Shaun Rubenstein

Training time!!!

Ruby — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:09:26 +0000

I have been in Cape Town for the last 2 weeks on a training camp. It has been so awesome to be training with Mike and Marcus again after a long time apart over the festive season. Mike and I have been racing each other hard everyday which has been good fun and of coarse good training!!! Marcus has come up with some cool sessions especially in the gym and both Mike and I are really enjoying the training and improving nicely! We have had such awesome weather which has ensured that we have had some extremely high quality sessions. I am really enjoying being in Cape Town and everyday after training I realise that we have made such a good move! We are all very happy and motivation in the Cape amoungst us is super high.

I fly back to Joburg on Thursday to complete all my packing up and then I will drive down with Ruvenna on the weekend to complete my move to the Cape. I can’t wait to have Ruvenna down here with me. Even though the last 2 weeks have been cool, I have really missed Ruvenna and I can’t wait to be moved down here together!

Happily Engaged!

Ruby — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 09:56:52 +0000

After a couple weeks away on holiday in the Cape, I concluded our fantastic holiday by proposing to my beautiful girlfriend. Luckily she said yes We had an awesome day with all our friends and family that come down to Cape Town to be with us on our special day. Thanks to my family, Ruvenna’s family and Lee, Ruvenna’s best friend, for travelling down especially for the engagement and helping to make the 30th of December so awesome.

Training has been going well. I am really enjoying my paddling and I am so excited to get down to Cape Town and start training full time with Mike and Marcus. I am heading down to Cape Town on the 25th of this month to settle down. Ruvenna will follow a few days later and then we will be able to start setting up and furnishing our new home. Its all very exciting. For the nest 2 weeks I will tying up all my lose ends in Joburg and packing up all my belongings in preparation for the big move

The pic above was taken a few minutes after the proposal. For those of you with sharp eyes, her ring is still being set according to her choice!

Holiday season!

Ruby — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:51:36 +0000

Well its awesome to be able to relax and have some fun this week. Last week Mike and I were down in Cape Town for a training camp together. It was really cool to get back into the K2 together and feel some speed again. I am already excited to race again. This week I am having an easy week as Marcus has scheduled some tough sessions for the upcoming weeks. I am in Cape Town at the moment and I have done some really cool rides along the beach and through the forests.

I would like to wish everyone celebrating Christmas a really good time and that you have a great festive season. I will update again soon.

2010 Approaching!

Ruby — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 11:33:37 +0000

So December is upon us. That’s nuts. This year has absolutely flown by and its unbelievable that I am already well into my base phase of the 2010 season. The 2010 is going to be really exciting for me. I am off to live and train in Cape Town. Mike and Marcus are also moving down so that we can all train together and really focus on our Olympic preparations without much distraction. We were in Cape Town two weeks ago on a training camp and we took some time to set up a whole team of experts at the Sports Science Institute of South Africa, with whom we will work very closely with over the next 3 years. We will have specialist psychologists, nutritionist, physiologist, physiotherapist and sport scientists at our disposal to ensure that all aspects of our preparations are catered for. Probably the most exciting aspect of training at the Sport Science Institute is the opportunity that we will have to work with Prof. Tim Noakes and Dr Ross Tucker. They both have some fascinating ideas to help us improve and close the gap on the winning boats and us.

I am going to be in the Cape for the next 4 weeks, training with Mike and Marcus, and holidaying with my beautiful girlfriend J What a life !!!

Back in action :-)

Ruby — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:41:51 +0000

Well exams are finally over and I am back in training. Exams were tough. I wrote 6 4hour exams so I had a fair share of thinking and writing to do but its such a relief to be finished. One thing is that I really missed training and it was great to be out on the water stress free this morning. I can’t wait to get fit and strong again Its the off season now so I will be doing all the long, hard training that will carry me through the racing season next year. Some exciting times for me this season and I can’t wait to get cracking at it.

Something that I am excited about is that I have started a small online coaching business. Quite a few guys have come up to me recently to ask me advice on training and racing and I have realised that there are so many paddlers out there that want to improve and take their paddling to a higher level but aren’t sure how. Unfortunately, not everyone can train full time so the trick about training in between all your other responsibilities is to train smart. I have some cool ideas to deliver an individualised training program to each client and I believe that with years of experience, training and racing and studying the science of sport, I can help you achieve results that are beyond expectations.

The cool thing with technology these days is that everything will be done virtually, from communication to heart rate and video analysis. This means that I am available to help train anyone from anywhere in South Africa or abroad. I have already started coaching some guys for the 2010 Dusi and would like to help you to get more out of your training and achieve amazing results. If you are interested you can contact me on shaun@e-coach.co.za or ruby@shaunrubenstein.com and we can discuss how to go forward.

Thats it for now. Going to rest up a bit before my afternoon training!

Exam Time!!!

Ruby — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:04:00 +0000

Hi there. Just a quick note to say that I am still on this planet. I am currently in the middle of exams. In the next two weeks I am writing six 4 hour exams which is pretty hectic and keeping me busy! I am trying to do some training in between the studying, but unfortunately training has the back seat for the next couple of days. I cant wait to get these exams over and to start training properly again. I miss the water and cant wait to fly in 2010! Some exciting times ahead and I jsut want to get started now!

2009 Roundup!!!

Ruby — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:05:00 +0000

I cannot believe that a year has come and gone and now I am busy preparing my plan for the 2010 season. If I look back at my season I have had one of the most successful racing seasons in my career. I won 10/10 golds at the SA sprint champs, gold in both the K1 and K2 races at the SA marathon champs, silver in the 200m K2 with Mike Arthur at the Szeged World Cup and Silver with Ant Stott at the K2 World Marathon Champs. Added to those results was a 4^th at the K1 World Marathon Champs, 4^th in the 500m K2 with Mike at the Szeged World Cup and 6^th at the World Sprint Champs in the 200m K2 with Mike.

Unfortunately, I had some bad results also. I really struggled to produce a good 1000m race this season. After a very frustrating time racing in the 1000m K1 internationally, I eventually went for blood test to find out that I had Bilharzia. After treating the Bilharzia and Giardia I eventually started to come right but it was too late for the World Sprint Champs. Luckily I came right for the World Marathons and managed to have two really good races.

While I was sick and pretty down during the middle of this year, I got to see who is really there to support me. Thanks to my family, beautiful girlfriend, great sponsors and real friends for being there for me and helping me to get back into form and back on top of my paddling.

I am super amped for the 2010 season and look forward to bouncing back and winning more medals internationally. Mike Arthur and I are going to put a huge effort into the 200m K2, a new Olympic discipline and look forward to getting a whole lot faster! We are about to start ‘Project London’, our 3 year plan to winning gold at the Olympics in 2012!

World Marathon Champs Silver!!!

Ruby — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:45:18 +0000

Yesterday Ant and I had a really awesome race and managed to win a silver medal at the World Marathon Champs here in Portugal. The race was tough to say the least, but Ant and I had a faultless race and were in with a shout of winning gold untill the very end. After a very fast opening lap, we got into a 4 boat break away with the Spanish, Czechs and Portugese after the forst portage. We were being hunted down by 3 crews the whole race. All 3 crews behind us are known for their strong grinding abililty so we had to work hard the way to make sure that we were not caught. In our group the Czech boat had a very strong pull and they werent scared to use it, which helped to keep us clear from the rest of the field. Coming into the last portage all the crews were pretty tense, knowing that the finish was so close. The Spanish put in first with us on their wave. They pulled around the turn and towards the finishing line. Ant and I were feeling great and decided to go woth about 250 meters. We pulled up next to the Spanish and then passed them for a while, but they were very strong and edged back infront of us. We stayed neck and neck fighting it out for the gold medal untill eventually the got the better of and edged clear with about 60 meters to go. Eventhough it was disappointing not to win gold the Spanish were the stronger crew on the day and deserved to win. We had a brilliant race and fought it out till the very end and I am satisfied with that. I had a great time paddling with Ant this year and want to thank him for all the great training and racing together this year. To make our day even more special, my parents, brother, sister in law and cousin came over to Portugal to watch me race. Ant’s father and brother in law were also here to support, so as you can imagine it was very festive after our race and very special to be able to share special times with special people. Unfortunately my girlfriend, Ruvenna, has been writing exams and wasn’t able to come and be here with us. I know that she sat infront of the computer on Saturday and Sunday watching the racing, but I wished that she could have been here watching it live and sharing the excitement with us.

The K1 race on Saturday was extremely hard. I had a terrible opening 2 laps. For some reason I felt as if my heart rate just wouldn’t come down after the opening sprint and found myself in the second bunch about 150 meters behind the leading bunch of four. After the second portage I started to feel a bit better and work very hard to catch the front bunch. The front bunch worked very hard to try keep me off and I spent the whole 3rd lap at the back of the group. I eventually got myself onto the first wave on the 4th lap and tried my best to recover for the end sprint onlap 7. Coming into the last portage there were 5 of us taking out together. As we put in Manuel Busto got a break and sprinted off to win, Ben Brown did brilliantly to come in second, Portugal came 3rd about 1 second ahead of me in 4th. Eventhough I tried my absolute best on the day, I was still disappointed to come 4th. I worked so hard to get into a position to win a medal, but unfortunately I was too tired at the end to have put up a fight in the end sprint.

All in all I had a great time in Portugal. I am very happy with my silver medal and now I look forward to a few weeks off to recover before next season. Thanks to everyone for their emails and sms’s of support over the last few days.

Back to basics!!!

Ruby — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 07:30:06 +0000

I have been home now for a week and a half and I am very pleased to say that I feel as if I am on the road to recovery and back to my usual self. After some blood tests, 2 visits to the doctor and a very strong course of medication to clear any and every bug that might be living inside of me, I am back into training full time for the marathon world Champs in Portugal. My excitement about the world champs grows each and everyday in training as I feel myself improving and getting into good form again.

Ant Stott is up in Joburg to train with me this week. Our K2 is going really nicely so I am very excited about our chances. Its been great to have someone to train with everyday as it definately helps to increase the intensity level of training.

Spring is finally here, its been 28 degrees all week and I am loving being home and training at a much higher level than I was able to earlier in the season. I feel veryhappy and super amped to get to Portugal and race my guts out! 17 more days to go!!!

World Champs 2009!!!

Ruby — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:09:30 +0000

A whole sprinting season has come and gone already! Its unbelievable how quickly this year has gone. World Champs this year was really tough for me. My 1000m K1 and 500m K2 never went well at all. The top guys just paddled away from me which was very frustrating as I could do nothing about it. Looking back on the way my training has gone in the last few months, its no wonder that they guys were a lot faster than. After about 3 months of sub standard training and racing I went for blood tests to find out that I had Bilharzia which was causing my fatigue and lack of energy. I thought that having treated the Bilharzia I would have been able to race really well but I wasn’t. The level at World Champ is so high that if your training doesnt go well then you wont get the results. I ave learned a good lesson though and that is to listen to my body when its not feeling great.

On a positive note, Mike and I pulled off a great 200m K2 final today and came 6th. This is my best world Championship result and what makes it so exciting is that the 200m event has just replaced the 500m at the Olympic Games. I never thought of myself as much of a 200m paddler but my results this year have made me think twice about maybe focusing on training my speed a bit more. Now that 200m is in the Olympics I am sure a lot of guys are also wondering about the same thing.

The pic above is of the 200m final this morning! What a rush!