Holiday

I have been away for a week, having sailed the seas around Sardinia and Corsica for a bit of a holiday. I have managed pretty much zero training in this time and if anything I have put my training back with a new injury.

The weekend before we flew I did go for a bit of a paddle with my dad. Not in the racing kayak but in our play boats, just for a bit of a muck about on the river. The sun was shining and it was a really nice day, and I plucked up the courage to have a go at a roll.
The first ever time I took this boat out after buying it, it dumped me after a short period of time and despite frenzied flailing, I failed to right myself. Since then I have been a bit of a coward with rolling.
Despite the sun, the water was freezing but this time I managed to roll and with it I gained a new confidence on the water.

Monday we flew and all thoughts of swimming, running and weight training was out of the window, replaced with French wines and sailing.

At some point while sailing between Sardinia and Corsica I broke my toe. I wish there was a heroic tale of battling with a mizzen sail in a gale but I basically stubbed my toe on a door bulkhead while getting changed below deck. Though as we were hours away from medical attention I was forced to perform surgery (splint my toe), John Rambo style, on myself.

This toe injury is going to make running difficult for a while though as of today I am no longer limping.

I did manage to get a little canoeing in though, in an inflatable Spree 2 kayak with the wife. This thing looked pretty good when it was inflated and despite being disappointed with its mediocre performance when we paddled it, (I was unfairly comparing it to the weekend paddle in my Dagger) the experience did convince the wife that she wants to take up kayaking. This is great news, I can now justify getting a new boat so she can inherit my current craft.

I have also discovered the joys of sailing. I have a mind to take up some kind of dinghy sailing. There is a racing class called the Fireball Dinghy. Now that’s what I’m talking about.

All in good time though. First of all I have a swim, half marathon and the DW race to complete.

12 months to go!

It is practically Easter with tomorrow being the start of the holiday, which means the 2009 DW is happening this weekend. I kind of wish I had aimed to be ready for the ‘09 race because I feel ready to take part (certainly by myself in a K1) but lack of a boat back in September made me hesitate. Ah well. I hope the weather is good for the racers this year.

Anyway, This is my last post of the week as I am heading off to the Med for some spring sun. I have had a quiet week of training as I have still got a painful knee from the Saturday run, this painful knee I have diagnosed via the internet as Chondromalacia which is not an uncommon injury and will probably not develop into anything worse. I just need to rest it and once it stops hurting I need to start building the muscles around my knee in a more moderate fashion (shorter runs!)

I did slip in 45 minutes of swimming on Wednesday. I took it easy for a little while but quite a few people came into the pool and I couldn’t help myself and I raced them up and down the pool for the final 15 minutes.

Lake Vyrnwy

This Saturday my sister, my wife, our dogs and I went to Lake Vyrnwy, a picturesque reservoir not too far from where we live. The plan was for me to run around it while the girls walked around, all of us in training for our respective charity events.

11.1 miles of smooth roads with barely a gradient change for the entire route. I set off with the intention of taking it easy to preserve my knees but despite the sun it was a pretty chilly day so I had to pick up my pace to generate some body heat.

I have discovered that I usually run on my toes, my heel barely ever touches the floor. For over half the distance I ran in my usual tip-toe style but after about 45 minutes of running my left knee finally began to protest. I decided to adjust my gait and began to run leading with my heel and allowing my foot to roll to my toes. This did seem to alleviate some of the pain in my knee but the damage was already done.

I competed the 11 miles in 1 hour 56 minutes. The girls walked around with the dogs in 3 hours 45 minutes. So all in all we did quite well.

Sunday was going to be a session back out in the boat but Nigel had commitments in the afternoon and I had commitments in the morning so it had to be postponed.

This morning I hit the pool again for a 45 minute session. The knee was agony and I was really struggling to kick with it but it loosened up through the swim and by the end I had thrashed out my limp.

Once the knee stops hurting completely I am going to carry on running but I think I am going to have to cut the distances I am doing down to build strength but reduce the damage.

Couple of days of just swimming in the morning. Rather than supply post after post saying, 35 minutes swimming. 45 minutes swimming etc, etc. I thought I would just put them all in one post.

So. 2nd April, 35 minutes swimming.

3rd April, 45 minutes swimming.

I guess the above proves that a dull post added to a dull post, do not add up to an interesting post.

The weekend should have a touch more excitement though, on Saturday (provisionally, based on the weather) I am going for an 11 mile run while my wife and my sister will be walking the route, as they are preparing for a 26 mile walk for charity in May. And then Sunday should see me and Nigel taking the boat out again for a more prolonged test.

So hopefully I will have something more interesting to blog about on Monday.

Despite the surprisingly painful knee, I went swimming this morning figuring that the low impact exercise would be good for the ailing joint. And I suppose it was as I can move about more freely now, though it did hurt a little when I kicked with my legs.

45 minutes swim. I didn’t count the number of lengths as I was considerably slower with this knee and was not going to break any distance personal bests.

As I didn’t really have anything to think about today my mind wandered across loads of things, and one thought that has been playing on my mind was the Great North Run. I am looking to smash my last half marathon time but when I signed up to take part in the GNR I was asked to estimate what sort of time I would finish the race in. I guestimated 2 hours 30 minutes, which at the time seemed bold but now I realise was underestimating my ability.

When I started the Ironbridge half, I found myself having to walk for the first 100 yard or so before the pack stretched out enough for me to up the speed. Now that was a race with only 800 or so starters. The Great North has thousands of runners and I have a horrible feeling that for the first 10 minutes or so I am going to be at walking pace with the other 2h 30m competitors. How am I going to P.B. if I have to muscle past the slow pokes at the start?..