Failure Modes Analysis

All we want to do is finish; that is all. While 28 hours would prolong the agony, if that's what we do it in, then that's what we'll do it in. We won't be chasing a time. Yes, 24 hours is a nice round number but if we simply cannot push the discovery through the water in that time then no amount of positive mental attitude is going to change that. It will be, what it will be. I have however been thinking a lot about things going wrong, not necessarily because I think they will but because I really don't want them to. I am in the lucky position of having completed the event last year but I am worried about something that I do or an injury that I sustain causing our retirement and meaning that  Adam does not see Westminster. I didn't think that I would be that fussed this year, that I would be the cool 'old hand' who would see us through but the closer we get the more I have the feeling that I really don't want to stuff up. It genuinely would be heartbreaking.

So, what could go wrong? Have we done everything that we can to avoid failure? Can we do anything else? These are the main things that I've been worrying / thinking about;

Breaking the boat. Don't drop it so have good technique when portaging and good communication. Don't roll the boat off your shoulder while the other crew is unaware. Have some putty with the support team to repair damage if possible. Carry an electrical block joint and small screwdriver in the boat to repair a broken rudder wire, but check the wires thoroughly before the race. Carry a spare rudder. Locktite all nuts. Check footbars / plates etc for damage. Take care of the boat on the course; it's got to go a long way.

Paddler injury. The really big unknown. Can you legislate for this? Well, I guess the better ones technique then the more you are doing to minimise this. So, technique, technique, technique. Ours is far from perfect but it's a hell of a lot better than it was 6 months ago.
Portaging injury? Again, good technique required. The fact that our boat is pretty heavy means that we have to shoulder carry so we should be minimising the risk of a wrist or lower arm injury. A lot of cockpit carrying, while faster could lead to problems later on. Don't fall over. If it's really muddy underfoot and you haven't got decent grip you're probably asking for trouble. Either get decent footwear or slow down.

Getting cold. Don't fall in!  Be in the right boat. If you must fall in, then get paddling again as quickly as possible. Ensure that your support always has a fresh base layer at every portage just in case to get out of your wet clothes as quickly as possible. I didn't need a full kit change; a new base layer, cag and BA back on; jobs a good 'un.

 Don't hang around too long on the night portages; everything begins to slow down so don't dawdle. Try to keep moving down the course.

Nutritional mistakes. Know what you can tolerate and eat little and often. If your stomach starts feeling heavy or bloated think about cutting back on your carbs and/or get your heart rate down if you're pushing too hard. Switch to water for a bit and get your stomach under control. We need to practise with our food and drink more over extended periods; we just have not done enough of this.

Support going wrong. Have two teams. Ensure they know the course and have good maps and directions. If it does go wrong - keep paddling, keep moving down the course. They'll find you eventually. Carry a phone if you need to and / or write your supports mobile number on your boat and get someone else to call. KEEP. PADDLING. DOWN. THE. COURSE.

Loosing positivity. Keep comunicating with each other. Ask how each other's doing. If there's a problem, talk it through and try to sort it. After 22 hours, even a wonky piece of duck tape can tip you over the edge, so sort it. If you get a headache, shoulder ache, neck ache, take some pain killers. Another 20 hours of paddling isn't going to make it better.

I'm sure there's a thousand other things but these are the main ones that keep coming back to haunt me.

Please don't let me screw this up.

Creaking and Groaning

I am afraid I am one of those people who has always liked watching old black and white war films (No.3 Reach for the Sky, No.2 Ice cold in Alex, No.1 The Dambusters are my top three, if you're interested, which you're probably not). Anyway, there's a scene in 'Above us the Waves' where John Mills has to dive deep in his submarine to escape the odd depth charge or two and as he does so, the bulkheads start to creak, valves begin to pop and stiff upper lips begin to tremble. That's a pretty good metephor for my body at the moment as the training load is begining to take effect and things are starting to ache, creak and protest. Last week during our paddle I developed a real hot spot at the base of my neck which I have had before, but this time instead of it going away after 10 minutes it stayed there, nagging away for the full duration of the session. Nothing a bit of nurofen wouldn't sort out in the race but when you want everything to give you confidence it's not ideal. My hamstrings are also tighter than very tight things at the moment and require constant stretching. Not a problem when running but afterwards they are getting quite sore and have started to bother me a bit when paddling. My calves, which have been my nemesis for the last couple of years have however been absolutely fine. But. Must. Stretch. Lots.

We had to abandon Sunday's long paddle as Ad had a bug but I ended up doing a brick session instead and we bunted our paddle to Monday. It was great. We really worked hard against the flow at well above DW effort (lots of creaking from me) and then after a quick rest at Molesey we headed back at DW effort. We are really working on slowing down our stroke rate and trying to get our stroke as long as possible. Most advice that I have been given seems to suggest that you should have a shorter, quicker stroke for something like the DW, but that just doesn't seem to work for us. By slowing it down we rotate much better and get our lead hands further forward. It feels comfortable so we're going to stick with it. :-)

As we came back to Eel Pie Island we heard the distinctive 'thwack....thwack....thwack...' of a swan beating its wings hard, trying to take off. I suddenly saw a pair of them at 2 feet off the water heading straight for my headtorch no more than 20 metres away. 'Oh f**k, duck.' It wasn't a duck, it was a swan, but you know what I mean. ;-) Ad and I are not the most flexible of fellas but we had our noses on the deck of the disco as they passed no more than a few feet above our heads. Apparently quite a few people have died while DW training but being poleaxed by a rotund avian missile would seem like a particularly stupid way to go. It was however very nice not to have to wear a hat or pogees. All of a sudden, this kayaking lark's become quite a lot of fun.

It's sunny outside

We managed to get a day pass this afternoon to head out during daylight and the weather got better and better as we progressed. The plan was an easy paddle at DW effort from Teddington up to Sunbury and back. As expected we had to contend with quite  a bit more river traffic than we're used to with the only major problem being a very fast rowing 8 and its support boat throwing up a big wave as we headed back to Molesey. we had to slow down but we got through it ok and then when we encountered it again we decided that discretion was the better part of valour and pulled over to the bank while they went past  and the river settled again. We also saw another DW crew on the river heading down to Molesey as we made our way in the opposite direction which was encouraging to see.We had not taken drink out with us, which with the warmer temperature was a mistake but at 3 hours in duration it wasn't a big problem.

Another 2 paddles this week, hopefully 3 if I can get out in a K1 at some time. Posted the cheque yesterday so we're going to Devizes now whether we like it or not.

Quick update

Adam and I could only plan two paddles this week, but again it has come at the right time. When we went out on Sunday we had both had really busy weekends and so by the time we were getting into the discovery at 8.15pm we were both clattered. We decided to do a steady paddle upriver and after 80 minutes we turned back with the flow pushing us back to give us a 2.5 hour paddle time and again no dramas.

Last night, once again we couldn't get onto the water until 9.30 so this time we decided to do a one hour tempo session, but we actually ended up doing 6 efforts of about 7 minutes in duration with a short recovery. It was a great session and it's nice to see Adam so relaxed now and really enjoying it, but it's really important that we get our technique back on track.

Other good news is that our weight's dropping so we'll have less to drag along the course.  :-)  After a long bike on Sunday morning I was eating everything in sight and thought I'd jump on the scales; 71kgs! Haven't been that lightweight since about 1993! Adam's clothes don't fit him anymore and he's regularly running to work and knocking off great chunks of time as his weight comes down.

The finishing line

I was up in London today and at one point we went across Westminster Bridge and took the photo here. There was a strong easterly wind and white horses on the river. *gulp*

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Hodge. Thanks. :-) Of course another reason for not going too long in training is that you can paddle without the need to constantly have support as well as ensuring domestic harmony at home.

When is long, long?

With the DW becoming more imminent it's getting to the stage where it becomes understandable to start worrying if the long paddles are long enough. But what is 'long enough?' In the triathlon world the general consensus for an average age grouper undertaking a triathlon of any duration is that if you have done the distance you need to complete in the individual disciplines in training then that should be enough to get you through, as long as you as get your pacing right. So far, that's worked for me, although I have usually completed the odd longer bike in my middle distance preparation. With a Long course race coming up in June, I intend to adopt the same procedure although with my history in recent years of injury when upping my run volume I will probably cap my long run training at two and a half hours; this combined with a run / walk strategy should see me through.

But what about preparing for paddling for 24+ hours? What's an appropriate length for a weekly long training paddle? I know that last year I originally wanted to adopt the tri approach and attempt to put in regular 6, 7, 8 hour paddles. Thankfully, we didn't. Dan at the MPCC advised us to not paddle for longer than 2.5 hours, but that just seemed far too short. How on earth could that prepare you for paddling all day and all night? The answer was of course, that realistically, you can't .  :-0   This time round, with Adam starting completely from scratch the most important thing has been for us to get into a boat as regularly as possible with the length of the paddle being immaterial. Be consistent and we would improve. At times it's not felt that way but we've come a hell of a long way in a relatively short space of time and the very fact that we 'll be starting the race is an enormous achievement.

So, what is our long weekly paddle? Our average duration is 2.5 hours although we have completed one at 4 hours in length and the Waterside A at 3 hours (well, 2.45 + 15 minutes swimming :-(   ). Over the next 4 weeks we are going to aim to build towards 3.5 hours but we are not going to stress if that doesn't happen. Our longest paddle will be the Waterside D route at DW pace which will probably take us something like 7 hours. What's more important is that we are paddling 3 times per week, working on our technique and getting comfortable in the boat. In my opinion, a well executed 3 hour paddle with good technique will be of more benefit than slogging away in the boat for 6 or 7 hours every week. The risk of injury is too great but more importantly I would have thought that it would be quite soul destroying; save the hardship for the race, training's meant to be fun.

Is this going to be enough? Well, that's the thing about the DW isn't it? You may have done the event many times before but when you paddle to the start line you can never be sure if what you have done is enough, because quite frankly it's such a ridiculous thing to do. I'll let you know at about midday on Sunday 24th April as to whether our long has been long enough.  ;-)

Some Waterside A Pics

Just before our 3rd capsize. :-/

Not exactly together, not exactly relaxed.

Back in the Game

The 24 hours after the Waterside A were spent in gloomy reflection of our performance. The upsetting thing was not the fact that we had capsized four times but the fact that we knew we could paddle so much better than we did. There was quite a bit of rough and tumble during the race and I made the schoolboy error of being drawn into it, rather than just doing our own thing. As a result I wasn't really putting myself in Adam's position who had never experienced this type of race before and instead of helping him relax and concentrate on his paddling I succeeding in making him more nervous which ultimately proved to be part of our downfall.
Anyway, it's done now and we need to put it behind us; it was a bad day, end of. The two major changes that we are making as a result of Sunday is that we now have a Discovery to paddle and we will not be taking the start at the Waterside D race. Having done the D last year and knowing that the conditions will be similar to the A, only over twice as long, it seems sensible that we paddle the D route on our own at some point. We've also had a couple of kind offers to do it with a few other crews so we may well do that instead. The D race is nowhere near the same conditions as the DW (it's just over the same part of the course) so it seems sensible for us to do our own thing, in our own time, as we will in the DW.

So on Monday we headed out into the Discovery just to do a short session to get back into a boat and get the bad taste out of our mouths. There was quite a bit of swell as we pounded up and down between Walton and Sunbury and it even started to snow a bit but we were fine and we could both feel the additional stability that the Disco offers. Last night it was a long 2 hour paddle on the Wey and I could tell that he was more comfortable as he spent most of the paddle taking the mick out of me rather than sitting in grim silence, concentrating on everything that was going on. The other telling thing was  that during the paddle we didn't put down one, single support stroke. It was our most pleasurably, uneventful paddle we've ever had, which is a very good sign. We'll save the mystere for next year!  ;-) The only problem I can see with the disco is that because of its extra stability I immediately stopped cycling my legs and pressing on the footbar and I must make sure that we don't lose that part of the stroke. As ever, something to work on.....

Running is going really well. :-) It's got that effortless feeling at the moment, rather than me grinding out the miles. More of the same please.
This weekend will be a long bike on Sunday morning, 4 hours ish and a long paddle Sunday night. Mrs Wheezy just about remembers what I look like!

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Cheers Hodge. We should have remembered to do our own thing, like you. Lesson learnt!