Easter Weekend

Like so many kayakers in the UK, for us the Easter weekend started in Devises, unlike many who had turned up in Wiltshire this good-Friday, we weren’t heading to Westminster, we were only there to watch the start of the DW race. This was the event that I initially started this blog about and for many reasons I am glad that in the end I didn’t enter this year. While we had amazing weather on Friday, it got progressively worse over the course of the weekend (Storm Katie had something to do with it) and in the end the four day event was stopped at Teddington at the end of day three, I’m not sure how I would have felt about the event ending like that if I had taken part but I don’t think it would have been particularly satisfying. Spending Friday as a spectator did do one thing though, it was the match that lit the fuse for doing DW in 2017.

What else happened?... Oh, yeah. Triathlon. I have been having some serious doubts about taking part in this triathlon I have booked to do in May and have been contemplating pulling out. There are several reasons why but the main one is my rather stupid fear of doing something I’ve never done before (I bet there’s a phobia for that… googling… Yep, there is, it’s called Neophobia), fortunately lunch with a triathlete friend has allayed some of that anxiety (or as I like to call it Neophobia) and I have a better idea as to what to expect. Also I have to start brick training apparently.

This past week has not been all spectating and cogitation though. I’ve actually done something that looks like a real training program. Two short runs and a long run, and a pacey parkrun which was up near my PB, I have swum four kilometres, on top of all that, I have stuck in three sessions in the gym working my way through my personalised training regime. Joining the gym was a great idea and I am feeling really positive about it all at the moment, I have the good ache.

Lastly, good news in my ongoing battle with the front crawl. I had a go at bilateral breathing this week, and by Jove! I think I have struck on the secret. I don’t know why I haven’t been breathing on both sides up until now but after the first length I was a convert. I seem to get a better rhythm and more consistent breathing rate. There is a lot of work still to do but I am traveling in the right direction.