Arizona
18th April 2010Summer in Europe
Hi there and welcome to my news section. It has been quite some time since the last update but finally here's something new. I'll go through it all in chronological order and I'll start with what I've been doing last summer. After returning from California I went to Liptovsky Mikulas in Slovakia to coach the Dutch athletes during the European Championships for juniors and U23 paddlers. The race was held on the left course and during the week training went pretty well. Unfortunately during the race most athletes had difficulty to perform on the same level as they did during the training. A few weeks after Liptovsky I went to Sault Brenaz to the annual VKC summer week. As always we had nice weather and water and it was a fun week. With 3 or 4 hours coaching a day there was little time left to be on the water myself, but I made sure to paddle at least once a day.
Tempe, AZ
Sun Devils in action
At the end of August it was time for something completely different. I flew to Phoenix, AZ, to start my internship at the Arizona State University. It took a few days from me to get used to the 9 h time difference and the 40+ ° C temperature. I also had to find some place to stay for the next four months so I rented a car and checked out a few places. In the end I found a house very close to campus there I joined my roommate Dori. My landlord Russ just visited The Netherlands a few months earlier so we had some entertaining stories to exchange. A bike came with the room, so I had all the essential stuff worked out.
My internship was about aggregate modeling of manufacturing lines and I performed my research under supervision of Prof. Dieter Armbruster. Without going in too much detail I analyzed a few models for manufacturing lines and and compared their performance especially for systems in transient. For those of you that like to know more about this, I'm planning on putting my report on here within the next few weeks.
On our way to Vegas
Studying wasn't the only thing I did while I was in Arizona. Together with a group of both American students and exchange students, united in the Global Devils, we did a lot of stuff. Volleyball and wing night on Tuesday, happy hour on Thursday, various sport events and parties on the weekend just to name a few. Together with two friends of mine we also bought a car so we could explore other parts of Arizona and the US on the weekends. I also decided to get my Arizona drivers licence, which was really easy and cheap! I paid 10 dollars and the test was a combination of a simple computer test and a practical test that literally was just a one block trip.
Some of the trips we took were to the Grand Canyon, which I visited in December with snow and ice at the rim, but also on the road. A nice change compared to the desert temperatures in Tempe. We also went to Las Vegas where some of us lost some money, others won some money and we all had an awesome time. At the end of November my brother Joris gave me a surprise visit. During the few days he visited me we went to Tucson, climbed Camelback Mountain and we celebrated my birthday together. After the semester finished in December a lot of people started to go back home and on December 19th I also flew back, a lot of awesome experiences and great friends richer.
Back home
When I arrived back home I was welcomed by my family and friends and also by the coldest winter in a decade. So I traded my flip-flops for my down jacket and after a few weeks of vacation I started with my final project, which is about superstate refinement, I'll write more on that some other time. Being back also meant I could start paddling again on the Dommel, which I must admit wasn't always that appealing with the low temperatures. Right now I'm padding just for fun so I didn't really have high expectations when I took past at the Dutch Championships this weekend. I'm not really fit at the moment so I decided to use the fast flowing water of the DWD course to give me my speed and concentrated on getting my lines right. This payed off as I finished 3rd in the end and together with Robert and Maarten we finished 1st in the team event. I was quite happy with my performance this weekend and more importantly I had a lot of fun.
2009 Update
16th July 2009Paddling
It has been a very long time since my last update but here it is at last. So, what have I been up to all that time? Some of you might already have noticed that I have not been paddling the major races this year, in fact, I haven't done any races at all. I will give a small reading on this decision.
When I was overtrained last year in summer, I was basically forced to take a step back from paddling. I decided to put the time that I used to put in my training to good use by picking up on my study, so I started with my Master in Systems Engineering. Back then the plan was to devote the first semester to my study and use that time to recover from my overtraining. In December I slowly increased my training level, but I noticed after two weeks that it still didn't feel rights so I decided to delay the start of my training with an other month.
After the exams of my first semester I again started to pick up on my training in January. Of course after such a long period of training hardly at all, I wasn't really feeling fit but I did notice a pretty quick response to the increased training intensity. However I lacked something that's even more important when it comes to training and that's motivation. As I mentioned before I was forced to take a step back and this didn't only mean that I could not train as much as I used to, it also meant that it provided me with the time and opportunity to take a good look at the past few years and reflect upon what I was doing.
Without going to much in to detail, many of you might remember that in the past I had some disputes with our federation and that they were not resolved in a proper way. On top of that I couldn't get along with our national coach and I wasn't the only athlete. Last year 5 out of 6 team members pleaded for an other national coach, but as could have been expected this had no effect at all. Looking back at the past years I noticed that although I made some good progress in paddling, being on training camp with the national team most of the times was no fun at all. However when we were away with only a small group everything was fine. After reflecting the past few years and looking forward to the upcoming seasons I had to ask myself a very important question: is it all still worth it?
I had to answer this question with no. Training on the highest level is a fulltime activity and the time you put in must be worth what you get back in return. I didn't feel like this was still the case and therefor I made the decision to spend my time for some of my other qualities like my study. This decision wasn't easy to make, especially because I haven't yet reached my personal goals in paddling and I still like the sport itself very much.
This decision doesn't mean I turn my back on paddling, I will still be paddling now and then, preferably when the weather is nice ;). I also continue to give training at my club twice a week and this year in May I organized our annual slalom race that's also part of the Holland Cup series. A new experience for me was this years national qualification held in Augburg. Instead of racing, I was there as team leader and coach for for athletes from our club. I'm not yet sure what the future may bring, maybe I decide to pick up paddling one again to fulfill my goals, or maybe I'll focus on something else.
Studying
With the decision made not to paddle this year, the natural thing to do was to carry on with my study. I still had a few courses left to be done in the second semester in order to compleat my Bachelor. This mainly because in the second semester I normally would be abroad often for training and racing so following courses then is a tough challenge. The year however I had much more time so I set myself the goal to compleat my Bachelor and also I wanted to finish all my courses for my Master. A few weeks ago I handed in my last projects and did my last exams and I'm happy to say I've met both goals. For now only the Exam Commission must confirm that indeed I have done all courses and projects of the Bachelor and then I have my Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering. I've also completed all courses for my Master, meaning next semester for me will consist of an internship, followed by two semesters for my final project.
Vacation
My brother and me on sub dome with half dome in the background
With all courses done the next six weeks for me will be vacation. I already started with that four weeks ago when I
flew to California to visit my brother Joris, who had been studying there at UCSC in Santa Cruz. In conclusion of his
time there we did a road trip through California.
We started in San Francisco where we rented a cool Ford Escape
Our cool rental
car 4WD and then we headed of to Lake Tahoe. We camped there overnight and misjudged how cold it gets there
during night when we woke up in the morning and the car thermometer indicating 2 ℃. We enjoyed a nice BBQ
hamburger breakfast at the lake before we continued our journey to Yosemite National Park. It was a scenic drive with a
lot of nice views, and when we arrived in Yosemite the sights only became better. After we got some groceries we set of
the find a campground that was not yet fully booked and lucky us they even had a black bear sniffing around right at
the entrance. The next day we stood up early to start one of the highlights of the trip, namely our hike to Half Dome.
View at the falls on our hike
The hike to the top of Half Dome is depending on the route you take a 24-27 km round trail, starting at a elevation of 1233 m and finishing at the top at 2693 m, after a impressive 1460 m of elevation. This give the hike an average elevation over 8 percent. We woke up early in the morning and drove half a hour to the parking near the start of the trail. After a good breakfast and packing all our gear (with among other things 4.5 litres of water pp), we went to the beginning of the trail, where we started our hike at 8.30. After only a few 100 m the trail was going up and it would continue that way for a long time. We took the longer route up and this lead us passed some phenomenal views and over a waterfall as well. The second part up was pretty intense and we needed to take a regular stop as we were going up pretty steep and the air was becoming thinner. The views were amazing up the dome and then it was time for our descend. On the sub dome this was pretty challenging with lost of loose gravel on the granite and I was very pleased when we were of there. We took a small detour on our way down when after a while we said to each other we couldn't remember coming past there on the way up. Better safe than sorry we turned around and we found the right trail after only 15 minutes or so. In the beginning going down felt pretty good since it was not as breathtaking, bat after a while I started to feel my knees. The last part of the trail was a bit painful, but we were back at the start 10 hours after we left, exhausted, satisfied and sticky. We took a shower and a big meal before we went back to our tent.
49 palms oasis in Joshua Tree
The next day we concluded our northern trip with a visit to Stanford University and in the evening we flew to LA.
Here the next day we picked up a new car end we set of once aging, this time in to the desert to Palm Springs. We had a
nice pool at our hotel and in the evening the main street was closed for some kind of fair. The next day we did a short
hike to 49 palms, and hiking in the desert was also a really cool (or should I say hot with temperature exceeding 105
degrees Fahrenheit (40 °C) experience. After the hike we drove east to start in Needles with the historical route 66.
It was a great experience to drive for an hour and literally see no other car at all.
On the route 66 with evening sun
We did see really long trains transporting all kind of stuff. After a stay ar a local motel, the next day we continues along the 66 to Santa Monica and then we drove along the coast to Santa Barbara. We chilled a bit at the beach and also went to the movies in a Mexican style cinema. Our parents arrived here the next day after their trip coast to coast trip and the remaining week we had a laid back time, going up the highway 1 to San Francisco again. There we spent a few days enjoying the city and of course going up the hills in the cable cars. We also visited alcatraz before we flew back home on the 5th. It was a really good time and a great experience.
Dutch Open
20th October 2008
Padding on the DWD course in April
This weekend the Dutch Open was held in Zoetermeer and also on Saturday there was a ICF slalom judge exam. I took past in both events and all the hard studying on the statues of the ICF paid off, I passed the exam and am now not only an athlete, but also international judge.
The race was on Sunday and there were just over 60 competitors from different countries. For me the race was just for fun and fun it was. I was a bit sloppy with 3 touches in both runs and also some wide lines, not training much is not a problem on flat water, but on white water you lack precision. On the site of Plané you can find some photo's of the Dutch Open.
Dutch Champs
10th October 2008
Michael winning the HWC race
Last week the final Holland Cup was held in Helmond, on the canal. Even though the water is flat, it’s still fun because there is a 3 m high ramp at the start, making it the HC race with the biggest drop, even without white water. I had two options the do the race, wide lines and slow, or tight lines and slow. I chose for the second option and it didn’t pay off.
In my first run I did a upstream gate with only half my head and got a 50 second penalty. In my second run I made sure to keep my head between the poles, but again I got 50 extra seconds. This time I was sure it was a clean gate, but because of the first run it didn’t really matter. On top of it all I wasn't really slow, so in retrospect I maybe should have chosen the first option. After the race the Holland Cup was calculated and I came second behind Michael.
Dutch Champs
22nd September 2008
Padding on the DWD course
Last weekend the Dutch Champs were held at the DWD course. It was quite a busy weekend with not only slalom, but also freestyle, boaterX, down river and canoe polo. In the same weekend the 75th anniversary of our federation was also celebrated.
I only took part in the slalom and this year, being overtrained, it was just for fun. The course was fun and quite challenging for a national race. I was happy with most of my lines and had fun paddling down. My times however were not great, but I could not have expected them to be. Robert won for the 4th time in a row, Bas came second and David came third, congratulations to them all. I came 4th behind them.
In the team event I raced together with David and Robert for the VKC. In the past we paddled quite well together, this time we were a bit sloppy, almost missing out start, making a few touched and even a short paddle-back. Luckily our junior team (Robin, Frans, Maarten) kept up our club honor with some solid paddling, thus winning the race, congratulations to them as well. We came second followed by the HWC.
Gennepermolen
14th September 2008
I don’t have a picture of this years race, so here’s a picture of last years Gennepermolen
This weekend the biggest race in The Netherlands was held just 3 minutes on bike from my home, at the Gennepermolen in Eindhoven. The race is big because the large number of foreign competitors from Germany, Belgium and even France. Yesterday a few of the races were already held and there was also quite a big downriver sprint. In the evening the night slalom (team event) was held, but I decided not to race to spare my powers for today.
Because I haven’t been training for two months now and I still feel overtrained I went in the race not expecting much. This year the water level was really low, at some sections being less than 30 cm. This made the course pretty physical. The first half of my first run went smooth, but then I collapsed and struggled to keep my boat on speed. However I was pleasantly surprised with my time after the first run. I sort of expected to be 10 seconds behind the fastest time, but it was only 1 second. I did get one touch though. My second run went a bit worse, I just wasn’t recovered from the first run and was slower and made a stupid touch in the first section.
In the end I came second behind flat-water king Michael. Also thumbs up for Maarten who showed some impressive paddling placing the fastest clean time and second fastest total time of the day. For now I’ll do nothing until Sunday when we have the Dutch Champs in Zoetermeer. We’ll see how that goes with no training.
University
25th August 2008
Today was the first day of the new academic year at my university and it also meant a new beginning for me. Although I still need to do a few courses for my Bachelor degree, I have started with my Master in Systems Engineering. It feels good to start with something new and it also gives me something to do now I can’t train that much. The first year will be filled with courses and next year I’ll have a three months internship followed by a graduation project of a year. We’ll see how long it will take me to graduate, because paddling will definitely cause some delay.
Yesterday was also the first time I’ve visited the DWD course since our qualification. There was a slalom slot planned and quite a few paddlers from different clubs showed up. I gave training to some paddlers from our club, gave the training from the water though. This way I could show what I meant and also paddle a bit myself. The course has changed a bit, the first half has become a bit slower and at the main drop the flow is changing all the time. However it was fun to be paddling on white water again.
Holiday and Sault Brenaz
10th August 2008
Not our ship, but a ship we saw in Copenhagen
Yesterday I came back from our annual club camp in Sault Brenaz, France. The week before I was on holiday with my parents ands brother, so I’ll
write something about that first. On Saturday the 26th we drove to Kiel, a harbor city in the north of Germany. There we boarded our floating and
moving hotel aka cruise ship. Ours was not so big with a length of ‘only’ 162 metres
Our ship in a fjord in Norway, still it’s a lot bigger than the 3,5 metrss I used to. None
of us had ever been on a sea cruise before, so we didn’t really know what to expect, but it proved to be a fun and relaxed holiday. First we set
sail to Copenhagen in Denmark, where we arrived the next morning. It’s a really nice city with lots of statues, fountains, gardens and old
buildings. We discovered the city on foot and of course we saw the The Little Mermaid, where it was crazy busy, all for just a statue?
After Copenhagen we sailed to the north and into the fjords of Norway. We went into a few fjords, including the deepest and the longest. The fjords
and landscape are just beautiful and because we had only sunny weather we could enjoy the most of it. It’s just amazing to sail through the
mountains with snow on the peaks. On our return from the fjords we also visited Bergen, the second-largest city of Norway. This is also a nice
city with a lot of cultural heritage, one of the reasons why it was European Capital of Culture in 2000.
The Bryggen
The Bryggen in Bergen on a rainy day were probably the most
interesting attraction of the city, they are wooden warehouses back from the days when there was a lot of trading from the wharf.
After Bergen we sailed back to Kiel where we arrived early in the morning on Saturday. It was a relaxed way of traveling because there is lots of room on the ship, and you can just chill in your cabin if you feel like it or do something else on board. Also the food was really good with a buffet in the morning and a 5 course meal for lunch and dinner. We had two days at sea which we spend on the top deck or playing Citadels (Machiavelli).
We arrived back home on Saturday evening and we all had sea legs, I went to bed early and the next morning I packed my gear to go to Sault Brenaz, France. Here we have our club camp with the VKC each year, I have been there the first time in 1999 and I think I only missed out on it once in 2005 due to the Pre Worlds in Prague the same week. It’s just a real fun week with training and camping next to the course, BBQ’s and of course the Pancake Party on Wednesday. This year we were joined by Sander and Stijn from the HWC and the camp even had international standard with Louise from New Zealand.
I gave training two times a day to the juniors and I think they all progressed through the week. Because I’m overtrained I wasn’t allowed to train too much myself, so I did a short session on Monday and Tuesday and a bit longer session on Thursday and Friday. Apart from the first session they all went smooth and it was great fun to be paddling on the white water. At the end of the week I was feeling more tired but I think I didn’t overdo my training. We ended the week with a team race on Friday consisting of a boatercross relay race, slalom relay and raft down river. With Martijn, Louise, Wim, Max, Niek and Sophie we managed to finish in a nice 4th position overall… It has been a relaxed week with sunny weather and fun on and off the water.
Overtrained
24th July 2008
Unfortunately drinking recovery drink won’t speed up the recovery from overtraining, not even when it tastes really bad (which it does).
Today I finally found out what’s wrong, I’m overtrained. Last week I visited the ophthalmologist and I underwent some tests. Yesterday I had an other meeting with my hematologist who also had the results from the ophthalmologist and all that could be concluded is that I am healthy in both their respective specialisms. I hoped that at least on of them could give me a diagnosis, because then I know what’s wrong and what I can do about it. Since this wasn’t the case I decided to go to a sports physician.
I went there this morning and after summing up what’s happened and what’s wrong he decided that I should do a maximum intensity test with oxygen mask on a bicycle ergometer. I took the test straight afterwards and discussed the results. It was clear that my HRF dropped really slow after the peak and this with some other aspects pointed towards overtraining.
So for now the advice I got was simply put lots of rest. I am allowed to train, but only aerobe extensive and not to long or often. I’m going on a holiday next week anyway so then it’s no problem, the week after however we have our annual club camp in Sault-Brenaz, France. I will really need to control myself then so I won’t be doing too much training. We can only guess when I will be recovered from this overtrainig, but it is possible that I was already in a mild stage of overtraining after I came back form Australia. If this is the case it can take months.
Pre-Worlds Seu and more
17th July 2008
Taken during test race on Friday, (c) Agustí Cucurulls, Núria Carabassa 2008
It has been a while since the last update, so you might think that not much has happened the last few weeks, that’s only partly true though. The first few days after the VKC race I felt really tired and I thought that I just needed some rest after those energy consuming weeks. But then on Thursday I started to get this strange feeling of dizziness combined with a delayed reaction and some feeling of absence. At first I thought it was just a reaction on half a sleeping pill I took the night before, but as the feeling continued on Friday that didn’t seem to be the case.
I must explain that in March I had the same feeling just after I came back from Australia but at that time it was much milder. My doctor (GP) then thought I had an influenza infection attacking my organ of equilibrium and that apparently my defense system was working fine since I only had a mild cold at the time and no fever. The diagnosis made sense as a few people around me were having the flu at that time.
This time though it didn’t seem likely I had the flu and also I felt much worse, I wasn’t even able to drive a car. So when I didn’t feel better after the weekend I went by my GP once more to find out what was wrong with me. After some tests he concluded that I had a high blood pressure, which stunned us both so we decided to do some blood tests. A few days later the results showed that all my organs were working fine and I wasn’t having an infection, but that I did have a high Hemoglobin level with a low MCV. Not knowing what to think of the results I was then referred to a hematologist. I had a few more tests and was checked again thoroughly, but noting special showed. Luckily a few days later my blood pressure had dropped again and I was feeling less dizzy, and my doctor said it was fine for me to go to the Pre-Worlds. I was pleased with that, but I also knew I wasn’t going to bring my best result there, because in the past few weeks I only have been doing a few aerobic sessions a week and noting more. Every time I did a harder session I felt really bad afterwards.
So only a few day later I drove of to La Seu d’Urgell together with Annelies and Nicky. In the weekend we were kindly invited to train in the slots of the Spanish team and on Sunday evening David completed the team. During the following days we did some good sessions and I had fun on the course. I’d never been on this course before and amazes me how they have made such a good course with only a small discharge. At the end of the week I started to feel tired again so I took back on training hoping that I would still be fit for the race.
On Friday a testing race was held with normal start and finish but only 10 downstream gates in between, of which some were rigid. Touches didn’t count but missing a gate would mean disqualification. It was fun to do the race and in my preparation in chose my lines so that would cut them by touching the gates where possible. During my run however it proved hard to hit a gate intentional and I also underestimated the length of the course a bit.
On Saturday it was qualification and I was really tired, lets just say I came down twice and it was enough to make it in to the semi final. Then on Sunday in the semi I was happy with my lines apart from the last three gates, but I just didn’t have any speed on the line. With a touch on gate 2 I came 35th. Now I’m back home and I have a few more doctor visits planed to find out what’s wrong and I hope I can pick up training soon.
VKC Holland Cup
10th June 2008I don’t have a picture of the VKC race, so here’s a picture of last years Gennepermolen race
Last Sunday there was a race on my home stretch at the VKC in Waalre. This was also the third race counting for the Holland Cup. Because the race was held at my club I was not only competing, but also part of the organization, responsible for designing and hanging the course. So after testing different combinations with my training group on Thursday we build the course on Friday. It’s always a challenge to design a course that’s different to previous years but still challenging and fair. Especially down at the mill, the biggest white water in The Netherlands after DWD, I tried to make a course that’s challenging for the more advanced paddlers, but at the same time also fun for beginners. I hope that was the case this year.
On Saturday I was mostly busy being the team leader for our club and on Sunday we had the race. My first run was alright with fast lines, some fast upstream gates by “necking” them and one minor touch. After my first run I had s solid 2,9 seconds lead, but my second run was a bit clumsy with two touches so my leads was reduced to 1 second. It was enough however to win this race for the fourth time in a row.
Two races in Merano
4th June 2008
The course for the race on Sunday
Last week two races were held in Merano, Italy, a course with normally not so much water, but this year there was plenty. Together with Frans, Robin and Maarten, all promising juniors from my club, I drove to Augburg on Monday. We trained here on Monday and Tuesday morning and then we drove further to Merano. We had a nice apartment within walking distance from the course with cool Murphy beds. When we went for our first training on Wednesday we saw the water level was much higher than the previous years. It was really fun to paddle on and it reminded me a bit of Lofer. The first training we use to get to know the water and to see where we could paddle and where the rocks were.
The following sessions the water level rose a bit more with the most water on Friday. Saturday we had the first race with a course that was pretty straightforward. My first run was nothing special and I think I didn’t attack enough on the straights, losing some time there. The second run I messed up the first few gates with a to direct line resulting in hitting gate 2. Besides that is was pretty simulate to my first run, placing me 13th.
The second race the course was a bit more technical. My first run my time wasn’t bad at all, but I made two touches, both because I was a bit impatient and wanted to get out of the upstream to fast. Three and a half hours later in the second run I was clean and I thought I also was a bit faster, but apparently I lost some time along the way. After the race we packed our boats, went for some Italian ice cream and got in the car for our return journey. It was a 1100 km drive back home and since I was the only one with a driving license we had a few breaks so I could sleep a bit. We were back home a 5 o’clock in the morning at dawn after a 12 hour drive.
HKC Holland Cup
4th June 2008
Working hard on the flat water of the HKC. Photo: Martin Hermans
On the 25th of May the second race counting for the Holland Cup was held at the HKC.
This is always a fun race with a pretty unusual start since the start is a ramp
Robert at the start of our team run. Photo: Martin Hermans of about 1,5 metre high. This year due to
maintenance work upstream the water level was really low, making the course even more physical than usual.
The day before the race I collected wastepaper for our club, riding the back of a garbage truck. This is a big money source for our club and every senior member has to collect once a year. This however wasn’t the best race preparation since I was still tired the next day. After judging in the morning I got to race in the afternoon, my first run was a bit slow especially because the gates were really low so I couldn’t cut my lines. I hit two gates in the first run. The second run the gates were hanging higher so I could paddle the lines better now, I still made one stupid touch though. I came third after Michael and Robert.
100% Dope Free
19th May 2008
True winners are 100% Dope Free
In 2009 the new WADA World Anti-Doping Code will come into effect and this also has a lot of consequences on a national level. Our national anti-doping authority starts implementing the new code this year and they will focus mainly on the “testing pool”. The Dutch testing pool consists of athletes with a A, B or HP status and if you are in the testing pool you have several obligations.
As a member of the testing pool I have to give information about my whereabouts, ask dispensation before using medicine and IV therapy and once a year I have to attend a anti-doping information meeting. Today I went to such a meeting at our NOC Headquarters in Papendal. Most of the information presented wasn’t new to me, but the information about the whereabouts was really useful since I’m new to that system.
For our whereabouts we have a special internet site where we have to give our weekly training schedule and a monthly overview three month in advance. Both are not that easy for me, since I don’t really have set training hours and knowing where you will be three month in advance is almost impossible. Luckily than we can update this overview and we only have to give our main location for each day. Still it means yet an other administration task. Being late with the whereabouts information can lead to disciplinary sanctions. If an doping official can’t find you at the location in your whereabouts you get a ‘missed test’ with 3 missed tests also leading to disciplinary sanctions.
After the formal part of the meeting the 100% Dope Free campaign was promoted.
This is a campaign where athletes propagate a clean and fair sport without doping. After signing a statement for clean sports you get a
true winner wristband
True winners are 100% Dope Free.
Because the meeting was held at our NOC Headquarters athletes from all kinds of sports were there, from judo and water polo to BMX and curling.
Talking to athletes from other sports was inspiring and motivating and made me realize why I like my sport so much.
And now comes the curious part, within 2 hours after I came home from the meeting the doorbell rang and there stood a doping official ready to collect a sample. Unfortunately I went to the toilet just before, so we had to wait a while before I was ready again. Because I just attended the meeting we had enough to talk about so waiting wasn’t really a problem. Everything went fine afterwards and I get the result in a couple of weeks.
More rain
11th May 2008
Instead of sunshine most of us got some poring rain after the Euros. Our selection rules stated that in order to race the World Cups, we’d have
to make the semi at the Euros. Our federation insured us however that this rule was purely financial and was not included to keep athletes from
racing the World Cups. Now I must say I don’t believe that previous statement since Nicky, Annelies, David and me all are not allowed to race the
WC, even if we were to pay our own expenses or were to go separate from the team. I’m getting the strong impression that we are not allowed to
race because this way the two selected athletes (Ariane and Robert) have less distraction by us so they can focus more on the races. Our Topsport
Coordinator more or less confirmed this by stating that by not allowing us to race, the chances for Robert and Ariane meeting the Olympic criteria
will improve. However if we were to go separate from the team, there would be no difference between us paddling there or any other country.
So maybe our federation would prefer it if other countries also would not send to many athletes… This in fact will also improve their chances
of meeting the criteria.
By not allowing us to race the WC races, we can no longer meet the criteria set for the Olympics by our National Olympic Committee, so our federation effectively takes away any chance we had for the Olympics. For the girls this is even more incomprehensible, because they both already had fulfilled one of two criteria.
For me this means I now have a lot of time to reflect paddling and the upcoming season. Without doubt I love the sport, but with the almost constant opposition from our federation, paddling has not been that much fun lately. I think much will also depend on what will happen next year and who will be our national coach then.
Euros over and done
10th May 2008
A Dutch saying: there will be sunshine after rain…
So for me the European Championships ended in disappointment. Training went well the days before the race, I had a good pace and was able to paddle the fast lines with control, so I felt confident about the qualification. The course for the qualification on Thursday was nothing really spectacular, but the poles were hanging really low at most gates. Just two weeks earlier we were also in Cracow and during the two races we did then, the poles were also hanging low and I hit quite a lot of them. Because the course wasn’t spectacular I figured times we going to be close and 2 second penalties for hitting poles would cause considerable set back. My aim therefore was to paddle in the middle of the gates, staying clean and thus make the semi-final.
Unfortunately this didn’t work out for me. In the first run I already was a bit low in the upstream gate 2 and the downstream combination following I didn’t find my pace so I wasn’t really paddling forward. This continued during my run, being low at the upstream gates and not really paddling forward and then after the final upstream gate I made the stupid mistake of going to wide out of the eddy and I wasn’t able to evade the next gate so I picked up 2 penalty seconds.
The second run my upstream gates were better and apart from the first downstream combination I also paddled forward a bit more. After finishing however I saw I was given another 2 second penalty, this time at gate 3. The video wasn’t decisive at this point, yes I was close at the gate and yes the gate was moving a bit, but so were a lot of the other gates due to the wind. The judges claimed I hit the gate with my chest and my coach Thilo also thought he saw me hitting the gate, so that’s that’s that. I came 42nd so just outside the top 40 semi-final and with hindsight I must say the stupid touch in my first run kept me out of the semi. Touches also kept David out of the semi and Annelies and Nicky had some bad luck missing gates so they didn’t make it either. Only Robert and Ariane are through.
Yesterday at the team event I was determined to make up for not making the semi. The training we did together went really well and with the course being the same as the day before staying clean was key. Our first run went great up to gate 9 with the distance between us just right so we didn’t have to wait, but then I saw gate 11 swinging so paddling in third place I had to change my line in order to not miss the gate and from gate 11 onwards it didn’t go well for us with some touches and overall lines that were just off. After we finished I then was informed that gate 11 was no touch but a missed gate because only half of Roberts head was in the gate. This also explained why we didn’t really get back in the race. After the first run it was in effect over for us so the second run we could do nothing more than showing we could do a proper team run.
Apart from one stupid touch I made we were clean and also a bit faster then our first run. It didn’t matter as we were 18th but it did show we would have been capable to equal our result of last year. Unfortunately this means it will be really difficult for us now to prolong our funding. The girls did better yesterday as they managed a respectable 5th place, so they meet the criteria for the Dutch B-status and funding.
Race in Cracow
27th April 2008
After our qualification we only had two days to recover, because on Wednesday we left for Cracow to train and race on the course where in a few weeks we need to qualify our Olympic spot. The course had been changed over winter and I think it has improved with a few nice waves. Training went well on Thursday and Friday, but it did take some time to adjust from paddling on DWD to paddling on a much slower course.
On Saturday and Sunday two races were held and they made a really good preparation for the European Championships. I’m satisfied with my racing on Saturday, in the first run I didn’t start strong messing up a tricky combination at the first few gates and touching 3 gates. Fortunately I managed to pick up the pace and apart from underestimating one more gate my lines we ok. The second run was much better though with only one low upstream and staying clean. The race on Sunday was not so strong, I was off line to often and made way to many touches. It was mostly just bad racing by me but also partly because the runs didn’t start according to the schedule, meaning I had to wait for my first run, but had to rush for my second run.
After the race we went to down town Cracow where we had a nice dinner. Afterwards we needed to drop our coach Thilo off at the railway station. On our way to the railway station I drove hopelessly wrong so we got to see a lot of Cracow before we found it, now we don’t need to explore the city next time. We did two more sessions on Monday and on more on Tuesday before driving back home. Just in time for me to make and hopefully pass a few more exams.
Qualification
27th April 2008
The qualifications at DWD in Zoetermeer for me were exciting until after the final run, but this year I made the team for the second time and I’m also selected accordingly. I drove over to Zoetermeer on Wednesday to train on the course and stayed there until the race to avoid unnecessary driving. Training on the course was no excessive luxury because the race was going to be held on the British configuration which is similar but not the same as the rafting configurations we used to train on. I had only paddled four times on the race configuration so far and a few extra runs were welcome.
The course for the first race was nice and not as hard as I had expected. I did my preparation with Floris and it worked our really well for the first run. I had good lines and staid clean, putting me in first position. Unfortunately in my second run I messed up at three different combinations, and although I stayed clean I was 6 seconds slower, thus throwing away my lead. Because the race on Saturday would count combined with the time of the fastest run on Sunday this meant I had to do one fast run on Sunday to make it. So the plan was to finish it in the first run on Sunday, but this didn’t happen.
The course on Sunday was more challenging and my first run went fine until the last upstream, I got stopped by a little stopper just before the upstream and this meant I had no speed into the eddy. With no speed in the eddy I couldn’t get behind the pole and it took me a few seconds to get behind it while not hitting the gate. I lost to much precious time here to make the team, so now I had to nail the second run in order to make the team. I spoke thing through with Floris one more time and I tried to find the right focus. The start of the second run was fine and I managed to keep the pace, but then I hit gate 12 and I knew I could not afford any more mistakes. Picking up the pace I finished the run and then all I could do was to wait for the results. My final run was enough to make the team after Robert and David. A big thanks goes the Floris for coaching me this weekend.
Back home
14th March 2008
Back home and yes, it's completely flat!
It’s almost a week ago since I came back from Australia, so how come there haven’t been more updates? Well, I wanted to update my site back in OZ after exchanging some files over the network there, but this wasn’t so easy because I’m logged on to a domain with my computer. In the effort of making my computer visible on the network I did something wrong and I this made my user account unavailable. In order to fix this I needed a LAN connection with the domain, situated at my Uni in Eindhoven. Until then I couldn’t access the files and software I need to update my site… Because of the exams I had the last few days I didn’t have time to do this before today.
The training at the Penrith course has been great. After my resting day halfway, we did some more volume a first before we did the shorter work. It was really good to train with Thilo it has definitely been a good preparation for this season. The last weekend we were there, a Sunday Evening Slalom Race was organized. Basically a small race, but with a lot of competitors this time because of all the international paddlers still there. The way the race is done in such a short time but with good organization, timing and judging is really inspiring, and it would be great if we could get a similar thing started at the DWD course.
Of course we also took part at the race and it being my first race this year I’m satisfied with the result. The course was challenging with a sharp combination the first three gates and a tricky upstream halfway in a stopper. I used this race to prepare for our national qualification and chose strategy and preparation accordingly, which worked out really well. For the first combination I took the safe route, knowing it would be slower, but it also gave me more peace of mind for the rest of the course. Apart from a touch in the first run it went smooth and my times were also consistent. I finally came 6th, also see the results page.
After the race we had only four days left, so we took it up a bit with challenging sessions on the course and some resistance sessions on the flat as well. This year we made some more of the free time between sessions, visiting the Blue Mountains and Sydney a few times. After traveling home for 42 hours (Penrith-Einhoven) I was a bit tired and jet-jagged. So now the preparation for the qualification starts, with some (well, a lot) nice flat-water sessions and a few at DWD and in two weeks a race at Markkleeberg.
First week down under
20th February 2008
Creepy crawlers down under
So here we are, down under in Penrith near Sydney to train on the Olympic course of the 2000 games. Nicky and I arrived last Thursday after a long but good flight with our boats and gear complete and intact. Robert was already in Australia and picked us up at the airport. Apart from being tired from the flight I had no noticeable jetlag due to some anti-jetlag measurements Robert tried out and proved to work. Part of this strategy was going to bed early at home to adjust to the time difference, so just before we left I went to bed at 8 pm and stood up at 4 am, not something you want to be doing for to long.
Training over here is going well so far and Thilo arrived a couple days ago and it is really nice to work with him on the technical stuff in the training. The weather has not been great until today, with some showers and a lot of clouds, but it was perfect for us to gat used to the warmth and today we had a really nice sunny day. To see some more than just the white-water course we went to a short-film festival in Sydney (Tropfest) last Sunday were we saw some nice films but it lasted until 10 pm so we were back home after midnight. That would not have been a problem if it was not for the really early training times with most of the training at 8:30 in the morning, but some as early as 6:15! Paddling here on the course is definitely worth it though, with all it’s nice waves and eddy’s it’s a super course to train on. I’m also really pleased with my new boat, at first I needed to get used to it some more, but now it feels nice and it gives me a lot more control compared to my old boat.
New Boat!
29th January 2008
Vajda 350 s xs
Last week I received my new boat for this season, a Vajda 350 S with the last part of the tail cut down to XS. I tested this boat last summer in Augsburg and was pleased with the way it handled. I didn’t have an opportunity to test the boat any further so I decided to just order the boat and see how it fits me. After testing it on the flat water at our club and behind the mill, I’m really confident this boat is an improvement compared to my old boat. Saturday we went to DWD so I had a chance to see how the boat is on white water and it’s an easy boat to paddle there. Still because the difference between the 350 and the Force is substantial it will take some time for me to get used to the different reactions of the 350.
Sunday we again had Eskimo roll instructions in the swimming pool, and I’m pleased to report that the 350 doesn’t only paddle well, but also rolls well. Unfortunately we didn’t set a new record, because contrary to the last time, this time the water was at an extreme low level due to work on the banks.
Hohen-Limburg
14th January 2008
Bullwhip effect in discrete time
Because the course in Zoetermeer was closed, Nicky and I went to Hohen-Limburg last Friday to do some white-water training. It was good to train there again and to do some more basic technique training, which is sometimes hard to do at DWD. Before the course in Zoetermeer was build we used to go to Hohen-Limburg almost every Saturday in the winter, but this was the first time this winter we went there. Unfortunately we didn’t get training, even though Michael was there in the afternoon.
Yesterday we had the first of our annual 4 Eskimo roll instructions in the Tongelreep swimming pool in Eindhoven. This also happens to be the host for this year European Swimming Championships. It’s tradition to paddle to the pool, starting at our club and going downwards on the Dommel, and than in Eindhoven going upwards on the Tongelreep towards the pool, a 10 km route. This year we set a new record of 1h08 due to high water in the Dommel. After giving instruction to some of the new members, there was some time left to brush up my own Eskimo skills.
Last week I gave the presentation of my final Bachelor project, this all went well despite the fact that I had the slides and report finished just an hour before. I now just have to wait on the remarks on the report and I still have some exams left to do. In the mean while I’m counting down towards February 12th, because then I’m going to Australia to enjoy paddling in the summer and to work on my technique.
Update
30th December 2007
Happy new yeay!!
Finally a new update just before the end of the year. I wanted to write something earlier but there was just nothing
really special to write about. So what have I been up to the few weeks?
Training and studying, that’s about it. At home I’ve been doing a lot of basic flat water training with a few days at the DWD course now and then for the white-water training. We also go our new weight training program so we get to enjoy ourselves in the gym.
Besides training I’m busy finishing my Bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering, which at the moment is pretty time consuming. I’m studying the Bull-Whip Effect and the paper and presentation have to be finished the 9th of January. Straight afterwards there are three exams and a few more to come later. After those three exams I’m planning to go to Australia for a month to do some warm white-water training.
Happy new year!
VKC Adventure Race
11th November 2007
Hans in winning mood
Yesterday the already famous VKC Adventure Race was held for the second time. Last year Robert and I came second
in the race, this year I wasn’t racing because together with Jeroen (Dutch Rafting Champion ’06 and ’07, 16th at
the Rafting Worlds) I organized the race.
Despite really bad weather in the morning, with lots of rain and wind everybody showed up and just before the race the weather cleared. Maarten has brought with him some high-tech chip-timing, the same type they also use for the NY Marathon. After giving everybody their chip for the time registration the race started with running, followed by peddling and kick-scooter riding.
After almost 3 hours the first teams arrived and the last teams were back at the club after just over 4 hours. Unfortunately not every team managed to make a sentence with the found letters so some teams got a 60 min. penalty for not giving the right answer.
Hans and Annelies won the race, followed by Bas and Marijn and Michelle and Nicky. Here are the full time results without the penalties.
It was a really fun race and I’d like to thank al the racers for their enthusiasm and Maarten for the chip-timing. I hope next year somebody else will organize the race so Jeroen and I can race.
Lactic test
4th November 2007
Last Saturday we did a lactic test on the flat water at DWD as a start of the new season. This meant we had to get up early and drive
for 90 minutes to do some serious tough testing. The test consists of 5 successive stages approximately 150 seconds long. The first
stage is done at a low intensity and each successive stage you add 10 BMP to your target heart rate. Then the fifth and final stage you
just go as fast as you can and try to keep going until you reach the finish. Because my heart rate while exercising is generally high I started
with 160 BPM. It was good to see I was well rested and as a result I managed to get my heart rate in the final stage up to 215 BPM. The lactic
results will be arriving this week, so we can determine our training zones for the next months.
Because we were already in Zoetermeer we did a session on the course just for fun and then headed back home to do a small weight session in the afternoon.
Site finally online!
31st October 2007
It has taken some tine, but finally my site is online! Some parts are still under construction, I’m hoping to fix
everything this month. For now I hope you enjoy my site and feel free to contact me with suggestions. Apart from
putting my site online last week I also started with the training for the next season. The first few weight sessions
gave me sore muscles but I’m getting used to it now.
Fun race in Cergy
14th October 2007
After a week with no training I drove of yesterday to Cergy, near Paris, France. There was going to be a regional race
and Ciaran invited me to come and race. The course is in the middle of some kind of park with lots of other activities
possible as well such as sailing, surfing, water-skiing, scuba-diving and rope courses. Because the course is used on a
commercial basis much like DWD there was not much training possible, so we had a 30 minute slot to get the feeling for
the water. The training was good fun and with only four runs down the course (even on a different configuration then
uses for the race) it was a good practice for race preparation. After the training we went to Ciaran’s home and watched
the rugby semi-final France – England.
The race today started at 9:30 so we had to get up early. The course wasn’t in place until 9:00 so I didn’t have much time to study the course but it was good to practice this on a race like this. The first run was about average, but I lost some time in an upstream gate because I hit the wall with my tail and I was low in the last upstream. The second run was 2 seconds faster but I made a touch, apart from that it was a good run. This was regional race but with over 300 starts and more than 160 starts in the K1 men event well attended. I came first in the invites event, but would have been 5th in the K1 men event.
Ciaran, thanks for the hospitality and I hade good fun this weekend!
Dutch Open
7th October 2007
Jasper Fonteijn in action at the Dutch Open
Today I came 10th at the Dutch Open, being the highest placed Dutch paddler. The weather was great as it was yesterday
and because the race was a bit later with more time between the runs we had time to enjoy the sun. My first run was
nothing special but clean and on a course like this that is already an achievement. Still I lost too much time at
the upsteams, being too far behind some and not getting enough speed out some others. The second run was a bit better
but I still lost time at gates 4 and 14 and unfortunately I hit gates 3 and 7, the latter being a minor touch with my
boat that could only be heard, not seen. Robert got a shoulder injury during his first run and was therefore not able
to complete the race. For now I take a few weeks off, with maybe a race at Paris just for fun.
Dutch Championships
6th October 2007
Jasper Fonteijn in action at the Dutch Champs
Silver and Gold at the Dutch Championships! The course set for the race today wasn't hard, but because of the water it
was still challenging. In my first run I made a few mistakes, this was partly because the course was changed just before
the race, so the water didn't react the way it used to do. Partly it was just bad racing by me. I lost some time at the
first upstream trying to spin but not getting any speed out of the upstream, and then I lost some more time because of
two spins at gates near an eddy, and being low at one more upstream.
My second run I managed to do better with smooth lines along the course, nothing special but no mistakes, and I was a full 8 seconds faster than my first run. This just shows how much time I lost the first run! I came second behind Robert 6 seconds back, Floris came third. The team race was unofficial, because it takes al least three different clubs for an official race. Nevertheless Robert, Floris and I races well and came first, the silver and bronze also went to our club. To relax after the race some of us went to the beach at Scheveningen. Tomorrow an other day and an other race, we'll see...
Genneper Molen race
16th September 2007
Jasper Fonteijn working hard to go fast over the shallow water at the Gennepermolen race
This weekend the Gennepermolen race was held in my home town Eindhoven. It's one of the best attended races in the
Netherlands and it even has some "white water". The funny thing is that I always cycle past the Gennepermolen when
I'm going to my club, but because they don't have a permanent course I can't train there. On Saturday there were
already some races and also the down-river sprint. At 20 h the famous night-slalom took place, a team race in the
dark with this year a lot of little lights. Together with David and Annelies we came second in the k1 men’s event.
On Sunday it proved to be a close race, Michael van der Boogaard was fit as always and gave some good competition. The first run I made a stupid touch on the last gate, placing me second. Fortunately I managed to stay clean the second run and thus winning the race before Michael and David. Floris raced really strong since he had only done a few sessions after his trip around the world.