An improved state of mind

It's hard to believe but the incessant rainfall that we have experienced in the last couple of weeks has really worked in our favour. The Thames is up on red boards and it looks like it could be for a while so Adam and I have sorted out some V bars and for the time being we'll be paddling on the Wey Navigation, which Jamie and I discovered last year in the last month or so of our preperation for the DW. This morning was our first paddle on it and therefore we had to get back into the mystere which had become our nemesis in recent weeks. The fact is, we had no other choice, but if we couldn't paddle it on a canal then we were not going to be able to paddle it at all and I was hoping that it would restore some of our shattered confidence. Adam had proved last week that he had good stability on his own and therefore I had to relax and have some confidence in him.

As it turned out, we had a fantastic paddle. It was quite blustery but  being warm, with no boats, sculls, rowing eights, wash or current to contend with, we could just get on with the business of paddling. And you know what? We could do it pretty well. For the first time in a long time we smiled and enjoyed the session. On the way out we put in a few fartlek efforts which left me feeling hot ( I'm still coughing, although it seems on the way out at last) and with a few locks to contend with we were able to break the paddle up with a little bit of portaging. The main thing that we both have to work on is our core strength. By the end of the two hours we both had aches in various points of our lower backs but this is something that we can keep working on. The fact is, we proved to ourselves that we've got the stability but we need to work now on our muscular endurance. GAME. ON.