Green Race Training 301
You have started your Junior year of Green Race training! You have worked on visualization and remaining calm in the face of difficulty. You count your backstrokes while you are trying to go fast. You even watched countless videos of slalom racers trying to go as fast as they could down multiple different courses.
Good work!! Not only will these skills make you a better kayaker, but they will also allow you to have longer and more successful days on the river.
Just another great day on the Green. Photo by: Daniel Brasuell
Let’s talk about some head games. I actually have a pretty terrible head game and as I have lost more of my close friends in the past years, it has gotten worse. When I am paddling down a rapid, if something goes wrong, I immediately revert to thoughts that always go as far as death. This is something that is new to me, really since Maria Noakes died in March 2018. The way I am getting past this is by utilizing the ideas I posted in my last blog. Staying calm in every situation and talking myself down off the ledge on hard runs.
Not getting past that without a portage!
But, what about running bigger rapids while getting ready for a race? I literally look at those rapids in a completely different way. I grow into a head game that is strong and lets mistakes go, I learn from them instead. The more I visualize my lines, the better and more consistent they get.
How do we know if we are ready to run a rapid? I think about a few things when I am looking at a new rapid.
Can I see an entrance and exit with moves in the middle I know I can make? Can I visualize the strokes I want to take and exactly where I want to finish?
Have I run any rapids that are harder or more complex?
How much time have I spent in my kayak in recent months? Ie. how comfortable am I in my kayak at this moment?
What are my safety options? Who am I paddling with? Am I comfortable the crew I am with can help me out should I need it?
After 14 years of racing the Green Race and over 1000 runs on the river, I have had some odd lines out there. Luckily for me, most of them were not on video but I definitely can remember them. In 2011, I literally ran Gorilla backward 14 times. One day, I ran it backward and hiked up for redemption, I ran it backward again. It was rough. But I get over those bad lines because behind every bad line, there are those that make you feel like a Goddess (or God) and it’s totally worth it.
Just a slight idea into the crashes that come into training for the Green Race.
Next week, in your Senior year, before graduation, I will break down pretty much every rapid on the Green Race. In the meantime, enjoy some crashes while training for the 2019 Green Race.