The mind was willing, but the shoulder wasn't

I guess 3 days in a row was being a little bit unrealistic. I was so excited to go for another paddle this morning. 3 days in a row...coool I thought. It was me (in Marks Van Dusen), Mark (in Anton's Mustang K1), Anton in his TK1 and JJ in their double.

I started off feeling great. It felt relatively easy and I felt remarkably comfortable in the Van Dusen. About half way back up the river heading towards the lake I started to feel my shoulder aching and I noticed that I had dropped my right arm a bit. I tried a few different technique tricks to see if I could make it feel a bit better but it was just getting worse. Eventhough I had coped well with the other's wash earlier, it was just getting frustrating now and I was really struggling. Up at the lake I pulled in and got Mark to help me do a few stretches that Buzz (physio) had showed me as a trick to make it feel better. It seemed to work, but a couple of hundred metres into it, it started to get sore again. Very pi$$ed off.

Everytime I copped a bit of wash it would flare up because it was so fatigued and just couldn't help stabilise anymore. I ended up doing the last 1km with it tucked in so close to my body that I was just not paddling properly at all. Soooo frustrating. I'm sure everyone who paddled with me today would say what a bad mood I was in....so sorry guys. I promise not to whinge so much in future. I was not good company today.

I'm just a bit disheartened that it flared up so easily. I really don't want to have the surgery done, but I think it will have to be done eventually. Then again, it coped really well with the Hawkesbury Classic and with backing up at State 2 days in a row. So I don't know what the problem was today. I guess I haven't paddled 3 days in a row for quite a while now, so it probably wasn't the distance, it was just too fatigued doing 3 days in a row to function properly. I'll have to build up to it a bit slower next time.

Swimming with the Van Dusan and getting chased by a man with a fish

Jack and Jen joined me for an early morning paddle on Sunday morning. They were trying out a Sladecraft Supersonic and this was my first session back in the Van Dusan after paddling the Struer for a few weeks and at State. Wow...how quickly you lose the feel for a tippy K1. I was all over the place. I think the problem was that I was trying to do the same good technique that I used in the Struer (more rotation, straighter arms, more length at the catch, higher top hand), and in the Van Dusan my balance wasn't quite good enough to do it.

It was all quite funny really, with Jack calling out every km or so "Ahhh, Jen...what are you doing?" as they were trying to get used to the tippier double, and me calling out Aaaarrrghhhh, and $hit etc every couple of hundred metres as I had to do a brace stroke or lost my technique. Anyway, up near the lake a boat came past us (same direction) and the tiny ripples were enough to land me in the drink. De-ja-vue from State. So it looks like I'm back to swimming in the Van Dusan again. I guess it'll take me a few weeks to get back to the level I was at before I switched to the Struer. But it will be worth it...if I can master the Van Dusan by World Masters I will fly in it!

After the usual re-entry (which I'm getting rather good at now), I felt slow and asked Jack what speed he thought we were doing. With his reply of 10.5-11km/hr I felt much better. Seems I'm paddling better than I thought after all.

We headed back to the boat ramp and Greg Slade paddled from his house and met us there. I had to leave to go to another children's Birthday Party, and Anton and Greg were joining Jack and Jen to head back out into the lake. As Greg and I were standing knee deep at the waters edge he noticed a large fish "doing a handstand" in the water near us. It didn't look too well, and with a huge bite already out of it Greg set about catching it. What a sight...with Greg running through the water holding and using his paddle like a spear taking occasional whacks and scoops at the fish. After a while and with a shout of "I've got it" he brought it over on his paddle to show us. My comment was "eeeuuuuwwwww,yuk" and so for the next minute he chased after me with the fish on the paddle. I ran to grab my paddle and used it to defend myself with Greg pretending to throw the fish at me. Sooooo funny.

The fish was then returned to the water and Jack and Jen, Anton and Greg headed off towards the lake.

A decision's been made

A decision has been made and I've finally entered the State Marathon Championships in the Open K1 and Open Mixed TK2. I've also decided that I'll race in the Struer for the K1 race. Considering that it is a 5km lap course (5 laps for K1 race and 4 laps for TK2) there's going to be a lot of boat wash and messy water. I am very confident in the Struer and won't feel nervous in rougher conditions, wash riding or when jostling for positions (like on Sunday). I'm just not quite ready in the Van Dusan yet. I can't wait until I can paddle the Van Dusan as well as the Struer because I will fly. But in the meantime I am looking forward to racing (instead of feeling a bit nervous about it) and can't wait until we get up to Forster.

For everyone (Jack, Mark and Anton) who have kindly offered for me to borrow their kayaks I am more grateful than you'll ever know. Your generosity, sharing of knowledge and support mean a lot to me and I wouldn't be paddling anywhere near as good as I am without it.

Club race

The race is 11.35km. My start time was 9:23am (based on my last race time of 1:07). I started with another guy in a K1 and soon after we were on our way he started talking to me. I'm sorry but when I race in a single, I'm normally not in the mood to talk. So I sped up to get in front and he quickly hopped on my wash for the whole trip up.

At the turn around I nearly crashed into a few people due to my inexperience, but it turned out ok. I think I must have had at least 4 people riding my wash by that point. Anyway, after the turnaround I hopped on their wash and it was messy but great. I still struggle riding the rear wash and have trouble staying on it, so I switched to riding the side wash of a double Mirage. Now that was a nice wash.

There was by now a heap of people in this pack and we were passing many others. This was tricky, trying to stay on the wash where there was often little or no passing room. It was so hectic and messy, but I managed it and didn't fall in. Now there's the difference between the Struer and the Van Dusan. I would have been swimming for sure in the Van Dusan.

About 1.5km before the end I was struggling to get back on anyone's wash after a rather messy passing, and someone behind me called out and let me tuck in front of them on Mick's wash. I don't know who it was but THANKYOU! I managed to stay on Mick's wash until the end and finished in a time of 1:05:10 (hr:min:sec). I had nothing left. I gave it everything. My average heart rate was 191bpm and a maximum of 202. But I'm absolutely stoked with the time. Imagine how fast I could go in the Van Dusan when I can paddle it as well as the Struer. Hopefully that's where I'll be by the Worlds.

A mixed paddle

Another physio treatment down, and my back is slowly starting to get better. I still haven't decided what kayak (category) I'm going to paddle at State so I asked Anton if I could try his TK1 today. Chris got home from work early today so with 38 minutes notice Anton met me at the usual place. Thank goodness he's so flexible with training times.

The TK1 obviously felt slower and heavier than the Van Dusan, but it was a very comfortable boat to paddle. The speeds we were doing were good (considering I was actually going easy today), but the thought of racing 20km in it was starting to look a bit daunting. We passed by Jack and Jen's place, had a very quick chat and continued up the river. Just as we were about to turn around at the first marker we looked around and Jack was behind us. He'd made a quick decision, had hopped in his Struer K1 and caught us up.

He offered for me to paddle the Struer back and so I gave it a try. NICE KAYAK!!!! It felt so stable, but much faster than the club K1. Not as fast as the Van Dusan, but I was able to do much better technique in it (due to better balance) and ended up going faster than I can in the Van Dusan (just because I could paddle it better). Cruising speed was 10km/hr, comfortable was 10.2-10.6km/hr, and riding on Jack's wash we got up to 12.4km/hr. Cool. That's the other thing...I was actually able to wash ride in it. It's the first K1 I've been able to do this properly in.

Since Jack has kindly offered for me to paddle it at State, I'm very tempted. The Van Dusan is a much quicker kayak, but I go quicker in the Struer because I can paddle it better and just haven't had long enough in the Van Dusan to be able to paddle it to my best ability.

So I'm going to race it at the club race tomorrow and see what kind of time I can do. I'm really looking forward to it. Jack thinks I could do 1:04 (hr:min), but I don't think I'll go that fast. I would like to beat my time in the Van Dusan from last race, and if I could do 1:06 I would be VERY happy.

Afterwards we went back to Jack and Jen's place and had a cup of Milo (yum), looked at some photos and had a good chat. Their place on the river is great. It was a lovely afternoon and I really enjoyed it. It's so nice to be making such lovely friends.

I said an EASY paddle - damn it!

Yeh, yeh, don't worry Anton I'm not going to bag you out too much.
Anyway, I saw the Physio today and he thinks that I've aggravated a couple of joints and ligaments and also have a heap of resulting muscle spasm. I'm under instructions to rest it (only easy paddling), apply heat and do some gentle stretches and to see him again tomorrow.

So, this arvo I sent Anton a message that I wanted to do an easy, short paddle. 'OK' was the reply I got. 'OK' my ar$e! As soon as we started paddling he went fast (for a Mirage) and then when we met up with Mick and Jack he took off on Jack's wash and sped for the lake...leaving me some horrid wash to contend with and no hope of keeping up (whilst doing an easy paddle anyway). I somehow managed to turn around at the lake without falling in but almost crashing into Mick (it was the choppiest I've turned around in yet), and we headed back. This time it was Anton and Mick paddling in front and again leaving me some horrid wash to contend with the whole way back. Now normally this would have been great practice for me, but today everytime I had to brace or use my back to stabilise it was horribly painful. So in the end I dropped back with Jack and just took it easy to the boat ramp.

Mick, Jack and Jen (who had been paddling on her own) finished, and Anton and I then headed to do a bridge lap to finish. The pace slowed down (to what I was meant to be doing all along) and Anton was nice to me again. I think this was only because he was scared what I was going to write in this blog (didn't help did it - heheheheh). By now my back was really sore and I was regretting paddling. I don't want to risk hurting it more and not being able to compete to my best at State. I can put up with a fair bit of pain, but this was not fun today. Hopefully now I'm home some heat, stretching and anti-inflamatories will make it feel better.

And Anton, I'm only kidding...I don't blame you. It was not yours or anyone elses fault. The only person who is responsible for how I paddle is myself. It was my decision to try to keep up, I could have always just dropped right back and paddled on my own. It was my own stupidity trying to push myself too much. If I was a bit cranky it was just because I was in pain - I wasn't cranky at you.

A great paddling session

Or as I threatened Mark I would label it....
"A paddle with Anton the Second"
As Mark put it he "gave Anton a run for his money today". Mark met me at the usual place early this morning and had already told me he was only going to go easy as a warm up for tomorrow's race. My response was "yeah right - no way". We did the 8km lap together at a comfortable pace (with Mark talking constantly - hence the title) and I was surprised when I looked at my watch to see that we did it in 49:50 (min:sec). That's the first time I've broken 50 minutes. Just goes to show how much faster the Van Dusan is (and how much better I'm getting at paddling it).

After the first lap Mark had to go, and I had no luck convincing Anton to come down and keep me company for the second lap. So I paddled the second lap on my own. Mark set me the target of 48 minutes which he said I "should be able to do easily without someone jabbering in my ear" and so I used the opportunity of paddling on my own to see what time I could do at a solid pace. I felt so good the whole session and I did the second lap at about 20km race pace...solid and puffing but not full on. I was again pleasantly surpised to see that I did it in 47:12 (min:sec). I had hoped to beat 48 min and was very happy with the time and how good I felt.

I didn't even have any thought of falling in. I feel pretty comfortable in the Van Dusan now. I still wouldn't want to be out in any decent chop mind you, but considering I've only been paddling it for just over a week, I am stoked at how comfortable I feel and how well I'm paddling it already. Yes Mark...you were right.

A solitary paddle

Mark couldn't make it and Anton couldn't either, so I ended up paddling on my own today. I felt yuk even before I started and not much better once I had. The last 3 days have been so busy and draining I think I was just absolutely exhausted. Anyway I paddled to the bridge and back and had a chat with Mick, Jack and Jen when I got back (they were just getting off the river after their paddle). I really didn't feel up to continuing but I forced myself to head up to the lake. About half way up I started feeling a little better. I was just bludging but my balance felt good. And by the time I finished I was tempted to bug Anton again and try to get him to come down and keep me company for another lap. However, I decided to call it quits whilst I was still feeling good (and hadn't fallen in). Eventhough physically I was stuffed today, I felt good in the Van Dusan. I felt comfortable and wasn't concerned about balance. I probably felt about as good as I did a few weeks ago in the club K1. Heaps better than I thought I would by now anyway.

Woo Hoo!

I was brave and followed through with my decision to race in the Van Dusan today. I had resigned myself to falling in and just wanted to do the race for experience. In the meantime Mark had been talking me up and telling everyone that I was going to blitz the field. No pressure. I was handicapped according to my last race (time of 1hr12min) and was due to start at 9:18am. The start went well and I felt good almost straight away. I got into a rhythm early and was only a couple of hundred metres into it when this 'mantra' came into my head. "Right here, right now" which I kept chanting over in my head (along with "Get Shakey" a song that Clayton now likes and has a good beat to paddle with, and I couldn't get out of my head).

Anyway, the "Right here, right now" stood for concentrating only on myself. Everything else is out of my control. Boats may come, wind may come, but I'll just deal with that when it happens. It's useless trying to predict (and worry) about what may or may not happen, it's best to just focus on MY paddling right here and right now. When I paddle and particularly race I tend to think about too many other things - like what other paddlers are doing, if anyone is coming up behind me, if I'll come across some wash from other kayaks or boats, if it will be windy and choppy at the turn around point, etc. For the whole race I just focused on myself and didn't worry (or think) about anthing or anyone else. I was so "In the Zone". It was hard to maintain for the whole 11km, but I did it. Of course other thoughts popped in, like "I might actually win this", but I tried to stop them as best I could.

I did win (by about 2 minutes) so Mark was right. I finished in 1:07 (hr:min) with an average speed of 10.15km/hr which I was very happy with, but I was most happy about the fact that I stayed upright the whole way. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I'm so glad I had the guts to give it a go. And now I'm even tempted to race a K1 at state. We'll see.

Conductive Cassie

Ah thunderstorms. Gotta love them. I met Anton down the river at around 2:30pm and after fiddling around with the new seat in the Van Dusen we were on our way. There was distant thunder and warnings of sever electrical storms but I thought we'd probably get our paddle done in time. Not even 300m into it I went for a swim. Not sure why. I was trying the new lower seat that Greg Slade had made up for me and maybe because it was snugger in the hips I was throwing myself off balance more...I don't know, because I was actually feeling more stable and pretty good up until that point. Anyway today I seemed to keep off-balancing towards the left and I need to work out why.

The rest of the paddle was going well and by the time we reached the bridge the thunder was getting closer. I wanted to do an effort back to the boat ramp to compare with my time in the club K1. I felt pretty good most of the way (with a few braces now and then), and we did it in 8min exactly. We were paddling against the flow and I was pretty happy with my time.

By the time we got back, the thunder was overhead and after long deliberations (and one very loud crack of thunder) we opted to finish the session. Thunderstorms are the one weather condition I won't paddle in. My logic is that I may miss a training session and that can always be made up, but if there is a lightning strike then there's no second chances. My family (and my own life) is too important to me to risk it. But Anton shared some interesting bits of information relating to thunderstorms and paddling. The first was that if you place yourself (ie. him) in between the trees on the bank and the other paddler (ie. me) then the chances are that the lighting will hit either the trees or the other paddler. NICE. And then he tells me that when I went in for the swim that he was thinking that I'd be nice and conductive now. So, what...that would make me Conductive Cassie!!!! Lovely! (I know you're only joking Anton)

Sure enough when the kayaks were washed down and secured on our roofs, it had passed over and I felt pretty $hitty (with myself) that we had stopped. But, you never know. This time is worked out that way, but it only takes once for it to all turn bad. When I got back home Chris said that they had thunder and lightning and heavy rain, so it really was the right decision after all.

Now - for tomorrow's club race. I've decided to do it in the Van Dusen according to Mark's advice (I had to put that in so I can blame someone if it all goes wrong). I'm resigned to the idea that I might fall in, but it will be a good learning experience for me. I figure I can either play it safe and race the club K1 or really challenge myself and paddle the Van Dusen. I may regret it, but I'll give it a go. But for now, I'll take bets on what time I'll do and how many times I'll fall in. My guess is 1:10 with only 1 swim to 1:30 with 4 swims. Somewhere in there I think.

A bit of paddling and a bit of swimming

Today it was myself (in the Van Dusen), Anton (in his Mirage) and Jack and Jen (in the double) paddling together. I felt a lot better in the Van Dusen today. For the first half of the paddle I felt a lot more confident and comfortable in it. I was bracing a lot less and managed to get into a rhythm for most of it. I was even coping alright with a few boats that came past. Then, just as we were nearing the lake Jack said something about a big fish and silly me turned to look. Well the pictures tell the rest of that story. In I went and we decided some photos would make the blog more interesting and personal.

Anyway I went around the first marker and was on the way back when another boat came past with some bigger wash. I turned into it but didn't quite have enough room and nearly ended up hitting Anton with me yelling out "Don't stop, keep going, keep going" with lots of laughter mixed in. And a few seconds later just as I breathed with that near miss I looked up and Jack and Jen in the double were veering right and I was veering left . More calls by me of "$hit, $hit, don't stop, don't stop, keep going, $hit, $hit" followed by me crashing into them once and nearly again. I can't believe I stayed upright and was laughing so much for the next few minutes that I nearly fell in several times. It was soooo funny, I'm laughing now just picturing it all again!

Well I was getting pretty balance fatigued by this stage and had coped with some pretty impressive challenges. The last kilometer I was losing it a bit and was all over the place and I was looking forward to getting back. Soon we rounded the corner and I saw the ramp. Well Anton, not satisfied with me falling in only once (even with photos of it) decided he'd help me in again. In all fairness my steering is still pretty dodgy in the Van Dusen, but his calls of " What are you doing Cass, you're gunna put me into that branch aren't you" resulted in me looking at the offending branch, trying unsuccessfully to steer away and falling in with cries of "Anton you bastard". Only joking Anton - I won't hold it against you (for too long). So after another re-entry we were then back home. Jack had his beautiful Struer K1 there for me to have a go of. It was so comfortable and easy to paddle. Stability was no problem and it felt really nice to paddle. And Jack has even offered to lend it to me to race in at Forster (State Championships). Now this is a $7000 kayak we're talking about. So thankyou Jack, it's a very generous and much appreciated offer.

More paddling than swimming

Tonights session in Mark's Van Dusen went better than I expected....I did more paddling than swimming. I started off well and did the bridge lap including a couple of efforts without falling in. Mind you I was all over the place and at least a third of my strokes were probably brace strokes, but I stayed upright. I have always loved Van Dusens. The glide they get is amazing.
We continued up towards the lake and did some more efforts. I was able to get into a bit of a rhythm sometimes and had brief moments where I felt good. As we were about half way up and doing an effort I decided I was bit hot and wanted to go for a swim. So after swimming to shore and emptying the kayak out, I hopped back in and kept going. About 5 minutes later and close to the lake I fell in again. I had some fairly big chunks of grass wedged between by hip and the side of the kayak, that were sticking up right into my arm pit (from my previous re-entry). I was complaining about them and Mark asked me where they were (thanks Mark), so stupid me looked down and over, and then down and over I went.
By this stage Greg Slade had seen us paddling past his house and had hopped in his Kayak and met us as I was getting back in. Mark said I could head back to the boat ramp and him and Greg would catch up. Well, this part of the paddle went really well. I got into a nice rhythm for most of it and was doing less and less bracing strokes. I paddled the whole way back feeling pretty good. Mark and Greg were chatting and only caught me back at the ramp.
When we got back, Jack and Jen had obviously seen us paddling past their house and rode down to the ramp to meet us. We all had a great chat about kayaking stuff and I saw that Greg was paddling one of his makes of K1 (Sladecraft) and I was chatting to him about it. He offered for me to try it. I thought that since I was already wet I might as well try. So in I hopped and off I paddled. NICE CRAFT! It's a slimline and probably tipper than the Van Dusen but with a lower seat it felt more stable. I loved it. It had a beautiful feel to it and handled nicely. This is one kayak I would love to paddle more in.

Looking forward to swimming (oops I mean paddling) tonight

Tonight is my first proper training session with Mark. So this will be my first time really swimming with the Van Dusen. Hopefully it's more paddling than swimming. I know that I'll probably fall in a some stage. I never get embarrased, it's just a pain in the a$$ having to swim back to shore, empty the kayak out, and start again, just to repeat the whole thing over again. Anyway, despite the jokes, I am actually looking forward to the session and am feeling pretty positive about it.
I also forgot to mention last week that Anton generously offered to lend me his TK1 to race in at the State Marathon Championships. So if I chose to race in that category I've got a kayak lined up for that aswell. He is a legend, and I really appreciated it. I'm always very thankful when someone lets me borrow or even try their equipment (whatever that may be).

A wet group paddle

I had thought that it was only going to be myself, Anton and Mark paddling this morning, especially in such miserable weather. What a lovely surprise is was to turn up at the put in spot to find Jack and Jen already there, with Mark, Ernie, and Anton arriving shortly afterwards. I always love paddling with a group. I paddled the club K1, Mark paddled his Van Dusen K1, Ernie and Anton paddled their respective Mirage 580's, and Jack and Jen paddled a double.
Most of us decided that we didn't need spray skirts but wore our wet weather gear 'just in case'. It was only sprinkling as we started, but not even 500m into it, it bucked down. Oh well - wrong decision. We headed to the bridge first and then up to the lake. It was pouring and windy at the point and I was not game enough to head out to the markers on the lake. Unbelievably Mark, Jack and Jen did and came back unscathed. Anyone who can paddle a K1 (and not fall in) in those conditions is amazing in my books.
We headed back and did a bit extra to make it 8km. I felt a bit wheezy the whole paddle (I'm battling a mild cold) and didn't feel flash, but we did the 8km in just over 50min. That's the fastest I've done yet.
The paddle was full of learning experiences. It was such a lovely group of people, and everyone was sharing their knowledge and experience with me on everything from wash riding to race tactics. Mark and Jack especially gave me so much information. I learnt so much - what a wealth of knowledge they have! We did some sprints and practiced wash riding and paddling through wash. It was a great paddle, with great company.
At the end I had a very short go in Mark's Van Dusen K1. This is my third attempt at it and first without falling in. Sooooooo tippy. Mark has generously offered to lend it to me to race in (for the State Marathon Championships) and to train in for the next month. What a legend. Though I don't think there's any way I will be ready to race in it in a months time. But if I can train in it, then racing in a more stable K1 will be easy. So the plan is to have a go in it this Wednesday and if I can paddle it well enough to do some decent training, then I'll persist for the month. But if I can't stay in it for the intervals and decent efforts, then there's no point in training in it for the moment. I need to be able to paddle it well enough to improve my fitness (not just to learn to balance).