David is a former World Champion and World Cup Champion and is a five time Olympian in the sport of Whitewater Slalom Kayaking. In 2003 he was voted Canada's Male Athlete of the year.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Pieces of the Puzzle

Performance not only requires having all of the pieces of the puzzle, but also putting all of the pieces into place at the right moment. In the semi final in Tacen I had the pieces but after hitting my stern in the top drop and almost missing the first upstream I was reminded that having the pieces counts for nothing if you cannot use them properly.

 

Now we are in Augsburg getting ready for the last world cup of the season and it feels like summer has left us and a good Chilliwack winter has replaced it. My week will be spent dialing in the quirks of the course here and trying to find a solution to my inconsistency of late. Right from the start the focus was on the world championships in September but now there isn’t much else left.

 

One stroke at a time!

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Tacen Qualification

A beautiful day in Slovenjia welcomed us to the river today for the qualification event at the second stop of the world cup circuit. I had a good week of training recovering from the food poisoning of last weekend. The week started well with a good day of training with the team head coach Michal and the other mens kayaks. I also worked one on one with Jim Jayes working on the missing pieces in the puzzle that have been nagging me of late. Heavy rains on Wednesday raised the water levels on Thursday cancelling training for the day and providing higher than normal water levels for the training slots on Friday. The increased flow made for a fun last day before the competition but unfortunately a return to normal flows for the race means quirky surges and the need for complete focus and the willingness to work hard.

 

I had a good night last night which was welcome after last weekends antics and left for the river in good spirits and feeling refreshed. Demos showed a fair but tricky course and I was excited to get my turn out there. Warm up went well and I spent a lot of time mentally rehearsing the course and patterning the pacing model that I would need to paddle the way I want to paddle from now on.

 

My run started a little rough as I was slightly off line going down the very large first drop on the course, I was slightly low heading into gate two which was the first upstream. Fortunately I had done my homework and I was quickly back online and had a very solid and comfortable run. I crossed the line in first place by more than two seconds and was only beaten in the end by Peter Kauzer who was the last paddler to come down the river.

 

I must say that it felt very good to have a run go well after so many runs that have not gone to plan lately. I was able to stick to my race plan and pacing model and to be rewarded is a great boost to my confidence in what I have been working on of late. There is a long way to go this year with the World Championships being the focus and this run was a great step in a positive direction.

 

My second run started extremely well, I fixed my mistake in the first drop and was quickly into gate two, unfortunately I was caught off guard by the surge in gate three and was surfed across the river having to react quickly and sprint back to make gate four. This cost me in excess of six seconds and left me very cautious the rest of the way down the course. With the strength of my first run I was still able to qualify in 23rd place and with the exception of gate four the rest of the run was very solid.

 

Scott Parsons of the US won the qualifier with a very fast second run over home town favorite Peter Kauzer. The course map for tomorrows final looks very difficult and the stage is set for a very exciting race.

Monday, July 02, 2007

Rough Day

It would be easy to blame today on the food poisoning, and to be honest I am really not sure how much that played in today’s result, but the reality is I raced incredibly poorly, again. I watched John Hastings narrowly miss the final with a blazingly fast run finishing in 11th place, a personal best for him. This was a clear indication to me of where I should be finishing and has inspired me to work hard to return to form.

 

I have come to the realization that I have been working on trying to become a paddler that isn’t me, and that I need to return to the strengths that allowed me to deliver good solid and consistent performances when it counted most. Somewhere in trying to modify my technique I have lost myself and my confidence. Re-building will be a challenge but with Beijing only a year away the time to start getting back on track is right now.