Last week (31/3-5/4) I was in Slovenia for the Gene17 next Generation training course.  We were based in the beautiful Soča Valley in the Julian alps not far from the Italian border in north west Slovenia.  This area has become very well known in the kayaking community as the place to go in Europe for nice class 2-4 white water, predictable levels, good weather and excellent ice cream!.

The Soča lends itself perfectly to this type of course.  It offers lots of natural classrooms for improving personal skills and developing your coaching.  The Next Generation course has been running for a number of years now, it was know as future staff training until this year when it was made open to paddlers to apply for a place on the course. There were 12 places available over 2 weeks.  It suited me best to go on the second week. 

This looks like a fantastic race and is high on the to do list.  I was hoping to do the race this year but it was only 2 weeks after the DW so it was ruled out.
Next year it is on the 22nd/23rd of March, a month before the DW.   This would definitely be a testing race given the unpredictable nature of Scottish weather and it being so early in the season. 

Here is what is on offer for the non-stop race:
21.5kms of canal...
60.5kms of open water Lochs...
10kms of
Grade 1/2 river… 1 Nessie!

Check out the video of 2013. It looks great.

I received this cool little gadget in the post today from the guys in FINIS Europe.  It is an audible metronome that can be set to different stroke rates.  I first heard about these devices from a triathlete friend who uses a Tempo Trainer for swimming. He suggested that it might be useful for kayaking.  So I am going to try it out as a training aid for marathon kayaking.  I am hoping that it will be helpful in developing stroke efficiency and timing.  It can also be used for interval training and few other things. 
I am really looking forward to trying it out over the next few weeks and posting how I get on.

Check out  http://www.finisinc.com/eu/ for more details and other FINIS products.