I’m in mostly sunny Florida training with Coach Mike and training hard. I’ll spare the details as they’ve been written here before and it’s a given that most elite athletes exercise and in doing so sweat and work hard. The big picture is that we’re training two to four times a day and it’s going well.

Do mine eyes deceive me? Yes and frequently. I’ve had the pleasure of catching myself thinking I have to remove my contacts because I see so well or I find myself reading and pausing to calculate when I need to get ready for practice and planning the extra minute or so it takes to wash my hands and put in my contacts. Old Habits die hard but die they must!

My friends, I think it’s going to be a good day and in the spirit of George here was my version of a homage from a few years ago…

Through a serendipitous meeting at a CTV function in the fall I met a team of professionals that were ready to help. I had the procedure yesterday, performed by The Dr. Cohen, and it was painless (I experienced only mild discomfort), speedy and well worth it. A day later I’m seeing 20/20 and feeling almost 100%. I’ll provide a few updates along the way but the improvement was almost instantaneous and should only progress from here. Thank you to Lasik MD for no more dry contacts while training and racing and brining me into your family.

I’ve also had a recent stint in the public health care world courtesy of the CHUM hospital network and I received excellent service and care.

This litany of thanks isn’t a regular feature on my blog, at least when it’s updated, but my inner cynic has been sorely tried in the past few months. Whether in the private or public health care system or simply in meeting and working with great people (I’m looking at you AthletesCAN) I’m in a great space leading up to this important summer and couldn’t ask for more.

I’ll be posting more often as I don’t have as much on my plate for the next few months, other than that three times a day hobby called training.

Once again thanks to everyone at Lasik MD.

Till next time!

I’ll be at the Pointe-Claire Public Library participating in the Human Library. A human Library is just like a normal library but with people. I’ll be signed out “read” and returned. The idea was formed in Denmark in the early 1990s by a group call “Stop the Violence” and they say what it’s all about better than I can, so head over to www.humanlibrary.org to find out more.

I’m not the only book available, you may have seen the article in the WI section of the Gazette this Wednesday but if not i’ll be joined by my Ma who is there talking about PCCC, a World War Two vet (who I will loan as soon as I get a chance) and a whole bunch of other amazing people with fascinating stories to tell about themselves and Pointe-Claire.

Anyway come check us out (that was to easy)!

Tom

Worlds in Hungary is like having x-country skiing in Norway, or the superbowl in Texas(I know nothing of football but I’m assuming it would be a bigger deal in Texas than most places). Sprint Canoe Kayak is a huge deal here and one rumor I heard was that they’re anticipating this to be the biggest sporting event in Hungary this year. Even if it isn’t the biggest the fans will number well into the tens of thousands and be screaming accordingly.

This is a particularly exciting worlds as it’s the beginning of the “road to London” and everyone is trying to qualify spots for next years games. Check out http://www.szeged2011.com/ for results..etc.

As i write this, I’m on my way home from a beautiful (seriously, it was nice) week in Dartmouth Nova Scotia having just finished a week of C2 work with Ben on lake Banook. Prior to this mini camp, for the two weeks in the middle of June, we (the canoe team en masse) were in a two week training camp in Ottawa sweating and working hard reestablishing a strong aerobic base from which we can build on later in the summer. This means hard work and suffering, but it’s also satisfying to finish a good hard training camp.

In Montreal Ben and I will be back at it in C2 once again enjoying the basin and training with Tamas and Mike. The goal for the next two weeks is simply fine tuning and prepping to race well at trials in July.

Check out my twitter @tomhallcanoe for more frequent updates!

The team and I are in Duisburg Germany putting the finishing touches on our prep for the last world cup of the season. After a good weekend in Czech I’m feeling confident and ready to race this weekend. I had two great races at the world cup in Czech with one of my best 500m races ever followed closely by a painful yet satisfying 5000m. From under two minutes of work to over twenty is not pleasant. Anyway I was really happy with my efforts and finally earning my first world cup medal in the 500m was great.
This weekend I’ve been back in C2 with Ben Russell getting ready to test our mettle in the 1000m for the first time internationally. Last year at the world champs we raced for the first time ever to a sixth place in the 500m. We’re really hoping that we can better that in the 1000m this year.

Look for race info at this site

Follow my twitter and facebook page for more info and updates!

Follow along on my twitter for more frequent updates and join my fan page…it’s sad…