Follow my story
AMBER MASLEN
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Sponsors
  • Love Food

Love to train, love to race

I've learnt so many things from slalom I don't think I could have learnt anywhere else. I want to share them because I think if they make a positive difference to a single person's journey, then it's worth writing. 

Read my Stories

2014 Begins

1/17/2014

2 Comments

 
To my shame, despite training determinedly through Christmas, I still managed to consume between one and twenty too many pieces of Christmas cake. Luckily for me, it was then all too easy to use a comment Neil had said to me before Christmas; put on a little weight to keep you healthy through the brutal training period of January and February. I must admit that at first I scoffed - I'm not putting on weight, I want to be skinny. Then with grateful whimpering, it was more like, this is okay, Neil said it was a good idea. Now I'm nearly three weeks into the first training camp of 2014, and my Christmas layer has fled, mercilessly taking a little extra with it so I'm sure to look nice and emaciated when my mum sees me!
While admittedly the camp was a little slow to start, with the first three days being spent in a contaminated and unusable Nottingham due to flooding, from London it kicked off and hasn't hit the ground since. My teammate Stuart and I have been here for two solid weeks, and finally it feels like I understand the way I'm supposed to paddle on this amazing course. Don't get me wrong, figuring this out is regularly reinforced by getting trashed in the big drops, and less impressively tripping up on my blades and going for time consuming episodes involving walls and bollards and cursing. Usually in front of world class paddlers. BUT after all that, I feel strong. And my boat finally feels like it has a glide that I control. I can turn it on and use it, rather than waiting for it to appear, hopefully during a full run when the time counts. We have done so many full run sessions this camp, and now I don't come up the conveyor belt hoping to get the gates. I know I'm going to get the gates, and well too. Having said that, one of the most interesting sessions for me is with the GB paddlers during tough tech. I still have a way to go in terms of agility and correctional ability on the water. Watching them make a mistake and react fluidly, incorporating it into the next move so it almost looks like they meant to do it - is something I really need to work on. I believe it will come with time though, because already I feel myself attacking instead of flailing when I catch an edge, and responding with the whole boat rather than throwing my weight. I'm going home tomorrow, for the first time since the second of January. But I'll be back soon, next weekend actually - when I might get the opportunity to see how fast I am against some of the best paddlers in Britain!


On an equally positive note, I am starting this year with a new sponsor - the mountainwear brand Dare2b. They are providing all of my clothing for this season's races, including gym wear and thermals. Sponsorship is an incredibly important part of an athletes career, and I'm looking forward to working with Dare2b in the future!
Picture
Finally it feels like I understand the way I'm supposed to paddle
Picture
2 Comments
Alina Pringle
1/17/2014 01:30:39 am

You're an excellent writer, Amber. 2014 will bring you much success, I'm sure of it! Nothing wrong with the odd surplus of cake during Christmas time; you so easily work it off. Looking forward to future updates. x

Reply
Indio Carpenters link
9/21/2022 06:28:32 am

Great read thaank you

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Amber is a whitewater slalom athlete specialising in K1. Her top events to date were:
    U23 World Championships 2016
    U23 European Championships 2016
    Augsburg ICF World Cup 2018
    Tacen ICF World Cup 2018
    Bratislava  ICF World Cup 2019
    ​Tacen ICF World Cup 2019
    Leipzig ICF World Cup 2019
    Pau ICF World Cup final 2022

    Archives

    May 2022
    August 2021
    July 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    January 2020
    September 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    April 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.