SD Weekly Digest 7/31/13

NO REST FOR THE WICKED

Great Job all crews! … Women, Open, Masters, Red, Blue White … Now, time to get back to work.  The competitive season is like a 500m race. So far we’ve had a great start (Tempe), a solid body (BabyLB, Alcan, BigLB) and now it’s time to Finish It!

Oakland crews have just 4 practices until race day and TI just 5 weeks after that! So keep up the intensity (practice, land drills, SDWW, BOOST) and Finish STRONG!      

1.  Big LB Recap

-   GREAT JOB SPACE DRAGONS!

-   One Team - You arrived on-time, helped setup, helped feed our 3 hosted crews, cleaned up after yourselves, volunteered to paddle/call/steer for teams in need and kicked Dragon Boat Booty on the water for two days.

      -   If you left without your medals on Sunday, please let captains know.

      -   If you have pictures and video, please sync up with Jeff so he can collect all the media!

PRACTICE – Normal practice resumes TODAY!

2.  NORMAL PRACTICE - Sat/Sun 9am, Wed 5:30p-Sunset

   - Practice Poll Reminder: Be mindful of the practice poll. We need your poll responses for Sat/Sun practice by Wed 7p to properly notify SCDBC, later responses, while helpful to coaches and captains, do not help us satisfy our obligations to the association, beach monitors and the greater DB community.

** Wed/Sat/Sun Practice Poll (fill it out and keep it updated with changes)!

    SPECIAL BOAT – Sat/Sun 7:45a, before normal practice (8a ON THE WATER)

Please be ON TIME EARLY, we only have 1hr and need everybody to launch the boat!

** Special Boat Practice Poll (fill it out and keep it updated with changes)!

3.  DUES and FEES

-   Time for a post-race checkup!

        Tempe $35, Baby LB $20, Alcan $35, Big LB $40 (Add $1 fee for Square Payments)

-   Not sure if you owe anything? Contact captains! OR we will contact you after BLB!

-   As always, cash or checks payable to Space Dragons, give to Denise, Marina, Roger or Robert

UPCOMING RACES 

4. 2013 PDBA CLUB CREW QUALIFIERS (Oakland) – Aug 10-11

-   Winners of these races get the opportunity to represent the US in Italy 2014!

-   Remember the Big Picture!

-   Oakland Crew: Update the logistics Google Doc with your travel and lodging plans so we can keep track of everyone =)

5.  2013 Treasure Island Dragonboat Races – Sep 14-15

-   Check it out and sign-up NOW if you are interested

-   Space Dragons Traditional season ender!

-   Remember 2012?  …  Work Hard Play Hard

-   Hotel info coming soon!

6.  Weekly Boost!

Have you done the Weekly Boost yet?  Get to it! We’re putting up weekly targets for everyone (yes… EVERYONE) to meet every week.  The Weekly Boosts will only take a few minutes a day through the week or you can do it all in one day. Your choice.  Just get it done! Why? To show solidarity with the team.  To begin building a habit of doing a short work-outs regularly.  To build muscle and cardiovascular strength.  To promote good health.  To encourage others to do the same.  Update Spacebook when you do it.  It’ll not only help you (tracking what you’ve done), it’ll help us (recognize the work and thought we put in), and help the team (encourage others to join in too).

 

-- Your Captains

Ready... BOOST!!

Riding that post-tourney high? Let's carry that momentum!! Take this opportunity to commit yourself to a higher level of fitness with these baby steps we are calling the Weekly Boost.

The Boosts <beta> are designed to be for everyone, because we are ONE TEAM. They are put together keeping in mind that not everyone can make it to Coaches Lesley and Esmer's awesome Weekday Workouts, or to Captain Robert's Wednesday evening practices, or to Captain Roger's Land/Core drills [all of which are still super highly encouraged!!]. You can do them at your own pace, wherever you find convenient. You have the entire week to complete the week's Boost, whether you do it all in one day or spread it out over the course of several.

There are no difficulty tiers like in Hell Week. Too much for you? Break it out to manageable portions throughout the week. Too easy? Go ahead and crank out a few more reps, and/or add on your own workouts. These are meant to supplement your normal routine, not replace them.

For example:
This week's Boost is to complete 500 jumping jacks. [Why jumping jacks?]
Do 100 a day Mon-Fri. Or 50 each morning + 50 each evening. Or do 250 each for two days.
It's totally up to you. But DO IT!!

Updates will go up on Spacebook as well as in the Weekly Digest. Let us know you are participating by commenting on the post. Not only is it a great way to show that you want it, but it's a great way to start forming good habits for your own health and fitness :]

Let's always remember to encourage each other. The fact is that it takes all of us to make the Space Dragons the awesome team that it is.

ONE TEAM.

So much love.

The importance of staying Hydrated

STAYING HYDRATED IN THE HOT SUMMER MONTHS

While staying hydrated is important year-round, it’s especially difficult in the dry hot Summer months. Warm weather can make you feel tired or lazy, and can make drinking water seem like a chore.  If you’re out exercising you especially need it for your body, as all athletes know this.  Whenever you’re out on the water paddling for an intense workout and we break in between sets, you will see folks drinking lots of fluids, and while a few don’t.  Nonsense, I say to those thinking they’re too macho or fit and shouldn’t have to hydrate.  Your body needs the vital fluids whether you’re working out on the water, the gym, at home, or just out and about.  Keeping hydrated will benefit you in the long run.

Follow these tips for staying hydrated:

• Make your water taste better - Try infusing it with fresh fruit (lemon slices, berries, cucumber slices, etc.) and keeping a full pitcher handy in the fridge.

• Eat plenty of fruits and veggies - Apples are made up of about 84 percent water, while tomatoes are 94 percent water (just ask Jackie L.)

• Mix up cold, hot and room temperature drinks - Try having a cup of hot tea in the morning, drinking ice water with meals and placing a water bottle next to your bed for middle-of-the-night cravings.

• Take water with you - It is easy to stop at a soda machine when you’re out and about, but taking water bottles with you (in your purse, car, etc.) may help you avoid giving in to sugary drinks.

• Knowing what to drink and what NOT to drink will help you feel the difference in your performance.  We can save the spirits for AFTER a tourney!  =p

Not This -->

This! -->  

See you on the water....with water!
Es

SD Weekly Digest 7/24/13

EYES IN THE BOAT

You finish the 1^st power as you pass the half way mark, your lungs are burning, the lactic acid is already starting to incite muscle burn, as you wait for you 2^nd wind to engage the 2^ndset of power it hits you … if I just look out of the boat all will be well in the world … STOP IT … The ONLY thing that will make it all feel better is to get over that Finish Line ASAP, and the truth is the fastest way to get over the Finish Line is teamwork.  You cannot will your competition to slow down, you can only focus in the boat, rely on your training and run your best race. 

Races are just 3 DAYS away! Keep your intensity into race day, and Finish It NOW!!! …Space Dragons STRONG! …  See you on the water!

1.  Big LB – Sat/Sun July 27-28 THIS WEEKEND!

-   MAKE SURE YOU Sign-up for Potluck with Deej! (Contact her on SpaceBook too)

    … a little from each person goes a long way!

-   We are hosting 2 boats from our sexy Sister-team Ripple Effect, and we accepted the honor of hosting another new small SF team, Oyster Point Dragons, keeping to our host capacity at 3 boats.

-   Keep your eyes open for Logistics email Wed or Thur!

      The competition is strong:

Local:                          Guppies, LARD and U23 are always keeping the pressure on

North:                          Dragon Max, Oakland Renegades, Ripple, Dragon Warriors … More!

            Great White North:     Team Yahoo from Calgary

East:                            Vitasoy Seadogs

South:                          San Diego

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS 

2. 2013 PDBA CLUB CREW QUALIFIERS (Oakland) – Aug 10-11

-   Check it out and sign-up NOW if you are interested for Open boat paddling, need at least 2 more STRONG Space Men!

-   If you are interested in paddling in Oakland for Open-only, please sign up on evite and email coaches.

-   Not sure what this is? Ask a coach or captain!

-   Winners of these races get the opportunity to represent the US in Italy 2014!

-   Remember the Big Picture!

-   Hotel info: Check your email, info was sent out!

3.  2013 Treasure Island Dragonboat Races – Sep 14-15

-   Check it out and sign-up NOW if you are interested

-   Space Dragons Traditional season ender!

-   Remember 2012?  …  Work Hard Play Hard

-   Hotel info coming soon!

PRACTICE – NO practice this weekend (OBVIOUSLY), starts up again Wed 7/31!

4.  NORMAL PRACTICE - Sat/Sun 9am, Wed 5:30p-Sunset

         - Practice Poll Reminder: Be mindful of the practice poll. We need your poll responses for Sat/Sun practice by Wed 7p to properly notify SCDBC, later responses, while helpful to coaches and captains, do not help us satisfy our obligations to the association, beach monitors and the greater DB community.

** Wed/Sat/Sun Practice Poll (fill it out and keep it updated with changes)!

    SPECIAL BOAT – Sat/Sun 7:45a, before normal practice (8a ON THE WATER)

   -  Sat and Sun!!!  

 Please be ON TIME, we only have 1hr and need everybody to launch the boat!

   -  Usually a smaller group, so an accurate practice poll is extremely important.  Please keep this poll updated! Don't be "that guy" who signs up and then doesn't show up!

** Special Boat Practice Poll (fill it out and keep it updated with changes)!

5.  DUES and FEES

      -   Time for a mid-season checkup!

        Tempe $35, Baby LB $20, Alcan $35, Big LB $40 (Add $1 fee for Square)

-   Not sure if you owe anything? Contact captains! OR we will contact you after BLB!

-   As always, cash or checks payable to Space Dragons, give to Denise, Marina, Roger or Robert

-   NOW you can pay with CC to Robert or Roger OR directly from your smart phone with Square Register App at Mother’s Beach!   (~3% Square service fee applies)

-   If you need to make installment arrangements, contact captains, we are very flexible!DO IT NOW

6.  SD Citizens Award Scholarship

As a family, the Space Dragons want to make sure each of us has the opportunity to make it to tournaments. We would hate to see our students miss out on all the fun and work and silliness and racing because they are shy on cash, right? Help out your fellow teammates by just contributing a buck or two [or more!]. Those few dollars can make all the difference for the youngsters on our team. Give your contributions to Gracey or Roger. We accept cash, check, PayPal, and credit card! 

  

-- Your Captains

Decisions decisions decisions....

Before I begin.. LADIES, make sure you read the last paragraph!

In the weeks before every race, the coaches struggle to decide who paddles on what boat.  I have always said that we are lucky to have a deep enough roster that there are more paddlers who are qualified than there are seats for each of the boats.  Deciding who paddles on what boat is probably the hardest part of our job, and by no means are the decisions unanimous.

So how are these decisions made?

Exhibit A: The Data

Some of you may recall my previous post on data.  I love data!  Here it is in action!!  Imagine this, but BIGGER (as in a spreadsheet including every man, woman and child on Space Dragons).  For later tournaments, we often have two columns for time trial data (the two most recent) and two columns for attendance data (season total and last two months).  Since this is a mock-up, I decided to save myself the effort, but you get the idea, right?  So Exhibit A is an example of the splits for the women on Mixed, which for Long Beach, only has six seats.

Let's continue with this example of deciding the women for each Mixed boat in Long Beach.  Paddlers are siphoned into three buckets.  "Slam Dunk" means that a paddler is ranked top six of all Space ladies in both "strength" (time trial) and "dedication" (attendance).  [Yes yes, there are other ways to be dedicated and strong, and this is not a perfect system, but we do the best we can with what we have.]  Sometimes there are only two paddlers in this category, sometimes there are six.  It's different every time.  The next category is "Bank Shot," which means a paddler is top six in one category and top twelve in the other.  "Honorable Mention" is reserved for paddlers who just barely miss the Bank Shot cut-off (e.g. less than two seconds slower than the 6th ranked time trial and still top 12 in attendance) and those who we know have special circumstances (e.g. slightly slower time trials but has above average experience and technique/timing, had a TT time that was out of family with the rest, out for an extended period due to injury, work or family commitments, etc).  In this way, an initial breakdown for Slam Dunk and Bank Shot is made objectively using the data we collect.  The Honorable Mention category is somewhat subjective, and therefore typically casts a wide net.

Then comes the Pre-Tournament Coaches Meeting.  Every single paddler, whether a Slam Dunk, Bank Shot or Honorable Mention, is considered.  Usually the Bank Shots are easy decisions, but sometimes the coaches will still decide that a paddler in that category is not ready for a particular boat, due to lack of race experience or poor technique/timing, which are deal breakers. [Recall, there are a lot of criteria used to determine what mix of paddlers is "best" for a boat, and it's not always the fastest OC-2 times or the highest practice attendance.]  The Bank Shots and Honorable Mentions are where the decisions get tough.  Sometimes all the Bank Shots make it in, plus a few Honorable Mentions, and sometimes there are more Bank Shot paddlers then there are seats left.  Typically, it's "Consider these three paddlers who are about equal but with different strengths and weaknesses.  Pick two."  This is where timing, technique, Land/Core attendance come into play and can make up for several seconds (sometimes even 5-10 seconds) difference in time trial results.  And for those extra hard decisions?  Bubble busters, like going to SDWW and just having a great can-do, team-oriented attitude.

This system gets expanded to Top 8/8 for Slam Dunk and Top 8/16 for Bank Shot in races with eight women on each crew.  Similarly for the men, Slam Dunk means Top 12/12 and Bank Shot means Top 12/24.  This is for the Red/Blue split.  For the Blue/White split (equally difficult, especially for women in Long Beach), we expand the numbers as shown above (again, I just didn't take the effort to populate the example completely).  The decisions for who paddles Open/Women when we don't have enough roster spots for everyone are made similarly as well.

This example may make the decisions seem straightforward, but the coaches meetings for large tournaments can take several hours, plus continued discussion over email.  There are seven coaches to provide many different viewpoints, and we all have had tough decisions that we agonize over.  Heck, sometimes we show up at the tournament and find that we made the wrong decision!  We're not perfect, but we do the best we can, and we are grateful to be a part of a team of paddlers who understand what's most important - that in the end, we're out there to have fun with our Space Dragons family!

Finally, a SHOUT OUT to my LADIES!

Long Beach presents a particularly difficult situation for the ladies.  This year, our ladies have been ROCKIN IT, and I am super proud of how well we have gelled as a crew.  But, the fact of the matter is that there are only six women on each Mixed crew in Long Beach.  What does that mean?  You know how we took 1st place in Tempe and made it into the Guts and Glory race in Alcan?  Of the 22-24 women on each roster who made that happen, almost half of them will be on the White boat in Long Beach.  That's right, our WHITE boat ladies are kicking ass and taking names.  So hold your head high and be proud, and don't let THE MAN (the Man being the number of womens roster spots on each boat) bring you down!

SD Weekly Digest 7/17/13

Hell Week part III

Can it be? That time again? Big Long Beach Races are just 1.5 weeks away! That’s just 4 practices and 1 hell week to amp it up, fine tune and finish STRONG …  See you on the water!

1.  DUES and FEES

-   Time for a mid-season checkup!

        Tempe $35, Baby LB $20, Alcan $35, Big LB $40 (Add $1 fee ea for Square Pmt)

-   Not sure if you owe anything? Contact captains! OR we will contact you after July!

-   As always, cash or checks payable to Space Dragons, give to Denise, Marina, Roger or Robert

-   NOW you can pay with CC to Robert or Roger OR directly from your smart phone with Square Register App at Mother’s Beach!   (~3% Square service fee applies)

-   If you need to make installment arrangements, contact captains, we are very flexible! DO IT NOW

2.  SD Citizens Award Scholarship

As a family, the Space Dragons want to make sure each of us has the opportunity to make it to tournaments. We would hate to see our students miss out on all the fun and work and silliness and racing because they are shy on cash, right? Help out your fellow teammates by just contributing a buck or two [or more!]. Those few dollars can make all the difference for the youngsters on our team. Give your contributions to Gracey or Roger. We accept cash, check, PayPal, and credit card! 

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS 

3.  Big LB – Sat/Sun July 27-28 

-   Last chance Space Men, sign up!

-   Red, Blue, White Mixed boats, Genders, Masters, 500m and 200m races

-   We are hosting 2 boats from our sexy Sister-team Ripple Effect, and we accepted the honor of hosting another new small SF team, Oyster Point Dragons, keeping to our host capacity of 3 boats.

-   Sign-up for Potluck with Deej! (Contact her on SpaceBook too)

      The competition is strong:

Local:                          Guppies , LARD and U23 are always keeping the pressure on

North:                          Dragon Max, Oakland Renegades, Ripple, Dragon Warriors … More!

            Great White North:     Team Yahoo from Calgary

South:                          San Diego!

4. 2013 PDBA CLUB CREW QUALIFIERS (Oakland) – Aug 10-11

-   Check it out and sign-up NOW if you are interested for Open boat paddling, need at least 2 more STRONG Space Men!

-   If you are interested in paddling in Oakland for genders-only, please email coaches.  We are only allowed to register one mixed boat, so we need to know if there are enough people willing to paddle genders-only to fill Open and potentially Women's rosters.

-   Not sure what this is? Ask a coach or captain!

-   Winners of these races get the opportunity to represent the US in Italy 2014!

-   Remember the Big Picture!

-   Hotel info coming soon!

5.  2013 Treasure Island Dragonboat Races – Sep 14-15

-   Check it out and sign-up NOW if you are interested

-   Space Dragons Traditional season ender!

-   Remember 2012?  …  Work Hard Play Hard

-   Hotel info coming soon!

PRACTICE

6.  NORMAL PRACTICE - Sat/Sun 9am, Wed 5:30p-Sunset

   - Practice Poll Reminder: Be mindful of the practice poll. We need your poll responses for Sat/Sun practice by Wed 7p to properly notify SCDBC, later responses, while helpful to coaches and captains, do not help us satisfy our obligations to the association, beach monitors and the greater DB community.

** Wed/Sat/Sun Practice Poll (fill it out and keep it updated with changes)!

    SPECIAL BOAT – Sat/Sun 7:45a, before normal practice (8a ON THE WATER)

   -  Sat and Sun!!!  

 Please be ON TIME, we only have 1hr and need everybody to launch the boat!

   -  Usually a smaller group, so an accurate practice poll is extremely important.  Please keep this poll updated! Don't be "that guy" who signs up and then doesn't show up!

** Special Boat Practice Poll (fill it out and keep it updated with changes)!

-- Your Captains