So, Let’s go for a paddle.

This week was a bit hodge-podge due to the extra long Easter Weekend.  I was fortunate to have or see my kids on 4 of the 5 days of the break and we made the most of it by doing heaps of fun stuff.  They have both decided that the best place in the world is the skate park and they have a ball on their scooters!

Tuesday was organised to have the kids for lunch, so it gave me the morning free to get some training done, so I headed down to the track to meet the runners group for an interval session.  The only question I have is why?  Why 6am? On a public holiday? 

Surely a public holiday is a great excuse for a sleep in and the session to start at a reasonable hour……but sadly no.  At least it was all over by 7am and I was able to get coffee, head home and do a few hours study before picking the kids up just before lunch.

Sadly the day was over before too long and it was back into the (short) working week.  I was still suffering from the lingering cold I had picked up from the office and was still feeling flat.  Also, the left knee is still a bit sore with the suspected tendonitis so I decided to skip the longer run scheduled for Thursday morning and swim instead.  Then it was back on the bike on Friday morning for a ride in awesome conditions – no wind, not too cold and the perfect amount of sledging.

That brought us to Friday night and the weekend got off to a perfect start with the Blues beating the Swans in Sydney for the first time in 18 years.  Go BlueBaggers!!!!

Whilst the game was on I was busily packing some gear for a weekend away on the river.  A group of 9 blokes had organised to spend the weekend paddling approximately 40km from about 10km South of Mitchelton winery through to the Goulburn Weir.

Getting up early Saturday morning I decided to jump on the scales out of interest and was pleased to see them sitting on exactly 110kg, down 1.9kg from the previous Monday’s weigh in.  Interesting as I had missed my run sessions.

So, loaded up the car and got going early to meet the rest of the blokes and off to the river.  We arrived and were in the canoes by about 9.30 for the first stint of 10km or so.  A few of the guys hadn’t been in a canoe before and it took a bit for them to get the hang of it, but we made it to just past Mitchelton Winery where we had a break and something to eat.

Back into the boats for the next stint to Tahbilk winery.  Upon arrival we found that Rob (the tour organiser) had everything set up and a feed on the BBQ.  Once lunch was finished Rob gave us a bit of a talk on the history of the river and the surrounding area and then a quick tour of the winery.

I took the opportunity to have a crack at one of the kayaks before we started off again, something I haven’t tried before and had a ball.  They are a heap of fun!



These things are heaps of fun!



Althought they are also hard work!



Once everyone was back in the boats we had to make our way downstream to the Nagambie Lake, a total of about 25km for the day.  With another quick break and something to eat we made it into the Lake at about 3.30pm.  A quick coffee and then loaded up and off to the spot where we were camping for the night.

After collecting some firewood and getting the fire going then rolling the swag out, the BBQ was fired up again and another feed was quickly on the go.  Considering I have done bugger all paddling before I felt ok.  My arms and shoulders were feeling good however my ankles and hip flexors were suffering from sitting in the boat all day.

Rolled into the swag reasonably early and then up early again to get organised and back on the river as we had approximately 15km to get to the weir and we were planning to be there by 11.30am. Again, upon arriving Rob had the BBQ fired up and it was another feed.  It seems all we had done for the weekend was bloody eat!!

All up we had covered about 40km of the river in about 6 hours of paddling.  Not a bad effort considering the river is quite “dead” at the moment as there is bugger all water getting let through the weir, so there was next to no current to enjoy.

Had started to feel a bit crook again on the trip home just from the cold that has been hanging around for the last few weeks and once getting home had to get my contacts out as my eyes were killing me.  Not unusual that they start to play up when you get a bit crook but even after taking them out, felt progressively worse and my eyes got irritated and sorer than normal.

Woke up this morning and skipped the bike as my eyes were simply too sore to get my contacts in again.  Ended up going to work, but only lasted a few hours before being told to piss off home, so did exactly that and flake on the couch for the afternoon.

I did jump on the scales this morning and was expecting a good number after the Saturday morning weigh in, so was slightly disappointed to see 110.5kg on the read out.  This is still a loss of 1.4kg for the week, but was disappointed not to be under 110.  Not surprising though considering that over the course of the weekend virtually every meal considered of 9 different kinds of BBQ animal and the odd egg!  Typical camping fare…….

So, the weeks training consisted of:

Monday                Bike 60km, 1hr 53mins, Avg 31.6k

Tuesday                Run 6km (inc 15 x 30s intervals) Approximately 40 mins

Wednesday          Swim 1700m (inc 4 x 200m), approx. 39mins

Thursday               Rest

Friday                    Bike 44km, 1hr 22mins, Avg 32.0k

                             Swim 1700m (inc 12 x 100m), approx. 39mins

Saturday               Paddle approx. 25km, 4hrs

Sunday                 Paddle approx. 15km, 2hrs

So a great weekend in all and in the 7 weeks to date, a total loss of 9.5kg in all.  Struggling to consistently get every session done every week at this stage, but Ruley has been awesome working out a program that suits me and fits in around work and my time with the kids.

Looking forward to knocking this friggin’ cold on its head once and for all and getting some regular running in. I am amazed at how quickly I have come to enjoy the running again and now I am missing it since the knee has gotten sore.   All good though.  On track at this stage and I am pretty pleased with how the weight is dropping off.

Now just to get through a full working week!  Gonna be tough after the last few weeks of short ones.

Special mention to all those who competed up at Port Mac yesterday.  Some awesome results on what was a tough day by all accounts and I enjoyed some of the photos posted on Trannies and facebook.  Great job to everyone.

Train safe.

Ayto