Thursday, June 25, 2009

20.5km after my 4-days sabattical

Paddled the exact same route as last Friday (no whitecaps today though.)  I didn't train for four days in a row.  I spend time with dad on father's day (Sunday,) then I trained with my CLG group from Monday to Wednesday.  I couldn't launch when I got back to Tai Tan after CLG, due to unbelievably crazy low tide (new moon.)

Which means I should be fully recovered, right?  But no!  I was a mess, a symphony of pain.  I launched in the evening (to avoid the brazen sun) and felt very tired and lethargic.  My lower back ached, one of my toes is inflamed, my butt also started to get really sore after the first 15km (no padding on the hard seat this time -- I lost my foam!! *cries.*), to alleviate the pressure on my butt, I gave up pushing with my feet, which means I had to brace my thighs against the cockpit, and my legs started getting cramps after locking my legs in the thigh-braces for so long.  I noticed I paddled very slowly in the last 4 km, though that's mostly to avoid aggravating the pain in my butt.

Hate to admit it, but I think I got a bit chewed up at CLG practice.  I had two humpback-whale sized patients (both boys are well over 200lbs); Michael told me to "work on endurance and power by rescuing both of them at the same time" -- so I ended up with close to 500lbs load on my stern and bow decks, and they thought it would be funny to wiggle around while I was paddling.  It was all I could do to not capsize; I could hardly plant my blades down.  In fact, even as I sculled for my life, and leaned my body all the way to the port side, I still couldn't correct the starboard tilt of the kayak.

Then I decided to practice rolling with a heavy, leaky CLG boat.  I did okay, at least on the right hand side, but my back is still killing me right now.  I don't think my body is made to roll for three days in a row.  

1536  Launch (Sze Tei) 
1558  Nam Fung Kok
1638  Bluff Head
1706  Chek Chau NE
1736  Kung Chau East
1800  Grass Island South
1834   Landing (Sze Tei)

Again, I paddled well over 8km/hr in the first hr, but slowed down significantly afterwards.  Tsk tsk, need to drill on endurance...

Very anxious about trailwalker training this Saturday; section 3 is supposed to be "very difficult," took me long enough to recover my "morale" after section 7 & 8...

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