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