Training, Planning and Running the DW Race

I thought it was about time I got paddling again, what with this training supposed to be for a kayak race. I planned on a good solid 25 mile paddle to get all the muscles fired up and ready to go with kayak training in earnest. Nigel was not available so I drafted my dad to come along.

Unfortunately I have taken the racing kayak to pieces to get it into a state to be raced, so we took out our normal boats instead.

I have paddled this stretch of river a few times. The first time I did it in five and a half hours, I hadn’t even considered the DW at this point and used the trip as a nice jolly, sightseeing and a picnic on a deserted stretch of river bank. I have since paddled the trip with more gusto as a bit of training and achieved it in a personal best of four hours and forty minutes.

The speed at which you can paddle is largely dependant on three things; The motor, the length of the hull and the speed at which the water is flowing.

Now I am certainly fitter than I was last time I paddled this, though I don’t think muscle power is instantly converted into paddling speed. The river was flowing faster, maybe even as much as a mile an hour faster, but that won’t make much of a difference over such a short stretch.

I had my dad paddling with me though. His boat is a touch longer than mine so he was a little bit faster, he is also a bloody fit guy and was able to maintain a fast pace, every time I let my head drop a little bit, or I started to have a bit of a daydream he would carry on and the gap between us would widen. I would then have to motor hard to catch back up, and I was already motoring hard to keep up anyway.

We blitzed the 25 miles in 3 hours 33 minutes which was a good pace. And I was pleased with that. I ached a little bit from the hard pace and pulled out of a long run that was planned for the Sunday.

Some concerns I have at the moment. That was just 25 miles and I was aching and had collected a few blisters on my hands. I am able to put the time in to train, and certainly my CV work is well on course but I fear not enough time is being spent in the boat, and Nigel isn’t putting in enough time with general fitness training at all. Portages haven’t been practiced, kit hasn’t been purchased. There are just 8 months to go and I have a growing feeling that I’m not going to be ready and will miss out…