Category Archives: Training

when you are under-done…

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.. it is not the time to take any sort of break from your training.

Well, circumstances got in the way for a 2 week period right when I really needed to be out and getting the paddling miles in and it showed.   On Friday, after a “break” for 13 days, I did put in a 22km paddle with terrible times on Friday (26th) !  Just crept across the line @ 7.7km/h – not the best times in farily reasonable conditions – wind up to about 20km/h.

Anyway, it was only a minor setback – as back out again on Sunday (28th) and did about 13km at a slow pace with Kel, then backed it up with an 11.1km single lap around West Lakes and finished in a more respectable 1H22 M @ 8km/h

Now, all I need to do is to get in a solid, hard run later this week and be “ready” for the B2B.

And the training begins

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Well, it began a couple of weeks ago.

After taking much longer than I really wanted to, the repairs and re-painting (and all that sanding) have been finished and I have been back out on the water again trying to get ready for the rest of the year!

My first session after a whole 3 month’s of not paddling on the 29th March was just a nice 23km paddle from Morgan up to Cadell and back.  I picked a busy weekend on the River and was nearly wiped out a countless number of times by inconsiderate Power boats and Jetski’s.

Well, it was a slow trip with my speed being way down on what it was in my last Marathon (not counting the 4 Island wipeout) with me being only able to manage 7.2km/h on the trip up to Cadell and a slightly better 7.5km/h on the way back downstream.  It was not an un-eventful trip – I had to “give way” to a couple of Emu’s that were swimming across the river on the way up.

Next outing was not really much distance or time – it was more of a social outing and a bit of coaching on the Onka on the Monday Night (1st April).

With the constant reminder that I need to get out as much as possible, I hit west Lakes on Thursday Night (4th April) and did OK.  I was padding with someon else who is just starting for a fair bit of the time, so only watched my speed for the first 6km and it was about 7.5km/h.

Sunday saw me finally get a decent hit-out on Westlakes.  I managed to get in 2 laps (23km) in pretty good conditions – wind was only 20-30km/h from the South, so about 1/2 the distance was into the wind.  Managed to maintain a speed of 7.7km/h, which is already a step up from my speed the week before for a similar distance.  I did note at the 20.5km mark that my time was within 1-2minutes of my times for the B2B from 2012, so well on track.

Heading back out to Westlakes Tonight and hopefully get in another 12km+ paddle.

Knowning that I have not been out paddling much, I have been riding to work 2 days a week, while I am working in the City, so this adds in 80km a week of cycling into the Mix as well.

for the next 2 weekends leading up to the B2B, I will be upping the distance on the weekend – as it is really not that long until the RPM and I need to be paddle-fit to do ~ 75km each day.

Longer Distance

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Well, now it is getting down to the pointy end, 10 weeks out, it is time to get out there and be paddling bigger distances.  After my non-paddling last week, it was time to ramp it up somewhat and toady, it was 27km.

Once again, winter is not a fun time to get out there, so I picked the day that was least likely to rain – with the downside of some of the biggest tides.  I was lucky enough to start out just before low tide – I got the last 15 minutes of the ebb.

Slightly longer at 27km

Basically the tides was similar to a fortnight ago, but the conditions were much better – with the wind being 10-15km/h from the North West.

I headed out of Angus Inlet into Barker Inlet and turned right towards to Port River.  Before I reached to river, the tide had turned and I was paddling against the incoming tide.

With only a 10-15km/h wind it made for fairly easy paddling, against the wind and tide until I turned around and headed back up the Port River.  Unlike a fortnight ago, I kept going all the way up to Bower Road where the river ends before tuning around and heading back.

Once I turned around at Bower road the wind dropped right off – it was probably on 5km/h at this point.  When I turned back out of the Port River into Barker Inlet, it was immediately evident how string the tidal flow was.  The plot clearly shows the massive jump in speed as I turned the corner.

Speed Plot – It is fairly obvious where I was paddling with and against the tide.

  • Distance 27.0km
  • Time:  3:33:22
  • Avg Moving Speed: 7.6km/h
  • Tide: 0.5 Low / 2.6 High
  • NW wind 10-15km/h dropping to 5-10km/h

With a 27km paddle now under my belt, I can really start looking at my Race Plan in the next few weeks.  This is around 1/4 of the total distance, and given my pace with the mixed tidal conditions, I am looking at a race time of around the 14 hour mark.

I really did notice today that I was paddling with a lighter paddle – I had no sign of fatigue from holding the paddle for this time – which is a good sign!

What I did notice was that my Energy was rally starting to fade around the 3 hour mark – which means I need to start looking at my addling snacks if I am doing more than about 24km at a time paddling.

Running Total

At the moment, since I have started training specifically for this event, I am now up to 103km.  This is around 1/3 of the distance that I need to get under my belt before the event.

More Training

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Today, the tides were not as kind as they have been, but that does not matter – the HCC is in a tidal river – and I will have at least 1 incoming tide to contend with – which is about 5 hours.  So, getting a day where I have to work against the tide is a good thing!  With the tide against me whichever way I went, I decided on a clockwise run around Torrens Island as the tide was well over 1M, it meant I could get thru the cutting at the northern end of the island.  As the circuit is only about 17km, I decided to tack on a couple of extra loops to bring me up over 20km. It was still pretty cold with the max temp only about 13 or 14, but at least I managed to miss the rain.

Mixing it up and taking a different route.

As usual, I started off at the boat ramp, headed out of Angus Inlet around into Barker Inlet, then up the Port River a little bit, before turning and going back down the river to the cutting across to Barker Inlet again.  Here I headed down and did a loop around No 1 Channel Marker then back up Barker Inlet, into Angus Inlet and the Boat ramp. The high tide was at Midday and I started out around 11:15, so I was paddling against the outgoing tide until I turned and headed back down the Port River.  There was about a 15-20km/h southerly wind, which I had at my back, down the river – the rest of the time it was in my face.  With the wind, it was a bit messy with a wind-chop up to around 0.3 – 0.5M.  When I hit the cutting to go across to Barker Inlet, I also hit a brick wall with the tide – it runs pretty hard thru the cutting. Once I started back down Barker Inlet I had everything against me – the wind in my face and an outgoing tide – and it did slow me down a little.

Speed plot from GPS

  • Distance: 20.5km
  • Time: 2:40:54
  • Avg Moving Speed: 7.7km/h
  • Tide:  1.9 High / 1.0 Low

I quite often paddle from the boat ramp out into Barker Inlet and down to the No 1 Marker and back when I want to do a short (15.6km) paddle.  As far as time goes, it is usually about 52 minutes with the tide and about 65 minutes against the tide.  Today, against the tide and against the wind, I came back up the Inlet in 61 minutes – so I am pretty happy with that.  While the tidal flow is not very strong here, it is very similar to the Hawksbury – so I like to paddle against it when I can. At this stage of my preparation I am quite happy with how I am traveling.  I am up around the 20km mark and still feeling pretty good at the end.  In the next week or so, I will have to start pushing the time/distance up a little more.

Only 14 Weeks to go….

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I have added a countdown timer to remind me of how little training time I have until the Classic.

Yes, It is true, there is only 14 weeks to go before the 2012 HCC.

On friday afternoon, I checked the weather report and tides on the BOM website.  Sunday looked to be the best day, weather wise, so then a quick look at the tide so I could decide on the best time/place to paddle to.

Today’s paddle took me from the boat ramp in Angus Inlet, out into Barker Inlet (outgoing tide providing a bit of flow for me),  when I hit the Port River, turned right and went all the way up to Bower Road, which separates the River from West Lakes.  Once I get to Bower Road, I turned around and headed back.

Very little wind, maybe up to 10km/h so the effect was almost non-existent on my paddling today.

Paddle on 20120722 from Garden Island Boat ramp to Bower Road and Return

  • Distance  19.2km
  • Time 2:27:20
  • Avg Moving Speed 8km/h
  • Tide: 0.6 Low / 2.2 High
The tide was at a low around 1.5hours after I started.

Speed and distance profile

The Garmin Basecamp Software lets me see a profile plot of my speed and the distance, and in the software itself it is interactive – I can move the mouse along the plot and see on the map where I was at the time.  The plot shows me a lot – the tidal influence on the first 3km was far stronger than I realized while out paddling – and it was really the only time that there was any significant assistance.  The rest of the time, whilst I was padding both with and against the tide, the flow was nowhere near as strong as that section.

Today was one of the best days I have ever had on the river – there were dolphins everywhere!  I saw at least 30 of them today, where usually, I might only see up to 6 or so.  A couple of times, I had them swim towards me, then swim with me for a minute or so – swimming on their side just off to one side of the boat about a metre deep, just looking at me.

The path I took today is one of my benchmark paddles that I do.  I like to keep a bit of a track of how long it takes me to complete. Today, was the fastest ever time I have done, and the first time for me to crack 2h 30m.  The last 2 times I have done it my time was 2h 31m.  When I was paddling my plastic boat, my target was always to complete the 19km in under 3hours!

Now I just need to keep up the training, mix it up and supplement it a little with some cardio work and as soon as it starts warming up a little, ramp up the distance I am paddling by 5-10km.