Boat Moving Day... 2013

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"It's boat moving day #dragonboatraceprep"

Reading Terminal, Philadelphia PA

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"Tommy dinics"

 

After any race in Philadelphia, a group of us have to visit Reading Terminal for a bonanza of food.  This was the Roast Beef, with the Broccoli Rabe and Provolone sandwich from Tommy Dinic's.  This was featured on some food show --- i forget which but they were totally correct the line is worth standing in, especially if you go early and there is virtually no line *grins*.  The broccoli rabe is uber garlicky yummy and lends a nice bitterness.  The sandwiches while are about a foot long -- same as what you would get at say a Subway but way tastier!  If you are wandering around Philly and want some cheap eats, def check out Reading Terminal -- well i mean as long as you can eat at only 1 spot that is ....

Crazy dragon boat workout month 2

BDBC challenge - prep

So instead of going to work today, I was on a dragon boat for most of the morning.. well ok i was on the dock taking pictures of my team on the dragon boat.. The film crew had us be there from 5:30am until about 9:30 am.

I decided since i was going to be there for all of that, I would then take the rest of the day off to run dragon boat related errands, and finish up my team captain duties....

BDBC challenge - prep, a set on Flickr.

Dragonboating early in the AM

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"#dailyarsenal substitute "

Dragon boat practice, Full boat edition

Yesterday we had a dragonboat practice at 8am. By the time we showed up for the practice there were so many people milling about.  We had an idea that we would have approximately 34 people show up, but once everything was said and done we ended up with 2 full boats, drummers (aka coaches) and steerers and all.   Of all the people that showed up for practice we had about 1 full boat of newbies (people that have had less than 2-3 practices under their belt) and obviously then the other boat full of seasoned paddlers.  The practice started late mostly because we had so many people and we had to split them up into 2 more or less even boats.  When we got out, because of all the 1812 things going on in the harbor in the next month or so, there was a lot of water traffic so we stayed away from high traffic areas, but we also ended up having to go over a lot of fundamentals -- again with the copious number of newbies this is crucial.  This allows them not to get frustrated that we are going too fast for them, it reenforces the technique for the older members-- a win-win situation here.  The practice ended up being less of a workout and more of a technique practice.

Then once we got back from on shore we had an audience.  Some of the training staff were going back out with a team building group.  We had 34 children from a local church youth group that had requested a team building exercise.  Again, 2 boats had to go out -- but these are really novice paddlers, and they are kids, so they like to look around.  This made for an interesting paddling session --an hour of wobbling boats, the realization they left all their water in coolers on the dock, and 2 "races" later we were done.  The coaches quickly grabbed all the gear, took it all back to storage, and it was off to working on boats we went.

We have a partnership with the MD Catholic Charities group that puts together a dragonboat race in baltimore inner harbor every other year.  The partnership allows for us to borrow boats from Catholic charities to run our festival every June.  In return, we prep the  boats for them and do boat maintenance.  We have been working quite a few weekends on boat prep, paddle prep.. and now that our festival is on the horizon we're stepping it into high gear.   That was about 2 hours of team bonding, getting dirty, etc.

How's that for a Saturday of fun?

Race Practice 04.16.2012

Well, yesterday's temperature was a blamy 86 F at about what noon?  So we had a great day for dragon boat practice.  We started the afternoon/evening out with some fun warmups that included:

• suicide runs (i did burpees instead-- on account of not wanting to run in keens)
• squats - 30?
• oblique planks?  (the ones with pushups in between)- 20 each side
• dips - 20
• oblique reverse lunges

Then we went out on the water for about an hour -- close to 1 full boat of people showed up which is nice so early in the season.  First we did about 10 mins of paddling warmup which consisted of 50-75-100% intensity drills up and down the cove.   Then we worked on some rotation drills -- which apparently i still cant do right *whines*  i keep going up and down not front and back and i cant feel myself doing it which is part of the problem.  We did some fun pyramids (100% for 30 strokes, 10 strokes of rest repeat x6) not quite sure how this is a pyramid i guess but its more of a intensity drill *shrug* it was billed as a pyramid.   We repeated that drill quite a bit ( i believe 4 instances at differing intensities just for fun)  Then we practiced some start pulls to get the boat up and basically "surfing" above the wake.  I still need to work on feathering because the poor coach that was sitting in front of me was splashed SO much :(  So i guess at some point probably this weekend i'll go to the boat and practice early in the wee hours of the AM before practice so that i can get the stroke better.. and maybe actually right for once?

Dragon Boat Races

So part of being the race committee is to register for the races that we do every year and then coordinate the race schedule etc.  So this is what Baltimore is signed up for currently:

• DC Dragonboat Festival, May 19-20 (Washington, DC): BCS team only
• Independence Regatta, June 2 (Philadelphia, PA): 1 mixed team
• Baltimore DB Challenge June 23 (Tide Point, Baltimore, MD): we're hosting.. i'm probably on chase boat
• Fingerlakes Int'l Dragonboat, SUP, OC festival, July 14-15 (Ithaca, NY): 1 mixed team
• DC National Harbor DB Festival, August 25 (Washington, DC -- really PG County but whatever): 1 mixed
• Mercer County Dragon boat Festival, Sept 19? (Princeton, NJ): 1 mixed
• Philadelphia Int'l Dragonboat Festival, October 6? (Philadelphia, PA): 2 mixed teams, 1 womens

only problem is, i've yet to really register for Fingerlakes, National Harbor races because they are not accepting online payments so i've done the prelim work but still have to get our treasurer to submit the check.... 

Opening Day! 04.06.2012

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"#orioles #openingday "

So what was i doing at the O's stadium on opening day?  I was working a stand. Originally i thought i would work the hotdog stand with the rest of the Boy Scouts Crew (this is a really long story) for my Dragonboat fundraising fun.  Its typically 9-10 hrs of work and i get money donated to my dragon boat racing fund -- which cuts down on the amount of money i end up spending each dragon boat season for racing fees.   (Just as an FYI each race has differing fees that range from 30$ to 70$ -- depending on what you are doing, # of boats, etc)  So I was all set to work the kitchen area (cooking hot dogs, pretzels, and cashier) but instead i get asked to do a beer portable.   Well ok -- i can do the beer portables, i just typically dont like to plunge my hands in cold ice water all day but sure why not, its suppose to be warm during the game right?  

So i go to the beer portable (which is set on Eutaw Street),  we look high and low and cant figure out where the stand is-- the portable numbers were taped on the side with 8.5x11 sheets of paper).  Anyway when we finally found the portable, it was empty-- no cases of beer sitting next to it, no bags of ice... now its already 9:30-10am and the doors open in 2 hours... our stand sheet says we are suppose to have over 900 bottles of beer and everything has to be counted.  Ok, well the beer should be here soon right?  We're suppose to be set up 30 mins prior to the doors opening.. so at 11:30 we should be completely set up and ready for people.  We sit back, relax twiddle our thumbs (what else were we going to do? -- nothing to count, nothing at the stand other that us)  So we wait... and wait... and wait... finally ice shows up, and the beer kegs for the next stand over.  The kegs show up without instruction on how to set up and apparently the guys next door dont know how to tap the keg -- so they are hopelessly lost, staring at the keg and the CO2 sitting there next to them.  Good thing they finally get the attention of a stand manager, who sort of attempts to help them tap the keg, fruitlessly though, and then the Budweiser guy shows up and finishes tapping their keg for them.  And all this time, we're still waiting for our beer to show up.

At noon, the doors open, and we stray from our stand, why you ask?  Well at that point all we had was ice, we had asked multiple times for beer for our stand from various stand managers who all assured us that beer was indeed on its way up to us, but no one really knew where it was.. hrms indeed.  At about 12:30 or maybe it was closer to 1pm, by then i had stopped looking at my watch, after pleading with various stand managers, the NPO manager and one of the higher ups, we finally see beer headed our way, yay!  We count the cases that we had and had perfect counts-- even better!  We started icing down the beer and putting them into the coolers -- mind you we had to take beers out of their cases to ice them so we have no clue how many beers we've now placed into our coolers, another flat of beers show up.. uh oh!  we have to count them, but the stand manager doesnt want to wait, so we have to offload the beer onto our pallet.  We were not done re-counting the cases that were left yet so now we're left with a dilemma, what was the new stash that showed up?  We would need to report it in the end so we have to figure this out ASAP!  Ok, so we make up realistic numbers (it doesnt matter anyway we are selling both beers for 8$ a bottle so it doesnt matter how many cases of whatever showed up)

 The day was just very long, lots of beer opening, tips stuffing into Tim's pocket, counting out change... at somewhere after 5pm the game finally ends and we're able to eat lunch.. and count and pack up.  Somehow we ended up with the end inventory, end sales and the money matching up to the dime -- so no figuring out things, no recounting necessary.. yay!  Pack everything away, make Tim count the tips.. we sure earned a LOT of tips..  close to $350 just for our stand alone.. not to mention the other 2 stands that were part of our group.. so i guess not a bad day for us in general.  Just frustrating because it took over 4 hours for 50 cases of beer to show up to our stand...

Last Land Training session.. or is it the beginning of paddling season?

So yesterday (April 4th) was our last dragon boat land training session with our trainer.  For some strange reason, the team really just wants to paddle for 30 mins rather than get an ass kicking for an entire hour, so we decided to go out onto the water for 30 mins, come back to the gym and finish our workout there.

me and my big mouth, asked whether i was paddling or steering.. oops!  Coach had forgotten i could steer.. so of course i get put into the steering position cuz, well I need to practice steering right?  Well, everyone reassures me that i did well, but I know that I am so rusty after the winter off steering.  How do i turn again?  How does one leave the dock?  ohhh, the problems I had staying straight last night :/  Oh well that is what practice is for i guess, making mistakes, learning from them, etc.

Then we had 30 mins left -- with the trainer.. hrms this could be bad.  We did chin ups, followed by kettle bell lunges?  with some shoulder component (held the kettle bell straight up, as we lunged around the gym) -- Sorry UA gym folks that were actually trying to use other equipment..  Then we did some hip workout, followed by wall squats, and then we ended the workout with a plank contest... whew!  i'm sore thinking about all this again...

Dragonboat practice 04.02.2012

Yesterday (04.02.2012) was the first race practice on the water.  Firstly-- its in the upper 40s to lower 60s in MD right now.  The water temperature is not much better -- having been cold all winter and all.  So, you would think with it being the first race practice of the season we would have it easier.. hrms but wait!  all of us have been working out together in the gym so of course all of us are fit enough to be killed on our first official race day practice, right?  It doesnt matter that the water temperature is probably 32F, nor that there is gusting winds that makes the cold water that was splashed on you even colder... nope.  So yep, for about an hour i was out in the cold Baltimore Harbor paddling my heart out. 

We started the practice off with a bit of a warm-up on land - squats, lung twists, suicide runs (or burpies), a bit of stretching -- this was about 5-10 mins and then we were off!  There were 14 paddlers yesterday so we just took 1 boat out with a coach sitting in the drummers chair  and a steersmen.  So I guess we had 16 people show up for practice.  We paddled out towards Little Havannas (Baltimore Museum of Industry) going up in intensity so starting at 50% power to 100 % power till we got a bit past Domino's Sugar.  Then we came back around doing drills and such (such as odds/evens, rotation drills, paddle exit drills, power drills, etc)  Then we switched strokes and did some more fun intensity drills going from 25% to 100%, start stroke (power) drills.  Then we switched strokes to Ada and myself for the last 20 mins of paddle..  with more fun start stroke drills, paddle exit drills and such.. then we had a fast cool-down paddle (ramping down from 100% to 25%)

Quick stretching and we were off to the locker room.. to shower and get warm

Week 4 Land Training

So its warm outside today-- so of course when we showed up for land training, the plan was to go outside and work out there.   We had a circuit of 10 stations today -- slow bicycle crunches, ball slams/throw with a 15 lb weight, steps, planks, pushups, tilt squats, shoulder presses with resistance bands, burpees, and the sled.. I bet i'm sore tomorrow.   The timing was set via the group doing the sled push-- so the slower they duo pushing the sled down and up the hill twice, the longer you are stuck at your respective station.   You would think we wouldnt shoot ourselves in the foot?  nope!  for some silly reason some of us feel the need to kill ourselves on the sled by having our 200+ lb teammates stand on the sled while you are pushing it up the hill -- btw, the sled is 90 lbs, and then we had 2 weights piled ontop of it.. so basically over 100 lbs already.  Ya-- ball throw/slams for 2 mins suck!  oh well -- what doesnt kill me makes me stronger right?

Land Training wk 3

So its now week 3 in DB land training-- my dragonboat team is in Baltimore, and we have it nice that our team practices at the Under Armour HQ where they have a gym.  Every year (for the last 3 years) we hire one of their personal trainers for the 2 months leading up to getting the boats on the water and have group workout sessions.  The sessions are twice a week (usually Wed/Sat) and get more intense as the weeks go by.  So week 1 was fairly light, week 2 a bit harder, and week 3 a bit harder, and so forth. 

Fun, right? 

Well as it happens, i broke a bone in my foot back in November and finally got a walking cast in January (right around the time we were to start land training) and was told not to use the foot and to keep off of it until February (when i had my follow up).  So this past Saturday was the 1st time I was allowed to use my foot (and join in on all the leg exercises) that the team had been doing for the last 3 weeks -- so needless to say I am sore.. stupidly sore.  Hamstrings? yep i feel it, Quads-- again yep.. I was still able to do chest presses, shoulder shrugs, pec flys, etc -- as long as i could be seated i could do it so my arms and shoulders are fine, but nothing is like 20 reps of squats and lunges ad nausium for your legs to be dead.. (Ashley would be so proud!) 

And then we had a smallish workout session yesterday (Sunday) since the fiance and a couple of other guys were doing group workouts at the gym and i typically tag along.  So Sunday morning at 8:30 i was in the gym doing my 10 min warmup on the bike and then doing the weight circuit.  Leg extensions were fun, so were the lat pulls (apparently abs are involved) and to top it off i decided i needed more of an ab workout and did more planks, and wall sit-ups with the ball.  But i guess this is all for the better -- i'll be stronger and more prepared for the boats to hit the water.. right? 

Landtraining has begun..

Well, ok maybe begun is not quite the word for it since it's been 3 weeks of training already.  We've started with indoor training because, well its rather cold outside.  The boats are getting prepped, paddles are stinking up my garage (we're re-painting the polyurethane).  Soon, soon precious the boats will be ready and we'll be outside in the cold weather paddling away..

Cant wait!  couple more weeks of gym torture...

DC dragon boat Festival 2009

What an exhausting weekend...

DC dragon boat Festival

This weekend (May 16-17) is the DC dragon boat festival @ the Thompson Boathouse. Am i excited? Sure.. its a weekend of racing, watching other teams paddle.. the only trepidation is what happens if it rains again this year? Last year's race was postponed due to rain and it rained at the rain date, how ironic. This year instead of racing with the NG team, I'm racing with a premier league (though we signed up for corporate mix) team.

Those early AM practices have been brutal! Rain or shine we've been out on the water. We've also started learning a new start... guess we shall see how well it fares.