Monday 13/5/13 - enjoyed a lovely sleep in & did no training after long hours of work at Kingston on the weekend.
Tuesday 14/5/13 - headed to Cremorne to paddle with Christian, Karina, Pete & Andy. I wanted a challenge so I paddled my 'tippiest' kayak. There was a fresh northerly, so as we left Cremorne there were reasonable rolling swells to head into. I wasn't expecting to be out in this & hadn't worn a spray deck but the Evo Edge has a high deck & cockpit area & didn't take any waves in.
The run back with the swells was great fun but with the trailing rudder, I had to keep running ahead of the waves to be able to steer. By the end of the session the kayak didn't feel wobbly any more but it is a little snug.
After that I headed up to Christian's to work on a mountain bike track on his property. Initially I wandered around the bush to get the lay of the land and then went around with track tape to plan a route. After that we did some work on a downhill section. It all looked ok until trying to ride it and found that the features were all too close together as a result of being on foot & not appreciating the speed of a bike & how quickly it can move. We ended up having to move a few corners to make it more user-friendly.
That evening was a mountain bike training ride on Tangara trails. We left Mather Place & headed generally down the trails to the eastern side of Gellibrand Dve & back up the water's edge to the west of Gellibrand.
We were out for a couple of hours for the 25km hard ride. I have been getting sore thumbs and had an x-ray last week - thinking I had stress fractures (maybe I am a hypochondriac) & there were no cracks but they were still very sore. I realised as I was riding over bumpy ground I had my arms straight which resulted in all the forces going into my hands.
We were told at the MTB Skills course that the 'attack position' was feet level and chest & head low with elbows bent and pointing out. As I realised that I wasn't doing this, I also realised that the straight arms were also probably causing my sore thumbs. I will have to really concentrate on my body & arm position or I will have broken thumbs.
Wed 15/5/13 - recover from last nights bike ride while I was at work - feeling wiped out & sleepy.
Thurs 16/5/13 - Good day at work, catching up on all of my paperwork, then headed to the DSS for kayak training. It was a cool, night with a light s/w breeze. I used the Chrono for an extra challenge because I want to use it in the Huon races so I had better do some training in it. It is definitely faster than the Bandit in calmer conditions but it is less stable & a bit 'less roomy'.
The numbers at training were low, probably because Ben couldn't be there (thanks to Ian C taking the session) and it was a cool, windy night. Some of the reliable, regulars weren't there - Bucks didn't turn up 5 mins after we got on the water & there was no sign of Cathy's car on the Esplanade - stuck at work setting a good example???
We did 3 extended efforts down to Taroona, sharing the wash-riding and returned with the runs doing 2 long efforts on the way back to the DSS. It was a hard night but chasing faster people is great to get more out of you. Ian, Andrew P were up the front as I fought with a rapidly improving Alex & Jodi steaming along.
