Today involved a lot of sitting around.
Most of the team was getting classified, meaning they were being
evaluated to make sure they are in the correct category. There are
three different categories you could be put into, LTA, TA, and A.
LTA – Leg, truck, arms. Roughly put,
this means that you have control of your legs, trunk, and arms. This
category mostly consists of lower extremity amputees, and a few hand
amputees. I think you have to be missing at least three fingers to be
considered a para athlete. This is the category I represent for the
US in the woman's division.
TA- Trunk, arms. Basically this is the
category for people who don't have full control of their lower
extremities. I think most of these athletes either have spinal cord
injuries or are double amputee's who don't wear prostedics in the
boat.
A- Arms. This category deserves so
much respect! These athletes are out competing having only control
of their arms, meaning they have high spinal cord injuries. I mean to
paddle a kayak and not have a core, so impressive!
So while the rest of the team was off
doing that, I took my last paddle before the race tomorrow. I did a
1000 meter warm up and then practiced in the starting gates while
they had them open. It felt really good and I was able to go through
my pre race routine again and then visualize the race and how I
wanted to feel before, during, and after.
Tomorrow is the start of the races. My
first heat will be at 10:50 am German Time, meaning like 4 am or so
central time. If you just happen to be awake and really want to watch
a minute race here is the link for the live stream -http://www.kanuduisburg.de/de/index.php/en/
GO KELLY GO!!!
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