Mark Proctor, Canoe Slalom, C1 category

Introduction

Hi, my name is Mark Proctor, I'm 22.

I am a member of the British Canoe Slalom Team at both U23 and Senior Level and my aim is to win the Olympics and World Championships.

I began canoeing at the age of 12 and have never looked back. Medalling at junior and then breaking into the senior circuit in 2008.

Canoe Slalom is an exciting sport. Negotiating whitewater rapids whilst also making your way through the green (downstream) and red gates (upstreams). A 2 second penalty for a touch and a 50 second penalty for a missed gate. Courses normally take between 90-105 seconds. Depending on the course set.

April's Blog...
Posted: 23 April 2012

Wow, April has been and gone, just like that.

At the beginning of the month I took part in my second race of the season in Cardiff, Wales. After a disappointing opening to the season I was looking to turn it around on a course which I have come to like over the last few months. I raced well and without some poor judging I would have walked away with the win. As it ended up I was 0.28 behind David Florence.

The 3 weeks that followed involved lots of freshening up and some very powerful sessions. Going for quality rather than quantity!

Olympic selection was held between the 13th-15th April at the Lee Valley whitewater course which is home to the Olympic canoe slalom event - of course.

With it being 2 out of the 3 races which count I knew going into the race there could be a throw away result, just I didn't expect that on the first day for myself, finishing 4th with two fairly poor runs. Not down to nerves but down to technical errors. So to finish 4th with 2 poor runs left me excited and confident for the following two days.

Again like Cardiff I raced well on the Saturday and Sunday finishing second both days. Just over a second off the lead on the Saturday and less than 0.3 on the Sunday.

This meant ultimately I missed out on the 1 spot at the Olympic games. I am Olympic reserve.

Some might think I am now down in the dumps after coming so close. I would have said the same if you'd have known the result prior to the weekend.

The fact of it all is that it came a year to soon for me. I raced so well in the second two races that I can hold my hands up and say I was beaten by a better paddler. Not down to me being caught up in the moment or the wrong training. Because I achieved new PB percentages over the weekend. I also did 5 out of 6 runs clean (Not touching any poles or missing any), so what else could I have done? nothing.

I now have the Europeans in May followed by a World Cup summer. I will also be doing demo runs at the games.

Thank you for the support. Mark

March's Blog...
Posted: 22 March 2012

March has been a different kind of month to the last five for myself. It has seen the end of my 'winter' training and a switch to more lactic based training.

All winter I've gone about improving my core strength and my power in the boat.This has meant lots of short, snappy stuff.

As a race is between 90-110 seconds I've now begun going more into that region of effort. And I will be completely honest here, the first full runs session hurt A-Lot. I am now into my third week of this and I'm already seeing the benefits.

The only draw back to this was racing at Nottingham at the weekend and not being in race shape. I finished 5th. That was hard to swallow, but as it was only my third full runs effort since October I didn't beat myself up too much about it. I have much more in the tank and my fulls this week on Lee Valley have shown that.

I now head over to Cardiff for another domestic race to make sure I am ready in my racing plan going into Olympic selection.

Last week I also reached new PB's in the gym. This hitting above the targets I set at the start of the winter. So I'm really buzzing about the position I'm in going into the selections in less than a month's time.

February's Blog...
Posted: 16 February 2012

Where are the days going?

Since the turn of the year the days seem to be vanishing. January seems a blur and February has gone by in a flash.

I'm thinking this is down to it being 2012. Everyday, at least once I sit and think of the season ahead. With Olympic selection being just 8 weeks away it's getting very close.

February has been just another month of the same really. Increasing my strength and power and then transferring it into the boat. The senior programme also had a mini trip to the course over in Cardiff bay for 3 days. It made for a nice change and some good focused sessions.

In the next 2 weeks I will begin my race transition period. The training gets more geared up to 100 second efforts and not the short kind of which I have been doing since November. Latic block for all you sports geeks out there.

I'm excited and couldn't wish to be in a better place both mentally and physically.

January's Blog...

Posted: 17 January 2012

Christmas seems months ago now.

With an enjoyable four day break over Christmas it was back to training on the 28th December. Since then it's been much like December and November. Nice wild weather and high quality sessions going down.

January being an important month (they all are) as I was testing in the second week. Testing consisting of both gym and water tests. All of which are significantly important as it shows what effects the training is having and most importantly, if the training is doing what it's suppose to be doing.

I went into the week knowing I couldn't of done anymore so whatever the tests were to show, they would be a true indication of the effects of the training which I'd been doing since the beginning of November.

Thankfully enough I improved on all of my tests. My gym testing went really well, increasing by a big margin of which was expected. Water testing also showed a big step up in raw speed, this showing that the gym work is paying dividends in the boat, which is where it really counts. I'm a canoeist at the end of the day, not a weightlifter!

I will now carry on doing much of the same, the facts are there to show it's working in the way both myself and my coach hoped for.

Happy New Year to you all. 2012 is here and I'm buzzing.

December's Blog...
Posted: 13 December 2011

The cold mornings have arrived, bringing with it my skull cap and pogies (kind of gloves for paddling). I feel we've been spoiled massively with the weather so far this winter. I remember last year doing a volume full runs session at Nottingham in the snow and struggling to walk back up the bank.

Luckily this winter has been different for 2 reasons 1) no snow 2) I no longer need to do any walking as I now live and train on a course with a conveyor belt unlike Nottingham! So I'm really enjoying my training.

Training is going well, lifting heavier then ever and producing more consistently fast runs on the whitewater. Being completely honest, I'm buzzing. 2012 is going to be massive but I feel the work I've done over the last few months has put me exactly where I want to be.

I'm now in my last heavy block before Christmas, planning a 4-day break over Christmas to recover well. Lots of people talk about training on Christmas day because others won't be, but if you plan your training well then why not make it time off so you can be human for a few days!

I also received my latest canoe which I will be using for the 2012 season, it looks stunning and I will be fitting it out for my skinny legs over the Christmas break.

November's Blog...
Posted: 15 November 2011

Since my last blog I have mainly been..... training! November has been filled with lots of gym work along with the daily paddling sessions. I wrote in my last blog that I'd hope to be lifting more than ever in my next one and I'm pleased to say I am. Getting new Pb's in the gym on cleans, weighted chin ups, snatch and force measurements. But what's a good way of measuring this has a positive impact in my boat you might be thinking?

Well, around the time of gym testing we have water tests also,

this is comprised of 20metre sprint times and 100metre sprints all in a swimming pool (same conditions all year round). This helps us see what effects the training is having on us in the boat. I set myself a target for the winter and I have already gone beneath that which is a good sign (if you remember in October's blog I wrote about my different training approach this winter).

Another good thing which came out this month was the news of the Olympic Flame passing through ten Staffordshire communities next summer. This is for sure a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and shouldn't be missed.

Back to paddling and there were 2 races/events which I took part in the back end of October. The first being a head-to-head slalom at Stone for the opening of the new Club House. I won the race winning my first ever prize money in the sport of £20.12, but the main event being the opening of the club house. It's incredible, the people who have put all the effort into it deserve a massive pat on the back.

The other event being the final race of the season at Holme Pierrpont and the British Open. I won the race by over a second and couldn't of asked for a better way to end the season. This puts me on a good platform for the winter, as the old saying "you're only as good as your last race" will last a while!

October's Blog...
Posted by: Mark Proctor on Thurs 20 October 2011

October has been a busy one! Back to training officially on the 4th (even though I couldn't help myself and started the day after my holiday) and for the next 2 weeks myself and my coach have been busy planning my winter training along with training twice a day. Teaming up with strength and conditioning coach, physio, nutritionist, analyst and lifestyle support to make sure everything involved in the winter training is the right thing for Mark Proctor.

It's also been annual review time. A time which can be stressful for people. It's when you find out if you've made the cut for the national programme and what support if any you will be getting over the next 12 months. For me it was fine. After making the grade at the senior euros (9th) and u23 euros (4th), I knew what funding and support I'd get as there are certain results which guarantee you certain levels.

Back to training. And I'm not actually doing that much paddling. Only 7 times a week to be honest, this time last year I was doing more like 11 sessions. But a place where I see myself making more gains and this helping my paddling is in the gym. This is where I'll be spending a lot of time this winter! Nearly everyday to be honest! Hopefully in my next blog I'll be reporting how I'm lifting more than ever!

September's Blog...
Posted by: Mark Proctor - Weds 21st September 2011

Since my last blog I have competed in the World Championships in Bratislava. I finished 21st. The competition started off by being delayed by 3 days due to gail force winds. Once started I finished 11th in qualification and therefore confidence was sky high going into semis finals. A small mistake and a touch at the top of the course knocked me down to 21st. I'm pretty gutted with the outcome but happy with my paddling. This year has seen me take another step up from last year and I go into winter training eager to get going and continue to make further improvements.

I will now go on holiday to America for 8 days to wind down and make sure I'm fully refocused going into winter training. I've given it my all for the last 11 months and I feel I deserve this break. And with it being the last push going into the Olympic year I can't wait to get started.

August's Blog...

Posted by: Mark Proctor - Friday 19th August 2011

I have been in Bratislava training on the course which will hold the 2011 World Championships. By the time the race comes around I will of spent over 5 weeks here preparing for the Worlds. And I'm confident.

I like the course. It's big and bouncy and this suites my technical style. I also came 5th at the venue last year at the Senior Europeans and this being my result which made me believe in myself and my canoeing. Since then things have only got better and faster.

I will now taper into the Worlds which start on the 9th September.

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