With the wind buggering off and the sunshine coming back out to play it actually feels like summer is on its way back. Unfortunately I’ve noticed a distinct drop in my fitness because of due to the lack of training opportunities over September. Anyways, I don’t care, the sun is shining and I’m loving it at the mo. One thing that the down time in September gave me was the opportunity to pad out my seat. This is now seriously paying off as I have little to no pain in my legs while I’m training, something which has been a serious problem. My basic plan at the mo is to train every second day. This is a mix of 2-4 hour paddles generally centred around the Tauranga harbour or out to Karewa Island. I also got my first big paddle in yesterday (Monday the 4th) in which I went out and around Motiti Island. A trip of some 55 kilometres, that took me about 7 hours. This time is actually means that I went very slow, being about half an hour longer than previous trips, but my shoulders have been playing up lately so I’m not willing to push them too hard just yet. I also managed to sneak in a race a couple of weekends ago. I was the kayaker in a team doing the Grinder Multisport. For the 12km paddle I did a time of 56 minutes, which I was pretty happy about and it helped us to take out the top 3man team.
As for preparation it is pretty hectic. I’ve got around 20 charts on which I’ve plotted out my route, calculated distances, and planned all my overnights. For each of these charts, I’ve gone and photocopied the relevant pieces so that I now have a couple of hundred A4 sized maps which I will laminate to use on my kayak. I’ve also put in my first food order so I’m in the next couple of days I am expecting to be swamped with boxes of freeze dried meals. And amongst all of this I’m finalizing all of the extra bits of gear that I need. Basically it all means that I have plenty of things to keep me occupied when I’m not on the water and honestly I love it!
Paddle hard everyone. Tim.
A paddle and dinner...man my life is hard.
