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.

Changed plans and a run down in Sydney 2

Due to various reasons I ended up staying down in Sydney (at Mum's place) last night. I couldn't do my Wednesday night paddle, but I took the double pram with me so I could still do my Thursday morning run. Mum's hip was still a bit sore so she pushed the boys in the pram whilst I ran. We did Mum's usual loop around the park (with paved track), and this time I did 2 laps. It's pretty hilly so a lot harder than my usual flat run at the lake. Anyway, I felt good and ran for 30 minutes (the first time I've run continuously for 30 min in about 5 months) and I did around 5km. Very happy with that.

A hot fast run with Mum

We went a bit earlier today because we thought the weather had cooled down. We were wrong. Anyway, we did the usual path and road run and it was hard the whole way. Mum was seriously moving (she's a little machine), and it was all I could do just to keep up. We did the run in 24:59 (min:sec) which is a personal best for us. A great sense of achievement to do that time in hot weather.

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.

Friday run

I ended up down the lake a bit later than usual and it was warming up quickly. I was pushing Clayton in the pram and Connor was riding his bike so I decided to do just the path run today (I don't want Connor to start getting tired of riding again). Anyway - I felt crap. Even when walking for the warm up I just didn't feel right. But I persisted anyway, and eventhough I planned a short walk at the halfway turnaround point, when I got there I just kept running. Connor rides like a demon now (he's so quick and rides so well), and we did the run in 21:15 (min:sec). So considering I was pushing the pram I ended up doing a pretty quick run after all. Sometimes you just have to push through it I guess.