Pablo McCandless Olympic Athlete

June 7, 2008

Today, I had the day off. I thought to go paddle anyways on flat water early in the morning but when I woke, I decided this was not a good idea. I kept with the plan of taking the full day off.

We went to Silk Street Market to do some shopping. Silk Street is famous here for its cheap prices. And they have everything you need from shoes to iPods.

I went to buy just one pair of shoes and came home with two different pairs, a wind resistant jacket, and some socks.

Silk Street is also known for its bargaining. I held to my prices I wanted and in the end, got what I wanted. Only one person turned me away. It was amazing because everyone is trained in bargaining and you can hear all of them saying exactly the same things.

The vendors really attack you but all the ones I dealt with were really nice and I felt this was true with all because it was a game we were all playing and having fun doing. The game of who could get the best price.

So, a fun day of shopping but after all that walking, my feet hurt. And now as I go to bed with feet in pain, I have to set my alarm for an early rising.

And by the way, I use my cell phone for an alarm and so I have to turn it on for the night. Because U.S. phones work in Beijing, I frequently have gotten phone calls in the middle of the night because there is a 12-hour difference. I guess some friends still don't know that I am in Beijing at the moment. I am afraid to pick up because the phone call might cost a lot but I will remember those names that come up.

These few people have probably left messages but I will not check until I return to the U.S. in July, so you can e-mail me, this would be better.

Well, I think these are all my thoughts for tonight.

Cheers,
Pablo

Aching arms

June 6, 2008

Well, after today of training, my arms really hurt, but this is OK because I will take tomorrow off from paddling and finally get a chance to be a tourist.

This whitewater course is hard because of big whitewater. It takes a lot of work from my muscles to stay online and now after paddling nonstop for about an hour, my arms are hurting. All the paddlers are saying the same thing.

So I get a full day off tomorrow, I will try to go see the Great Wall and go down town Beijing and do some shopping. I think a pair of shoes are needed and if I find a good price, I will get myself a present.

I will let you know later how it goes.

Cheers,
Pablo

Arriving in Beijing

June 3, 2008

Well, after many days of not having internet, I have it now and things are great.

It was a long flight, 16 hours total of flying time. I had a two-hour layover in San Francisco where I met my sister at the airport for lunch. Without warning I arrived in San Fran, called her and she jumped in a cab right away. This was very nice before having to board the plane for an 11 hour flight.

I arrived with all my luggage in Beijing to wait about 45 minutes for my pick up to arrive. I did not know who would pick me up, I was only a little worried but not stressed to much. I walked outside, then tried to find internet which I failed at. But it was to be found soon after by Liza, who was very nice and worried about me because she was stuck in traffic. But I assured her I hope that I was happy just waiting, I knew someone would get there eventually.

We dropped off my boat at the whitewater park, which is amazing; I will post some video tomorrow after I get some more footage. We then went to the King and Queen hotel, which is amazing also. It has the biggest lobby I have ever seen.

I have suffered greatly from jet-lag. I have slept a lot and now after two days, I am much better. The paddling is hard. Wow, I have a lot of work to do and I am happy I am here now to prepare for the games and not later. Thank you ICF for giving me this opportunity to train here. The International Canoe Federation has invited me here to Beijing to take part in a training camp which is for people from certain countries that do not have much development in kayak. So, I am very happy to be here.

We have great coaches and a great group of people to train with.

As of now, I have not done any tourist things but I hope to in the next couple days.

And, the food here is crazy, some good, some weird. A lot of the food, I have no idea what I am eating but this does not bother me too much. I always like to try a little of everything but then I end up with too much and my stomach complains. Oh well, the food is interesting and I feel I must try it.

Alright, this is enough for now, until next time

Cheers,
Pablo

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Big race Friday

I am sitting in bed now after an easy day. I only paddled once, early in the morning at 8 a.m. I must admit that it was a bit early for me; usually we paddle around 10.

I woke up, took a shower, found some clothes on my floor, went to the river and paddled well. I was not expecting the paddling to be good because of the early morning session, so it was a nice surprise. I have been feeling good and looking forward to the next two days of training. Then the race is Friday, and all I can say is that I am ready.

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So, first the broken boat: It's fixed and does not matter any more. It feels no different and I am glad to be back in it. Next problem -- on Friday, I started getting a cold. Saturday, I felt horrible and did not paddle. On Sunday, I skipped my first morning workout and tried to paddle in the afternoon but I was still weak from being sick and so my paddling was painful, which means could have been better.

Finally as I am writing this on Sunday night I feel actually great and I am looking forward to a good workout tomorrow at 10. I have technique workout with the guys, I should be able to handle this. First the boat, then the sickness, maybe it's because I am a little nervous for the big race, maybe it's just my luck. Well, that's all for now. I will try and get to bed, its a bit late. After resting so much today trying to recover from the cold, I am up with lots of energy.

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Broken boat

So, over the weekend, I broke my brand new boat that I was scared I would never get because of the price. But thanks to some help I received, I got the boat, and what happens? Well I was paddling on what we call the big drop at the whitewater center and I did an ender in my boat, which is when the bow goes straight in the air. My stern sinks deep and hits the bottom of the river and breaks.

Well, it's not so bad after I fixed it. The only bad thing about my break is that the boat just does not look as good as it did before.

Other than breaking my boat, I have been paddling great, well maybe not all the time but most of the time. I am going today to pick up a paddler from Ecuador at the airport and I have a Brazilian staying with me currently. I have an important workout today and I will let you all know how it went later.

Until next time,

Pablo "Chilean Wonder" McCandless

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Qualifying for the Olympics (4/3/08)

My sport of whitewater slalom kayaking involves racing down class three rapids with a start and finish line, much like slalom skiing, but on water. There are poles that hang from wires above the river and two poles make a gate which we must go between without touching them with any part of our boat, paddle or body. Some gates are colored with green stripes which we must maneuver through in a downstream direction. Other gates are colored with red stripes which we must negotiate in an upstream direction. Each run for the fastest boats takes an average of 90 seconds depending on the venue and course configuration. You get a two second penalty for touching a gate and a 50 second penalty for missing a gate. For a race, you make two runs which are added together for the final result.

During the last weekend of April, the US Olympic trials will be held here in Charlotte. This will consist of three days of racing and include, the Pan American Championships, which I will be racing in and the Canadian Team Trials. Everyone competes on the same race course; but at the end of the day, the results are split up according to country. As for myself, the first day of racing, the 24th of April is a qualifier for the finals the next day. That day, the 25th of April, will determine if I make it to the Olympics.

I have been competing since I was 15 years old in the Washington DC area, where I grew up, Western North Carolina, where I went to school, and now in Charlotte at the US National Whitewater Center. In 2003, I started representing Chile in the World Cup race series, (I have dual citizenship because my mother is from Chile and I lived there until I was 8 years old.)

I went to Athens to qualify for the Olympics in 2004, but missed qualifying by one spot. I have been racing these last four years on the world cup circuit in Europe and South America. My main goal has been to be more consistent because in many of my races I have had one great run and one not so good run.

If I can put together two goods runs on the 25th of April, I will have a very good chance at qualifying for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. For the first time in my racing career I have taken off from work and am training full time. For the last two months, I have competed at many races in the US in preparation for the Olympics trials. I have travelled to Texas, Western North Carolina, Maryland and also raced twice right here in Charlotte. I have won one of these races which was on the Nantahala River. As for the other races, it was mixed results but with some very fast runs, close or faster in time to the top US guys. So I am almost where I need to be and will continue to train hard for the next few weeks and hope to put it all together when it counts. I will post blogs about my progress for the rest of the month leading to the last weekend. You can learn more about me at www.ChileanWonder.com.

Until next time.

Cheers,
Pablo McCandless

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