training log

Partial workout today; had to get back home to take Kat to the ferry teminal. Even still, it was very tough going- the energy level this week seems to be low...

Now back into the gym- begrudgingly, but back to it. Workout now concentrating on upper body/kayak focussed routines, with core stability important. Also attending AbSpin classes, which are 1h long and consist of 30 minutes of spinning and 30 minutes of ab-work.-aarrghh
by the way, setup a new blog (http://kayakinz.blogspot.com) to record my kayaking in my tassie (great boat-love it)

Have now gone into Fergs Kayaks in Okahu Bay, Auckland several times trying out different kayaks... Elaho HV nice bt wonder for the type of kayaking I want (training, tooling aorund coastlines) it is the right one; paddled a prijon kodiak and was completely unimpressed- awful cockpit, irritating pedals and continually getting splashed from waves breaking over deck and into cockpit... the Squall is OK but with lower volume than say Elaho HV was submarining a bit and when a wave would come over the deck and hit the hatch cover it would spray up and directly into my face... have now spent 2 sessions in a tasman express and i like it a lot; longer at 5.3m and a bit of heavy side at 29kg but handles waves and grumpy chop well..the light weight model weighs 25 kg, so might try to see if i can paddle one of those somewhere... canoe & kayak on the shore say that i can give them a list of 4 or so kayaks to try out and they will bring them to lake- may do that this week- a tasman, tasman lite, sequel, and a challenge 5- maybe for soemthing completely different a cobra expedition which is a longer sit-on-top (5.46m, 22kg)..... must admit that the pic of the cobra is just what i want to do...

ok so have spent a few more hours on water

monday- lunchtime paddle of a barracuda (with about 4kg bag in rear compartment)and a Necky Elaho HV (high volume); water conditions inside the breakwater fairly flat, outside a bit sloppy with chop from several directions

weighting the rear of the 'cuda made the nose slap on top of even small waves- need to change that toequally weight front and back. good primary and secondary stability but still felt like sitting on top of water rather than in at all

the ElahoHV (5.18m, 29 kg) with a chined hull and flat bottom tracked incredibly straight and true- very little rudder needed to keep it online. turned very quickly.. however, in the slop... the lower primary stability meant that it was a bit more work to keep it up- felt much like paddling a MS kayak... fast boat though... would need some work to grow into this one.. def need to take a skills course to learn to roll!.. nice boat overall- had an easy to reach hatch just behind seat; the seat itself was really good with lumbar support and easily adjustable. felt great after an hour in it...

went back again and spent an hour in the Squall... was not really impressed with it on the day- lots of slop from several quarters and the boat seemed to wallow a bit... not overly fond of the look overall of thsi boat either.... we ssall see...

done next to nothing since the race... now test-driving sea kayaks!

070106- tried a Barracuda ultralight (18 kg) 4.88m bilge-hull polycarbonate boat. Easy to paddle, responsive, and turned well but seemed that I sat on the water a bit so wonder about the stability in rougher seas; I am maybe a bit light for it. stayed reasonably dry in choppy water

080106- tried a Penguin and a Squall. Penguin (4.8m) bilge hull thermoplastic is quite heavy feeling (26kg) and takes much more effort to paddle than the Barracuda. quite stable but probably would get tired of how unresponsive it is; got reasonably wet in choppy water.

080106- also tried a Current Designs Squall (5.03m), a 26 kg thermoplastic boat. Less primary stability than the penguin and a rounder bilge-type hull. heavier than penguin but instantly easier to paddle; stayed quite dry inn choppy water; probably not as fast as Barracuda to paddle and a bit less primary stability; that said i would probably grow into it fairly quickly;

must try barracudea and squall with about 3-4kg of weight inside the hull to see how they feel under load.

Posted on website www.rcc.org.nz

anyway:

run 10k 0:59:17 (23rd vet man)
stoked about that as all my training pointed to a 1 hour run but did not include any hills (and there is a long slow one in the race)

road cycle 30k 1:06:04 (21st)
not too bad there, trimmed 12 minutes off my time last year... all those hours in spin class helped!

mtb 24k 1:21:53 (16th)
yikes-gear failure at transition saw me lose about 15 minutes... did this last year in 54'25", so more to work on there...

kayak 8k 0:54:24 (21st)
better than last time but i just ran out of juice midway- need to work on the core body strength if I am going to do this better next time..

All up, finished 23rd vet male, 59th overall in a field of 90-odd...

omwards now to the Son of Moehau in March!!!

Despite no activity here, there has been activity... doing anywhere from 8-12h of training a week in the various disciplines, culminating in my second solo completion of the Rodney Coast challenge yesterday (6 Nov). What a rush- knocked 16 minutes off my run time from 2003 and had strong road and mountain cycle legs- all that time in spin class paid off!! HOWEVER... was seriously underdone on the kayak (poor technique killed me) and the transitions let me down. details....

Run- started on Muriwai beach, dipped my feet and hands in the Tasman Sea at 0900... started about 15min late due to tardy arrival of EMTs

started a bit dehydrated as had a strong coffee earlier (big bowl of porridge at 0500, with a banana) with not much water after... slow-ish time to first drink station at 5km at 38 min -put me on track for a similar time as in 2003.. caught up with #145, who see-sawed with me for the day....i picked it up a bit on Mission Rd hill, then a bick kick (with everyone else, but kept ahead of 145!) from the 8km mark downhill to the tx... total time a spot under 60 min, so pleased overall...

Road Cycle
transition took about 5 minutes by the time i rested a bit, got everything together and underway... good strong start but was slowed by traffic; quick burst through Helensville but almost caught out by the last 90degree rt turn out of the town... good leg through to Kaukapakapa but started so far back that no one quick to ride with... no one passed me here, and I caught up to # 145 who had a better transition...passed heaps on way up hill to the Kaipara lookout, and good time into transition, where it all went to custard...
...Kat not there
...when she did arrive, mtb in 2 pieces (rear wheel had fallen off, chain wrapped around bb housing- a mess)

MTB
well, lost about 10-15 min on that second transition, then got off too a pretty good start; passed by 2 people when i stopped to pick up a dropped gelpack, but passed them later... again, passed heaps throughout and not passed again- even managed quick times downhill, and passed a car! aside form bad tx, felt i had a good time

Kayak
here is where I really blew it.. all that training and I did not give the kayak enough spark... really let down by my technique (too much arm not enough torso) and by lack of upper body fitness.. next time dont stop the weight training so early (in early August i switche dto run and cycle training)....

still, an excellent day and look forwar to 2006


(T1 run-road a bit slow, about 4 minutes to pull all together and catch my breath; T2 road to mtb bad- )