Training Log Archive: Wally80

Event: Karri Cup 2011
 

Ow. Ow. Ow. I haven’t paddled that far since May last year. Ow.

Teamed up with Andrew for the City Lights race, 30 km from Shelly bridge to Ascot. I knew Andrew was paddling well at the moment but I hoped I would be able to keep up. We thought we had a decent chance in the race with the serious competition coming from Pete and Dan or another pair of bloke that looked decent but I had never met them.

It was not an auspicious start when I managed to take a swim before the line as I was attempting to do a skull stroke to drag the boat sideways. It may have been noticed by others and I may have got just a little bit of heckling for it.

Once the gun went the guy next to me took off like a scalded cat. Our plan was to stick with anyone who went early so we were working hard to stay on his wash, we managed it for about 500m then Andrew slipped off and I dropped off as soon as I saw since I thought the pace was too hot anyway. Dan (in Robbies V12) was also struggling to hold on so Pete dropped back and we formed a chase pack of 4. This held through the crappy bit into the wind until we could see the Mt Henry bridge when Dan paused and Andrew and I made our move. We got a good break on the turn then held it downwind but we were not taking a scrap out of the lead pair. We managed to overtake the first pair of plastics at about the 35 min mark after giving them a 20 min head start. That looked like a long race for them on CTR’s.

I stopped for a gel after the Canning bridge checkpoint then we took a wider line to the west on the trip down to the narrows. We found a bit of deeper water after a bit and tried to surf the waves but they were very side on. Andrew tried a bit too hard to catch a wave and took a swim just before the compulsory portage which let the guys back up to about 50m behind. The portage was messy with tired arms and a strong wind making it too hard to put the boat on my shoulder. I almost wiped out the checkpoint official when the wind swung my boat 90deg unexpectedly. We relaunched alongside a double plastic kayak and as I threw the ski down and jumped on I was pretty happy I wasn’t in a kayak today. Talking to some of the K2’s after the race they got swamped a few times hear and had a fair bit of trouble getting back out.

After the narrows I realised I was having trouble keeping up with Andrew so we pulled closer together and I started really concentrating on wash hanging. I was concentrating so much that I looked up finally and saw Herrison island approaching on out right. “Umm Andrew, aren’t we supposed to go to the right of the island?” “oh shit, really?” whoops. We corrected and cut across but the mistake allowed Dan and Pete back onto our wash and the four of us were back in a pack along the island. It was a short lived pack though as we went under the causeway one span too close to the island and all ran aground. I stuck a foot out to push off but the ground drops really quickly on the other side so my foot went all the way down into chest deep water.

By the time I remounted the boys had got a break on us and we never caught them again. The loop around Belmont race course just seems to go forever but as soon as we got onto the straight we heard the first K2 catch us from our 20 min head start. Those boys were trucking. As we crossed over to the other side of the river the fish decided to take an interest in us, a couple hit our hulls then one jumped out and hit me in the chest, followed by another that cleared my deck and landed on Andrew’s. They were decent sized as well with a few around 30cm.

We made it around the next bend before the big K4 came past and I was ready to throw the towel in at this stage. My arms were aching, my shoulders were aching, lower back was chafing and I had some nasty blisters developing on a few fingers. Why was I doing this again?

Into Ascot waters and the 5km to go sign made me feel a bit better about continuing to live. I must have looked too cheerful though as a fish appeared out of nowhere and hit me fair in the kidneys. As well as scaring the bejezus put of me it really hurt. The last slog was a combination of the pain of paddling tempered by the joy of knowing the finish was not too far away. We could see a pair of plastics that had managed to hold us off so we were chasing them but just failed in the end. I had a lie down in the shallows then staggered out with the boat.

Final result 3rd Molokai which won us some hats and first novices which nabbed us $100 but since Grant was doing the presentations it came with an XPD invite as well. Not bad for a race that we could have done so much better. Good feed after the race was nice.

C • certainly not 1

C • Tonks 2

Event: NavDash 1 - Curtin University (South)
 

Did a decent warm up with stretches, run throughs and glute activation exercises as the left hammie was not happy today.

Took off well and ran through 1-5 without many issues, I was slower through the blocks of cloned student accommodation since every building looked the same.

I was slowly catching Dalto and saw him punch 9, then take off in the other direction to the one I planned which confused me slightly, I really struggled for the next 6 or so as I was paying far too much attention to him and not enough to what I was doing. It came in handy though after I refolded the map at 11 then punched the control, took off again and then wondered why the map didn’t match the route from 14 to 15. I had to stop and sort it out and get my head straight again then off I went. I finally got past Dalto at 15 but then stuffed up again, then overtook him again, then stuffed up again, then went the glory sprint to the finish. A high max heart rate at teh end but it looks legit.

A bit of a messy run all told.

C • Slower through the blokes 1

Long - Splits

Body is pretty sore after three days back in training. I packed my running gear in the car today but was not sure that I wanted to run. My boss coming past and suggesting his shout decided it.

C • what?? 5

Ride in. knee was OK on the Anthem but the sore legs and need to align my front derailleur meant that it was a bit of a plod.

Rode home, put a fair bit more effort into it but the meagre sea breeze ensured that it wasn’t reflected in the time. Got home and then had to rush back out to watch some fairly dodgy amateur theatre. I still don’t know what I thought about it…. Other than being disturbed.

IOP session with bonus pain. Glutes were a bit sore from lunges the night before and did not appreciate being squeezed into a narrow boat.

Session was 2 min efforts, odds were 30s L4, 90s L3. odds were 30s L5 90s L4 with a decent rest in between sets. Direction was two efforts out to sea and then two back. The first one was a little concerning as we paddle out in an offshore breeze in the dark. I was pretty glad for the leg leash even though there was not much swell

I was also glad to have my heart rate monitor with me to tell me that I was working hard since the speed that I got dropped suggested otherwise. Andrew rocked up in a Stellar and paddled much better than me. I could be in for a bit of pain and a lot of wash hanging this weekend.

I deliberately rocked up early to do some proper stretching but spent most of the time talking to Muz instead, still managed to stretch the glutes since they had a very solid DOMS feeling about them after boot camp.

The legs warmed up eventually and it ended up being a good run. Happy days. Andre seemed way too happy to find out I was planning to enter Killa as a pair so I think I need to drop back to doing it solo.

back on the bike. meh.

definitely something wrong with the way I am riding, no knee pain at all in two weeks off the bike and it is immediately uncomfortable on the roadie. Don't think I got counted either, or I just didn't see them.

Ride home via post office. Body was a bit happier this arvo so I pushed a bit harder. Until I got to the post office for the surprise that the DVR was much bigger that I suspected and wouldn’t fit in my bag. I just tucked it under my arm and started riding but quickly decided that was a not a very good idea and pulled over for some repacking. Once stripped of its box and non essential parts I just managed to cram it in the pack and it was a notably more pleasant ride home.

On the next note, has anyone got any experience with universal remotes? We are reaching critical(ly stupid) mass for the things.

Roys beach time shenanigans this week for a growing crowd. He included a swim as well to ruin my master plan of not swimming outside of races. Outside shower came in handy to remove all of the sand afterwards.