Thursday, March 31, 2011

Jen back from coaching

Jen here,

Erin has been busy coaching here in Victoria with the Prairie Region Cadets and I was with the Royal Vic 29er team down in San Diego last week. I must admit that it was wonderful to get into some warmer weather and water...even though the folks down in San Diego found it pretty cold and thought that I was the "crazy Canadian girl with the flip flops on."
The 29er Mid Winters West spanned three days and we included an extra day of training.  Jess Round and Erin Berry as well as 29er rookies Sophie Papp and Maddy Innes made up "Team Girl Squad" for the weekend.  With up to five races a day there was plenty of action, and some excellent crash and burns to be seen on the race course.  Even the top teams were exhausted after five races on Saturday, but non more so I think than our intrepid Maddy and Sophie.   A big kudos to the girls for toughing out the regatta and pushing themselves harder than I think they even thought that they could push.  In fact, they both learned about just how physically demanding a day of racing can be especially if you get behind on eating and hydrating.  Next time you see the girls on the dock, just ask them about the tow back in on Saturday when they were both as sick as dogs.  We've ALL been there girls!
Thanks too to Jess and Erin for sharing their knowledge and experience, and proving to be great training partners.   It's always so much better when you have a solid set of training partners to tune up with each day, and to debrief with at the end of each day.  Way to go girls on a great regatta!

Thanks too to our billets, the Stewards. The Stewards are possibly the hippest and coolest family in Southern California...and that's saying a lot!  Amy, mum and school teacher, is the kind of teacher that every kid wishes they ever had in school.  Dan'l, aka Dad, is a Navy Seal, and we're pretty sure that he's actually Chuck Norris...I think I saw him open a jar of jam with his mind.  D'Amy, daughter of Amy and Dan'l, is the most athletic thirteen year old I think I've ever met. After 29er sailing with Erin, D'amy is currently trying to figure out how to fit some skiff sailing into her Sabot, Laser Radial, 420, and swim schedules.  Thanks to the Steward family for their hospitality!

Jen

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Cooperative weather makes for productive training

Jen here,

I'm ashamed to say that it's been two whole weeks since our last blog update!  Truthfully, we've been having a bit of bad luck with our training up until this week.  For the past two weeks, it seemed that there was either absolutely no wind (really! the bay looked like a mirror!) or there would be a storm blowing 40-45 knots!  We realize that training in heavy air is important, but felt that 45 knots was definitely beyond our limit at this stage of the game.  Fortunately this week the weather has been much more cooperative and we've managed to make up some of our lost training sessions.  Today was a beautiful 20-23 knot day, which we haven't had the opportunity to train in for a long time.  With the big swell and the nice breeze, conditions reminded us a bit of what we'll be sailing in when we go to Weymouth and compete in Sail for Gold in June.  Well, our waters a bit colder though, and there was an element of managing the ice cream headaches from the spray that hits us in the face when we sail. 
This weekend Erin and I are also teaching a coaching clinic for BC Sailing, and so we'll be dusting off our coaching hats for a few days.  Then next week I drive a trailer of 29ers down to San Diego to coach two fantastic 29er girls teams.  Then it's back to sailing sailing sailing for team Jen and Erin!

Take care!
Jen

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Late winter hits us in Victoria

Jen here,

The day after our Louis Riel training camp winter seemed to hit us again...with a foot of snow in Victoria!  Needless to say, training has been put on hold while the temperatures dipped to as low as -9 with the wind chill.  What does this mean for us? Lots of time at the gym! I've been focusing on strength training to try to get my back and shoulders as strong as possible, and working on a nutrition plan to help keep weight down while working on my strength. 
I had the opportunity to teach an instructor course in Vancouver over the weekend. It was a nice change of pace and all the candidates involved were enthusiastic and shared great ideas about coaching.  This was a Program Manager course, which certifies instructors to run their own learn to sail programs.  Lots of good ideas flying around the room and meaty discussions about promoting active and healthy living through the sport of sailing.  Very inspiring!

Cheers,
Jen