Monthly Archives: August 2013

New year, new look

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Well, since it has been over a year I decided to do a small change to my site and swap out the header image.

The old image was from the 2012 RPM and the new Image is from the 2013 RPM.

paddlingThe original Header (with Boat # 5)

I was a bit un-decided about which image to choose this time, between 2

RPM-2013-2.jpgThe above one was on the morning of day 2.

cropped-RPM_20132.jpgI settled for using this one from Day 1.

Now for the astute, you will notice that this year, I have a different paddle, which I did discuss in another post and yes, It does make a bit of difference.  The astute would also notice that one of the things I did in my summer maintenance was to add the GPS mount to the boat.  Whilst it seems like only a small thing, it is in fact one of the best things I have done.  Previously, I just had my GPS sitting on my spray deck, which meant looking down or more often than not picking it up so I could read it.  Now, everything is right where I need it and yes, having this on display does help keep you honest!

And it Starts again.

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.. The training for the next event that is.

Well, it actually started a little while ago, but with now just 11 weeks to go, it is time to put together a program and stick to it as much as possible so that I can achieve the 13h 15m time for the HCC.

Last weekend was a reminder to me that I should not have stopped paddling over winter – with a trip down to paddle the 12km in the Onka Canoe Club.  It was not too cold, but it was windy! with a nice 40+km/h wind and the flow of an incoming tide at around 3km/h to contend with.  The 12km took me 1H48 – which I was not really very happy with!

After that horrible effort, it was back out again to do some paddling – and I put in a 18.5Km paddle in Westlakes.  Once again it was pretty slow and I only managed a speed of 7.6km/h (2h 27).  It was quite windy, and when I checked, I was putting up with 30-40km/h Northerly wind – which put the wind in my face for about 60% of the time slowing me down.

So, from here on, I need to be getting out and paddling as much as possible – and resuming my Thursday evenings.  I will be supplementing my paddling with a couple of cardio Sessions each week as well.  At the moment, I am doing a mixed session of Treadmill, Rowing Machine and Bike, with a typical session being:

  • Warm-up on the Treadmill  (15 minutes)
  • 3600M on the Rowing machine (21 minutes)
  • 6km on the bike (15 minutes)
  • 2200M on the rowing machine (13 minutes)
  • 4km in the bike (10 minutes)
  • A cool-down on the treadmill to finish (15 minutes)

During the Cardio Session I push pretty hard and keep my HR nice and high for the whole 1.5hrs.  Over the next few weeks, I will probably add an extra set of Rowing/Bike to the mix and try and get the time up to over 2 hours. Yep, when you can’t get to the water, you just have to have a plan for the alternatives.

Well,  the best laid plans can come un-stuck and this afternoon they did for me – at least for a little bit.  I took a tumble and caused a bit of damage to one of my knees – but hopefully it will only be a few days before I am back on my feet and can get back into it!