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.

2012 in Review and looking forward

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Well with 2012 now in the bag, and having completed all the events that I set out to compete in and breaking a few records along the way, 2012 was a good paddling year!

As you can see from an earlier post, I did manage to complete all the events I had planned to in the beginning of the year.

Now, that 2013 is here, it is time to set myself a few challenges for the new year – and of course, they are going to be a bit bigger and harder than 2012!

So here goes, in 2013 my plan is to compete in and complete the following Marathons (and maybe a few smaller ones along the way)

  • MCC-SA Back to Back – with a target time of 2H30m each day.
  • MCC-SA RPM – this year, I will do the 208km Event with a target time of less than 26hrs (breaking the 28h + class record)
  • HCC – This will be my 4th HCC and this year, I am setting myself a finish time of 06:00am – 1h 40m faster than in 2012.
  • MCC-SA Xmas Race – lets set a time of less than 3h 20!
  • MM – the whole 404km – with a target of just completing each day within the cut-off times (and thus recording a finish for the event)

With such a tough schedule, I am giving myself a “short break” from training for a few weeks while I do a few minor repairs on my boat.  I will be doing over 750km in Events this year and probably about another 1200km in training!

Ambitious?  Well, yes.  If it was easy, well, then anybody could do it.

What challenges have you set yourself for 2013?

MM 1 day event

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After the Christmas Race there was still no stopping – with training every chance I got as I still had 1 more Marathon to go this year.

I set myself 1 more challenge for 2012 – and that was to do the single day of the Murray Marathon.  The Single Day is day 4 of the 404km, 5 Day Marathon and is 63km from Echuca to (almost) the Torrumbarry Weir on the Murray River.

It was a challenge in itself just to get there and be ready for a 7am start on the 30th!  Let alone paddle down the River!

MM GPS plot of route

MM GPS plot of route

You can sort of see from my GPS plot the course of the river.

The day started out with a very strong flow and a mild 14 deg temperature.  As the day went on, the temperature soared to around 35 and the wind picked up to over 30km/h, and the flow gradually slowed the further down river due to the weir!.

Even though the wind was in the 30km/h + speed it was not too bad – as the river winds a lot – so you only copped it for 1-2km at a time in the face, but you did cop it for about 30% of the time.

MM GPS Speed plot

MM GPS Speed plot

There are only 4 check points during the day, and I stopped for about 30 seconds at Alpha to grab a few snacks.  I had planned for a longer stop at Bravo to re-stock my water and grab a quick bite.  It all went well and I was underway in under 2 minutes after a quick drink of milo, a scone and a re-stock of my empty water bags.

Passing "Charlie" on the MM

Passing “Charlie” on the MM

After 6hrs, 40m 04s I crossed the finish line, well ahead of my planned 7h 30m planned time.  My GPS read 59.3km and showed an avg speed of 8.9km/h – It dropped off from 9km/h with just a few km to go and I could not claw it back.

I was the 9th of the 1 day entrants to cross the line and first in my class – as the others in my class recorded a DNF.

 

2012 Xmas Race

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It was the month before Christmas….  and the MCC-SA holds their Annual Christmas Race from Blanchetown to Swan Reach, a “pleasant” 28km paddle down the river.

Well, it could have been a pleasant paddle, if it was not for the 35deg temperature and the headwind that blew up towards the end!

2012 Xmas Race Course

2012 Xmas Race Course

Even with the high temperature, there were still about a dozen paddlers doing the 28 km long course and another 6 doing the short 10km out and back course from Swan Reach.

Every single entrant had a good day – because everyone was in a different class, which meant everyone came first!

2012 Xmas Race Speed

2012 Xmas Race Speed

I started out quite well, but after only a couple of km, I literally hit the wall – the heat really affected me badly.  It took me the next 3-4 km to cool down and get back into paddling.

It was not until about the 18km mark that I copped the first bit of headwind which slowed me down a bit.  I guess it was  fortunate that I put on my spray deck, but had it opened because as I was about to round the last bend and head towards the finish, I could see huge waves and whitecaps in the River.  I took a moment to pause and pull my spraydeck up!

The last 2km was brutal – being at the end of a 5km long straight section of the river that the wind was blowing down, at over 40km/h, whipping up waves of around 0.5m it was a tough slog to the finish!

I crossed the line 3hrs 31m 41s after starting. breaking my own class record that I established the previous year by over 30 minutes.  The GPS showed 28km, and 8km/h as I crossed the line.

Finally, most paddlers decided to stay on and enjoy a meal at the Swan Reach Hotel to round out the day.

 

HCC 2012 Details

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Below is the Map of the GPS track of the HCC.  The Yellow highlights are at Checkpoint Delta, Checkpoint India and The Ferry where I had to stop and wait for a few minutes.

2012 HCC GPS Map Plot

GPS Speed Plot.

2012 HCC GPS Speed Profile Plot

The GPS Speed profile gives a pretty good indication of how things went for me.

At the start, I had the outgoing tide for about 1/2 the way to Sackville, (my first break) The yellow dot at around 30km Mark.  You can see where my speed started to fall off a bit.

The next leg was against the tide, then with the tide as it turned again, and once again, you can see the increase in speed once the tide turned.

There is a short section here, where I had to wait for the ferry to pass before I could continue down to the Pit-Stop.  I had the tide with me on this leg.

Just after the Pit-Stop, my speed dropped off considerably once the tide turned and I had an incoming tide slowing me all the way to the Finish.  It is interesting to note that even though the graph shows my speed as increasing towards the end this was due to a few factors – the slowing of the tidal flow as it approached high-tide and that the last 2-3 km the river widens from about a hundred metres to several hundred metres.  There were a few spots in this section where I paused for a snack or drink as well.

The plot shows that the tidal effect in the lower reaches is more pronounced than near the start.  With the outgoing tide at it’s fastest, my Avg Speed was also the fastest, whereas, mid-tide in the lower reaches, my speed was the lowest.