Active Rest

Today was my second day of on water practice. I was a little unsure about our new coach as he seemed very laid back. His coaching style is very different from last year’s in the sense that I felt he was much more approachable. Sometimes this can work against a coach because teammates may become too “relaxed” and then not take the coach seriously. However, whatever doubts I had about the training level of intensity this year have certainly been dispelled after today’s practice.

Two minutes at 80% pace

30 seconds of active rest

30 seconds of 100% or sprint

30 seconds of active rest

That was one set and we had to do five sets this practice in an hour. I can only recall one or two moments of rest for one minute. It was a pretty good workout but God, do I ever hate Active Rest now. Although for our sake, Coach AB called it “lily dip” which basically is a nicer or easier way of saying, Active Rest. I had to admit, I did stop a couple of times because my asthma was starting to act up again. Even when we did our warm up, I was not able to finish it because of my asthma. It’s still a little too cold for my asthma and truth be told, I think because I have not been as diligent with my personal training schedule. That fall back in December really threw things off schedule for me.

Warm up

400 meter sprint X 4

My body feels fine now but I know that tomorrow all those muscles worked will be sore.  Hopefully when our first regatta comes up in June we will be roaring to go. The boat doesn’t quite feel there yet but it will be. I can only hope and pray that I will be able to keep up with my team. It feels like I will be trying to play catch up again like I did in my first year with them. I really need to figure out what to do with my own personal training schedule.

Trying Not to Burnout

Just finished my Chemistry and Psychology course today. Hopefully I’ve passed them. I still have to hand in one more assignment for my Psychology course and then I’ll be done with it. I’ve decided that I can’t continue on like this anymore and I really don’t want to burn out. Plus, I can’t afford all of my books for my next courses, Human Anatomy & Physiology and Preventative Health. I’ll be dropping one of my courses, Preventative Health and switching to part time temporarily. I think it will be for the best or else I’ll really crash. After I finish Anatomy I’ll switch back to full time. I think I just need the break and hopefully it will help. This will mean that I’ll have Mondays and Wednesdays off. I’ll see if I can get a part time job and hopefully bring in some money as I really don’t want to be borrowing money off the BF again. Sigh. Anyways, this might give me a chance to start getting back into a training schedule again. I seriously need to get back on track again with my working out. Sigh. I really hate living here.

Increasing Levels of Stress

It’s been a while since I last  posted. A few things have happened. Unfortunately, not such great news for me. My financial situation isn’t exactly the greatest right now and it’s obvious, to me at least, that it is affecting my health. The money I was counting on each month to help me out, although small, has ended. I’m very disappointed by the decision but this puts me in a very desperate situation of looking for money to pay for what little and simple bills I have. I have no idea of how I am going to find the money to pay for this other than looking for a part time job (yes, I have been looking but no luck so far). It’s not been easy and the only thing left I can do is pray. Next  month my text books are going to cost me more than I thought so that puts another strain on things.

I haven’t been working out at all since I fell down the stairs in December and I have noticed a definite increase in weight. This is making me very depressed because I know how hard I had worked to get to where I was. It was not an easy journey. To be honest, I’ve noticed that I have been more unhappy ever since I moved back to my parents place. I know this is significant in more ways than one. I am hoping, praying that I will be able to get a job, a GOOD job too so I can move out eventually. While I do appreciate the support I am getting from my parents and family, I need to remind myself that this is only temporary. If only for my sanity’s sake.  I apologize if I seem out of it. But, it’s what I am feeling these days.  Stressed, depressed and unhappy.

First Day Of Practice

Sunday marked my dragon boat team’s first day of practice. We were at a new facility this year for pool practice because the facility where we practiced last year had the land reclaimed. So alas, like many dragon boat teams we were in search of a new facility to start our dry land training/pool practice. This year, we chose the Mississauga Canoe Club or more affectionataely known as MCC. In the past, I’ve trained in an actual pool (sitting on the side of a regular pool and working on refining technique) and also the one located at my practice site. Which was specificially designed for dragon boaters. It was a good facility if not a bit rudimentary and “rustic” in nature. However, it did a fine job of emulating what it would be like to be paddling in a dragon boat. At MCC, their “pool” facilities were slightly modified for the paddlers in mind. And not just dragon boaters too. It has been used as a training facilities for canoers obviously. But also other water sport athletes (kayakers, dragonboaters, etc.).  Here is a picture of what their facility looked like.

Being someone that does not know how to swim (yes I know, but you’d be surprised at how many dragon boaters don’t know how to swim), you can imagine my nervousness when my coach instructed me to “sit in the middle” since I paddled left. Fortunately for me, I discovered that the water was actually not too deep and you could actually stand up in it. Unfortunately for one of my teammates since he accidentally fell into the pool while doing one of our drills! I felt even more sorry for him as he did it again! And then almost a third time. On the bright side, my coach said that every year someone always falls in. He’s done it before and also, if it’s happened to you it indicates that you are exerting enough power into the stroke. Or something to that effect.  I will say one thing though for next week. I must remember to bring water shoes. The place was freezing and my poor little toes were frozen by the end of practice! However, I had to admit that the facility was not too bad in emulating what it feels like to be in a dragon boat. However, every paddler knows that once you actually in the boat it’s still a completely different feeling. You will feel pain as your body remembers those muscles you “rested” during the off season.

All in all though, it was a good practice. The coach made it fairly easy on us since our bodies were getting readjusted to the stroke after a long off season. At first, after practice I thought it wasn’t so bad. My body was remembering the stroke and my mind was ever eager to get back into the swing of things. I was loving it and I could feel myself getting back on the wagon again. I am re-focusing again and ever more determined to reach my fitness goals.  Even though my body is aching from our first practice, I can say that the passion has not died. I can’t wait to get on the water!

Note regarding Photo: This photo was sent out to my team to give us an idea as to what the facility looked like. While I would love to give credit to the owner of the photo I am not quite sure who it belongs to. I can only surmise that the photo may have been given to customers/clients of the facility.

Trying To Move On

Lately I  have been feeling very sad and I couldn’t really pin point why until I realized what the date was when I saw the calendar. It’s been almost a year since you passed away. Next week it will be one year since your plane went down. There are still so many things that remind me of you. I am trying to move on with my life. Some days, it’s OK and I feel like I am doing well. I am embarking on a new career path that I think I will enjoy and find rewarding. I have found someone that I feel will be with me for a long time and care very deeply about me as I do them. But, then there are days when I don’t know what to do with myself and I feel like my emotions are spiralling out of control. Does one ever recover from the death of a loved one? I do not know. You are the first person I know that I care about very deeply that has passed away. I don’t know how to move on emotionally. I don’t know what to do and I feel so lost…