Although a beautiful day, it was seriously windy on the third premier race of the season, held at Holme Pierrepont slalom course. A physically tough course made for exciting racing all day, especially with so many people missing gates on their first attempts, putting pressure on second runs.
This was a pretty interesting race for me. Normally I would say that one of my advantages over other paddlers is my ability to sustain power over a length of time - namely my Vo2 capacity. However making time in this course seemed to be less about accelerating and more about sustaining speed through the various moves, and being able to regain the speed if something caught you off guard. I was fairly happy with my first run, which was off the pace but left me in a solid position leading into second runs. I was less content with my second run, mainly because I focussed too much on the plan and 'picked' my way down the course, rather than letting it run with my instinct. However I finished in seventh place, which is reasonable for me as the entire field in Premier women was present. I feel like I am racing equal to my ability, and so have a solid base to work from in the lead up to selection. The next two weeks are for relaxing, enjoying paddling on London and fine tuning my training before the three day trial that tests athletes for the British team.
Its funny how my expectations in races are satisfied mainly by fulfilling my plan to the best of my ability, and not regarding the position I finish in. Don't get me wrong, my objective every single time is to win. I wouldn't be doing my sport if I wasn't super competitive! But I think something to bear in mind during selection, when the pressure is on for every day out of the three days racing - is that my goal is to follow my plan perfectly, not to 'win' as such. In short - I need to focus on the process to the exclusion of everything else.
This was a pretty interesting race for me. Normally I would say that one of my advantages over other paddlers is my ability to sustain power over a length of time - namely my Vo2 capacity. However making time in this course seemed to be less about accelerating and more about sustaining speed through the various moves, and being able to regain the speed if something caught you off guard. I was fairly happy with my first run, which was off the pace but left me in a solid position leading into second runs. I was less content with my second run, mainly because I focussed too much on the plan and 'picked' my way down the course, rather than letting it run with my instinct. However I finished in seventh place, which is reasonable for me as the entire field in Premier women was present. I feel like I am racing equal to my ability, and so have a solid base to work from in the lead up to selection. The next two weeks are for relaxing, enjoying paddling on London and fine tuning my training before the three day trial that tests athletes for the British team.
Its funny how my expectations in races are satisfied mainly by fulfilling my plan to the best of my ability, and not regarding the position I finish in. Don't get me wrong, my objective every single time is to win. I wouldn't be doing my sport if I wasn't super competitive! But I think something to bear in mind during selection, when the pressure is on for every day out of the three days racing - is that my goal is to follow my plan perfectly, not to 'win' as such. In short - I need to focus on the process to the exclusion of everything else.
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