Long test of the Speeder this Saturday. The weather was really pleasant, Sunny but not too warm, the water temperature was cold but not so icy that it was too uncomfortable to dip the hands, ideal weather to take the boat on the 22 mile Shrewsbury to Telford run.
I really love paddling this boat at the moment. Within a few paddle strokes it is up to speed and then the boat just glides through the water. I encountered a couple of grade 2 sections which the boat just punched through, with the high neck on the cockpit rim there was no splash into the cockpit and as I haven’t got a spray deck that fits this boat yet this is a good thing. My left leg went to sleep after a couple of hours but no worse than I have encountered in other boats and I suspect with a bit of modification to the seat padding I will resolve that.
I alternated between just paddling and then paddling good quality, high arm body rotation strokes which, according to the internet, is the best for speed and endurance. The low maintenance paddling is how I have always paddled and I default to that style, it isn’t super fast but is comfortable and I can do this all day. The body rotation paddling is more powerful, using the strong core muscles to develop the power. In theory because more muscles are involved you can keep a high pace going for longer.
I was going to time myself on my stop watch to find out how much faster this boat was, however my stop watch stopped after 2 hours and 36 minutes for some reason so I don’t know exactly how long it took me to cover the distance. Because I didn’t make an exact note of when I set off I am unsure to the tune of plus or minus 30 minutes, best guess has me covering the 22 miles in three and a half hours. That is an average speed of 6.28mph (about 5.5 knots) and I was quite pleased with my effort. I then wondered how much faster the Speeder was compared to my Dagger RPM. When I first paddled the route in September 2007 it took me five and a half hours (I did take a packed lunch and stopped to do a photo shoot though). Over the course of 15 months I did the trip several times and eventually got a solo best of 4 hours 30 minutes. Paddling with company (my dad in his boat) and we managed 3 hours and 30 minutes.
This vexes me. The Pyranha Speeder is fast, there is no doubt about it. When I met a couple of guys in playboats paddling from Atcham to Ironbridge (about half my journey) we exchanged a few boater pleasantries, and then I left them for dead. So why could I only match my best time in the RPM?
I have thought long and hard about why I have been unable to smash my best time with the Speeder, which I thought I would do, and I have lots of theories that in part may all be contributing.
Firstly when looking into hull speed I read an article about kayaks in particular which showed the drag over speed graphs of several kayaks. There was a mix of boats in there from stubby little recreation tourers up to sleek ocean going sea kayaks. Up to about 4 knots all of the boats had a similar drag rate and only above that speed was it noticeable how the sleeker hulls offered less drag. So I suppose if I was only fit enough to supply a paddling cadence that nudged the 4 knot band, it wouldn’t matter what boat I was paddling.
Secondly I was listening to an audio book on my iPod and for long stretches of the river I was caught up in the book and not focusing on driving the boat forward as effectively as I could. I am pretty certain that I spent longer just pootling along enjoying myself than I would have with thumping music to power me onward.
It also seems that without the peer pressure/support of another paddler accompanying me I kind of drift off into my steady paddling routine which has me just cruising along at a less than rapid pace.
What to do? Well first of all I need to improve my technique some more, as it stands at the moment I have achy muscles around my back and sides, these are the core muscles that I was engaging and they haven’t really been subjected to that sort of effort before. I also need to keep my focus, maybe I need some kind of prompt like a stop watch to get me back up and paddling hard every few minutes.
Boat is on the car for an after work paddle this Tuesday. Planning on spending some quality time working on my technique with some interval training.
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Friday, 14 May 2010
Short run in the Speeder.
Pyranha Speeder talk again. This is going to become quite a dull blog soon because I plan on two short runs in the boat each week and one long run on the weekend. I am aware that my plans and my actions don’t often tie up but last night I was out in the boat and I am really looking forward to a Saturday long run from Shrewsbury to Telford.
Last nights run was a blast from Ironbridge up to Buildwas after work. I was on the water for about 50 minutes and I covered about 4 miles. (An average speed of 4.8mph). The run was spent mostly trying to tune my paddling technique, trying to work out what it was about my posture or paddling style that was causing the boat to veer. I didn’t get to the bottom of the problem as such but while I was concentrating on my stroke I was headed in the right direction and when I got distracted by something, (usually a swarm of flies. Oh how I had forgotten about the spring time swarms of flies that hover over the water at canoeist height.) I would start to veer all over the shop.
I was also trying to enact the correct technique for paddling at speed, upright paddle entry, twisting with the waist. All of this is something I have read online or watched on youtube and this is the first boat I am getting a chance to make it work for me. It would probably be more productive if I had my technique fine tuned by a club with instructors but I’m not a member of a club so the internet will be my tutor.
Long run on Saturday morning and I will get a better feel for how fast I could average over a longer distance. I might even start doing the calculations to work out what sort of time I would finish the DW if I was to take part at this moment in time.
Last nights run was a blast from Ironbridge up to Buildwas after work. I was on the water for about 50 minutes and I covered about 4 miles. (An average speed of 4.8mph). The run was spent mostly trying to tune my paddling technique, trying to work out what it was about my posture or paddling style that was causing the boat to veer. I didn’t get to the bottom of the problem as such but while I was concentrating on my stroke I was headed in the right direction and when I got distracted by something, (usually a swarm of flies. Oh how I had forgotten about the spring time swarms of flies that hover over the water at canoeist height.) I would start to veer all over the shop.
I was also trying to enact the correct technique for paddling at speed, upright paddle entry, twisting with the waist. All of this is something I have read online or watched on youtube and this is the first boat I am getting a chance to make it work for me. It would probably be more productive if I had my technique fine tuned by a club with instructors but I’m not a member of a club so the internet will be my tutor.
Long run on Saturday morning and I will get a better feel for how fast I could average over a longer distance. I might even start doing the calculations to work out what sort of time I would finish the DW if I was to take part at this moment in time.
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
Testing the boat.
Sorry, no updates for a little while, my computer time has been more occupied with speech writing but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been out there doing my thing.
I’ve had a couple of games of squash since last time, I am getting better at the game now and am able to hold my end up in some of the longer rallies with my dad. This is good as I am working harder and finishing games feeling more tired. Bad news is that my left knee is giving me some gyp with some of the rapid direction changes needed in the game.
I have also been out running a couple of times, nothing serious as I’m not going to start building for the Great North for a few months yet but enough to keep the muscles where they are. I have got a lower left leg problem that might be linked to the dodgy knee and is keeping me awake at night. It sort of gives me a pulsing dull ache. Internet diagnosis is inconclusive so I might have to go back to my doctor if it persists.
What I really want to talk about today is the Pyranha Speeder though. I have taken the boat out a couple of times since collecting it a couple of weeks ago. The first proper run out with the boat was with my dad partly because I might have needed fishing out of the river. I have read all over the internet that this boat is tippy but I just didn’t find this to be true, it was fantastically stable as long as it was given a little bit of respect (one wobbly moment when I was faffing about was all it took to remind me). My dad’s boat, an old Dancer style plastic boat has always been much faster than my Dagger RPM, the longer hull saw to that, but it was never going to be a match for the 4.5 metres of the Speeder. The waterline and the knife like prow ensured that this boat cut through the water rather than bobbing on the surface of it and I while my dad was having to constantly drag his boat over the water I was able to rest between paddle strokes as the boat sliced through it. We had a leisurely paddle and by the time I was done I was looking forward to a longer run.
Second run of the Speeder was to explore some of its potential on my own. I got on the Severn at Shrewsbury and headed upstream for a while to get warmed up and then pointed myself downstream for a blast. Being four and a half metres long this boat is not particularly manoeuvrable, you can initiate turns with a lean and many directional strokes, I did manage to turn around in the width of the river and I am able to turn while stationary but it takes a very long time and a lot of effort. After saying that you would expect that boat to keep a straight and true course but it didn’t, it wasn’t that it was all over the place but it would just veer off a bit. I suspect that it has a lot to do with my centre of gravity in the boat and that I was sitting crooked in the cockpit but either way, I found myself having to correct every other stroke. Practice will iron out this problem I think.
I did a couple of timed runs as well just to see how fast I was able to zoom in the boat. Unfortunately I don’t exactly know how far I paddled because google maps doesn’t do route maps on rivers. So what I have done is laid on a piece of string on the computer monitor and worked out how far I went using the map scale. It isn’t very accurate though and I could have paddled anywhere between a mile and 7 miles… I am going to go with my best guestimate of two miles in each direction for the timed runs.
Down stream with the flow of the Severn from Welsh bridge to the railway bridge took me 20 minutes. That is a (convenient) average speed of about 6 miles an hour. The return journey took me just 21 minutes. Considering that I was more fatigued and more importantly going against the flow I was surprised to add only one minute onto the time. It just goes to show how well the boat cuts through the water. A longer timed run this coming weekend is planned to find out more.
There were many other boats out there on the water and as I am want to do, I raced all of them.
Two man inflatable kayak was easy pickings (in fact the boat was so cumbersome and wallowy it wasn’t a race at all. It was like blasting a Ferrari past a Transit van)
A two man canoe was also dispatched with relative ease.
A four man rowing scull was harder work but the crew were novices and needed to stop for a pep talk every now and then so I had them.
A one man racing scull was raced and I nearly caught him. True he kept briefly stopping to adjust something on his oars but when he was under power he didn’t pull out much of a lead.
A pro two man scull nearly decapitated me, we were all heading the same way, I was looking in the direction I was going but these stupid rowers look backwards so neither of us knew about the impending collision as they reversed (at speed) towards me. I got the feeling something was up and glanced over my shoulder (I don’t know why as I had my iPod on so I didn’t hear them), their bow was less than a metre away from my stern. I tried to change course and accelerated hard and somehow the boats didn’t touch (they would have been swimming if we had), but their ruddy oars are about 5 metres long. I saw the blades slip out of the water, turn at right angles so the sharp bit was pointing at me and then swing in my direction. It was now I realised that I was real and potentially in bloody trouble so yelled something, I would like to think it was something manly and commanding but I have a suspicion that it was girly and ignominious, either way I didn’t die and they didn’t sink.
Two, one man, glass racing kayaks put to the water and they were beautiful. They took off effortlessly and were uncatchable and made me suddenly feel like I was in that wallowing inflatable kayak not the Speeder. I wish I had more confidence to be able to take on a boat like that but I now know from experience that the wobbly racers are not much fun in the hands of a novice like me.
So that’s me for today. The weather looks great for the weekend so I think there might be a long run in the Speeder planned.
I’ve had a couple of games of squash since last time, I am getting better at the game now and am able to hold my end up in some of the longer rallies with my dad. This is good as I am working harder and finishing games feeling more tired. Bad news is that my left knee is giving me some gyp with some of the rapid direction changes needed in the game.
I have also been out running a couple of times, nothing serious as I’m not going to start building for the Great North for a few months yet but enough to keep the muscles where they are. I have got a lower left leg problem that might be linked to the dodgy knee and is keeping me awake at night. It sort of gives me a pulsing dull ache. Internet diagnosis is inconclusive so I might have to go back to my doctor if it persists.
What I really want to talk about today is the Pyranha Speeder though. I have taken the boat out a couple of times since collecting it a couple of weeks ago. The first proper run out with the boat was with my dad partly because I might have needed fishing out of the river. I have read all over the internet that this boat is tippy but I just didn’t find this to be true, it was fantastically stable as long as it was given a little bit of respect (one wobbly moment when I was faffing about was all it took to remind me). My dad’s boat, an old Dancer style plastic boat has always been much faster than my Dagger RPM, the longer hull saw to that, but it was never going to be a match for the 4.5 metres of the Speeder. The waterline and the knife like prow ensured that this boat cut through the water rather than bobbing on the surface of it and I while my dad was having to constantly drag his boat over the water I was able to rest between paddle strokes as the boat sliced through it. We had a leisurely paddle and by the time I was done I was looking forward to a longer run.
Second run of the Speeder was to explore some of its potential on my own. I got on the Severn at Shrewsbury and headed upstream for a while to get warmed up and then pointed myself downstream for a blast. Being four and a half metres long this boat is not particularly manoeuvrable, you can initiate turns with a lean and many directional strokes, I did manage to turn around in the width of the river and I am able to turn while stationary but it takes a very long time and a lot of effort. After saying that you would expect that boat to keep a straight and true course but it didn’t, it wasn’t that it was all over the place but it would just veer off a bit. I suspect that it has a lot to do with my centre of gravity in the boat and that I was sitting crooked in the cockpit but either way, I found myself having to correct every other stroke. Practice will iron out this problem I think.
I did a couple of timed runs as well just to see how fast I was able to zoom in the boat. Unfortunately I don’t exactly know how far I paddled because google maps doesn’t do route maps on rivers. So what I have done is laid on a piece of string on the computer monitor and worked out how far I went using the map scale. It isn’t very accurate though and I could have paddled anywhere between a mile and 7 miles… I am going to go with my best guestimate of two miles in each direction for the timed runs.
Down stream with the flow of the Severn from Welsh bridge to the railway bridge took me 20 minutes. That is a (convenient) average speed of about 6 miles an hour. The return journey took me just 21 minutes. Considering that I was more fatigued and more importantly going against the flow I was surprised to add only one minute onto the time. It just goes to show how well the boat cuts through the water. A longer timed run this coming weekend is planned to find out more.
There were many other boats out there on the water and as I am want to do, I raced all of them.
Two man inflatable kayak was easy pickings (in fact the boat was so cumbersome and wallowy it wasn’t a race at all. It was like blasting a Ferrari past a Transit van)
A two man canoe was also dispatched with relative ease.
A four man rowing scull was harder work but the crew were novices and needed to stop for a pep talk every now and then so I had them.
A one man racing scull was raced and I nearly caught him. True he kept briefly stopping to adjust something on his oars but when he was under power he didn’t pull out much of a lead.
A pro two man scull nearly decapitated me, we were all heading the same way, I was looking in the direction I was going but these stupid rowers look backwards so neither of us knew about the impending collision as they reversed (at speed) towards me. I got the feeling something was up and glanced over my shoulder (I don’t know why as I had my iPod on so I didn’t hear them), their bow was less than a metre away from my stern. I tried to change course and accelerated hard and somehow the boats didn’t touch (they would have been swimming if we had), but their ruddy oars are about 5 metres long. I saw the blades slip out of the water, turn at right angles so the sharp bit was pointing at me and then swing in my direction. It was now I realised that I was real and potentially in bloody trouble so yelled something, I would like to think it was something manly and commanding but I have a suspicion that it was girly and ignominious, either way I didn’t die and they didn’t sink.
Two, one man, glass racing kayaks put to the water and they were beautiful. They took off effortlessly and were uncatchable and made me suddenly feel like I was in that wallowing inflatable kayak not the Speeder. I wish I had more confidence to be able to take on a boat like that but I now know from experience that the wobbly racers are not much fun in the hands of a novice like me.
So that’s me for today. The weather looks great for the weekend so I think there might be a long run in the Speeder planned.
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Getting some momentum
I’m really getting back into this training thing. I can feel a momentum building now and hopefully will be able to put together a decent year of working out before the Great North Run in September.
Monday the wife and I headed out on our bikes, this was the first time we went out road riding together. It was a steady pace partly because our bums were still a bit saddle sore from the weekend mountain biking but it was a nice pleasant ride for 40 minutes. Something we will be doing more of this year.
Tuesday night was my first real training run of the year. I have run a few times but each time has been with a race number on my shirt, last night I just went running for running’s sake. I went back to my old favourite route of four point something miles at a steady pace, I didn’t time myself and don’t intend to for the moment while I build my legs to a level where I feel I can push some speed out of them.
The legs are a little achy at the moment, my ever present shin splints are there and threatening to surface but haven’t, my calves are a bit sore but that is my fault for not warming down properly.
Tonight, squash, Thursday rest, Friday squash and a bank holiday weekend of who knows what to come.
Monday the wife and I headed out on our bikes, this was the first time we went out road riding together. It was a steady pace partly because our bums were still a bit saddle sore from the weekend mountain biking but it was a nice pleasant ride for 40 minutes. Something we will be doing more of this year.
Tuesday night was my first real training run of the year. I have run a few times but each time has been with a race number on my shirt, last night I just went running for running’s sake. I went back to my old favourite route of four point something miles at a steady pace, I didn’t time myself and don’t intend to for the moment while I build my legs to a level where I feel I can push some speed out of them.
The legs are a little achy at the moment, my ever present shin splints are there and threatening to surface but haven’t, my calves are a bit sore but that is my fault for not warming down properly.
Tonight, squash, Thursday rest, Friday squash and a bank holiday weekend of who knows what to come.
Monday, 26 April 2010
A good weekend
I feel like I am getting back into it now. The weather is nice, I have the desire to get race fit again, and there are new toys to play with.
Friday night was squash night against my dad. He is still better than me and I didn’t win any of the games but now that I’m free of injury I was able to put in a more competitive performance and we got some good rallies going which was good for the cardio.
Saturday the wife and I went mountain biking in Wales. We went riding last year and had a great time and decided to go further and higher this time out. It was a long day in the saddle, about 4 hours of hard riding. If it wasn’t the long thigh burning climb upwards, it was a grit your teeth hang on for dear life, hurtle down hill. Either way it was tough on the muscles.
While we were out riding I got a phone call from West Midlands Canoe Centre about my Pyranha Speeder. It turns out it hasn’t been built. There aren’t enough orders for this thing for it to be worthwhile for Pyranha to tool up the machines. Gutted… But not all bad news, Pyranha have agreed to give me their demo boat until they get around to making mine. I get to pick it up this weekend and with a bank holiday Monday tacked on I think I am going to be spending a day on the water.
Friday night was squash night against my dad. He is still better than me and I didn’t win any of the games but now that I’m free of injury I was able to put in a more competitive performance and we got some good rallies going which was good for the cardio.
Saturday the wife and I went mountain biking in Wales. We went riding last year and had a great time and decided to go further and higher this time out. It was a long day in the saddle, about 4 hours of hard riding. If it wasn’t the long thigh burning climb upwards, it was a grit your teeth hang on for dear life, hurtle down hill. Either way it was tough on the muscles.
While we were out riding I got a phone call from West Midlands Canoe Centre about my Pyranha Speeder. It turns out it hasn’t been built. There aren’t enough orders for this thing for it to be worthwhile for Pyranha to tool up the machines. Gutted… But not all bad news, Pyranha have agreed to give me their demo boat until they get around to making mine. I get to pick it up this weekend and with a bank holiday Monday tacked on I think I am going to be spending a day on the water.
Thursday, 22 April 2010
The Wrekin Streak
The Wrekin Streak. Turns out it is a stupid name for a race as anyone I told about it assumed it would be a run in the nude. It is a 2.75 mile race up 810 feet of the mighty Wrekin. 108 runners took part this year and over 80% of those runners were club runners, i.e. runners who run more regularly than me. I didn’t have particularly high expectations for my race results, my personal best for running the Wrekin was 30m 55s and that was in July last year when my running was at its peak but I haven’t been seriously training since the start of winter and am no where near race fit, I anticipated a more conservative time of 35minutes this time out. Last years slowest time was 39minutes which was unnervingly close to what I expected to manage and the usual people who pull up the rear are the Fun Runners who were mostly absent from this race, so my pathetic goal was to simply not come last.
The weather was perfect, cool and sunny, though standing at the registration was a chilly affair. Once my dad and I were allocated our race numbers we had a bit of a warm up walk/jog to the first bend and back to the start line. Looking around the other runners who were warming up as well I knew I was going to struggle to get a long way down the field as they all looked far fitter and far more prepared to do this.
Race start was pretty much at half past seven and apart from a bit of jostling for the first couple of metres everyone spread out quite nicely. I got onto the heel of someone in front who had set himself up for a steady pace and kept pace with him despite my own urge to surge ahead because I knew that the climb was going to hurt in a few minutes.
Rounding the first bend a Sky TV camera crew were filming, I have no idea what they were filming for but I ran faster as the crew went past.
The first steep bit up to halfway house I was able to run up, shorter steps but still at a run, I could see a few people ahead of me walking it and I was close to joining them, I made it to the short flat stretch past the house though and caught my breath before the next uphill slog.
Past half way halfway house it steepens again up to the first of two false summits this was where I couldn’t keep the pace any longer and was forced to walk. My dad passed me at this point, not quickly, but with a slow unremitting upward jog. The path flattened out again and I was able to catch up with a few people again but then the second longer, steeper climb to the next false summit reduced me to a half walk, half jog. Going up here the race winner went flashing past me a long way in front of the next runners. I knew I was going to have to endure faster runners going past me on the way back down but it was pretty grim knowing I still had a way to go.
Reaching the top of the second false summit there is a long but not very steep climb to the trig point which was the turn around mark. My dad passed me on the way back not far from the trig point and I fancied my chances on the descent, I just needed to be a bit more brave and carry a bit more speed down the descent. I rounded the trig point and gave it some beans.
I didn’t pass many more runners heading the other way and I was very aware that I was near the back. I hurtled down the hill at full tilt, I wanted desperately to make up some places. One of my shoelaces came undone and I lost my balance a couple of times but I managed to stay on my feet for the distance. I didn’t catch up with anyone though, if anything the gap between me and people in front extended. I clearly wasn’t banzai enough.
I reached the bottom in a personal best time of 29m 52seconds, though I didn’t know it at the time, my dad beat me by a couple of minutes. I was 97the overall beating just eleven other people, one of whom didn’t make the descent in one piece and DNF. I did beat someone in the same age/gender category than me who was a club affiliated runner so I wasn’t the worst out of my peers. The first man down did it in 18m 05s so I was a good 10 minutes off winning pace.
The weather was perfect, cool and sunny, though standing at the registration was a chilly affair. Once my dad and I were allocated our race numbers we had a bit of a warm up walk/jog to the first bend and back to the start line. Looking around the other runners who were warming up as well I knew I was going to struggle to get a long way down the field as they all looked far fitter and far more prepared to do this.
Race start was pretty much at half past seven and apart from a bit of jostling for the first couple of metres everyone spread out quite nicely. I got onto the heel of someone in front who had set himself up for a steady pace and kept pace with him despite my own urge to surge ahead because I knew that the climb was going to hurt in a few minutes.
Rounding the first bend a Sky TV camera crew were filming, I have no idea what they were filming for but I ran faster as the crew went past.
The first steep bit up to halfway house I was able to run up, shorter steps but still at a run, I could see a few people ahead of me walking it and I was close to joining them, I made it to the short flat stretch past the house though and caught my breath before the next uphill slog.
Past half way halfway house it steepens again up to the first of two false summits this was where I couldn’t keep the pace any longer and was forced to walk. My dad passed me at this point, not quickly, but with a slow unremitting upward jog. The path flattened out again and I was able to catch up with a few people again but then the second longer, steeper climb to the next false summit reduced me to a half walk, half jog. Going up here the race winner went flashing past me a long way in front of the next runners. I knew I was going to have to endure faster runners going past me on the way back down but it was pretty grim knowing I still had a way to go.
Reaching the top of the second false summit there is a long but not very steep climb to the trig point which was the turn around mark. My dad passed me on the way back not far from the trig point and I fancied my chances on the descent, I just needed to be a bit more brave and carry a bit more speed down the descent. I rounded the trig point and gave it some beans.
I didn’t pass many more runners heading the other way and I was very aware that I was near the back. I hurtled down the hill at full tilt, I wanted desperately to make up some places. One of my shoelaces came undone and I lost my balance a couple of times but I managed to stay on my feet for the distance. I didn’t catch up with anyone though, if anything the gap between me and people in front extended. I clearly wasn’t banzai enough.
I reached the bottom in a personal best time of 29m 52seconds, though I didn’t know it at the time, my dad beat me by a couple of minutes. I was 97the overall beating just eleven other people, one of whom didn’t make the descent in one piece and DNF. I did beat someone in the same age/gender category than me who was a club affiliated runner so I wasn’t the worst out of my peers. The first man down did it in 18m 05s so I was a good 10 minutes off winning pace.
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Wrekin Streak
Well my summer of training has been going slowly of late. I have been out on the bike for a couple of short trips, and I have been lifting some weights twice daily but nothing really note worthy, despite the weather being glorious I haven’t been out running, my new kayak is still on order, it should be turning up this week but as yet I have heard nothing from the boat shop and in general I am still lazing around in the doldrums of nothingness.
This morning my dad emailed me about the Wrekin Streak, in the distant past I mentioned that I fancies running the Wrekin as part of a race and my dad has remembered and posed the idea for me to take part. Winning times are in the 16 odd minutes. My personal best for running this route is 35 minutes, the slowest runner last year did it in 39 minutes. I have agreed to do this race, but I have a terrible feeling that I will be last. I have never been last in anything before and if it happens for this I don’t know if it will spur me on to greatness or will crush my desire to compete like a grape.
Report on Thursday.
This morning my dad emailed me about the Wrekin Streak, in the distant past I mentioned that I fancies running the Wrekin as part of a race and my dad has remembered and posed the idea for me to take part. Winning times are in the 16 odd minutes. My personal best for running this route is 35 minutes, the slowest runner last year did it in 39 minutes. I have agreed to do this race, but I have a terrible feeling that I will be last. I have never been last in anything before and if it happens for this I don’t know if it will spur me on to greatness or will crush my desire to compete like a grape.
Report on Thursday.
Thursday, 1 April 2010
Apathy
I’ve been pretty quiet on here really. If truth be told a touch of apathy set in after the Killerthon. I ached after that race but not in the good - I’ve worked some muscles and tomorrow I will be ripped kind of way, I ached in the - I have done some damage to my muscles and joints I just hope it isn’t permanent, sort of way. I couldn’t walk let alone run, I succeeded in letting the air out of my bike tyre and I have a kayak on order (three weeks) that is so good I don’t get much pleasure from my current boat. So for the last two weeks I have done next to nothing that is even vaguely exercise related, I haven’t even wanted to get out and do something, instead I have sat on my arse playing the playstation. It hasn’t been good.
Well it’s the first day of a new month and time for change. Remember I worked out the weight of my new boat and then loaded up my barbell to match, well the weights are now in the front room rather than in the spare room under some clothes so I can’t conveniently forget about them, and I have started doing a set of lifts between games of MW2 (This is the ultimate in time management, PS3 game time and weight lifting). This is the first time I have done static lifts for about 12 months and my arms and shoulders ache this morning (the good ache). I am off for a game of squash tonight with a mate from work for the first time in well over a month, the advantage of having a mate is that you can’t let him down with a dose of apathy that could otherwise come up with an excuse to not bother. Also with a long Easter weekend starting tomorrow I intend to do something, I don’t know what that something is yet as it will be dependent on weather but I aim to spend at least one of the days getting well and truly knackered.
Well it’s the first day of a new month and time for change. Remember I worked out the weight of my new boat and then loaded up my barbell to match, well the weights are now in the front room rather than in the spare room under some clothes so I can’t conveniently forget about them, and I have started doing a set of lifts between games of MW2 (This is the ultimate in time management, PS3 game time and weight lifting). This is the first time I have done static lifts for about 12 months and my arms and shoulders ache this morning (the good ache). I am off for a game of squash tonight with a mate from work for the first time in well over a month, the advantage of having a mate is that you can’t let him down with a dose of apathy that could otherwise come up with an excuse to not bother. Also with a long Easter weekend starting tomorrow I intend to do something, I don’t know what that something is yet as it will be dependent on weather but I aim to spend at least one of the days getting well and truly knackered.
Monday, 22 March 2010
It has taken well over a week to recover from the Kilomathon but I am pretty much back to walking normally now, and with glorious weather this Sunday I decided to get back out there and start to recover my fitness back to pre-Christmas levels.
My first idea was to take out the bike but the rear tyre was looking a bit soft. I tried to pump it back up but it had one of those weird Presta valves that I have never successfully managed to use correctly yet. I succeeded in removing all of the air from that tyre while trying to pump it up. I’m going to have a look on the internet today to see what I did wrong.
My next plan was to head out in the kayak. First time this year and it took me twice as long to find all of my bits of kit and remember how to work the roof rack. In the end I got on the water though. I had a great time on the river paddling downstream and exploring tributaries and things. On the way back I spied a nice old wooden rowing boat, a slow three man affair. Over the course of about 10 minutes I caught up with it until they saw me coming, at which point they started to paddle a bit faster. We had started to race and none of us were going to slow down. I was in a shorter but narrower boat, they had length but they were also very wide so I think I had a faster hull speed, they were powered by two men though. For the next fifteen minutes we didn’t stop hard paddling. As I got closer I could hear them grunting with effort but I too was feeling the strain and had it been any other time I would have stopped for a quick drink. We drew level just as they shipped their oars to drift to the quayside, and we shared a couple of pleasantries. I was well and truly stuffed though and glad when I made it to my landing too.
A good workout all round, though carrying my boat back to the car park I had a thought that I could do with building up my upper body as my new Speeder (4 weeks to go) is 4kgs heavier and although 22kgs isn’t beyond me, I could make portages easier if I do some weights at that weight range. I have loaded up the barbell to 22kgs and will now be doing some lifts in the evening.
My first idea was to take out the bike but the rear tyre was looking a bit soft. I tried to pump it back up but it had one of those weird Presta valves that I have never successfully managed to use correctly yet. I succeeded in removing all of the air from that tyre while trying to pump it up. I’m going to have a look on the internet today to see what I did wrong.
My next plan was to head out in the kayak. First time this year and it took me twice as long to find all of my bits of kit and remember how to work the roof rack. In the end I got on the water though. I had a great time on the river paddling downstream and exploring tributaries and things. On the way back I spied a nice old wooden rowing boat, a slow three man affair. Over the course of about 10 minutes I caught up with it until they saw me coming, at which point they started to paddle a bit faster. We had started to race and none of us were going to slow down. I was in a shorter but narrower boat, they had length but they were also very wide so I think I had a faster hull speed, they were powered by two men though. For the next fifteen minutes we didn’t stop hard paddling. As I got closer I could hear them grunting with effort but I too was feeling the strain and had it been any other time I would have stopped for a quick drink. We drew level just as they shipped their oars to drift to the quayside, and we shared a couple of pleasantries. I was well and truly stuffed though and glad when I made it to my landing too.
A good workout all round, though carrying my boat back to the car park I had a thought that I could do with building up my upper body as my new Speeder (4 weeks to go) is 4kgs heavier and although 22kgs isn’t beyond me, I could make portages easier if I do some weights at that weight range. I have loaded up the barbell to 22kgs and will now be doing some lifts in the evening.
Thursday, 18 March 2010
The Killerthon
This weekend just past saw the culmination of months of intensive un-training get tested on the longest road race I have ever done. But to that in a second, firstly I have found the boat that I have been looking for. Fast enough to take on distances races with a degree of competitiveness, stable enough to inspire confidence.
I have had my eye on the Pyranha Speeder for ages having seen it at a boat show a couple of years back but I hadn’t really given it any great attention until I started all of this Devises to Westminster nonsense. Testing out the thoroughbred racing boats scared the bejesus out of me, the slimline hyperfast carbon and glass boats are undoubtedly the fastest craft out there and the only choice for the competitive racers, but they are so unstable for a fair to middling paddler like myself, I don’t think I could have taken part in any race without intensive training to become comfortable in one. I don’t have enough time on the river to be able to do that so I had to look to alternatives, and I wanted a boat that could be used in more situations than just distance racing.
The Speeder seemed like a good candidate, it has the lines of a racing boat, long and slender and is advertised by Pyranha as being a stable river runner. Reading reviews all over the internet I wasn’t sure if Pyranha’s “stable” was different to everyone else’s stable, so I felt I had to take one out for a test drive. West Midlands Canoe Centre were kind enough to get a demo boat in for me and on Saturday I took it out. On the water I was aware of the boats tendency to tip but it didn’t seem much worse than I have experienced in my RPM and certainly the advertised secondary stability was there in spades. Once I got up to speed I was more than confident that I could handle this boat, it was fast, and to my surprise relatively manoeuvrable for something of this size and weight. I got back to the quayside with the biggest grin on my face. The upshot.. One new boat arriving in about 5 weeks time and I am pretty excited by the prospect of this years paddling.
That was Saturday, Sunday was the worlds first Kilomathon. I’ll be surprised if this is the first time a 26.2 kilometre race has ever been run ever anywhere in the world, but the organisers were making a big play on the fact that that this was the first Kilomathon and that the 5,500 of us who turned up would be taking part in history. It might be the first time anyone has ever called it a Kilomathon I suppose. Anyway, twenty six point something kilometres is sixteen point something miles, three miles longer than a half marathon and as I had done two of those so I wasn’t particularly worried about the additional distance.
I’m the first to admit that my training was poor but I had completed my first Half Mary (Ironbridge) after a similarly poor training regime at about this time last year so I had pencilled in a time of 2 hours and 40 minutes. Two hours is my Half time and I thought an additional 40 minutes for the remaining 3 miles would be fine and plenty, even if I ran at a slower pace I thought I would be well in.
Race day didn’t start all too well, my iPhone which had my running playlist and was going to be key to liaising with my dad and wife at the end of the race broke down just as we had set off. We turned around so I could grab a spare iPod and then we were running late.
Getting to the start line after a two hour drive it was cold. Sunny but bitterly cold and when the wind blew I just wanted to get running. After a seemingly long delay we were away, my left leg which has been giving me some gyp since forever, gave me a quick painful reminder that there were problems with the shin but that soon subsided after a couple of kilometres were under the belt.
My dad had started in a forward group because he was going to run the distance in a quicker time but after about 10ks I had somehow caught him up, we shared a brief chat but I couldn’t keep up and promptly fell back. By 13kms I was completely knackered, seriously tired. Legs were out of fuel, feet were feeling bruised, and my shins were beginning to ache too, had this been a training run I think I would have phoned for a lift home because my pain had become quite serious but as it was my options were to pull up and get rescued by the stewards or carry on. I carried on.
By the 20th Kilometre I was in agony, I had been forced to walk for stretches of the distance and the pain in my feet had made it impossible to run in my preferred toe first style so I resorted to a knee jarring heel first gait to keep moving. It was about now that my iPod ran out of batteries, and I was overtaken by an asthmatic, it was all getting pretty grim.
For some reason I was under the impression that the Kilomathon was 24kms. I don’t know why, I put it down to my mind trying to cope with the self inflicted pummelling I was putting myself though. Either way, there is nothing more crushing to moral than thinking that the finish line is only one more kilometre away only to hit the 24km marker post and there is no cheering crowd, no aid station, just a couple of marshals clapping and telling you to keep going. I had built myself up to collapse, only to discover I had to keep going for 2 more kms.
I made it to the finish line in screaming pain. I could not run anymore, you can tell by the finish line photos where it looks like I am making an awful lot of effort for very little forward motion. I staggered through the finish post, collected my medal and things and wanted to collapse.
That wasn’t how it ended though. The ordeal continued. I then had to liaise with my dad (who had finished half an hour before I had) and then we were supposed to walk the short distance to the car park where my wife was waiting in the car but because my phone decided to stop working I had to try and find my Dad amongst a crowd of five and a half thousand other knackered runners. After ten minutes I decided to give up and head to the car by myself. My missus would be there who could then phone my dad to tell him where we were.
I set off cold and tired to the Park and Ride car park which a steward told me was a short walk thataway only the short walk I took seemed to have been in the wrong direction and I ended up walking a very long way round with a few other runners who had also got lost. I eventually made it to the car ready to finally stop moving to discover that my wife wasn’t there, she had headed to the start line and was still waiting for me to finish. I collapsed to the floor and just sat there for a bit, I was not going to be able to walk back to the finish line even if I had wanted to. Eventually Someone lent me a phone and we all met back up.
I am now at Thursday and I am still limping, and my shin splints problem is back with a vengeance. After the race I vowed never to run again but now the sun is shining and the pain in my legs isn’t keeping me awake anymore so I think there will be some more distance events in the future.
I have had my eye on the Pyranha Speeder for ages having seen it at a boat show a couple of years back but I hadn’t really given it any great attention until I started all of this Devises to Westminster nonsense. Testing out the thoroughbred racing boats scared the bejesus out of me, the slimline hyperfast carbon and glass boats are undoubtedly the fastest craft out there and the only choice for the competitive racers, but they are so unstable for a fair to middling paddler like myself, I don’t think I could have taken part in any race without intensive training to become comfortable in one. I don’t have enough time on the river to be able to do that so I had to look to alternatives, and I wanted a boat that could be used in more situations than just distance racing.
The Speeder seemed like a good candidate, it has the lines of a racing boat, long and slender and is advertised by Pyranha as being a stable river runner. Reading reviews all over the internet I wasn’t sure if Pyranha’s “stable” was different to everyone else’s stable, so I felt I had to take one out for a test drive. West Midlands Canoe Centre were kind enough to get a demo boat in for me and on Saturday I took it out. On the water I was aware of the boats tendency to tip but it didn’t seem much worse than I have experienced in my RPM and certainly the advertised secondary stability was there in spades. Once I got up to speed I was more than confident that I could handle this boat, it was fast, and to my surprise relatively manoeuvrable for something of this size and weight. I got back to the quayside with the biggest grin on my face. The upshot.. One new boat arriving in about 5 weeks time and I am pretty excited by the prospect of this years paddling.
That was Saturday, Sunday was the worlds first Kilomathon. I’ll be surprised if this is the first time a 26.2 kilometre race has ever been run ever anywhere in the world, but the organisers were making a big play on the fact that that this was the first Kilomathon and that the 5,500 of us who turned up would be taking part in history. It might be the first time anyone has ever called it a Kilomathon I suppose. Anyway, twenty six point something kilometres is sixteen point something miles, three miles longer than a half marathon and as I had done two of those so I wasn’t particularly worried about the additional distance.
I’m the first to admit that my training was poor but I had completed my first Half Mary (Ironbridge) after a similarly poor training regime at about this time last year so I had pencilled in a time of 2 hours and 40 minutes. Two hours is my Half time and I thought an additional 40 minutes for the remaining 3 miles would be fine and plenty, even if I ran at a slower pace I thought I would be well in.
Race day didn’t start all too well, my iPhone which had my running playlist and was going to be key to liaising with my dad and wife at the end of the race broke down just as we had set off. We turned around so I could grab a spare iPod and then we were running late.
Getting to the start line after a two hour drive it was cold. Sunny but bitterly cold and when the wind blew I just wanted to get running. After a seemingly long delay we were away, my left leg which has been giving me some gyp since forever, gave me a quick painful reminder that there were problems with the shin but that soon subsided after a couple of kilometres were under the belt.
My dad had started in a forward group because he was going to run the distance in a quicker time but after about 10ks I had somehow caught him up, we shared a brief chat but I couldn’t keep up and promptly fell back. By 13kms I was completely knackered, seriously tired. Legs were out of fuel, feet were feeling bruised, and my shins were beginning to ache too, had this been a training run I think I would have phoned for a lift home because my pain had become quite serious but as it was my options were to pull up and get rescued by the stewards or carry on. I carried on.
By the 20th Kilometre I was in agony, I had been forced to walk for stretches of the distance and the pain in my feet had made it impossible to run in my preferred toe first style so I resorted to a knee jarring heel first gait to keep moving. It was about now that my iPod ran out of batteries, and I was overtaken by an asthmatic, it was all getting pretty grim.
For some reason I was under the impression that the Kilomathon was 24kms. I don’t know why, I put it down to my mind trying to cope with the self inflicted pummelling I was putting myself though. Either way, there is nothing more crushing to moral than thinking that the finish line is only one more kilometre away only to hit the 24km marker post and there is no cheering crowd, no aid station, just a couple of marshals clapping and telling you to keep going. I had built myself up to collapse, only to discover I had to keep going for 2 more kms.
I made it to the finish line in screaming pain. I could not run anymore, you can tell by the finish line photos where it looks like I am making an awful lot of effort for very little forward motion. I staggered through the finish post, collected my medal and things and wanted to collapse.
That wasn’t how it ended though. The ordeal continued. I then had to liaise with my dad (who had finished half an hour before I had) and then we were supposed to walk the short distance to the car park where my wife was waiting in the car but because my phone decided to stop working I had to try and find my Dad amongst a crowd of five and a half thousand other knackered runners. After ten minutes I decided to give up and head to the car by myself. My missus would be there who could then phone my dad to tell him where we were.
I set off cold and tired to the Park and Ride car park which a steward told me was a short walk thataway only the short walk I took seemed to have been in the wrong direction and I ended up walking a very long way round with a few other runners who had also got lost. I eventually made it to the car ready to finally stop moving to discover that my wife wasn’t there, she had headed to the start line and was still waiting for me to finish. I collapsed to the floor and just sat there for a bit, I was not going to be able to walk back to the finish line even if I had wanted to. Eventually Someone lent me a phone and we all met back up.
I am now at Thursday and I am still limping, and my shin splints problem is back with a vengeance. After the race I vowed never to run again but now the sun is shining and the pain in my legs isn’t keeping me awake anymore so I think there will be some more distance events in the future.
Monday, 8 March 2010
Nothing to report
It is recommended that when you keep a blog, you update it regularly so that your readership knows when to expect an update, daily, weekly, monthly. This is something I have failed to do at the moment mainly because I have absolutely nothing to update. This is a training and fitness blog and currently I am doing neither training or keeping fit. I have a developing beer belly which has deviously crept up on me since Christmas and I have a race on Sunday that is further than I have ever run before, I even still have shin pain that is making minor events like going up stairs painful. On top of that I have managed to choose a swimming race in the Great East Swim which clashes with my best mates wedding. I asked him to move it but he wasn’t having it… Hopefully I will get a deferral and be able to do that race next year but as it stands that isn't going to happen now... Stupid wedding.
I have a plan though. I am not the sort of person who backs out of an event so I will be taking part in the Killerthon this weekend, even if it kills me, despite the fact that I am not particularly prepared for it. After that I am going to increase my cycle miles now that the weather is getting more pleasant, no chance of shin pain there and good cardio stuff. And I am thinking of getting some serious kayaking miles in this year. I am test driving my boat of dreams this Saturday and hopefully will get to use this during the summer with an eye to take on next years DW.
I have a plan though. I am not the sort of person who backs out of an event so I will be taking part in the Killerthon this weekend, even if it kills me, despite the fact that I am not particularly prepared for it. After that I am going to increase my cycle miles now that the weather is getting more pleasant, no chance of shin pain there and good cardio stuff. And I am thinking of getting some serious kayaking miles in this year. I am test driving my boat of dreams this Saturday and hopefully will get to use this during the summer with an eye to take on next years DW.
Monday, 1 March 2010
How not to do it.
This is a blog about how not to prepare for races. So far I have successfully not prepared very well for a kayak race, two half marathons, and an outdoor swimming race. Currently I am doing fantastically badly at preparing for the longest race I have ever attempted.
There are two weeks to go until the kilomathon and due to another dose of very painful shin splints, and the fact that the weather has been quite grim, I haven’t really been out running, I have been playing squash, but not running.
So last week I declared to my squash partners that I am now going to focus on being ready for this race. I give it a week so that I am certain my shin splints have gone away and this Sunday I went out for a nice and easy 4 mile run. First time I have hauled on my trainers for a while, possibly first time this year… Maybe not, I can’t quite remember. That’s beside the point really. I have a 16 mile race in 13 days and so far I have run 4 miles, once. It wasn’t a very good run, my feet started to hurt and then towards the end my back ached. So yeah. Great! Four miles and my body started to groan and in two weeks time I have to do that distance 4 times over. Well, I had better up my run rate I suppose. Get out there two or three times this week and maybe a couple more the week after.
Then I get an email from the guys at the kilomaton saying that it’s time to taper the training. I need to reduce my weekly mileage down so that my body is at its peak condition ready for the race. I have to REDUCE my mileage. I have only done four miles as it is. Gagh! I feel I might have left it a bit late in the day to start my training then.
Note to self. Don’t enter races that happen in March. Training in the winter is even less likely to happen that in the summer.
There are two weeks to go until the kilomathon and due to another dose of very painful shin splints, and the fact that the weather has been quite grim, I haven’t really been out running, I have been playing squash, but not running.
So last week I declared to my squash partners that I am now going to focus on being ready for this race. I give it a week so that I am certain my shin splints have gone away and this Sunday I went out for a nice and easy 4 mile run. First time I have hauled on my trainers for a while, possibly first time this year… Maybe not, I can’t quite remember. That’s beside the point really. I have a 16 mile race in 13 days and so far I have run 4 miles, once. It wasn’t a very good run, my feet started to hurt and then towards the end my back ached. So yeah. Great! Four miles and my body started to groan and in two weeks time I have to do that distance 4 times over. Well, I had better up my run rate I suppose. Get out there two or three times this week and maybe a couple more the week after.
Then I get an email from the guys at the kilomaton saying that it’s time to taper the training. I need to reduce my weekly mileage down so that my body is at its peak condition ready for the race. I have to REDUCE my mileage. I have only done four miles as it is. Gagh! I feel I might have left it a bit late in the day to start my training then.
Note to self. Don’t enter races that happen in March. Training in the winter is even less likely to happen that in the summer.
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Back up to speed.
Right. Catch up time as I stopped updating the other blog while I considered my move to a new site.
I have currently signed up for three events this year, mirroring last years chosen races quite closely. First one is the 16.3 miles of the Kilomathon on the 14th March. Last year I started out with the Ironbridge Half Marathon in March having never run that distance before, and just like last year I am hideously under prepared this time. The winter has not been particularly conducive to getting out there to train and just like my first half marathon I have not yet run the distance.
Next event on my calendar is the Great East Swim on 19th June in Alton Water. Last year I signed up to take part in the Great North Swim on a whim because of an email and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, I thought that this year I should try a different part of the country for an outdoor swimming event.
And then lastly in September I have been lucky enough to get another free ballot place on the Great North Run. Last year I had a fantastic time and the experience of fifty odd thousand people all running the same race was brilliant. This is a something I am really looking forward to again.
My 2010 training has not exactly been a glowing example to all so far. Since Christmas I have managed to put on a stone in weight, and have developed shin splints again, training has been limited to a couple of short runs which were not particularly enjoyable and a few games of squash each week. I think the squash has been aggravating, or at least prolonging the recovery from the shin splints so I have now called a halt to all games until after the Kilomathon so I can concentrate on being fit enough to run. After that I intend to focus on my swimming, before switching training back to running. I will scatter some games of squash, kayaking and cycling in amongst there as well.
The reason why I started all this in 2008 was to take part in the 125 mile Devises to Westminster kayak race. This is an event I desperately want to do but I set myself too big a challenge. I am a competent kayaker but I haven’t really sat myself in a slim and tippy racing boat, and when I have I have dedicated my entire effort to not to falling in. I then chose a crewmate who has done considerably less paddling than I have and who works unfavourable hours. The one and only time we went out in the two man racing boat, saw us swimming. My new plan for the DW is a slightly toned down and less difficult to organise affair. I now plan on taking the slightly easier 1 man race which will see a camp stop each night, rather than paddling the 125 miles in one sitting. I also intend to source a more stable boat that will still have enough speed to enable me to complete the distance. The Pyranha Speeder is the boat I think will suit my purpose and I have made arrangements to take one for a test drive very soon.
I have currently signed up for three events this year, mirroring last years chosen races quite closely. First one is the 16.3 miles of the Kilomathon on the 14th March. Last year I started out with the Ironbridge Half Marathon in March having never run that distance before, and just like last year I am hideously under prepared this time. The winter has not been particularly conducive to getting out there to train and just like my first half marathon I have not yet run the distance.
Next event on my calendar is the Great East Swim on 19th June in Alton Water. Last year I signed up to take part in the Great North Swim on a whim because of an email and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, I thought that this year I should try a different part of the country for an outdoor swimming event.
And then lastly in September I have been lucky enough to get another free ballot place on the Great North Run. Last year I had a fantastic time and the experience of fifty odd thousand people all running the same race was brilliant. This is a something I am really looking forward to again.
My 2010 training has not exactly been a glowing example to all so far. Since Christmas I have managed to put on a stone in weight, and have developed shin splints again, training has been limited to a couple of short runs which were not particularly enjoyable and a few games of squash each week. I think the squash has been aggravating, or at least prolonging the recovery from the shin splints so I have now called a halt to all games until after the Kilomathon so I can concentrate on being fit enough to run. After that I intend to focus on my swimming, before switching training back to running. I will scatter some games of squash, kayaking and cycling in amongst there as well.
The reason why I started all this in 2008 was to take part in the 125 mile Devises to Westminster kayak race. This is an event I desperately want to do but I set myself too big a challenge. I am a competent kayaker but I haven’t really sat myself in a slim and tippy racing boat, and when I have I have dedicated my entire effort to not to falling in. I then chose a crewmate who has done considerably less paddling than I have and who works unfavourable hours. The one and only time we went out in the two man racing boat, saw us swimming. My new plan for the DW is a slightly toned down and less difficult to organise affair. I now plan on taking the slightly easier 1 man race which will see a camp stop each night, rather than paddling the 125 miles in one sitting. I also intend to source a more stable boat that will still have enough speed to enable me to complete the distance. The Pyranha Speeder is the boat I think will suit my purpose and I have made arrangements to take one for a test drive very soon.
Start again
I have been keeping a blog for a year or so now at dw-race.blogspot.com
In September 2008 I declared to the world that I was going to take part in the '10 Devises to Westminster kayak race and the blog was going to be my motivation to keep up with the training. I knew if I didn’t keep a log of what I was doing I would quickly get bored and stop the training and I felt that at 30 I should really start taking a bit more care of my body.
For about a month I struggled with an increased fitness regime, with a new pain every day but I did get fitter and I began to enjoy what I was doing. I began to look around for other events as way of training for the DW and accidently signed up for a half marathon, and then another, and then a swimming race and very quickly I had hijacked my own Devises to Westminster blog with talk about running events, and cycling and more recently, games of squash.
Then in October 2009 I realised that I was not going to be ready for the DW race. I had spent too little time training in a kayak having focusing my energies on distance running instead.
This change of direction hasn’t really bothered me. I am still getting out there getting fit, and I am still taking part in events that I never thought I would a few years ago. I even still have plans on taking on the DW race, my aim is for next year for that one instead.
I have a lot of people who arrive at my blog expecting to find useful information about the DW race though, having given the blog a name with DW-Race in the title would do that I guess, and this blogging malarkey for me is no longer just about that kayak race, it is more about me and my attempts to beat back middle age spread.
So from now on I will be blogging about my exploits, predominantly about exercise and races and sports, occasionally about injuries, and sometimes I might talk about other things that are bothering me, here in a new blog that isn’t so specifically titled as my old blog.
In September 2008 I declared to the world that I was going to take part in the '10 Devises to Westminster kayak race and the blog was going to be my motivation to keep up with the training. I knew if I didn’t keep a log of what I was doing I would quickly get bored and stop the training and I felt that at 30 I should really start taking a bit more care of my body.
For about a month I struggled with an increased fitness regime, with a new pain every day but I did get fitter and I began to enjoy what I was doing. I began to look around for other events as way of training for the DW and accidently signed up for a half marathon, and then another, and then a swimming race and very quickly I had hijacked my own Devises to Westminster blog with talk about running events, and cycling and more recently, games of squash.
Then in October 2009 I realised that I was not going to be ready for the DW race. I had spent too little time training in a kayak having focusing my energies on distance running instead.
This change of direction hasn’t really bothered me. I am still getting out there getting fit, and I am still taking part in events that I never thought I would a few years ago. I even still have plans on taking on the DW race, my aim is for next year for that one instead.
I have a lot of people who arrive at my blog expecting to find useful information about the DW race though, having given the blog a name with DW-Race in the title would do that I guess, and this blogging malarkey for me is no longer just about that kayak race, it is more about me and my attempts to beat back middle age spread.
So from now on I will be blogging about my exploits, predominantly about exercise and races and sports, occasionally about injuries, and sometimes I might talk about other things that are bothering me, here in a new blog that isn’t so specifically titled as my old blog.
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