a thing.
     I was also aware that e-mail is generally not the best way to conduct an interview.  The interviewer is deaf and blind to all kinds of facial expressions and emphasis on words and stuff like that, and he can't immediately ask follow-up questions or get his subject to elaborate on certain points.
     Fortunately, Calvin put me at ease on both those concerns.  He replied to my initial query by saying "Sure, send me the questions."  I sent them, and then waited a week or ten days without hearing a thing.  Just when I'd begun to worry that Calvin had gotten busy with other things and forgotten about my questionnaire, he sent me his responses, and I couldn't believe the care he had put into them.  His words give a glimpse into the mind of a thoughtful, focused athlete for whom achieving his best possible physical performance is an integral part of a fulfilling life.  I wrote him back once, just to clarify a couple of points he'd made, but otherwise his responses were ready for publication in this column.
     I doubt I can adequately thank Calvin for his time and effort, but I suspect he'll be happy if the readers of this column learn all they can from his insights.
     And now, the interview.

EH: Can you tell me your date of birth, height, and weight?
CH: 1/19/64; 6’3”; and 180 pounds.
EH: Where do you live now?
CH: Grand Island, Nebraska.
EH: What is your occupation?
CH: Service technician.
EH: Do you have a spouse?  Children?  If so, how many?  Do they paddle?
CH: My wife Robyn used to train with me and race occasionally until we had kids.  We have a son Levi who is 10 and a daughter Shannon who is 6. The kids have done a few sprint races with me but they don’t want to go out and paddle very often.
EH: What C-1 design do you use?
CH: I use a Crozier-built J203.
EH: What does "J203" stand for?
CH: The "J" means it is a canoe designed by Gene Jensen.  203 is the model--the 200 series are 18'6" boats designed for bigger paddlers, and the 203 is the newest boat in that series.  They also make a 190 series that is for medium-sized paddlers and a 180 series for small paddlers.
EH: Have you added any special outfitting to your boat?
CH: No.
EH: What brand and length of paddle do you use?  Have you made any special modifications to it, or do you just use it "off the rack"?
CH: I race with Zaveral paddles.  In C-1 I use a 53” standard “off the rack”  paddle.
EH: How many national titles have you won in the various classes (C-1, C-2, C-2 Mixed, etc)?
CH: I have won 38 national marathon titles: 13 in C-1, 13 in C-2 Mixed, 11 in C-2 Men’s,  and one in Juniors.
EH: Any other major titles or significant victories?
CH: I have over 500 wins in my career but I think my wins at Nationals have been the most important.  I have won some “world championships,” but to me those titles don’t mean a lot in marathon paddling since most of the world does not paddle sit-down canoes.  At Nationals from 1991 to 2001 I had a streak of 11 consecutive wins in C-1 and in C-2 Mixed, along with 9 "triple wins" (C-1 Men's, C-2 Men’s, and C-2 Mixed).
EH: Did you win your "world championships" at the ICF marathon worlds, or at something else?
CH: There are two "world championship" races that I have competed in.  The first was called the WOMPO World Championships.  WOMPO was a world paddling organization that was formed with the USA, Canada, and Australia.  They used to hold events in the U.S. every three years.  The other race was a C-1 race held in New York that was called the Professional World C-1 Championships.  Both of the races were set up to use USCA specs, and the "world championship" part was a bit of a stretch considering only a handful of countries paddle this type of boat.
     I was a member of the U.S. team that won a silver medal in the 1000-meter event at the 1995 IDBF Dragon Boat World Championships in Yueyang, China.  To me, that meant a little more considering that over 20 different countries competed at that race.
EH: When, how, and where did you start paddling?  Was paddling strictly a "for-fun" endeavor at first, or did you get into competition right away?
CH: I have always lived in Nebraska.  My family was involved in canoe racing when I was growing up. I did my first marathon race at age 10.  Most of my early racing was for fun.  I raced the youth class with my cousin and later began paddling the men’s classes with my father.  As I got older I slowly got more serious about racing and training.  I was in my early 20s before I started training hard, and past my mid 20s before I was training at the level I do now.
EH:  Where do you do most of your training now--a lake?  a river?  Is the water deep or shallow?  Is it an open body of water exposed to wind, or is it more protected?  If it's a river, is it wide or narrow?  Straight or meandering?
CH: I do most of my training on the Platte River.  The Platte is a very shallow sand-bottomed river with moderate current.  It is narrow and protected from the wind where I paddle on it.  I think it is a challenging river to train on.  Normally the channel is 1-3 feet deep which forces you to do a lot of paddling off the bottom in the shallows.  Even the deeper sections are hard because you can still feel the bottom.  The Platte normally dries up during the summer so I end up paddling on some small area lakes later in the season.
EH:  On average, how many times a week do you paddle?  What are the challenges of arranging it around your work schedule?
CH: Currently I paddle five times a week and put about 10-12 hours per week on the water from February to September.  I have had to cut my training back about 20% from what I used to do in the 90s.  With a full-time job and two kids I cannot find enough time to train and rest the way I used to.  I have to try to efficiently manage my spare time and fit in everything as best I can.
EH:  What special types of workouts do you do for things like speed and lactic threshhold?
CH: In the spring I develop a speed base with fartlek training and then during the summer months I try to do two interval workouts per week.
EH: Do you lift weights?  If so, how often?  What type of lifting do you do (low weight/many reps vs. high weight/few reps; free weights vs. machines vs. body-weight exercises)?
CH: I lift weights in the winter, normally from November to March.  I lift three times per week with medium to high reps of low weights.  I do a combination of free weights and machines.  This is mainly for conditioning and to restore some strength I may have lost by paddling long hours in the summer.
EH: What special steps, physical and mental, do you take before a nationals or other major competition?
CH: I try to come into the race as rested and focused as I can.
EH: Browsing the results of the 2004 Nationals in Michigan, I see you got beat in C-1 by a guy named Andy Triebold.  Is he a long-time rival, or a more recent appearance on the racing scene?  Any thoughts on the challenge he presents?
CH: I have been racing Andy for the last 10 years.  He has really improved recently.  In the last few years he moved to Michigan and has been training very hard with a group of top paddlers in that area.  In 2003 Andy was very tough in C-1 but I had a slight edge in speed.  Last year I could not match his top-end speed anymore.  He seems even faster this season.  Andy is still in his 20s and getting better all the time.  He will be the favorite in C-1 at Nationals and I will have my work cut out for me trying to stay with him.
EH: Can you name any books or videos or other materials that you've found particularly helpful or inspiring?
CH: Most of what I have learned about paddling has come from other top racers.  By talking to them and paddling with and against them I have picked up a lot.  I do spend a lot of time watching “home videos” of races.  I think technique is one of the most important aspects of being fast in a boat and watching videos of yourself and other racers can really help improve the way you paddle.
EH: In your competitive travels, are there places you've been that you consider particularly interesting?
CH: I really like a lot of the marathon races that I do.  Some are very interesting events and others are held on neat rivers.  One race that stands out is Shawinigan.  Shawinigan is an approximately 15-hour, 3-day staged C-2 race in Quebec.  In the USA there are not many spectators at most marathon races, but Shawinigan has over 100,000 people watching the race and is a very challenging event.  Also, races that are different seem to stand out.  I have done some outrigger racing in Hawaii and Tahiti along with some Dragon boat racing in Asia and Europe.  It is interesting to compete in different types of races using basically the marathon paddling stroke.
EH: Can you think of any really interesting or memorable experiences?
CH: I guess most of my memorable experiences are important races that I have had through the years.  Racing Greg Barton in C-1 at Nationals in '93 and '94 comes to mind.  Those were two of my toughest C-1 wins.  I also had some memorable races against Serge Corbin at Canadian Nationals and Canton in C-1.
EH: And finally, the tough one... WHY do you do this???
CH: Growing up I spent a lot of time paddling with my father.  He enjoyed canoeing more than anyone I have ever met.  I guess his interest in the sport has influenced me a lot.  I like the competition but I also enjoy just being out on the water.



*          *          * Since this 2005 interview, Calvin has added to his hefty collection of national titles, especially in the C-1 class.  On August 7-12, he will be at it again at the 2012 USCA National Championships at Warren, Pennsylvania (visit www.uscanoe.com for more information).  I hope I speak for everybody when I express my gratitude for the time he shared with us and wish him luck at Nationals.

Degrees of extreme

Today I rode my bike down to the river and paddled for 60 minutes.  I would have loved to do some more surfing, but there were no towboats around.

As have many days recently, today had a heat advisory in effect.  I think it got to about 100 degrees this afternoon, with a heat index value over 105.  Authorities advise people to stay inside and avoid the heat on days like today.

Certainly, there are those who should heed this advice.  People with respiratory problems or cardiopulmonary conditions, for instance.  But as long as I'm not part of such a group, I feel that the healthier choice is to dive in and embrace whatever weather conditions we have.

It would have been very easy for me to stay in and have a lazy morning today.  Last night I went out to see some live music and didn't get a full night of sleep.  I probably drank more beer than I should have, too.  My body was begging me to keep it air-conditioned.  But I sucked it up and went on outside, and I wasn't sorry. Once again it was breezy today, and that made all the difference.

One thing I've found is that by exerting myself outside in hot or cold conditions, I've developed a keener sense of the degree of heat or cold.  Over last weekend we had temperatures as high as 103, and when it dropped to 96 on Monday, it felt like a profound relief, even though most of the time I consider 96 to be very hot.  Similarly, a 40 degree day in the wintertime feels great after several days of paddling in the high 20s or low 30s.

If those temperatures aren't extreme enough for you, then you should read Dangerous River by R.M. Patterson, the memoir of a hunter and trapper in the Northwest Territories in the 1920s and 30s.  Patterson often worked in double-digit-negative temperatures.  Even though it's been a few years since I read the book, I remember the opening sentence of one chapter: "It warmed up to zero today."

"Only" the high 90s today

This morning I went downtown and paddled for 50 minutes.  I was expecting to feel like I was in a low-watt furnace, but there was a strong breeze blowing from the southwest that made the conditions not just bearable, but rather pleasant.

I think it's supposed to be slightly cooler today than it was over the weekend, when the high reached the low 100s each day.  The air seems a little better today, too.  We had "code-orange" air quality alerts all last week, and by Saturday I felt like it was getting to me a little, with some shortness of breath.  I holed up inside all day yesterday, and it felt good to be back outside getting some exercise today.

Like I said earlier, my competitive season is over, but I still want to get in the boat several times a week.  I think times like this are good for working on technique and trying out any changes you want to make.  When Greg Barton was here a couple of weeks ago, he suggested that I try sinking my blade a little deeper at the beginning of my stroke, and I've been working on that.  So far it's felt a little uncomfortable, but that's not unusual when you make a change to your stroke.

As I was paddling out of the harbor and onto the Mississippi, an unusual-looking towboat was coming upriver pushing a barge with a crane and a bunch of other stuff on it.  I paddled astern of the rig and found that its wake was excellent for surfing, so I did that for a while.  If there's a better way to spend a hot summer day than surfing in a kayak or canoe, I'd love to hear what it is.

Monday Photo Feature

This railroad trestle crosses the Wolf River about a mile and a half above its confluence with the Mississippi.  I took the picture back in mid-May when the Mississippi's level was around seven feet on the Memphis gauge, which is about the lowest level that allows paddling up to this trestle without hitting the bottom.

Right now the Mississippi is more than five feet below zero on the Memphis gauge, and with no rain in over three weeks, I expect there is now mostly sand and mud where you see water in this photo.

Fourteen months ago, the Mississippi was rising toward 47 feet, its highest level at Memphis since 1937.  I paddled up to this bridge during that period, and the water was up to the rails of the train tracks.  I took a picture, but sadly it was lost when my laptop's hard drive went bad.  You'll just have to take my word for it.

In any case, one of the things I like about paddling on the Mississippi and its tributaries is the incredible range of water levels and the variety of landscapes you see as a result.  The river almost never stays the same from one day to the next.

Negative numbers and triple-digit numbers

I paddled for about a half-hour in the harbor with my friend Meghan today.  The water has continued to drop since the Outdoors Race; we're now more than four feet below zero on the Memphis gauge.  The record low is -10.7 feet, set in July of 1988.  I remember that summer, when the evening news showed parts of the river where barges could not pass.

My left hamstring/rear end area is still not completely healed, and it hurt in the boat today.  I guess there are proactive things I could be doing, like stretching and heating and icing and stuff like that, but I've been so swamped with other work lately that I haven't had much time to think about it.

Meanwhile, it's a Memphis summer for real now.  Yesterday's high was 101 degrees Fahrenheit, and it's supposed to get at least that high again today and for the next few days.  I mentioned the other day that even though it's been hot the days haven't been too uncomfortable because of low humidity, but I believe that's over now.  The telltale sign is the overnight low: where earlier this week it had gotten as cool as 71 or 72 degrees at night, it's now staying above 80.  When I went out to get the paper this morning it was noticeably warmer and muggier than previous mornings had been.

Out of the boat and back into the real world

I've been out of the boat since Sunday, trying to catch up on some shop work that I neglected during the run-up to the big races of this past month.

My race season is more or less over, but I do plan to paddle several times a week for exercise and fun.  I'll try to keep you posted on what's going on.

Meanwhile, a bunch of much better paddlers than I are preparing for the Olympic Games in London.  Competition starts about a month from now.  I'll try to keep my readers updated on that as well.

Monday Photo Feature

I mentioned yesterday that I paddled a section of the St. Francis River in the Arkansas Delta.  This section was completely flat and slow-moving.  But way upriver, in the Missouri Ozarks, the "Saint" has a different complexion.  Here's a shot of me paddling my whitewater C1 on the Saint near Fredericktown, Missouri, at the end of 2007.  My attire suggests that it must have been cold that day.

I learned to paddle as a summer camper on Class II-III streams in western North Carolina.  I spent most of my 20s trying to paddle all the whitewater I could get myself on.

These days I love paddling whitewater as much as I ever did, but I do it less, mostly because I'm happy at home and need my arm twisted more than I used to to get in the car and drive many hours to whatever river is running.  I think it's been about a year and a half since my last time on a mountain stream.  But with the heavy summer heat descending upon Memphis and the Mid South, I may be getting back in my whitewater boat sooner rather than later.

Photo by Maria Crusius.

Results from this weekend on the White River, Arkansas

Saturday morning race (Aluminum Nationals): Calico Rock to Sylamore, about 18 miles

C2 Men Open Aluminum

1^st Don Walls/Dale Burris AR/AR 2:18:27 (1^st master)

2^nd Rocky Caldwell/Jody Runyon MO/IL 2:20:31 (2^nd master)

3^rd Jim Short/Doug Pennington MO/MO 2:20:38 (3^rd master)

4^th Bryan King/Kevin Williams AR/AR 2:20:44 (1^st under 25)

5^th Jared King/Chris Williams AR/AR 2:21:02 (2^nd under 25)

6^th Gareth Stevens/Tave Lamperez WI/IL 2:23:52 (1^st senior)

7^th Dave Dahl/Frank Gray MN/TX 2:24:49 (1^st veteran)

8^th Earl Brimeyer/Jim Braig IA/IA 2:25:59 (2^nd veteran)

9^th Casey Rickey/Clifton Rickey AR/AR 2:29:38

10^th Nathan White/Greg Schwartz AR/AR 2:31:28

11^th Cody Rickey/David White AR/AR 2:32:31

C2 Women Open Aluminum

1^st Teddy Gray/Joy Emshoff TX/TX 2:33:54 (1^st master/1^st senior)

2^nd Becky Burris/Nadalyn Riggins AR/AR 2:37:22 (2^nd master)

3^rd Pat Bayers/Jeanine Shaffer FL/FL 2:53:23 (3^rd master)

C2 Junior Men Aluminum

1^st Grant Schwartz/Jonathan Williams AR/AR 2:27:20

Saturday afternoon race: Red's Landing to Calico Rock, about 10 miles

K1 Men Open

1^st Elmore Holmes 1:04:32

K2 Mixed Open

1^st Joe Royer/Carol Lee Royer 1:08:12

2^nd Phil Capel/Robbie Capel 1:08:38

3^rd Bill Cains/Julie Cains 1:09:03

C1 Men Open

1^st Rocky Caldwell 1:10:57

2^nd Bob Spain 1:12:04

3^rd Gareth Stevens 1:14:01

4^th Doug Pennington 1:17:39

Sunday morning race: Calico Rock to Sylamore, about 18 miles

C2 Men

1^st Don Walls/Dale Burris 2:04:36

2^nd Jared King/Christopher Williams 2:07:15

3^rd Rocky Caldwell/Jody Runyon 2:07:16

4^th Brian King/Bill Cains 2:09:05

5^th Earl Brimeyer/Jim Braig 2:09:25

6^th Gareth Stevens/Tave Lamperez 2:10:24

C2 Mixed

1^st Becky Burris/Nathan White 2:11:21

2^nd Bob Spain/Joy Emshoff 2:15:42

3^rd Jim Short/Donna Short 2:19:22

C2 Junior Men

1^st Grant Schwartz/Jonathan Williams 2:28:35

If it's summer, there must be racing on the White

I spent a nice weekend at the River View Hotel in Calico Rock, Arkansas, on a bluff overlooking the White River.  The weather was quite hot but not too humid, and on the clear, cold White even the hottest day is not so bad.

The Aluminum Canoe Nationals were Saturday morning, starting at Calico Rock and finishing at Sylamore, a distance of about 18 miles.  I have competed in the Aluminums a couple of times in the past, but this year I was happy to be a shuttle driver and photographer for the race.  Congratulations to the 2012 national champions of aluminum canoe racing: Joy Emshoff and Teddy Gray (women), and Dale Burris and Don Walls (men).

After this race was over I made my way up to Red's Landing for the afternoon race for kayaks and single canoes.  The race would start at Red's and go downriver nearly 10 miles to finish at the Arkansas 5 bridge at Calico Rock.  It turned out I was the only single kayaker, so I tried to beat all the other boats and managed to do that, passing under the bridge one hour, four minutes, and 32 seconds after I started.

The highest drama occurred in the mixed tandem kayak class, with three boats fighting for the lead for the entire race.  In the end Joe and Carol Lee Royer emerged victorious, with Phil and Robbie Capel finishing just 26 seconds behind them.  Bill Cains and his daughter Julie took third, only 25 seconds slower than the Capels.

In single canoe, Rocky Caldwell took first, just over a minute ahead of Bob Spain.

The race weekend concluded this morning with the Arkansas "Big Dog" race for C2 pro boats, contested on the same section of river as the Aluminum Nationals.  Many of the same pairs from Saturday morning were together again in their lighter, faster composite boats.  The team of Walls/Burris was the fastest once again.  Today the all-female tandems were replaced by several mixed teams, and of these the fastest was Becky Burris and Nathan White.

After cheering every last boat across the finish line at Sylamore, I got in my car for the trip home.  I still had yet to paddle myself today, and I decided to take care of that business on the St. Francis River, just east of Crowley's Ridge and some 50 miles from Memphis.  I had driven over this part of the "Saint" many times and was curious about its potential for paddling.  Today I got a better idea.  It is small and meandering and quite shallow on the insides of bends, but otherwise very nice.  The Arkansas Delta needs more paddles in its waters, and I was happy to make a small advancement toward that objective today.

Another race this weekend

Today I did an easy paddle in the harbor.  My rear end is still sore and hurts in the boat.

But on I go anyway... up to Calico Rock, Arkansas, for the big race weekend on the White River there.  I'll be doing the "Big Dog" canoe and kayak race at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon, but the "main event" is tomorrow morning: The National Championships of Aluminum Canoeing.  And on Sunday morning, paddlers of USCA C2 pro boats will fight for the bragging rights of the Ozarks in the annual "Big Dog" race for those craft.

Better but not pain-free

I took some time off Monday and yesterday to let my hamstring heal a little.  It's doing somewhat better but there's still a painful spot right up under my left butt cheek.  I went down and paddled for 60 minutes today and would have felt great if not for that discomfort.  I hope it will be better by this Saturday, when I enter the Arkansas "Big Dog" Race on the White River up at Calico Rock.

Here's a neat little video from last Saturday's race in which Greg Barton recounts how it went for him.  My favorite part is the footage of the start, when the race boats and all the other 200 or so boats are pouring out of the Wolf onto the Mississippi.  It looks very different from any previous OICKR start because of the low water.  And I think it looks beautiful.  In my opinion there just aren't many better sights than a river full of canoes and kayaks.

Monday Photo Feature

Rocky Caldwell (bow) and Dale Burris plow their way up the Black River during the 2010 Aluminum Canoe Nationals at Pocahontas, Arkansas.  The Aluminums return to Arkansas this Saturday morning on the White River at Calico Rock.  Registration information is here.

The Aluminum Nationals is just one part of a big race weekend on the beautiful White.  The Arkansas "Big Dog" kayak and single canoe race will be Saturday afternoon, and the "Big Dog" tandem pro boat canoe race will be Sunday morning.

Photo by Don Walls.

Photos from the OICKR

Here are a few photos from yesterday's race.  I purchased them from the website of Roger Cotton Photography, the official race photographer.

Mike Herbert lugs his boat to the putin.

Pete Greene, Eric Mims, and Chris Hipgrave approach the mouth of Wolf River Harbor.

Linda Weghorst endures the heat during the interminable finishing stretch.

Don Walls (bow) and Dale Burris lead all canoes into the harbor.

My body language says it all moments after I have crossed the finish line.









In other news, today I went out to the big Outdoors, Inc., boat demo at Shelby Farms.  I tried out Epic's new V-10 double surf ski.  My partner: one Greg Barton, Olympic champion.  I think we took down the Patriot Lake record.

A little drama but in the end, a good race

Friday afternoon I carried my boat up from the marina to put it on the truck.  Sliding the boat up onto the roof racks from the rear end of the vehicle, I pushed the boat a little too far forward, and the bow began to fall down onto the hood.  I took off at a dead sprint to try to catch the boat before it crashed onto the pavement.  In the process, I pulled my left hamstring badly.  What was I just saying in my last post about silly fluke injuries in my 40s...?

I spent Friday evening in a state of anguish, wondering how I could meet with such bad luck the day before a race for which I had worked so hard to be perfectly prepared.  When I woke up Saturday morning, the muscle was tight and in great pain.  My wife massaged it for me and I gingerly tried to stretch it out, and then I headed down to the river, anxious to see how bad it would feel in the boat.

The on-water test was not encouraging.  A bullet of pain shot through the muscle each time I took a stroke on my left.  I briefly considered withdrawing from the race, but never seriously.  I continued doing the best warmup I could, and took my position at the start of the 31st Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race.

Then the gun went off, and just like that my painful hamstring was forgotten.  Chalk one up for adrenaline.  And for the fact that the competition commanded my full attention.

Mike Herbert, a three-time Olympian and three-time medalist at the world championships and a Pan-Am Games gold medalist, exploded into the early lead.  Olympic champion Greg Barton strained to stay on Herbert's wake until this burst of world-class starting speed was exhausted.  Herbert and Barton, the two most successful athletes ever to represent the U.S. in international competition, clearly would be the first two to cross the finish line; the only question was in what order.

The second pack included tough-as-nails South Carolinian Pete Greene; Eric Mims, an employee of Barton's as a rep for Epic Kayaks; and many-time U.S. wildwater team member Chris Hipgrave.

I had tried as hard as I could to stay in contact with this second pack during the frenzied start, but couldn't quite keep pace.  I found myself several boatlengths back alongside another formidable competitor, Roberto Ferie.

Even though Ferie was racing in his third OICKR, he remained a somewhat unknown quantity.  He had represented his native Cuba in flatwater kayaking years ago, so there was no doubt of his ability.  The question was his degree of preparation.  Now living in Memphis, Ferie owns Los Compadres restaurant, a business that makes incredible demands on his time.  He also has a small child, so the man could be forgiven for not paddling a stroke in training this season.

But he had acquired a better boat for this race (a surf ski) after paddling his flatwater K1 the first two times, and he seemed to be conceding nothing on Saturday, pushing the pace as we proceeded down the mighty Mississippi.  For my part, I was determined to "leave it all out there" after coming away from Little Rock with misgivings two weeks ago, and I paddled as hard as I dared to stay alongside Roberto and push the pace myself from time to time.

After we passed beneath the Hernando DeSoto Bridge, I dropped back on Ferie's stern wake to gather myself for the final brutal charge to the finish line on the flatwater of Wolf River Harbor.  As we picked our way through the shallow water around the tip of Mud Island, I cut loose and gained a quick boatlength on the restauranteur.

In front of me, Hipgrave had fallen off the pace of Greene and Mims and looked almost beatable.  The trouble was that I was already putting out near-maximum effort and, with the wind now at our backs in the harbor, we were all withering under the mid-June sun.  It was tempting to back off a little and play cat-and-mouse with Roberto for the last 800 meters, but I thought to myself that if I didn't at least try to go after Chris, it would weigh on me in the months to come.  So I kept the hammer down.

In the end, Chris's margin was a little too big to overcome, but I crossed the finish line knowing I had given the race every last ounce of effort that I had.  I gasped for breath and my heart felt like it would explode inside my chest.  As I regained my wind and began my cooldown paddle toward Harbortown Marina, the pain returned to my hamstring.  I didn't care.

I later learned how the race up front had played out: Greg Barton had taken the win in 18 minutes, 3 seconds.  Mike Herbert had kept the pressure on until the turn into the harbor, and ended up second in 18:17.  Not surprisingly, a little time passed after Mike's finish.  Then Pete Greene came in at 19:30, followed six seconds later by Eric Mims.  Chris Hipgrave clocked 19:55 to my 20:03; Roberto Ferie's time was 20:12.  Phil Capel was eighth overall and first among those not paddling race boats (he was in a fast touring boat), finishing in a very admirable 21:27.

All these racers were about two minutes slower than they had been in past OICKRs.  The low water (1.7 feet below zero on the Memphis gauge) flows more slowly than high water, as one might expect; but an even bigger reason for the slow times is simply that the course was longer.  Not only was the start about a hundred meters farther up the Wolf than usual, but also there was more dry land exposed at the southern tip of Mud Island, forcing the racers to paddle perhaps a quarter-mile more than they do at higher river levels.  Happily, the start of the race went remarkably smoothly given the conditions; race director Joe Royer and official starter Lawrence Migliara deserve praise for that feat.

The racers I have mentioned so far were only a small percentage of the overall field.  There were about 200 more boats entered in the race, propelled by women, men, girls, boys, best friends, siblings, parents and children.  The incredible turnout from the community is really what makes this event special year in and year out.  A record of everybody's finish is available here.

The day was becoming hot but it was otherwise beautiful.  I found my spouse and we soaked up the sun and the music of the Bluff City Backsliders.  It was a good day to be alive in Memphis, Tennessee.

Let's hear it for 44-year-olds

Yesterday I paddled for 40 minutes and did five 12-stroke sprints.  The river was at 1.7 feet below zero on the Memphis gauge.  The latest forecast has it rising to -1.4 feet for the race tomorrow morning.

I've been catching up on the video footage of the whitewater slalom World Cup event at Cardiff, Wales, two weeks ago.  I don't follow the sport as closely as I did when I was racing slalom myself in the late 90s and early 00s, but I enjoy acquainting myself with the latest cast of characters now and then, especially when an Olympic Games is coming up.

While there are many new faces on the international slalom circuit, there are also a few racers from "my" era still hanging in there.  One of the finalists in the women's kayak class at Cardiff got my attention: Štěpánka Hilgertová of the Czech Republic.  Hilgertová has won two Olympic gold medals (1996 and 2000) and two world championships (1999 and 2003), and now, at age 44 (my age!), she has made her sixth Olympic Team.

The Czech Republic is one of the strongest slalom nations in the world, and one would expect younger paddlers to have supplanted Hilgertová by now.  I have come into the last couple of Olympic cycles thinking that surely Štěpánka has retired from the sport, only to tune into the Games and find her right there on the water.

I have commented now and then on the challenges of getting older.  It seems that in my 40s I am more vulnerable to fluke muscle strains and stuff like that, and recovery from exercise takes a little longer than it used to.  I'm responding by training less intensely than I might have 20 years ago while focusing more on the technical aspects of paddling.  And all things considered, I still feel pretty good most of the time and I'm not willing to concede anything to another racer simply because he's younger.

I expect Štěpánka has a similar attitude as she prepares for her sixth Olympics.  Knowing that she's still near the top of her sport gives me a little inspiration as I get ready to race tomorrow.

Sunshine

Today I paddled for 40 minutes and did another six of my 12-stroke sprints.

The rain has moved out and it's beautiful and sunny.  Much as I wish we'd get some rain higher up in the Mississippi watershed (the river has now dropped below -1 foot on the Memphis gauge), I'd just as soon have things dry around here.  Heavy rain in this area would send a torrent down the Wolf River, making things hairy for the start of the race this Saturday.

Wet weather

Today I paddled for 40 minutes and did six 12-stroke sprints with full recovery.

A light rain was falling the whole time, making the Mississippi River exceptionally beautiful.

Sadly, even a heavy rain here in Memphis won't bring the river up.  Rains higher up in the watershed, in the upper Mississippi and Ohio basins, are what impact river levels at Memphis.  Today's level is about -0.7 foot.

Monday Photo Feature

The first few times I raced in the Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race, I entered the "kayak cruising" class, intended for whitewater boats and other kayaks that weren't designed for forward speed.  Several times I used a friend's Microslipper, and several times, as in the photo above, I used another friend's John Jaycox-designed Colorado River Machine.  Back then the canoe classes started first, followed a couple of minutes later by the kayak classes; the result was that by the time I was approaching the finish line, I was in the middle of the pack of canoeists like the hombre beneath the sombrero (note the "No Passing" sign on the side of his boat--apparently, he meant it).

I competed in kayak cruising for five years, and won the class each time.  For my sixth OICKR in 1999, I decided it was time to move up to the "racing kayaks" class.  Greg Barton made his first appearance in the race that year and, not coincidentally, I did not win the class.  And I have not won the class any year since then, either.  My best finish has been third place, which I managed twice, with Greg Barton and Mike Herbert taking first and second each time.

These days the kayaks start first to magnify the star power of Barton and other elite paddlers.  Because of that, and because I'm paddling a faster boat and have improved my racing skills, I haven't had my path to the finish line blocked by paddlers in costumes in recent years.  But they will be out there when the 31st Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race commences this Saturday.  People of all ages and abilities are welcome to enter the race.  Even if you don't enter, it's worth coming down to witness the spectacle, to enjoy the post-race party in Jefferson Davis Park, and to hear the Bluff City Backsliders play some good music.

Photos from Dauphin Island

Here are some photos my mother took out back of our house on the Mississippi Sound side of Dauphin Island.

Adjusting the stern seat's footpegs for Ben.

Returning to the dock with Rachel.

Heading out with Joel.

Doing one of my workouts.

Peaking

The Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race is six days away.  Any hard workouts I do now would not improve my fitness until after the race.  So instead I am spending this week paddling easy and doing some short sprints to tune up my ATP-CP energy system.  My hope is that when I line up to race this Saturday I will be in "peak" form--that is, still very fit from the training I have done up until now, but also rested with a polished edge on my speed.

Today I did eight of my 12-stroke sprints at maximum intensity, with full recovery in between.  Then I paddled up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Wolf River, where the race will start on Saturday.

Last year the OICKR was canceled because of near-record flooding on the lower Mississippi River.  The river crested at just over 48 feet on the Memphis gauge during that period, and the parking lot that serves as a staging area for the race start was deep underwater.  What a difference a year makes: after an unusually dry spring in the watershed, the river is about 0.6 foot below zero at Memphis today, and is forecast to drop another half-foot or so between now and Saturday.

Even at low water, the Mississippi is a very big river, and so these low levels will not adversely affect the race except at one key place: the start.  Right now the Wolf is very narrow at its confluence with the Mississippi, and the prospect of a smooth, fair start for over 200 boats is a tricky one.  Race director Joe Royer tells me he's considering starting the race several hundred yards up the Wolf, where it is wider; I expect he also will break the field into two or more groups for a staggered start as well.

The biggest potential problem would occur if heavy rains fell in the Wolf watershed Thursday or Friday.  With the Mississippi at its low stage, fast water would rush down the Wolf all the way to the confluence.  We're hoping that does not happen.  In any case, I'll pass along any developments I know of between now and Saturday.

Queen, Hurd/Larimer round out U.S. Olympic Canoe and Kayak Team

Caroline Queen claimed the U.S. Olympic spot in women's kayak late Saturday, while Eric Hurd and Jeff Larimer made the final of an exciting men's double canoe competition this morning to become Olympians in that class, at the World Cup event at Cardiff, Wales.

Queen entered the competition tied in U.S. Olympic selection points with friend and fellow Maryland native Ashley Nee.  A racer must finish in the top 20 to earn more selection points and neither Queen nor Nee did that, Queen finishing 35th in the preliminary round and Nee 37th.  But the tiebreaker went to Queen by virtue of her earning the U.S. Olympic spot for K1W at the world championships last fall at Bratislava, Slovakia.  The third U.S. female kayaker, Emily Jackson, finished  43rd.

Men's double canoe, meanwhile, was full of drama for fans of slalom in the U.S.  Scott McCleskey and David Hepp, one of this country's top C2s in the late 90s and early 00s, had called it quits after narrowly missing the Olympic Team for the second time in 2004.  But they got back together last fall for one more shot at the Games this year, and made a serious run at the berth this weekend as they led Hurd/Larimer and Casey Eichfeld/Devin McEwan into the semifinal round.  But Hurd/Larimer, already leading by two points in the selection process, assured themselves of the Olympic berth with a 10th-place semifinal finish to advance to the final, leaving behind Eichfeld/McEwan in 13th place and McCleskey/Hepp in 18th.  The newest U.S. Olympians improved to ninth place in the final.

The complete results of the Cardiff World Cup event are available here.

And so, the U.S. Olympic Canoe and Kayak Team is complete.

The whitewater slalom competition for the London Olympics will take place from July 29 to August 2 at the Lee Valley White Water Centre in Hertfordshire.  The U.S. slalom team roster is as follows:

Casey Eichfeld (Drums, PA), men's single canoe
Eric Hurd (Marietta, GA), men's double canoe
Jeff Larimer (Kennesaw, GA), men's double canoe
Scott Parsons (Bethesda, MD), men's kayak
Caroline Queen (Darnestown, MD), women's kayak


The Olympic flatwater sprint regatta will be August 6-11 at Eton Dorney, Buckinghamshire.  The U.S. flatwater team roster is as follows:

Tim Hornsby (Atlanta, GA), men's kayak 200 meters
Carrie Johnson (San Diego, CA), women's kayak 500 meters

U.S. Olympic Team update: Parsons and Eichfeld take slalom spots

Two more canoe-kayak athletes made the U.S. Olympic Team today.  Competing in the whitewater slalom World Cup event at Cardiff, Wales, Scott Parsons placed 11th overall to earn the U.S. Olympic berth in men's kayak, while Casey Eichfeld finished sixth to claim the berth in men's single canoe.

Parsons held off the challenge of Jim Wade, who had entered this competition just two points back in the U.S. Olympic selection process.  Wade, who ended up 17th, had a raw time that was faster than Parsons's, but a two-second gate-touch penalty cost him a spot on the Olympic Team.  Parsons is now an Olympian for the third time, joining Davey Hearn and Scott Shipley as the only U.S. whitewater paddlers to accomplish that feat.  The other U.S. male kayaker in Cardiff, 2004 Olympian Brett Heyl, finished 29th.

Eichfeld turned in a fast and clean performance in the semifinal round to advance to the C1 final.  2008 Olympian Benn Fraker, who had led Eichfeld by two points in the selection process, had a superb raw time in the semifinal, but two gate-touch penalties (four seconds) knocked him back to 11th place.  Since only the top ten semifinalists move on to the final, Eichfeld was assured the better finish.  The third U.S. canoeist in the field was Zach Lokken, who finished 28th.

Results of today's racing in Cardiff are available here.

U.S. Olympic Team update: slalom team to be finalized this weekend

The U.S. national team for whitewater slalom competes in World Cup #1 at Cardiff, Wales, this weekend.  In the process, they will determine who will represent the U.S. at the Olympic Games this summer.  Jamie McEwan has written a nice summary of the selection process here.

Settling in back home

This morning I did seven laps of the May strength circuit--my last strength workout before the OICKR.

This afternoon I went downtown and paddled for 40 minutes.  It felt good to be back on my home water.

For the next seven days it'll be rest and some short sprints.

Get-away workout

This morning I wanted to get in one last good workout before the Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race.  The general consensus among physiologists is that it takes your body around ten days to repair the damage from a hard workout and overcompensate fully.  I'm now nine days out from the OICKR, so I hope to be realizing most of the benefit from today's workout on race day.

I paddled a couple of miles from our dock to the causeway that connects Dauphin Island with the mainland.  Not having any specific workout already planned, I made one up that made use of a row of utility poles running parallel to the causeway.  I sprinted from one pole to the next, paddled easy until the top of the next minute, and repeated.  I did eight sprints.  Each one took me 35-40 seconds, so the workout amounted to eight pieces of 35-40 seconds on, 80-85 seconds off.

After that I paddled back to the dock to see if any of the kids wanted to paddle.  Joel was the only taker, so we paddled the tandem for a half hour or so.  Then I took a shower, loaded the boats on the car, and headed north.

And now I'm back in good old Memphis, Tennessee.  I enjoy going places, but returning home always feels good.  I think my trip was as good as anything I could have done in the week between Little Rock and the OICKR: I got in a couple of good workouts and otherwise just relaxed and had fun.

Rudderless but happy

My mother has taken a few pictures of the kids and me paddling, but at the moment I don't have a good way to download them.  I'll try to put some up by the end of the week.

This morning Joel and Ben manned the tandem kayak while I paddled along in my race boat.  For me the intensity level was low, but the enjoyment of my nephews' company was high.  We paddled about a mile from the house to a spit of land that serves as an airstrip for small planes, and back.

On the way back the tandem boat's rudder cable came loose from the left foot pedal, and Joel and Ben had to complete the trip rudderless.  I coached them through it a little, but mostly tried to let them figure it out for themselves.  They did fine until it was time to close the deal (i.e., land alongside the dock), but I'm happy to report that nobody was lost at sea.

Rachel still wanted a turn in the boat, so I quickly repaired the rudder cable and took her out in the tandem.  We paddled out to the airstrip and back again.

I try my best not to get too maudlin or sentimental on this blog, but I have to say that I could not have asked for a better pair of nieces or a better pair of nephews.  They may or may not ever develop my passion for paddling, but I don't care.  They are smart and thoughtful and just plain delightful.

There are several offshore platforms visible from Dauphin Island on the Gulf side, and yesterday while Joel and I were swimming I wondered aloud whether they were oil derricks.

"Natural gas," Joel replied.  "There aren't any oil deposits around here, but there are natural gas deposits."

How many fourteen-year-olds do you know who would actually know something like that?  And the other three kids are just as interesting in their own ways.  Yep... proud uncle.  Gotta tell you.

Proud uncle

Today I did the same workout I did last Tuesday--45 seconds on, 30 seconds off--but I did eight pieces rather than twelve.  The workout didn't feel nearly as punishing today as it did last week.

After that, I returned to our dock in a little cove off Mississippi Sound, swapped out the surf ski for the tandem boat, and took three of my four nieces and nephews out paddling.  Ben, just shy of ten years old, went first, followed by Rachel, 8, and Joel, 14.  All three did great.  Joel, being the most mature and having joined me for several paddling adventures in the past, seemed like a veteran in the seat behind me.  I told both Ben and Rachel to concentrate on paddling in sync with me, and they did.  These kids live near Charlotte, North Carolina, and I'm sorry I don't get to paddle and spend time with them more often than I do.

In the afternoon we walked over to the Gulf side and swam at the beach.  It was warm and humid, but the Gulf breeze made things quite pleasant.

Bama beach

This morning I did seven laps of the May strength circuit.  Yes, I know it's June now, but with the OICKR just twelve days away, there's no point starting up something new right now.

Then I kissed Martha, got in the car, and started driving south.  On and on I went: Batesville, Grenada, Jackson, Hattiesburg, Mobile... and when I reached Dauphin Island, I stopped.

And here I am!  Dauphin Island is on the Alabama Gulf Coast at the mouth of Mobile Bay.  My mother has rented a house on the island and she and my sister's family and I are enjoying a little beach time.  Martha couldn't come, sadly--she has a meeting this week that she couldn't get out of.

I plan to do my last couple of hard workouts before the OICKR here, and I brought the tandem kayak so I can take my nieces and nephews out paddling.  Stay tuned for all the fun!

Monday Photo Feature

The 2005 edition of the Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race brought three generations of flatwater kayaking excellence to town: Greg Barton, member of four Olympic teams from 1980 to 1992 and winner of four Olympic medals (two of them gold), was joined by 2004 Olympian Jeff Smoke and his mother, three-time Olympian and 1964 Olympic bronze medalist Marcia Smoke.

The 31st Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race is coming up a week from this Saturday.

Racing in the Arkansas state capital

I'm home from my whirlwind trip to Little Rock, site of a big morning of racing.  Three of the paddlers I mentioned Thursday--Carlos Garcia, Cedric Bond, and Austin Schwinn--did not make it yesterday, but there was still plenty of competition.  When it was all over, Mike Herbert, 51 years old and still going strong, was the fastest overall male paddler, while Kaitlyn McElroy, fresh off the World Cup series in Europe where she won two medals, was the fastest female.

From my perspective, the race unfolded like this: Mike Herbert, Dylan Puckett, and Andy Guirardina (another flatwater racer with the Oklahoma City group) sprinted out to a commanding lead almost immediately.  Kaitlyn McElroy also got a good start and was quickly a few boatlengths ahead of me.  That left me paddling alongside two other boats: Bill Cains and Phil Capel were in a tandem to my left; Anatoli Yarshon, paddling a high-kneel ICF canoe, was also to my left; and Katy Hill, who I predicted Thursday might be good competition for me, was over to the right.

I elected to sidle over toward Katy for the purpose of trading wash-rides with her.  We settled in for the long haul, dropping Anatoli after a mile or so.  Meanwhile, Bill and Phil had their sights set on Kaitlyn, and as she steadily pulled away from us, so did they.

I felt quite good the entire way and was confident that I would be able to surge away from Katy with 800 meters or so to go.  What I failed to consider was that this girl trains full-time for 200-, 500-, and 1000-meter races.  With 300 meters to go we were still dead even, and slowly she inched into the lead.  My final flurry of furious desperation strokes couldn't prevent Katy from edging me out by about a third of a boatlength.

The finish times were quite a bit slower than last year's due to low water and practically no downstream current.  Mike's time was 37 minutes, 46 seconds--more than seven minutes slower than his 2011 time.  Puckett and Guirardina took second and third, respectively, in 38:06 and 39:40.  Kaitlyn McElroy led all ladies in 40:08, followed five seconds later by Cains/Capel.  Katy Hill was credited with a one-second margin over me, 42:22-42:23.  I was exactly ten minutes slower than I was last year, and that's probably because I settled for a tactical race with Katy rather than push the pace from start to finish.

And I guess that's why I feel a little less than satisfied with my performance.  After all the training I did in anticipation of a really intense race, I feel like I might have held back a little.  If I had gone after Bill and Phil and ridden their wash for the first couple of miles, I probably would have ended up in sixth place overall and a good bit faster.  Then again, seeing as how I had never previously lost to Bill and Phil when they had raced tandem (they were outstanding yesterday), going after Katy seemed like the most aggressive possible thing to do at the time.  I guess I should stop second-guessing myself and move on to the OICKR, coming up on June 16.

In any case, I always enjoy seeing the other folks who turn out, some of whom I saw yesterday for the first time this year.  I'm looking forward to having the canoe and kayak racing world descend upon Memphis in two weeks.

Yesterday's race results are posted here.

Final preparation for Little Rock

Today I paddled with Meghan in the harbor, and after she left I did five 12-stroke sprints and loaded up the boat for the trip to Little Rock.  I plan to leave between 5:00 and 5:30 tomorrow morning; Little Rock is about a two-hour drive, so I want to get there between 7:30 and 8:00 ahead of the 9:00 AM start.

The competition this Saturday

Today I paddled in the harbor for 40 minutes, doing six 12-stroke sprints (I define a "stroke" here to be a full cycle of a stroke on the left and a stroke on the right).

The purpose of these short sprints is to work the ATP-CP energy system that I talked about in my post way back on February 16.  One of these sprints, done at maximum intensity, takes me between 10 and 15 seconds.  If I sprint for much longer than that, my body will start to produce lactic acid, and then I'll be working that system rather than the ATP-CP system.  So I keep them short, counting strokes rather than timing because it's hard to look at a watch when you're paddling all-out.

While the aerobic system takes a few months to develop and the lactic system takes six to eight weeks to develop, you can develop your ATP-CP system with just a few days of these short sprints.  So it makes sense to do it in the days leading up to a big race, in which you'll use up your stash of ATP-CP as you explode off the start.  Because you don't produce any lactic acid during sprints of 15 seconds or less, it's a good way to rev your engines while you're otherwise paddling easy and resting up.

In 2012 I have competed in three races, finishing second in the first and winning the next two.  But when I line up in Little Rock this Saturday, I will not be among the favorites.

Last year, I finished ninth overall at the Arkansas River Canoe and Kayak Race.  And five of the people who beat me that day are registered for this Saturday's race.  Last year's top two, Carlos Garcia and Cedric Bond, are training partners at the U.S. national team's "high performance" facility at Oklahoma City.  51-year-old Mike Herbert, third last year, has a list of achievements that these younger paddlers would love to match: he's a three-time Olympian, a three-time medalist at the world championships, and a Pan American Games gold medalist.

Kaitlyn McElroy, who also trains at Oklahoma City, just won a bronze medal and a silver medal in double kayak competition on the World Cup circuit this month.  Oklahoman Dylan Puckett is currently the top junior kayaker in the U.S.

Garcia, Bond, and McElroy are all good enough to race in the Olympics this summer.  The main reason they won't be there is the tight limit on the number of athletes that the I.O.C. has imposed on what it considers "fringe" sports like canoe-kayak.  For most of my lifetime, the U.S. Olympic Team has included several K1 racers along with a full slate of K2s and K4s, not to mention single and tandem canoes.  But in both 2008 and 2012 the U.S. has had only two people--two people--on its flatwater Olympic Team.

But that's a rant for another day.  Also at Little Rock this Saturday will be Austin Schwinn, a young guy who beat me by a couple of minutes over 18 miles at the USCA Nationals four years ago, and who has improved significantly since then; and Katy Hill, whom I've never met but whose name I've seen floating around the flatwater ranks in recent years.  In the last two years, female flatwater racers have been my tightest competition at Little Rock, and I won't be surprised if Ms. Hill fills that role this year.  There are several other people registered in the K1 class (for boats that meet Olympic flatwater racing specs) with whom I'm not familiar, but my guess is they're pretty good.

So it's possible that I will have a great race this Saturday and finish out of the top ten.  How do you set a goal for a race like that?

Well, my goal might sound a little simplistic, but here it is: I'm going to go as fast as I can.  Basically, I want to be in the thick of competition with these racers who train as much as or more than I do, and the best way I know to do that is go out hard and try to stay with the fastest paddlers I can possibly hang with.  I'm hoping that the training I've done over the last couple of months will enable me to do that.

I would like to believe that even at age 44, I can hang with a training group like the one from Oklahoma City even though I wouldn't be its fastest member or even close to it.  This race gives me a chance to prove that to myself.  I am grateful to these flatwater Olympic hopefuls for venturing out to an event that's not held on a regulation nine-lane course, and I hope the experience will be as valuable for them as it is for me.

Active recovery

There's apparently a storm front heading this way, and the wind was picking up out on the river today.  So I stayed in the harbor and paddled very easy for 40 minutes as a recovery from yesterday.

One might argue in favor of not paddling at all on a recovery day--that way, you'd really get some rest.  But I'm a believer in an active recovery.  I think getting some blood flowing through my paddling-specific muscles helps repair whatever damage the workout did to them.  And as I've said numerous times in this blog, paddling is a technical sport and one can never get too much in-the-boat stroke practice.

It didn't kill me, so I guess it's made me stronger

I put in my last hard day before I race at Little Rock this Saturday.  I did seven laps of the May strength circuit, then met Joe at the marina for a workout of twelve 45-second pieces with 30 seconds recovery.  The workout went by quickly, but it was very tough and I'm feeling beat from head to toe now.

But I'm otherwise feeling good and I hope to arrive at the race this Saturday rested and sharp.  The rest of the week I'll be paddling just long enough enough to get loose and doing a few 10- or 15-second sprints to work the ATP-CP system.

Monday photo feature

Mike Herbert, Andy Balogh, and Joe Royer explode off the starting line at the 2007 edition of the Arkansas River Canoe and Kayak Race at Little Rock, Arkansas.  Since its inception in 2003, this event has used several different courses on the Arkansas, all of which have finished beneath the Interstate 30 bridge in downtown North Little Rock.  This Saturday's race will start at Murray Park, making the course about five and a half miles.

Work now, rest later

I hope to get some rest this week with a pretty intense race coming up Saturday, but with three weeks still to go before the OICKR, I'm not ready to shut the training down quite yet.  So I put in some work today, doing seven laps of the May strength circuit and paddling for 100 minutes.  I'll lift weights again and do a hard workout on Tuesday, and then I'll go easy the rest of the week, with a few short sprints, in preparation for the Arkansas River Canoe and Kayak Race.

It feels like summer has arrived, with highs in the 90s and little rainfall but plenty of humidity.  I guess Memorial Day weekend is as reasonable a time as any for the heat to get here.  The good news is I'm feeling a bit more energetic and my weight has come back up.

The U.S. Olympic flatwater team is complete

Tim Hornsby and Ryan Dolan both advanced to the "B" final of the men's K1 200 meters in World Cup No. 2 at Duisberg, Germany, this weekend.  Then, in the final round this morning, Hornsby finished fifth to Dolan's eighth, winning the U.S. Olympic Team spot in the event.  Hornsby crossed the finish line 0.248 second ahead of Dolan.  The complete results of the Duisberg regatta are here.

The U.S. has qualified only two flatwater sprint boats in this summer's Olympics: one for the women's 500-meter single kayak and one for the men's 200-meter single kayak.  Hornsby, of Atlanta, joins Carrie Johnson of San Diego to fill these two spots.  The Olympic flatwater regatta will take place August 6-11 at Eton Dorney, Buckinghamshire.

In whitewater slalom, the U.S. has qualified as many boats as a nation can qualify for the London Games: one boat in each of the four Olympic classes (women's kayak, men's kayak, men's single canoe, men's double canoe).  Members of the U.S. national team, selected back on April 12-14, will compete for those spots in World Cup No. 1 at Cardiff, Wales, on June 8-10.  My Training Blog by Elmore will report the results as soon as they are available.

Less is more

Back in Memphis yesterday, I did six laps of the May strength circuit and paddled for 80 minutes.

I met Meghan at the marina and we paddled together for 35 minutes.  After she left I did four pieces in the harbor from the monorail bridge to the Hernando DeSoto Bridge (a little less than 500 meters).  In the first couple of pieces I paddled as hard as I could with a high (for me) stroke rate; my times were 2:05 and 2:03.  For the third one I decided to back off the stroke rate and take longer, smoother strokes, and my time was 1:59.  I did the same in the fourth piece, and clocked about 2:01.

It was a reminder that paddling harder and faster does not always produce faster times.  Keeping the boat running smoothly, without bobbing up and down or rolling side-to-side, is crucial to making it go fast, and paddling so hard that you lose control of those things is counterproductive.

Meanwhile, I felt quite tired yesterday even though I'd just had several relaxing, low-intensity days at Calico Rock.  I checked my weight and I was three or four pounds below normal... hmmm.

Low water on the White

The reason for the lull in posting this week is that Martha and I spent Tuesday and Wednesday nights at the River View Hotel in Calico Rock, Arkansas.  We paddled our boats on the White River on Wednesday and Thursday, and otherwise just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

The White River at Calico Rock will be the site of a big racing weekend on June 23-24.  On Saturday morning, the United States Canoe Association's Aluminum Canoe Nationals will tear up the White, followed by the Arkansas "Big Dog" Canoe and Kayak Race that afternoon.  On Sunday morning the traditional "Big Dog" C2 Race will take place.

The water on Wednesday was very low (around 1000 cfs at Calico Rock, according to the USGS), and our friends at the River View tell us it's been that way all spring.  If it's like that on June 23-24, racers will have enough water to race on, but the bottom-drag will be tough.  On Thursday we found more water flowing down the White (around 1200 cfs).  I hope the demand for electricity will be sufficient for the damkeepers up at Bull Shoals and Norfork to let it flow next month.

The White River on Wednesday, between Red's Landing and Calico Rock.  Normal summertime dam releases make the water three or four feet deeper here.

Martha loves to paddle on the White River.

Martha took this photo from Lovers' Leap in Calico Rock, just above the Arkansas Highway 5 bridge, on Thursday morning.  The gravel bar in the lower left of the picture had been much bigger the day before.

Cutting the volume

Today I did six laps of the May strength circuit and paddled for 55 minutes.  Joe and I did eight 75-second pieces with 45 seconds recovery.  This amounted to a "lactic tolerance" workout; my hope is it will help me withstand the lactic burn as I dig for the finish line in the last few hundred meters of the coming races.

For most of this season I have done my workouts in the middle of much longer (90 minutes or more) paddling sessions, but I'm starting to trim that down now that the big races are just around the corner.  I'm still revving my engines hard, but I'm trying to get more rest the rest of the day.

The best college running coach I had was very insistent on running workout sessions as efficiently as possible--warm up, do the workout, cool down, and go home.  Lingering at practice just wasted energy, he believed, and it was better to give everything you had to training for an hour or less and then go back to studying or partying or whatever else you did with the rest of your life.

Since paddling is both lower impact and more technical than running, I think there is value in some long paddles to precede and follow up a hard workout.  But when the big races are coming up, and I need all the rest I can get when the training is at its most intense, I take my old college coach's advice and keep my session in the boat short and sweet.

U.S. Olympic Team update

USA Canoe-Kayak had hoped to add a second paddler to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team this past weekend.  But Ryan Dolan and Tim Hornsby, the two contenders for the Olympic spot in men's 200-meter single kayak, both failed to make at least the "B" final, one of the conditions for Olympic nomination, at the first World Cup race at Poznan, Poland.

In international regattas, the athletes with the nine best semifinal performances advance to the "A" final, which determines places 1 through 9 for the event.  The second nine racers compete in the "B" final for places 10-18, and the next nine make the "C" final.  Dolan and Hornsby both made the "C" final.

And so Carrie Johnson of San Diego remains the only athlete to have officially punched her ticket to the London Games for now.  She will compete in the women's 500-meter single kayak.  Dolan and Hornsby will try again at World Cup No. 2 at Duisburg, Germany, this coming weekend.  The complete results of the Poznan World Cup event are here (look on the left side of the page).

The U.S. Olympians in whitewater slalom, meanwhile, will be determined at World Cup No. 1 at Cardiff, Wales, on June 8-10.

Monday Photo Feature

Another whitewater photo today, but a much older one than last week's: this one's from the days when I pushed around a big old Blue Hole OCA while in the employ of Camp Carolina.  Here I am running Bull Sluice on the Chattooga River in the summer of 1987.  Photo by John Chapman.

Lethargic

I woke up tired this morning, partly because I was up later than usual.  Live from Memphis was putting on its second annual "Bikesploitation" film festival, and I went to that (on my bike, of course).  Then I came home and listened to the St. Louis Cardinals play some dreadful baseball against the Dodgers in a late game on the west coast.

So this morning I labored through my strength circuit (I'm up to six laps now) and then drove to the river for a 100-minute paddling session.  For the first half hour or more I felt incredibly sluggish and even light-headed in the boat, but eventually I rallied for a good second half.

Tomorrow is a day off, and I'm glad.

Good and loose

The Arkansas River Canoe and Kayak Race is two weeks from today.  The Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race is four weeks from today.

I knew today would be another hot one, but it was a nice morning again.  Perfect for a bike ride down to the river for some paddling.

In fact, this run of weather has been good for athletes in sports other than mine.  Yesterday a state record fell in high school track, as the Southwind High School boys ran 1:26.01 in the 4 x 200-meter relay at their regional meet.  "Day was warm, and I was feeling good and loose," said anchorman Jimmy Keys, who wound up as the meet's MVP.

I'm probably not feeling as good and loose as Keys--my back is still a little sore, and I'm tired in my shoulders from yesterday's workout--but I have to say my spirits are high with this good weather and the big races coming up.  Today I did an easy 60-minute paddle and enjoyed the nice day on the water.