Sunday, November 22, 2009

iDiscovered iMovie

Here's hard week, on video!

Friday, November 20, 2009

A testament to my deep, deep love for kayaking



Needles are my second-biggest fear. I faint; I barf; I freak out. But today my back hurt enough to warrant facing this fear, so that is how I found myself laying face-down on a table with 8 needles, each stuck a half inch into my back and hooked up to electricity to deliver current deeper into my muscles.

Oy vey!!

Monday, November 16, 2009

A photo-journal of my awesome weekend


Joshua Tree National Park!


It was chilly. Think 40 degrees, but with a rather stiff, biting wind. I have no idea why my down jacket is here in Southern California with me, but it was a very good item to have.


Mickle and I met up with Lauren Austin (on the left), our beloved teammate who is now studying geology at UC Davis and cramming her life full of climbing adventures.


Lauren brought Ian, who is our new friend/hero. I've never (in person) seen anyone climb like he does.


All these rocks had me feeling prehistoric. I half- expected to see a dinosaur thundering off in the distance.


Can you spot Ian? He's placing gear in a route called Leave It To Beaver, which he climbed a few hours later.


And here I am, un-gracefully shimmy-ing up this off-width crack while Lauren belays me from behind the pointy desert plant.


Half way up the crack I got stumped and made an angry face for awhile.


But later I redeemed myself by climbing this more challenging route. I enjoyed it immensely because it was in the sun.


I love trees, and rocks.


Mickle loves my headlamp.


It was good to get back in touch with my love for escapades like these. It's easy to get wrapped up in numbers and training and forget that the reason I started kayaking in the first place was because of my passion for outdoor adventure!

Friday, November 13, 2009

Where I'll be skiing one month from today



Points for anyone who can identify this paradise

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Erg Workout

Videos from an erg workout today





More are available on my youtube channel but I imagine they're not too interesting to anyone but Mags and me :)

Monday, November 9, 2009

Video from last week

Here's a clip of Mags (green boat) and me (white boat) during a workout last week. Paddling is coming along well. Nathan has returned, which is great for many reasons including that he films most of our sessions. Video is really important, especially during the autumn months when we are trying to correct technical weaknesses and build muscle memory. When I look at this video I can see that my elbows are coming too high on the exit-- they should drop down and relax-- and I need to hold my top arm back more and make sure it is coming across my face at the same speed as my hip. You can see that I am paddling too much with my upper body; there is not enough connection or leg drive.

There is always so much work to be done on technique. It is paramount to every sport!


Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Jump- roping

I was doing a bunch of jump-roping this afternoon and it reminded me of this video.




I've got to learn their moves!!