Hello from Palma de Mallorca, Spain!
I just arrived here yesterday and I am currently taking the day off to recover from jet lag. It was kind of an interesting trip…I managed to miss one of my connecting flights, which resulted in then having my bags lost because of the ordeal.
For the last month and a half I have been doing lots of training. In February, I sailed in two events: the Laser Radial North Americans in Ft. Lauderdale and the Midwinters East in Clearwater, Florida. I won both of them which was really nice. The most beneficial thing I can take from those two months dealt with my big breeze sailing. I have been very light for the last two years because I was doing so much schoolwork and sailing. This made it impossible for me to gain weight. Since I graduated, I have been able to focus completely on my body and sailing. My strength and endurance has increased thus helping me hike harder and longer. This is definitely due to the gym work, but also having Luther Carpenter (my US Sailing Team Alphagraphics Coach) push me to the brink of exhaustion on the water.
The year has started off with a bang, but I must remember to pace myself because it’s all about trials this year. So in January and February I practically sailed and went to the gym every day, which means I took a bit of a break in March. I didn’t sail as much, but, I continued to train in the gym very hard. My focus was to gain weight. I managed to put on a few pounds which currently I am content with, but I know I need to gain more. Time will be the key ingredient in putting the weight on.
Right before I came to Spain I went to Colorado Springs to do a USSTAG (US Sailing Team Alphagraphics) training camp at the Olympic Training Center. It was very fun, but extremely strenuous. We did workouts and fitness test throughout the day. Our nutritionist was monitoring our dehydration levels which made realize how much more diligent I need to be on consuming fluids. I didn’t seem to absorb much so, I learned how to mix my drinks properly so it can benefit me more.
Back to the present day. I am here in Spain currently looking out to the ocean seeing lots of people training. I wish I could be out there right now, but logic tells me not to push it too hard yet because I want to prevent illness from wearing myself out. We had a tough last four days with lots of working out and then I traveled across the world to get here. So, I’m going to be smart and let myself recover.
I’m planning on starting to sail tomorrow and then I will fly to Barcelona to pick up my trailer and boat on the 25th. I then take a ferry that night and will be back to Palma on the 26 where I will resume training.
On April 4th I will be sailing in the Princess Sophia regatta, which is the third stop on the ISAF Sailing World Cup. It’s an important event for me, because I want to prove to myself that I have improved in some of these difficult conditions. Results wise though it is a grade C for me. Even though it’s not one of the most important regattas, I’m still going to go for a stellar result. I HATE doing bad, so I’m going to give it all I have. The regatta website is: http://www.trofeoprincesasofia.org/noticias.php
Paige
