Moving the goalposts again

My foot injury continues to play havoc with my training and this season is now officially a write-off. It's settled down in that I can walk comfortably but if I have to stand on it for any length of time it soon starts to nag away. I have been doing 3 commutes per week on the Van Nic with one of  them being my 22 mile route home via Boxhill to get me out on a 'proper' ride. I have to be careful though. I have found out that trying to push any form of larger gear gets my foot grumbling again. Gentle spinning is allowed but anything racey is a no-no. I'm still using RICE on it, but I honestly don't think it's doing any good at all, but at least it makes me feel like I'm doing something. I can feel my fitness ebbing away and when this foot problem is resolved it's going to be a long climb back. There's another GP's appointment in the pipeline and then hopefully some treatment.

In the meantime I've been getting to grips with the Ranger. We've kind of reached a stalemate. I'm not good enough to paddle it properly and it's not tippy enough to throw me in the water, although I've had quite a few close calls. Tonight I will be out for my 3rd paddle this week in it. On Wednesday I even went out onto the open river and before I knew it I was in the middle of the Thames. It was a stunning sunset over Teddington and I just wish I had had the stability to take a picture on my camera phone but as it was deep in my BA pocket I thought better about getting it out.

So, I've done an hour's paddling and stayed upright. Now I have got to figure out how to start paddling with greater fluency. I think it's something to do with my recovery; maybe leaving the paddle in slightly too long? I need a goal and it now seems obvious. I'm going to aim to be able to paddle to Hampton Court and back in the Ranger before the end of the summer holidays. At the moment I stand more chance of unicycling to the Sahara, but like I've said before, no one said it would be easy. The bit that worries me is around Kingston Bridge as it's not easy to get out there if you take a swim, so I'll plug up and down between the bridge and Teddington lock for a few weeks and then a bit like Buzz lightyear,  I'll head to Thames Ditton and beyond.

So you want to do the DW? part 3

 6. A Simple Training Plan
'Failing to plan is planning to fail.' So goes the simple maxim but how do you put together a training plan that will get you to the start of the DW in good enough shape to finish the event? Once again, I am writing this post from the perspective of a crew with little paddling experience. I am sure that knarly, more experienced racing paddlers will approach it in a very different way to what I might describe here, but I hope that you find the folowing post useful to give you a starting point. Before you start, it's worth considering the following points;

i. How much time you have until the race
There have been crews who have hopped into a kayak for the first time a few months before the DW and completed the event, however this is more than likely the exception and not the norm. It's worth considering the experience of Ben Hunt-Davis who jumped into a kayak for the first time some 8 weeks before this year's DW. A rowing gold medal winning Olympian, you would have thought that someone with his pedigree would be able to crash train his way to a DW finish. His blog on his failure to do so makes interesting reading for us mere MAMIL mortals.  Most people I have spoken to, and the information I have read state that to do the event justice you should give yourself a full year to train. Jamie and I did it in 9 months, it took Adam and I 2 years. This sounds about right. A full year of training will get you to the startline, 2 years will more than likely get you to the finish line.

ii. Your experience / ability / fitness level
It stands to reason, but the harder you find it to stay upright in a boat or the lower the fitness level that you are starting from, the longer it is probably going to take you to get race ready. Again, my own anecdotal evidence bears this out. Jamie and I were both playing different sports regularly and had higher than average fitness levels for people our age. We got to grips with a stable boat fairly quickly and therefore were just about able to complete the race in 9 months. Adam had a bigger hill to climb. At 17 stone and having done no sport to speak of since leaving school it was always going to take him longer, but 2 years later and 3 stone lighter he was paddling  under Westminster Bridge. You just need to be honest with yourself at the outset. Look at it as a long term goal if needs be.

iii. Your goal for the race
Do you intend to finish or are you racing for a time? I would argue that paddling to finish the event is easier than going for a specific time. (I'm not talking about trying to catch the tide at Teddington but actually racing to beat a finishing time that you have set) It may well be that you goals change as your training develops, which is fine, but if you are a novice kayaker I would think it best to initially set out on this journey with the intention of finishing. Time goals can come later. Anthony Murr mentioned it and it's worth repeating again that if doing the Senior Doubles, that you and your partner's goals are in-line. If one is going for sub 20 and the other just wants to finish, then probably it will end in tears way before you reach the startline at Devizes.

iv. How much time you have available to train
It's obviously really important to get your family and loved ones on board (metaphorically speaking; the kayak will be rather heavy otherwise). Whichever way you cut it, the race is a commitment. Like most of these things it's not the race so much but the hours of training beforehand that's the real endurance event. Again, be honest with yourself. There's not much point planning on doing 5 paddles per week if it's completely unrealistic and does not fit in with your other commitments and lifestyle.

Let's assume again that we're 1 year out from the DW. Our plan was to aim to paddle 3 times a week. If we achieved that, then that was a very good week. Our average was just under 2 paddles per week and often due to family stuff it became 1 paddle per week (exclusively training in a K2 therefore having to rely on each other to be there when we could have been in a K1 and paddling a lot more frequently). As I also stated in a previous post, making that first 5-6 months being technique focussed, maybe practising drills and getting coaching to make your technique as efficient as possible would be the way that I would now approach it. An hour's paddle maximum, 3 times per week would be ample and with the spring and long summer months it gives you the opportunity to capsize to your heart's content.

As we moved into the autumn we aimed to keep to 3 paddles per week that looked something like this;

Tuesday; Interval paddle 60-90 mins. Warm up followed by 4x5mins 3 mins rec / or 8x2mins 2mins rec / 3x10mins 5mins rec.

Thursday; 45min-60min tempo paddle. Faster than DW effort. We usually tacked on a run or core session afterwards.

weekend; long paddle 90-120mins DW effort.

This was an 'ideal' week and formed the bulk of Adam's and my training until January.

Once we got to January the focus was much more on ensuring that we got our long paddle in and if we could only fit a single paddle into any one week then it was the long paddle that was done. I have blogged before about what constitutes a long paddle but our weekly long paddle was usually 2-2.5 hours with the occasional 3 hour paddle. Once we got into January the aim was to get ourselves into the state where we would be able to complete a 6-8 hour paddle 2 to 3 weeks out from the DW. The long paddles were used to test food and drink, practice portaging and generally get us rehearsing DW techniques.

7. Interval training; a good idea?
I personally enjoyed the interval sessions as they provided a welcome change from bashing out the long miles and gave us more of an aerobic workout. I didn't use a heart rate monitor but I doubt very much that I went anaerobic more than a few times. If you look at the sessions written in Greenaway's book many of the weekly paddles are based around intervals and for a novice crew I am not sure that that's the best way to go. If you are a 24hr plus crew you are simply not going to be paddling at anywhere near that intensity and therefore paddling a lot like that, particularly if your technique is poor may do more harm than good. Energy efficient technique over raw speed everytime. I'm not saying don't do it; at the end of the day the training's also got to be fun or it will be very hard to stay motivated, but if in doubt, DW effort.

8.Waterside and Thameside Series; a good idea?
These series of races take place in the winter and early spring before the DW and are generally regarded as an excellent warm up before taking on the DW, mainly because they take place on parts of the DW course. This will give you the opportunity to practice portaging and familiarise yourself with a part of the course. In particular, the Waterside D, which takes place over the first 35 miles of the DW from Devizes to Newbury is generally regarded as the best one to do. Most crews use this as their last long training paddle and gauge their DW pace from it. But a slight word of caution. These are very competitive and busy events. The portages can get stupidly busy as is the canal at times. This is nothing like the Senior Doubles DW which sees crews leaving individually, spaced out over a much grreater length of time. Therefore, it might be better for you to paddle the D route or do something similar to what we did this year, on your own or with your clubmates rather than entering these races.

9. Other training
I have already mentioned core work which is time very well spent. There are 2 other things that might be worth doing;

i. Running for weight loss.  Use running (or cycling, swimming, line dancing, whatever floats your boat) to promote weight loss. The more kilos you can lose the easier it will be to move the boat through the water and the easier you will find it to get in and out of the boat. You will also be running or walking with the boat 70 times during the DW ( I think somebody worked out that you will be carrying the boat for around 5 miles), therefore getting used to running and walking is a good idea.

ii. Gym work. This can supplement the core work and will be useful for helping you get in and out of the boat, particularly if the water levels are low and the portages are high. However, I would ALWAYS go for a paddle if I had a choice.

So you want to do the DW? Part 2.

Some more of my thoughts for fellow MAMILs / MAWILS training for the DW.

5. Get Stable. I have found stability an odd thing to get my head around; sometimes I feel terribly twitchy in a boat, even ones that are supposedly high up the wobble factor scale. I have found that there is a simple correlation between the amount of paddling I do and the more stable I become, but other than that, if you are struggling,  how do you improve your stability? Well, these are the points that have helped me;

i. Bracing. Bracing is basically a support stroke that is used to help you recover if you tip too far. Practise bracing. The more confident I was in my ability to brace the better I paddled. Practice bracing in shallow water and find out how far you can tip the boat over before capsizing.

This guy's just showing off, but you get the idea. ;-)

ii. Keep your head up. Don't look down at the boat but look up ahead or at the horizon.

iii. Start off in a stable boat* that you can handle, get your technique nailed and then gradually move to a more tippy kayak. It's more important that you can go out and paddle comfortably on the river for an hour and have a good training session than spending that hour trying to stay upright, so don't waste months trying to master a boat when you probably don't need to.

Start stable and paddle!

iv. There are other stability exercises that you can do in the boat. E.G. sitting in the boat and do the paddling action without the paddle. I find that this helps you to think about your hip position and how this effects the boat. I am sure there are others. Again, a coach will have exercises and drill to help you.

v. Do core exercises. You core muscles are not only essential in helping you power the boat through the water but a strong core also helps with stability. When you first start paddling you will probably find your back aching like never before; this is because your lower back, hips and hamstrings are doing an awful lot of work keeping you upright. I would advise you to do a core session or two per week, using a Swiss Ball or some other similar device of torture.

There are plenty of core exercises and videos for you to develop a simply programme. I usually did a 30 minute session twice  a week. Start gently. If you have back problems, take advice.

These are the 2 main exercises I focussed on;

* More Stable boats;

K1 - Marsport Laance or Hobby, Kirton Tor (Mid-range stability boat)

K2 - Marsport Condor, Kirton Mystere, Kirton Meister, Kirton Mirage (Mid-range stability boat)


Useful Links

Kirton kayaks

Marsport

So you want to do the Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race?

I have been inspired to write this post having read Antony Murr's blog over the last couple of years. Within it you will find a whole host of hints, information and generally useful stuff that will get you thinking about how to tackle 'The Canoeists' Everest' and I strongly advise you to trawl through it. At the moment Antony is writing a series of posts to help readers get to the start of the race, and having gone from numpty to (fairly) experienced paddler in the last 3 years I thought it might be useful to anyone reading this to get a relative beginner's ideas and thoughts on this fantastic event and how you might go about training for it and the problems that you may encounter. In conjunction with Jamie and Adam, I made a LOT of mistakes and the next few posts might just help you avoid them. Maybe.... ;-)

Let me point out, I am not a coach. There are many, many more experienced paddlers than I who can give you advice and tips but these are my thoughts and on reflection the things that I should have done to prepare me better for this event.

1. It's the DW.
You must call this race 'The DW.' At all times. It means that you're in the know and confuses anyone else who knows nothing about kayaking or canoeing. It also means that you have to explain the event, in detail, to anyone that asks you "What's the DW?" Alternatively, when seeking a partner for the Senior Doubles it means you can lie or simply not tell them how far it is, only letting them in on the 'Devizes to Westminster' bit at the last opportunity.

2. Technique is EVERYTHING.
I'm writing this making the assumption that you've never paddled before. Saying that you had a go at it once in Centre Parcs or with the Scouts doesn't count. You're a MAMIL/ MAWIL (and proud). Maybe you've done a 10k, marathon or something similar and therefore have a degree of fitness although not specifically canoe / kayak related. A friend in a pub mentions 'The DW' and it's got you interested and then you decide it sounds like a good idea. What next?

Ok, well let's start with an analogy. If you had decided that you were going to swim the Channel, but yet you couldn't swim, would you throw yourself into the sea and go for a 2 mile swim? No, of course you wouldn't. You would LEARN TO SWIM first. Therefore, it's really important that you LEARN TO PADDLE FIRST. How you learn is up to you but I would advise either joining a club with a coaching set-up or if you know an experienced paddler who can advise you and take you out, then do that. Either way, you want someone who can give you direct feedback on your technique and tell you how you can improve. Ultimately it will make you faster, but you will also be much less likely to retire through injury during the race. Let's say that you have given yourself a year to get ready for the DW, then I would not worry at all for the first 5 or 6 months about long paddles. Get in a boat and get your technique as good as you can get it. Go out with other (good) paddlers whenever you can and see how they paddle. You will learn a lot by doing this and probably get more efficient and faster as a result. I would advise against interval training in the boat initially. Better to focus on ingraining good technique rather than trying to move the boat fast through the water with poor technique.

I would also keep your paddles for the first few months relatively short but try to go out frequently, ideally 3 times in a week for say 30-45 minutes so that you can focus on maintaining good technique throughout the paddle.  In my opinion it's better to do 3 x 30 minute paddles than 1 x 90 minute paddle. Don't worry; the long paddles will come later.

3. K1 not K2
Readers of this blog will know that I have just bought myself a K1 boat, some 3 years after I started paddling with Jamie. This is 3 years too late. We did a few K1 paddles but not many. You will develop more quickly as a paddler if you concentrate on paddling in a K1. You can develop your own technique, stability and steering. It means both of you will have to learn to steer a  boat. It means that you can go out independently as a paddler as you will not have to have a partner with you. Most clubs will have club boats and they may not be pretty or fast but they will get you on the water and you can begin the process of learning good technique. Initially, for the first 3 or 4 months I would not even think about getting into a K2. You will progress much quicker in K1 boats than you would struggling in a K2. Every year there are posts on various websites for paddlers who for some reason have had to pull out through injury or illness which results in the other paddler unable to race. Being proficient in a K1 at least gives you the option of doing the 4 day race in a K1 if it should come to that.

4. Be Safe
Most of this is obvious but it's worth repeating. By joining a club you will be able to go out in a group and there's safety in numbers. At some point you will capsize so know how to do it and look after yourself. The BCU FSRT course is well worth doing in my opinion to help you manage some of the situations that you may encounter. Initially, train on a benign piece of water where you know that if you go for a swim then you can get yourself out. Wear a good fitting bouyancy aid. As you gain more experience and confidence in your ability and handling a kayak then is the time to try water where you are more likely to encounter hazards, flow, river traffic etc. You are going to encounter these issues during the DW so you will need to become confident in higher flow, waves etc, but get used to your K1 first before tackling these things.

Some useful links

BCU - Find a Club

Find a Boat

Find a Paddler

Devizes To Westminster Canoe Race


More to follow......

I miss running

I have not run a step for 7 weeks and that's really starting to get to me. I miss the routine and certainty of that most simple of forms of exercise. I miss the fact that I can squeeze a really effective session into half an hour. I miss being outside, running through puddles, running fast, running slow, running long. It just makes me all the more keen to get this foot thing sorted so I can get my trainers back on in anger. Speaking of which I had another GP appointment yesterday; more tests and prodding and hopefully in the next few weeks I'll be able to get a referral for something a bit more concrete. In the meantime, more icing, more stretching, more nurofen gel.

Adam and I were back out on the river last night. It was a slow 40 minute paddle in the llances with the river up high (turns out they are now on red again). Absolutely bombed back in a fraction of the time it took to plug away against the flow. Afterwards I had another stability session in the ranger. Only 2 capsizes this time and I had a feeling that I was a bit more stable. Hopefully I'll be back in it again later in the week . Little and often in an attempt to get comfy in it.

Kirton Ranger 7 - Wheezy 0



5.30am coming back from Aberdeen. Another boat on the road.

I had been trying to get my hands on a mid-range stability K1 boat for a long time. A wobble factor 1 or 2 boat I could have bought 20 times over but something that would be stable enough for me to cope with and yet be a little bit more racey was proving as rare as rocking horse poo. Frustration and ebay are a lethal combination and before I knew it I had purchased a boat at a really good price; but it was in Aberdeen. Actually, it wasn't in Aberdeen, it was in Aberdeenshire, in Peterhead, another 50 odd miles north of Aberdeen.  :-0 Let this be a lesson to anyone else who's geographical knowledge is as poor as mine. Mrs Wheezy just rolled her eyes at my stupidity while friends openly mocked. You've bought a what? Where? How much is that going to be in petrol? The answer; as much as the boat was to cost me. Hey ho. The boat in question is a Kirton Ranger. A quick search revealed that with a wobble factor of 4 it was probably a bit on the tippy side of stable but I like a challenge. I wouldn't know until I gave it a go.

So last weekend after a really long day at our local street party I set out at 5am to do the 10 hour drive. It was awful weather up until Kendal and then it was beautiful sunshine for the rest of the trip which was a bonus. As I went through Aberdeen and hit the coast road for the final part of the journey I saw a fleet of approximately 20 enormous fishing vessels heading out into the North Sea; it was a fantastic sight.

Although the boat was old it had not been used for the last 15 years. The gel coat's still got its turquoise colour having been stored inside and while it's got the usual scrapes here and there, the boat is in great nick. I was really pleased with it. An early night and a quick sleep in the travelodge at Aberdeen airport which was a new, all-time low in hotel accomodation and then it was up at 3am to be on the road by 3.30 for the drive back.



Just after sunrise.

After brekkie at Penrith I didn't get out of 5th gear until 10 miles from home and was back for lunch  on monday. A 1100 mile round trip. Mrs Wheezy has now given me a new ebay rule; only buy stuff which is in the same country, especially when it's 'buyer collect only.'





Names on a postcard please.



So tonight was my first go in the Ranger. If I'm honest, it didn't go well. At the Royal there's a small cut that separates the island clubhouse from the mainland and I thought that I would use this to paddle on rather than going out into the river. Almost before I had sat in it I found myself upside down in the water. Eventually I got going and I was able to get a bit of stability by remembering to keep my  head up and looking ahead, however the slightest catch of the paddle and I was swimming. I was also not able to rotate my hips at all as this had me swimming as well. In all, in the space of 40 minutes, I capsizes 7 times and I was able to paddle 20 metres. Calling it paddling would be an exaggeration. It was more like the canoeing version of Tourettes Syndrome; a stuttering, smacking the water kind of paddling as I beat the water into submission in a vain attempt to keep upright.  Most of the time I was practising my boat emptying skills.

A couple of things are evident. It's going to be quite a while before I venture out into the open river in it, there's going to be a lot more swimming going on and I will not be racing in this boat for a long time.

Onwards.