22.01.18 – Shropshire Paddlesports Course for Divs 7,8 & 9.

Still no Phil.

Warmed up for about 800 metres with bouts of speed.

Then it was start the watch and tracker and head off.

The results on a clear and cold day with a head wind for half the time are:

Distance – 3 miles

Av Speed – 5.2 mph

Max speed – 6.6 mph – hit that three times

Time taken – 31:34

Not much clue about figures but in reality:

1. Had no capacity to speak to dog walkers or fishermen.
2. I hugged the centre of the canal.
3. At times in all seemed to click technique wise – once I remembered to keep the pause.
4. It hurt at times and mentally I knew I had to keep going and maintain pace.
5. My shoulders, left wrist and buttocks know they have been paddling today!
6. Ensured maximum recovery by eating and drinking as soon as I had got changed.

See the DW website is stuffed full of new rules – had a quick look and see that I only have 9.5 hours to get down to Newbury on day one!  Oh the pressure.

 

 

18.01.18 – Interval Session

Paddled alone today – Phil not feeling 100%.

Paddled at Queens Head – the session went:

1. Warm up fully – did a whole mile with bouts of 12 strokes at flat-out.
2. Then one minute flat-out followed by three minutes not flat-out paddling.
3. Repeat point 2 fifteen times.
4. Cool down.

Achieved peak speed (7.1mph) on last speed interval.

Managed to retain technique most of the way through the speed minutes and in all of the three-minute intervals.

Lost second hat of the year going under a tree that had come down across the canal.

Cross wind played havoc but managed to stay on the centre line of the canal.

It was odd being out alone having spent so many sessions under Phils’ watchful eye.

11.01.18 – Bouyancy Aids – don’t you just love them.

7am and its all very quiet and dark on the canal – the water is as black as tar and about as inviting as swimming in shark infested waters with an open wound!

Today its 12 miles on the canal – at 70% of maximum effort. I am trying to sort out kit and make sure its comfy and functional and so for the first time in a while I started with the paddle with my BA on.
Its was like being in a straight jacket – rotation was reduced and the opportunity to dip the shoulder all but disappeared. By the second bridge out I was at the back in the dirty water wondering which God I had upset to be suffering like this.
A little voice (Phils not Gods) says ditch the BA. You need to keep the technique – look for a BA that lets you move.
With great relief I ditched said BA on the bank hoping somebody would pinch it and carried on.
The session should have been so easy for me – fat chance. As I paddled I was finding it hard to engage the legs properly so it was difficult to maintain pace with Phil.
After the turn I had to sit on his wash just to have a rest and get the technique sorted in my head. It took a while but before too long I was able to pull away before the bridges, get through them and get back on the was again. So the skill of steering has been tested and found non wanting.
The legs issue I think is because I have run this week and I think they have spoken to their respective union and gone on a strike (not a walk out though).
I delicately collected my BA off the bank and as I stuffed it in the kayak I wondered how many dogs on their “walkies” might have christened it!
The plan on Monday is a short quality session to reconstruct the technique again. Then there is a speed session followed by another distance paddle.

09.01.18 – Frozen water = Portage = Cut legs

The new session which was a distance of just 5 miles after a warm up and was to encourage us to keep constantly paddling for longer. Simply from the tunnel to first bridge, Phil leads and I wash hang. At that bridge I take the lead and Phil wash hangs. There are just 4 bridges on both legs of the paddle.

Probably the best session we have done. The pressure to lead is immense cos if you fade the other is there to put in encouragement.

If you are wash hanging – you have to stay on the wash simply to recover from the effort.

Judging by the feeling in my shoulders and legs I know I have not dodged any efforts!

The biggest problem was the ice on the leg of canal that runs from Tesco to the main canal. It meant portaging! My only option was through knee-high brambles – it’s fair to say my legs have been smothered in antiseptic cream since.

There was no opportunity to talk because of either the effort of leading or the concentration to wash hang in the dark!

The inclusion of a head torch makes for easier negotiation of the tunnel which is not as wide or as long as The Bruce Tunnel.  However two goes each paddle improves ones confidence in a situation that restrict reliance on ones eyes.

I don’t use the head torch on the main sessions because my hands keep passing in front of the torch and it drives me nuts!

 

 

09.01.18 – Training for Crofton

The whole day went to pot yesterday – the best laid plans – etc.

The outcome was no paddle last night – rare to be in such a position esp when paddling with another person.

The phone call calling off came to late to make alternative arrangements. So rather than being negative and letting missing an opportunity get to me I decided to go for a run this morning.

After an almost sleepless night – heaven knows why but it is happening regularly lately – the alarm at 05:00 indicates its time to get up and go.

So wearing kayaking clothes and proper running shoes I don the trusty bright yellow jacket and leave the warmth of the house and enter a very dark street being coated with that clingy drizzle.  The plan was to alternate running and walking at a rate of 2:1 (2 minutes running and 1 minute walking).

I use the term run loosely – really its a glorified and effort riddled jog!

I walked to the end of the street to tick the warm up box, pressed start on the watch and lumbered off.

The watch pinger marks the end of the “running” and I kept going.  I was not moving particularly quickly but felt comfortable.  I thought I will keep going until it hurts.  It did not hurt and 36 minutes (12 reps) later I am back at the front door pleased as punch with myself.

I am by no stretch of the imagination a Bolt or a Farrah  – the pace I travel at is more to shed weight with the bonus of getting through portages a little quicker.

After all shedding weight will tip the power to weight ratio in the boat more in my favour and making portaging a little more elegant than it has been in previous years.

On the back of this mornings session I am confident of entering a Park Run in Shrewsbury in March – I can not enter one before because of work commitments.

04.01.18 – Wind in the Willows (or at least Wind Across the Canal)

Morning paddle starting from the moorings alongside Tesco in Ellesmere.  The aim of the session was to cover a given distance (9 miles) at a speed that allows us to talk in sentences.  That was the plan.  The first quarter-mile and everything went to plan – then the wind got up – when I say got up – really it fell out of bed, stubbed its toe and went on the rampage using the canal as a punch bag.

All of a sudden we had to dig in and work harder – guaranteed to kill conversation!  Came across a boat heading the same way as us – followed it closely through a bridge without the slightest wobble and then sat on its wash until Phil called out to the “captain.”  Passed it with the greatest ease I have ever achieved!

The last mile to the turn was the longest mile I have ever paddled.  At the turn I took the briefest opportunity to have a comfort break  and get some life back into a dead left leg.  On the way back Phil commented he had the same problem with his left leg.

The return leg was a touch easier because we had a bit of flow and a great deal of wind.

The technique on the way back was much better than the first leg – I hardly put a pause in on the way up – I was more concerned with keeping the boat moving!  On the way back putting in a pause and with the help of flow and wind it seemed much easier and there was opportunity to chat.

Back in Tesco’s car park we crunched numbers and its seems we went out at 5 mph and came back at 6 mph.

Tested a jungle hat today – they are great to keep water of my glasses and the sun of the ears.  It passed with flying colours.  Need now to get the emergency kit sorted to carry in the boat.

The next paddle is Monday afternoon and I think is a sprint session!

If Only ………

 

 

02.01.18 – Footwear in Sports Direct?

The wife (and Chief Supporter) is running a 10K race in March for charity and wanted to look for a running top in the sales.  So to Sports Direct we go.  By luck she says to me, you stay downstairs and have a look at the footwear to see if you can find anything suitable to paddle in!  This is after the New Years Eves paddle and so I am in grubby clothes and carry a distinctive odour of canal and sweat.  Into the forest of shelves of men’s footwear I venture – alone and not very hopeful.

That’s when I get the sales assistant who ambles down the aisle, I am sure clutching soap under his nose, to ask if he can help.  I really have no hope of finding anything and so thought you asked!  I explained the issue I was having with footwear in the Hobby and watched him drift off to sleep.  I woke him up by asking “I don’t suppose you have anything suitable?”

Said assistant wandered through aisles (up wind of me) until he came to a rack of kids shoes!  He rummaged around on the bottom row, asked what size feet I was and presented me with a pair of blue Hot Tuna Splashers!  “Try these” he says.  I said I would love to but my feet are filthy!

I paid £8 for them on the understanding I can return them if they do not fit – so long as I don’t remove the labels etc.

After a shower and trying said Splashers on without damaging the labels – I decide they are worth a try!

So the first paddle of the new year finds me donning bright blue Splashers much to Phil’s entertainment!

The good news – the 5 mile paddle with 6 sprints and recovery paddles between went very well and three notes worth recording:

1.  Sprints hurt! But the recovery paddle feels so good and the technique seems to click.
2. When Phil and I paddle at the same stroke rate I can stay ahead of him.  If he ups the stroke rate I can not match him for long!
3. I have to get the paddle through the water quicker!

Phil tells me, by text, that our best speed was 4.2 minutes/kilometre and  our continuous intervals were 5.5 minutes/kilometre.

 

 

31.12.17 – Kit Test!

Ellesmere for a 5 mile paddle through the tunnel and out beyond which ever mere it is.  Fed up with my Stomp boots – I can wear them out quicker than I can drink a bottle of Grey Goose Vodka.   After a couple of session I might as well paddle bare foot!  So I resorted to an old pair of boots that I wore when I languished in the back of a K2!  It was soon apparent why I had worn the Stomps:

1.  No room in the front of the hobby to put my size 12 feet on the footrest with out wedging my toes in.
2. No room to steer – the only way was to take a foot of the rest, steer with the other foot and then put foot back on the rest.  Not conducive to paddling at the correct intensity to keep up with Phil or at least staying on the wash!  Falling of his wash means paddling harder to get back on it.  This means more steering which means more shuffling with the feet!  One vicious circle.
3. I can not feel the rudder stick – so I had no real idea where it was on the foot plate!

After the session I resisted the temptation to burn them (after taking them off) just in case I get an invite to languish in a K2 (if only!).

Phil was impressed with our efforts during the session – sprints between bridges with a rest to recover before repeating!

It’s fair to stay what with the effort expended on the session and the stress caused by dealing with the steering, I slept the sleep of the dead!

The smart watch did not record our efforts – it must have been sympathetic to my woes!

28.12.17 – the difference the location makes

Those of us that live up north do not have the luxury of training on the DW course unless we include a great deal of commuting before and after each session.

At the moment we have restricted ourselves to canal work on the Montgomery Canal (MC) or the Shropshire Union(SU).  The difference in water properties is immense.  The SU has flow, the depth does not seem to vary much and has moving watercraft.  On the other hand the MC seems to vary in depth at regular intervals, has no flow and the only things on above are Kingfishers and Jay!

This all came to the front of our thoughts after three sessions on the MC.  The first session was great for technique and we held remarkable speed.  The second with the enforced portage took a great deal of effort to maintain any speed.  The last one was another 7 miler at pace going out and sprints coming back.  This latter paddle was like going back several months – the boat did not want to move – the effort required to hold any speed was disproportional and it would have been very easy to get off despondent.

A chat on the bank identified the issues and the positives.  For example if we work on the SC and then come back to the MC we get a mixture of water – after all the K&A could well be low at Easter.  Like wise the shallow water makes for a harder session so improving, hopefully, fitness and strength.  So we can hone skills on one and hone all round fitness on the other.

The New Year sees a move to paddling three times a weeks – two short ones working on specifics and a third over a longer period to improve the ability to hold technique and speed.