That Time of Year Again

Since the last Hare & Hounds I've managed to keep up fairly regular, twice weekly paddling sessions without overcooking things to bring about another injury. Each of the paddles has been around the four mile distance, either over the H&H course or up the two mile stretch to Deepcut and back. I've certainly felt that I've done a session at the end of each one but the arm/shoulders/wrist problems have usually sorted themselves by the following day without any lasting effects.

I celebrated the lack of injury with a return trip to the Wey and my five mile pound from New Haw lock. I eased my way past the site of my little accident at Dodd's footbridge fifteen months previously which was the last time that I had completed this course. At 1:11:44 it was slow. But, with it being the run-up to Easter the usual motley crews of houseboats were out and getting in the way. It can be difficult to overtake these things sometimes, requiring timing and an effective  sprint along a straight in the channel while avoiding their bow wave. Nevertheless, three of these added some minutes to the time so a clear run at the five miles will be necessary for an accurate time. 

I'm back to trying to stretch out the distances between pauses in the action. The light-effort stretches between rests is about a quarter mile at the moment but gradually increasing. Counting strokes to get some semblance of order also creates a target and at the same time helps to take the mind off tired muscles. Originally starting out at 70 strokes it's currently working out at three lots of 100, followed by one of 200, all repeated three times. In a week or so the intention is to get the Gymboss fired up again probably with two minute efforts plus one minute rests. But we'll have to see how that goes. 

I've made no effort to carry on any jogging action during the last six weeks. I've never felt less like expending unnecessary energy in my life. I'll just have to keep telling myself that it's doing me good. But I guess I'll have to put in some effort on that front if for no other reason than to keep the VO max up. 

Easter came and went and with it another DW. The weather was probably as good as it could be over the four days for those participating in the event. I watched the race unfold from the electronic trackers that show the positions of every entrant along the course. Several entrants were from my old club who have evidentially got themselves together to train and enter as a group. What a pity they didn't do that while I was a member. I might just have made the course myself this year.