River levels have dropped, and Marsport have let me know that coaching is back on this weekend. Hopefully this week we’ll have details of our training regime as advised by experts…
We started a little memory game to relieve the boredom while paddling. What it proved was Pete and I have no short-term memory. Fortunately a bout of insomnia last nite finally produced the final list that we struggled so hard on Sunday to remember.
BEFORE WE GO TO THE YUKON WE HAVE TO
- Train
- Pad out boat and fix footrests
- Learn how to answer mother nature from the boat
- Work out what food to eat
- Get a coach
- Work out flights to Canada and then to Whitehorse
- Work out what to drink
- Look at the rules and work out a boat inventory
- Learn to roll the K2
- Learn to steer the K2
So far we have acquired/borrowed/rented:
- 1 x Necky Amaruk K2 touring boat
- 2 x Rat Race branded Buff’s
- 2 x Sense of Humour Click to read more …
This blog is all to do with our attempt to do the Yukon River Quest 2009, but probably the first question most people will have is why?
I think mostly this has to do with a particularly effective blend of real ale served in a pub on the cornish coast during the August bank holiday 2008. I mentioned to Dave that I was really keen to do something really exciting in a kayak, and was thinking primarily (at the time) of a surf trip around Europe. We were out in Cornwall catching surf, and my idea was primarily to go and do something that would challenge my sense of adventure.
Dave then mentioned that the hardest thing he’d ever done was the Devises to Westminster race. I’d done a couple of marathons before, and decided that the only thing to do was to trump this by announcing that I’d seen a documentary on the BBC about a seemingly impossible kayak expedition/race/kamikase run in the Yukon. We had a few more beers and decided that we should definitely start training…
In November we had our first planning meeting in a pub in Tooting, although we didn’t really understand at that stage the magnitude of our undertaking; when the Yukon opened it’s doors to entrants I put an entry in. Financially committed, it wasn’t until January that we really began to realise what we were trying to do. I’d been trying to work out an analogy for the distance using UK landmarks, and has guesstimated that London to Glasgow was probably a fair bet. Below is an email I sent to Dave in January as it all began to sink in:
Dave,
Photos of the rapids:
http://www.yukonriverquest.com/photos/displayimage.php?album=15&pos=26
It doesn’t look too hectic…
Also in these photos it shows that all of the leading kayak teams are using wings…
http://www.yukonriverquest.com/photos/displayimage.php?album=15&pos=34
Looking at how much time we have left to prepare I think it’s worth putting together a summary of how much we still need to achieve (and what that means for our training plan):
Race dates: 24th-28th June
Today is the 11th of Jan
Given that we won’t be doing any training next week we will have a total of 21 possible weekends (of which I will need to attend a wedding on one of these weekends).
We need to schedule in weekends apart from each other so I think we’ve probably got a maximum of 15 effective weekends – we should have a target somewhere between the two. Is a target of 17 effective weekends training realistic?
If we target 17 weekends then that would give us a total of 34days training; 17 days endurance and 17 days speed work. That’s not actually all that many – especially when you consider that we will want a month of tapering our training down near the race.
I checked on Google and London-Glasgow isn’t really a good way of thinking about it; it’s too short. We’re actually preparing to paddle from London to Frankfurt or Dundee!
See attached waypoint xls from the official site; it shows the main rapids as being a day in. We should def. get some ww experience before going!
See you in a couple of weeks m8,
Toons: Same trip with a 3 hour trip out to Richmond Bridge. We cut our time down, mainly thanks to our better steering. The day began with a 180 degree turn, but improved after that.
Despite being a plastic monster the ‘YukonHo’ is a lady that needs subtle handling on the turn. If you lean too much she ignores the turns or turns in the opposite direction to what’s required. The trip is already quite boring, though we zoned out for much of the return leg. Hopefully my new headphones and iPod case will arrive before next Saturday.
My body is sore and I’m pleased I won’t be sat in it till next Saturday. Back to the gym and the K1 for some weekday training.
Pete: Sunday was cold; getting into the boat is never an issue and whilst we were out on the water I was pretty warm. However, getting changed in the converted truck container was a rude awakening. Whilst I’d like to think that many years of outdoor sports had hardened me to all cold, the warm shower when I got back home was an absolute godsend.
On Sunday we swapped places - Toons took the opportunity to watch me paddle and comment on my technique. I found it really useful to have a critique when I was losing focus, and I definitely worked harder to keep up the pace. That said, I found the need to eat and drink difficult to manage. We’ve started our training with fairly long distances - 3hrs is a pretty long time to be doing exercise for - and avoiding dehydration and low blood sugar is going to be a real issue even at these durations. It’s clearly something we need to put a lot of thought into; I think it will probably be one of our greatest challenges on the race itself.
Toons: 
Our first proper training run on Saturday. A planned trip to Marsport was cancelled due to the river being too high. The boat was from sunny Scunthorpe and just lifting it to the river, show what great suspension Pete’s car has.
The great British weather meant that the temperature was just above zero and the container/changing room meant for a fast change. Already I’m looking forward to the summer.
The training went well apart from our inability to keep the damn thing straight. Every time we thought we’d got the nack we’d end up swerving into the bank. We didn’t use the rudder so we could keep up a better speed. The wing paddles worked well but once we got into a good flow the boat tended to want to climb up the bank.
A three hour paddle to Richmond Bridge and another session planned for tomorrow, let’s hope we can steer.
Pete: I think we both realise even on our first outing just how difficult it’s going to be to keep morale high. Mood swings from taking verbal potshots at rowers (”Pond Life”) to getting checked out by good-looking female rowers. This always provides a highlight - the pace quickens etc. Sometimes this is less than ideal - especially when heading for a tree…
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