Tomorrow's Club Race

Well I'm all ready and excited about tomorrow's club race. I've only done one before in the Mirage and this will be my first race in the club K1 (that I'm still borrowing). It sounds like heaps of people are going to be there, including lots of the friends I regularly see whilst training. Chris and the boys are going to come along and watch the start and finish, and it will be nice for them to finally meet all the people I always talk about.

Race Plan/Thoughts/Hopes etc...
The distance is 11.35km. I completed it in 1:17 last time in the Mirage. I have told the handicapper that I think I might do around 1:10 in the K1. This would mean an average speed of 9.73km/hr which I think is achievable given my recent shoulder soreness. I know I need to race way faster than that by the Worlds, but I think this is a good starting point. If I can beat 1:10 I'll be stoked. Hopefully I've convinced Anton to come (are you reading this Anton?) and he'll have my GPS on his Mirage. That will make it a bit easier to pace myself if the handicapper lets us start close together. My only concern is my ability to go hard in the K1 for that long. I know I'm fit enough, but it will be a good test of my core stability.

A Family Jog

Since I was due for a run today and Chris was home, I had 2 options...1) Go for a run on my own (without the boys) or 2) All of us go together. Chris was keen to come along for a jog too, so off we headed with me pushing the pram (with Clayton in it), Connor riding his bike, and Chris jogging along with us. It was so nice to do it together as a family and I think it's something that Chris will keep doing until his first game of Soccer for the season. I wore the heart rate monitor again (thanks Anton) and our total jogging time (not including warm up and cool down) was 21:45 with my average heart rate at 179bpm.

Today's run

I went for a run this morning. Connor wanted to ride his bike again, and I now have no concerns about this affecting my training because I can't even keep up with him now. So he rode the bike whilst I jogged and pushed Clayton in the pram. I was originally going to have a 1 minute break at the turn around point, but felt good and decided to do it all in one go. It's the first time I've done that in over a month. Anton has kindly lent me his heart-rate monitor until I get mine back from the service centre, and I used it during the run. My total time jogging (not including a 5 min warm up and cool down) was 22min, and average heart rate was 173bpm. I got it up to 187bpm at one point, which is not unusual for me. For some reason I can get my heart rate up a lot higher than I am 'supposed to' be able to. All in all a good run.

My Kayaking Background

This post has basically been copied from my other blog which was meant to be a diary of my journey towards the 2008 Hawkesbury Canoe Classic. I stopped blogging several weeks into it when my Father suddenly and unexpectedy died. Against the odds and only 10 weeks after my Dad's death, I did complete the HCC, and will finish my story on the original blog. But for the purposes of this blog, and my recent shoulder soreness, I thought I'd better explain the LONG story behind it all...

"Well, this has been a long journey - 6 years to take me up to this years attempt at the HCC. I haven't even made it to the start line yet!

2003 -The first time I thought of entering the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic (HCC) I had only just taken up Kayaking and decided that 6 weeks was not enough time to prepare for paddling 111km. I decided to be a volunteer and it was great to soak up the atmosphere.

2004 - The following year I was in serious kayak training and had had some success in State Marathon Series races. I had planned to enter the HCC and then I fell pregnant with my first son - happily it happened easier and quicker than we had expected, but it definately put an end to that years race. When I was 3 months pregnant, it was the last time I would paddle until I bought my Mirage 580 in 2007.

2005 - The following year my son would have only been 7 months old at race day and I was still breastfeeding him (and my mummy body still couldn't fit into my racing kayak), so I decided that it was best to put it off for another year.

2006 - The next year I fell pregant with my second son so that year was also out.

2007 - Last year I had planned to enter and had sold my racing kayak for a more stable (and wider) sea kayak. 3 weeks into my training (May 07) I had a nasty fall in the bathroom and badly injured my shoulder (? fracture - there's still debate over that one, torn rotator cuff - subscapularis, torn labrum, subluxed biceps tendon), so that was the end of that years plans (and the start of 12 months serious shoulder rehab).

2008 - well in January this year I was finally allowed to start kayaking again and have now slowly built up my distances and times. I have now completed 20km for 2 Sunday's in a row, so all is going well (touch wood). My shoulder feels fantastic paddling, but unfortunately still gives me pain and trouble doing many day-to-day activities, so I am currently deciding whether to go ahead with the surgery the Orthopedic Shoulder surgeon has suggested. The surgery won't be until after the HCC, so I have a bit of time up my sleeve still. So THAT is where I've been to get to today."

Well, the rest of the story is... that I trained really well, did my shoulder rehab exercises, my shoulder started improving dramatically, and with a lot of help and support from family and friends I successfully completed the 2008 HCC in 15hrs and 41min (half an hour quicker than I had ever hoped for). I then raced successfully in the 2008 State 5000m championships, and that pretty much brings me up to the start of this blog.

Nearly swimming

This afternoon, Anton and I met up at the usual spot for a paddle. Finally my intentions worked and I got there in time to do a bridge lap before Anton arrived. My shoulder felt heaps better straight away, and I felt good in the K1. It was very gusty, and I was just thinking how much more confident I felt in these conditions now, when BAM, a gust of wind grabbed my paddle and I nearly lost it. Well, I was soooo nearly swimming. I did a serious couple of braces, nearly lost the paddle in the wind several times, not quite sure how I pulled it off, but managed to stay upright. Confidence...gone!
Anyway, when I got back to the boat ramp Anton was ready to paddle and we headed up to the point. At least if I fell in heading that way, I knew I had easy re-entry spots. Anton was in his TK1, so the pace was a bit faster than when he paddles the Mirage. It was a solid paddle up and back, and my shoulder was starting to niggle a bit by the end. The wind was really gusty and several times, I was caught off guard and had to brace, but I managed to complete the session without swimming, so I guess I am getting more stable in this K1. We decided to do another lap up to the powerlines and back, and then called it a day. In all I covered about 9km, and had a nice solid paddle. The shoulder held up better than I expected and I think it'll be right to do the club race on Sunday - my first club race in a K1.

The Cheesecake won the battle

Chris's Uncle Pete cooks these amazing cheesecakes. All sorts of flavours and they are absolutely scrumptious. Now I'm a total sucker for a cheesecake - any flavour. Great bribery material if you're interested! Anyway, he made a mango one for Clayton's birthday party on the weekend. Of course I had a small piece at the party, but there has been 3 leftover pieces just sitting in the fridge mocking me. I've been pretty good with my eating plan, and so good at resisting the urge to eat the cake. I was soooo close all day today, but didn't cave in. Well, the cheesecake finally won the battle tonight. 2 pieces of it (I was kind enough to leave the last piece for Chris). If you tasted this cake, you would understand that it was always going to win the battle eventually! Oh well, back on the plan tomorrow.

Dodging boats and water bombs

Aaaaah, Australia Day. Chris kindly offered me the opportunity to go for a paddle this afternoon, so against the complaints of my shoulder I decided to go. Anton (in his Mirage) was also keen, so we met down at the usual spot around 3pm. He tells me that it's tradition on Australia day for eggs, flour bombs, and water bombs to be thrown at anyone passing along the river. It was chockers! There were soooo many motorboats, boats towing things, kids on boogey boards, waterbomb throwers and swimmers it was amazing. Trying to paddle a K1 amongst all that boat wash, with the occasional ambush by water bombs was great balance practice. One group even had a huge elastic slingshot they were using to launch them. A waterbomb even whizzed over our heads and hit the far side of the river! At another place there was a kid who saw us coming and started paddling towards me on his boogey board. He was about 1 metre away and was reaching out to tip me in...at which point I looked him in the eye and said "If you tip me in I'll smack you with my paddle" (which of course I would never do), but it worked and he obviously thought better of it. I can't believe we did a whole lap without falling in or getting hit by something!

My shoulder was very sore. At the start it hurt so much that I thought I wouldn't be able to paddle at all, but I paddled faster and altered my technique a bit and it was a lot better. The 1 lap was certainly enough for it today though. I gave Anton my GPS to put on his Mirage so that we could get an idea of our speed. Whenever he looked at it we were doing above 9km/h and often almost 10km/h. Though this is not fast enough for race speed, I was going very easy and I was amazed that we were going so fast for how easy it felt. I really am getting better in the K1. In fact, this is the best I have EVER felt in a K1.

Weekly Measurements

I'm a bit disappointed with the numbers on the scales this week (I've only lost 100g). Especially since I've been following the plan well. But then again, I've lost body fat, and the rest of my measurements are going well. My tan certainly reflects the amount of outdoors training I've been doing.

Measurement, Before, Week 1, Week 2, Week 3
Weight kg, 82, 80.5, 79.7, 79.6
Fat %, 31.6, 31.2, 30.9, 30.6
Water %, 47.2, 47.4, 47.6, 47.8
Muscle %, 29.4, 29.6, 29.7, 29.8
Axillary cm, 100, 100, 99, 99
Waist cm, 91.5, 91, 90, 89.5
Naval cm, 105.5, 104, 104, 102
Hips cm, 107, 106.5, 104.5, 104
R.Thigh cm, 56, 53, 52, 51

Sore shoulder - that'll teach me.

Yesterday I went to a family get together and had a lovely time (thanks Trudi). Great company, great location, great food and all the children were just wonderful. It was so hot and we spent hours in the pool. I put PFD's on my 2 boys and they had a great time having a bit more independence in the pool. I also spent a fair bit of time lifting Clayton up onto the pool edge so he could fall/jump in. My shoulder felt fine at the time, but today it is sore, sore, sore! It's been so good for ages now, it's a bit of a shock to have it so sore today. But really, now that I think about it, I did some pretty serious repeated lifting of a 13km weight (Clayton with waterlogged PFD) out in front of me above shoulder height - duh. That'll teach me. Hopefully with some rest and anti-inflamatories it'll be better by Monday (my next planned paddle).

Kayak training session - intervals

Tonights session almost didn't happen, with Chris unexpectedly having to work back. I had been looking forward to the session and had it all planned. The aim was to get down to the river early and get a nice long warm up in before Anton got there, and then to do some interval training. Anyway, poor Chris called and said that he had to stay back until something was completed. He was not happy, and either was I. Anyway I had reluctantly resigned myself to missing the session, when he called to say he was on his way home and would I still like to go for my paddle. What a trooper. I was tempted just to give it a miss since I had already told Anton I wouldn't be there. But I thought to myself..."This is the difference between being successful or not. It is the people who train in bad weather or when they don't feel like it, that are the best." So I went...and what a great session!!! We were there later than normal but it was still hot, windy, choppy, and not very inviting, but again...these are the sessions that make you better. This is what we did...
3 km warm up (bridge and back)
700m 'fast' (pontoon to powerlines), 700m recovery *decided it was too windy and glary so changed the interval location
400m 'fast'(pontoon to blue boat), 400m recovery,
400m fast, 400m recovery,
400m fast, 400m recovery,
3km cool down (bridge and back)
So it worked out to be about a 10km session all up. I felt strong in the intervals. Anton had a hard time keeping up in his Mirage (especially in that wind and heat). He said that I seem to be "getting faster in that thing", which I think I am. I can go hard now without having to stop my rhythm to regain balance or brace. There's still a long way to go, but I'm starting to see the improvements in the K1. At the end of the session I felt a great sense of achievement. I completed a hard interval session and felt strong. A great way to get the endorphins going.

A Hot Jog with No Music

Chris kindly offered to look after the boys this afternoon so I could go for my run. I always appreciate being able to go for a run on my own, and was looking forward to using my Mp3 player and listening to my music. Well, here's a lesson...always check your batteries before you go. When I got the player out and tried to turn it on, the empty battery sign came on. Damn! So I headed off for my run without my music, and realised that it was very hot. I knew it was hot before I started, but as I got jogging I realised just how hot and humid it was. Yuk - won't do that again. I was the only person out on the bike track that was jogging. I guess all the other runners had enough sense to wait until it got a bit cooler. Well it was very tough and I felt like giving in several times, but didn't. I think that when you give up, it doesn't do too much harm physically, but more so mentally. I think that every time you tough it out, it makes you a bit tougher mentally too. I finished the planned 5 min walk, 10 min run, 2 min walk, 10 min run, 5 min walk and stretch. Stuffed, hot, dripping in sweat, horribly red and blotchy in the face, but satisfied.

Today's paddle

The plan was to get there a bit earlier and do a couple of 'bridge' laps before Anton got there. But that didn't work out (for various logistic reasons). I did manage to get one bridge lap in before he was ready on the water. So with 3km up my sleeve, we headed up to the point - me in the K1 and Anton in his Mirage. I felt pretty strong and balanced today - felt good. It was hard work for Anton to keep up with me in his Mirage, but he did a good job of it. By the end of the session I had completed 1.5 laps (about 11km) and felt like I'd had a good training session. With stretching stops it took about 1hr20 (I think). Today, I also set up an excel file where I can put in my distance and the time it took, and it tells me my average km/h and min/km, and what time it would take to do 200m, 500m etc. Great for planning training sessions and race plans.

Today's Jog: aka...gee Connor can ride fast

Well we were just about to get into the car for today's jog (down the lake) when Connor decided that he'd like to ride his bike instead of sitting in the double pram. I was hesistant, after previous sessions when he has decided half way back that he's too puffed and needs me to push him on the bike (at the same time as running and pushing the pram with Clayton in it - quite a juggle). Anyway, I think it's great to promote exercise in children so I said yes, and took along some rope. Rope - you might ask? It's to tie around the bike and then around me or the pram should Connor get too puffed again. Yeh, I know, but it was worth a try. Well, the little blighter surprised me. Not only did he ride the whole way up and back, but he even kept riding whilst I was having my 2 minute rest. And he rode quick - I couldn't keep up with him. Wow, he is so fit, especially for a 3.5 year old! So in the end I did my 5 min walk, 10 min run, 2 min walk, 10 min run, 5 min walk and stretch. I felt pretty good all in all.

This Week's Plan

Monday: Run
Tuesday: K1 session
Wednesday: Run
Thursday: K1 session
Friday: Run
Saturday and Sunday (depends on Clayton's birthday preperations)

One of my most enjoyable paddles

What a paddle! A beautiful morning - warm, but not too warm. No wind, clear blue skies, and the water was like glass. I've never seen the lake so calm. There were 4 of us. Me (in my orange Mirage 580), Anton (in his green and yellow Mirage 580), Ern (in his red and black Mirage 580) and Mark (in the boat know as the Tucan - a kind of downriver racer made for the Avon Descent). We paddled from our usual put-in spot up to the point, across the lake, and under the bridge to The Entrance. We stopped on the beach there and took some photos, and then paddled back around an island and across the lake and back down the river to our starting spot. The pace was very comfortable, the scenery lovely, and great company just made for one of my most enjoyable paddles that I can remember. All in all we did 14km and averaged 8.1km/hr. Pretty good for what felt like an easy paddle.

When we got back I decided to try to stand up in the Mirage. Not only did I stand up, but managed to paddle it whilst standing up! I wish I had photos of that. Then, I thought I'd try to do a deep re-entry. I've never attempted one before in the Mirage and for a long time I've thought that I really should know how to do it. So I swam out into the middle of the river and practiced that a few times. No worries. Afterwards, Mark headed over to the BBQ and started cooking up some bacon and egg sandwiches. Anton and Ern stayed, but I thought it best that I head home to the boys. What a great morning.

Weekly Measurements

Well, so far, so good. I'm happy with how I'm going with both my eating plan and my results.

Measurement, Before, Week 1 Week 2

Weight, 82kg, 80.5kg, 79.7kg

Fat, 31.6%, 31.2%, 30.9%

Water, 47.2%, 47.4%, 47.6%

Muscle, 29.4%, 29.6%, 29.7%

Axillary, 100cm, 100cm, 99cm

Waist, 91.5cm, 91cm, 90cm

Naval, 105.5cm, 104cm, 104cm

Hips, 107cm , 106.5cm, 104.5cm

R.Thigh, 56cm, 53cm, 52cm

Call me a sook...

...but I'm not going out in this weather. Well that was the SMS message I sent to Anton's phone at 6:30am this morning. We (me, Anton and Mark) had planned to go for a paddle this morning, but when I woke up at 6:15am (rather, when Connor woke me up) I was all keen and then looked outside and it was raining and blowing a gale. Now normally even this kind of weather wouldn't stop me, but having just started to feel well again, I wasn't going to risk a long, wet and windy paddle. There's always tomorrow.

2009 Sydney Youth Olympic Festival

HOT, HOT, HOT!!! On Thursday Mum and I took my 2 boys out to the International Regatta Centre at Penrith to have look at the Sprint Kayaking events at the Sydney Youth Olympic Festival. It was 43 degrees celcuis plus! The breeze was nice and hot too. At least we were in the shade up in the grandstand. We had to keep pouring water over ourselves (and the boys) to keep a bit cooler. I don't know how the athletes did it. To have to warm up, paddle up to the start, wait around for the start, race and then cool down, all whilst being out in that heat, in the sun, without any shelter!!! It really was so hot. I felt extra sorry for all the athletes who have come from Winter in their countries. Even with the heat, I thought there would be more spectators out there. It was really disappointing to see such a lack of support for such a big event. The racing was great, and definately worth the effort to go and see. One of the highlights for me was the Mens 1000m K4 - its always beautiful to watch elite paddlers in perfect timing, paddling so fast. The Womens 1000m K1 was also very interesting. The winner was so far out in front of the rest of the field, we didn't even notice her until she was about 300m from the finish. The photo at the top left shows her near the finish. One of the competitors in this race also fell in about 50m after the start, apparently due to heat related factors. I don't know about anyone else, but whenever I hear of someone else falling in, it makes me feel a little more normal! One other point of interest was the absolute domination of Nelo kayaks at the event. The place was full of them. It seems that this is the craft of choice for most of the elite paddlers. I've never paddled one, but would love to try it one day.

A Crappy Run and A Windy Paddle

A Crappy Run
This morning I thought I'd attempt to do a modified run (shuffle). My 3.5yr old wanted to ride his bike, so I pushed my 2yr old in the pram. I thought I'd just do a short one and surely be able to keep pace with Connor on the bike. Well it pretty much ended up being a 5 min walk, 5 min shuffle, 1 min walk, 5 min shuffle, 2 min walk, 4 min shuffle, 5min walk and long sit down whilst the children played in the park. I guess it was probably too soon to start back running. It's so annoying though, just when I get my fitness back and start to feel ok running again, then I get sick and go backwards again. I might leave the running now until the weekend and make sure I'm fully well before I try again.

A Windy Paddle
Chris was kind enough to 'let' me go for a paddle again today. 2 weekdays is really a treat for me. When I say 'let' I mean that he looks after the boys, which really is quite a job. He has to cook dinner, feed them, bath them, and get them ready for bed, all the while I get to go paddle and come back to 2 clean, fed, and ready for bed boys, with a nice dinner ready for me too. It's a pretty good deal I've got going I reckon. And I'm just lucky I've got such a supportive husband.

Anyway, when Anton and I met down the river, the wind was getting interesting. Mark and Mick had just finished their paddle and said how windy it was up the point (where the river meets the lake). Now Anton and I had planned an interval paddle and he was going to paddle his Mirage with me in the K1, but he decided to bring his K1 instead. He's gamer than me I tell you. You wouldn't catch me paddling such a tippy kayak up to the point in such windy conditions. Really, it took me at least a year of paddling K1's before I would have paddled a tippy one in those conditions at all. Yet, off he goes, less than 10 sessions in a K1 and he's paddling a very tippy one up the river in windy conditions. Now, the chop on the water wasn't too bad considering the amount of wind. I expected it to be wavier (is that a word?). But it was the wind gusts that gave us such trouble. It would grab the paddle and put you off balance in a split second. I gave up on the idea of intervals, it just wasn't feasible in those conditions (well maybe for a better paddler than me, but not when I'm only just back into K1's). But we made it up to the point ok,had a quick rest and stretch and started heading back. Now we thought this would be easier considering we were heading with the wind (with it on our backs), but alas, we now had the sun in our eyes and it was glaring off the water right where we had to look. It makes you realise how important your vision is to your balance. And now the wind was throwing gusts from the side too. Without being able to see properly, it threw us both off (and Anton took a swim). Wow - he is human. I think I'm only 100 or so swims up on him now! Somehow I don't think he'll ever swim as much as I've done. Anyway, we did about 6km, which feels like nothing now. I can't wait to get some more distance under my belt. We're hoping to do a longer paddle in our Mirages on Saturday. But somehow, 8km in the K1 feels the same as 16 in the Mirage. I guess it's all that stabilising that wears me out.

Balance and technique session - Look at me, I'm standing up!

I had hoped I'd feel well enough to do my planned run this morning, but I didn't. I also didn't want to risk making myself sicker and missing even more sessions. In the afternoon I was feeling a little better and I had the opportunity to go for a paddle. I still didn't feel up to a training session but thought I'd go and do some balance and technique drills. So I called Anton and he was keen to do some balance stuff in his K1. I got there a bit earlier to started with the following drills.

1) Balance with paddle overhead
2) Balance whilst rotating paddle overhead
3) Left and Right leans and bracing
4) Left and Right Draw stokes
5) Backwards paddling
6) Balance with eyes closed (still bracing)
7) Balance with eyes closed (paddle out of water)
8) Paddling with eyes closed

Then Anton arrived and while he was tentatively paddling around and getting used to his K1 again, I did some more of the drills. Now here's a little bit of background info. Anton has only just started paddling a K1. He normally paddles a Mirage, and that's what most of our training together has been - both paddling our Mirages to prepare for the Hawkesbury Classic. Well after the Classic we both decided we'd try K1's. Now previously he'd bought (and briefly tried) a very tippy K1. It's at least as tippy as a Van Dusen and lies on it's side when you put it in the water. Well - there's nothing like starting with that kind of K1! I remember transferring from a more stable K1 into my Van Dusen Hawk and doing a lot of swimming. Now - Anton is just a natural - he makes me sick. After only a couple of sessions paddling around our launching spot - he decided to try paddling up the river with a sandbag in. It took me months to try and do this kind of thing in a more stable K1. Anyway, tonight the plan was to just stick to our launching spot and just do some drills, but after a while Anton starts heading up the river, without a sandbag in. Mind you it's been 3 weeks since he last paddled the K1 at all (our session up the river with sandbag in). So with the lack of a turnaround spot, we ended up paddling right up to the lake (about 2.5km). And after a brief rest paddled back again. So I used this opportunity to do some technique drills...

1) 3 stroke pause (ie 1,2,3,pause with paddle ready to catch for as long as possible) and keep repeating
2) Concentrating on arm angles (top arm relatively fixed but rotating with body, and bottom arm almost straight for as long as possible)
3) Lengthening catch (paddle in as far forward as possible)
4) Working on rotation

Then for the last 1km back we both paddled hard. I felt pretty good, and Anton paddled it continuously without having to seriously brace. I think it's amazing that he can paddle that kind of K1 hard so quickly after starting to paddle K1's at all! When we got back I thought I'd try standing up in mine. I've done it before , but wanted photo evidence. After a few step outs, and some serious bracing I did it, and even held the paddle up horizontally at shoulder height. I couldn't manage to paddle standing up though, and I believe it can be done. That's my next challenge.

Photos: 1) Bracing 2)On my way in.....and 3) Look - no hands!

Weekly Measurements

I've decided that I'll do all my weekly measurements and photos on Sundays because Chris is always home and it's easier if he takes the photos. That means my 'week' will now start on a Monday.

Measurement, Before, Week 1
Weight, 82kg, 80.5kg
Axillary, 100cm, 100cm
Waist, 91.5cm, 91cm
Naval, 105.5cm, 104cm
Hips, 107cm , 106.5cm
R.Thigh, 56cm, 53cm

Crap paddle

Well I just went for a paddle this morning. Last night I started to get a sore throat and thought that maybe I was coming down with what the boys have had. I was hoping that I would feel better this morning. I felt pretty ordinary but thought I'd still go for an easy paddle with Anton (my training buddy) as we had arranged. Well, 100m into it, I realised that I felt pretty crap. We paddled the 8km loop together and stopped several times for Anton to try different seats and for me to have a much needed rest. Man I felt bad! My balance was off, I had no energy and really shouldn't have paddled, but I didn't want to miss the opportunity of a session. Anyway, it was the worst I have felt paddling for a long time. Hopefully I'll get over this quickly and can do another session during the week. It was great to catch up with Anton though and hear all the stories from the Murray Marathon.

Past Female Marathon Results

I decided to do some more research about past results to get some specific information about average speeds etc. I basically just recorded all the times from various events and did some calculations to work out minutes per kilometre and kilometers per hour. I must say it was a jolt back to reality and made me realise that I've got some serious hard work ahead of me.

Back on the wagon

The last couple of days hasn't been good with the eating plan. I find it easiest when I'm home, but we've been out a lot catching up with everyone staying at the Caravan Park and I haven't planned my food well. So it's back on the wagon today. I've decided to try having a meal replacement drink for breakfast. Breaskfast is the hardest meal of the day for me, so hopefully something easy like this might help.
I went for my run at around 7:30am and it was already humid. I pushed the boys in the double pram and did the 3rd session for this week (5min W, 10min R, 4min W, 10min R, 5 min W). Felt good despite the heat, and could have run again after only 2 min rest. I'm definately ready to step it up next time.

Holiday run with Mum

We stayed overnight at a Caravan Park with Mum, so this morning we left Chris in charge of the boys and Mum and I went for our run (shuffle) together. We did the same session I did on Friday...5 min walk, 10 min run, 5 min walk, 10 min run, 5 min walk. I always appreciate being able to run without having to push the double pram, and it's always nice having someone to run with (Mum's a little machine, but we are pretty well matched with our speed). It was also nice running somewhere different.

The Plan

Well, time to sketch out a rough plan. This will get more detailed and more extensive as I go along, but for now...

Goals

1) Be confident in a K1 (confident enough to train and race in most conditions)

2) Race successfully in State Marathon Series

3) Compete in State Marathon Championships in March

4) Compete in the World Masters Games in Kayaking, marathon event, not sure of craft yet (possibly TK1 or K1)

5) Get to goal weight a) 68kg b) 62kg



Each week

1) 3 runs

2) At least 1 kayaking session (hopefully more)

Each day

1) Stretching

2) Stick to eating plan - basically Weight Watchers Core Plan with occasional meal replacement drink.

* With Chris's (my Husband) work being so unpredictable at the moment it's hard to be more specific than this at the moment. I'd like to have specific days and sessions planned but just have to be flexible at the moment.

Getting back into running

Well the plan at the moment is to get back into running 3 days a week, and paddle at least once (hopefully more) a week. In previous months I completed the C25K program, but was still finding the 30 minute runs very challenging. Due to sickness and the festive season I have not been running much at all. So today started my return to running.
I drove down to the usual lake parking spot and walked to the double bridge, ran to the end of the path, walked about 5 minutes, and ran back to the double bridge again, with a cool-down walk and stretch afterwards. So generally, a 5 minute walk, 10 minute run, 5 minute walk, 10 minute run, 5 minute walk and stretch. I felt pretty good and will be ready to increase the running next time.
*Please note that when I say running - at the moment I am referring to plodding/shuffling.

'Before' measurements

Well, as you can tell by my 'before' photos I am far from being a good weight and physique for kayak racing. My current measurements which I will update regularly are...

Weight: 82.0kg
Axillary: 100cm
Waist: 91.5cm
Naval: 105.5cm
Hips: 107cm
R.Thigh: 56cm