Yukon Ho!

It’s probably worth mentioning that as well as doing the event for my own personal satisfaction I’m also raising money for the Kent Air Ambulance. The reasons why I’m doing this are below - it’s a very worthy cause and close to my heart. If you know me (or if I’ve been able to get your email from someone…) I’ve probably asked you whether you’d be willing to sponsor me to do the YRQ ‘09. In any case, if this isn’t the case then I’ve included below my message that’s also in my justgiving site (www.justgiving.com/peterbudden); any help is really appreciated and I would very much like to reach the £1000 mark that would signify that we’d managed to fund one of the Kent Air Ambulance’s life-saving missions.

Hi,

A couple of reasons to donate to the Kent Air Ambulance:

1) They do really excellent work saving lives by providing emergency medical care that otherwise wouldn’t be available

2) I’m asking for sponsorship in memory of my uncle, Graham Budden, who flew the Kent Air Ambulance. He was a great inspiration to me and everyone else who knew him. I’ve never met anyone else who had such an appetite for adventure.

3) I’m doing a long, and likely very arduous, kayaking event in the far North of Canada. I’m doing this because I want the challenge, but supporting a great charity will spur me and my teammate Dave on to complete the 70hour race.

Clearly the race is going to be a bit of a “suffer-fest”; I won’t be necessarily expecting the usual marathon “per-mile” donations as the event is 460 miles long…

For information about the crazy event we’ve been silly enough to enter ourselves into, see www.yukonriverquest.com

For more information about the Kent Air Ambulance, please see http://www.kentairambulance.co.uk/

The biggest obstacle of the last few days has been getting through the vast ammount of to-do points on our checklist. The logistics of doing an event like this have really taken me by suprise, and I thought I should share the pain…

Have a look at the gear we’re taking laid out in my room prior to packing (in the photo below).

The contents of the boat prior to setting off from the UK

As we’ve cut down the ammount of stuff to the bear essentials each piece of the puzzle is absolutely crucial; I’ve become paranoid. I’ve checked, counted, re-checked and re-counted each item as it’s gone into my swallow-all duffel bag.

Even with all the gear we’ll be taking out with us significant elements still remain to be picked up in Calgary (thanks Dad!) or in Whitehorse, such as purification tablets and energy drinks (for which read food for the entire race…).

I mentioned yesterday that we’ve had a really awesome response from friends, family and colleagues. If you’ve wished us well then thank you; it’s great to have so many people rooting for us.

If I said I had a thing about bubble wrap, would you believe me?

Whilst packing I’ve picked up the task of sorting out the paddles so that they don’t get damaged by the luggage handling in the UK or Canada. I’m making no assumptions, but I’ve labeled it fairly clearly as FRAGILE..

So we’ve neglected the blog (it was probably inevitable as the training heated up), but I thought it would be good to write down my thoughts immediately preceding the race itself.

I’m in a really wierd mood; the relaxation of the training routine since Sunday has left me not only with bags of time on my hands, but with an abundance of energy. Our final training runs were great fun - see the pictures - but I shouldn’t really be doing a huge ammount now this close to the event. This has become really frustrating - if I go and burn it all off in the gym I’m not sure that I’ll be doing anything other than burning energy I will need during the race itself. So I have to wait, and rest.

In order to keep myself occupied I’ve been getting stuck into the minutiae of the preparations. Packing this ammount of boating and first aid gear has been a real pain, especially when GPS companies (no names mentioned) supply connecting leads that only work if your laptop happens to have a serial port. But despite a few setbacks I think we’re on track, and all the documentation is ready.

To keep my body from siezing up entirely I’ve been for a massage, and received massage lessons from our helpful club members. I think it could be a really important part of the rest stop at Carmacks; I’m keen to make sure we get as much muscle rest at that point as possible. Thanks to Jax for her input!

So we’re off to Canada. I can’t describe how increadibly daunting this is. I’ve never done anything even remotely on this scale before; the wait beforehand is like an extended version of preparing to parachute jump! I’ve really enjoyed the process of training - it’s been an increadibly positive focus, and I think I’ve learnt a lot from it. However, I’ve been training for so long now I really want to make this happen, and make the result reflect all the work we’ve put in.

I know we’re physically in great condition after 8 months of training, but the race is long in a way that means physical preparation only gets you so far; teamwork and psychological factors will play a really big part in this. I’m really greatful to the support of the charity team I’ve been working with (I’ll blog about this seperately - it probably deserves a bit more coverage on these pages). The idea that this is more than just a pointless charge into immense physical discomfort is really heartening. I hope that the support will be one of the things I remember and draw on when we’re working hard over the three day event.

It’s been 8 months of training, and at about 1.5 hours a day 6 days a week that’s a lot of time to dedicate when you think of it collectively. The challenge still feels as big as it did when we started, but what’s really important is that I still feel as keen as when we started. Dave and I still get on really well, and banter still gets thrown around the boat. Casting off at Whitehorse there won’t really be any opportunity to look backwards; the question will be not whether we quit but whether we feel at the end we made the best use of the skills and physical gains that we’ve put in place through our training. All that’s left for me to do, therefore, is to pack up my troubles in my old kit bag, and smile, smile, smile all the way to Dawson City…

On the downside, training for the Yukon has left me no further towards finding the girl of my dreams, or getting to Partner.

On the upside, I now own a very effective headtorch.

It’s good to know you’re winning…

Ok, so I admit we’ve not been very good at posting our updates on what we’re doing well, or badly. And we’ve not exactly been going through the process with ritual precision during our sessions either. But we’ve only missed a few, and I can give a high level summary of how things feel to me.

Things that are going well:

* Speed - we’ve really come a long way, and we’re fairly racing up and down the tideway now

* Diet - having ditched the very high levels of protein I’m feeling better, and getting more out of my training

* Weight - Going into the endurance bit of our training I’m at about the right weight, although I need to maintain it to stay in good shape

Things that have been going badly:

* Work/Gym balance - I would call this a work/life balance but that would be a lie. My hours have creeped up a bit recently, and the key point is that I’ve not been going to the gym in the morning. I would have liked to have been doing two sessions a day throughout my training, but realistically I think I just need to make sure that the session in the evening is a really good quality slog.

* Logistics - We’re a bit wayward in logistics, and perhaps to clued up on the detail of training at the moment. We need to take a step back next weekend and make sure there’s nothing we’ve missed

Puzzles:

* We still need to look at what happens in Canada - accommodation etc, and make sure that doesn’t prove an issue

* Navigation - we need to ensure that our GPS knowledge is good enough to get us there

* Kit - There are a number of items of kit we still need to source including:

1) Spare Paddles

2) Long Distance BAs

3) Maps

4) Toon’s hydration system

5) A padding system for the boat

6) Thermal protection (sun and cold) inc. hats, warm jackets etc

7) Err……Bear spray? Suggestions welcome!

So we’ve come through the mid-season slump and got back together for our first endurance paddle yesterday; two 2hr sessions interspersed with a 2 hr break. As a first taste of the distance we’ll have to cover it was really useful to get introduced to the kind of sessions we’ll be doing over the next few weeks/months. It also provides a nifty comparison with previous sessions…

We watched some folks training for the Devises to Westminster race yesterday; they were cruising along the tideway seemingly effortlessly in boats that were almost submersible they were so sleek and low-volume. It was pretty agonising to get into the plastic tub and stare at the huge bow wave formed as we push our Necky through the water. I am really looking forwards to getting into the Canadian boat; hopefully it’ll be fast enough to make us feel a bit more positive when we get there about the distance.

As you may have guessed, I’ve bought the same heart rate monitor as Toons, and my colleagues can now tell I’m bored when they hear a high pitched squeaking as I sync up my watch to my PC. Over the past few weeks I’ve tried to use it for most of my exercise sessions, and it shows some really interesting stuff. It seems that I’m able to keep my heart rate higher, for longer, than previously.

Two weeks ago we went for a 2 hr paddle, and my HR looked like this:

I realised last week that I wasn’t doing enough Cardio during the week; I’ve done a couple of sessions this week of sprints. This, combined with a general improvement in my fitness through training has led to my doing two 2hr sessions this weekend at a higher heart rate as below:

We have spent a while thinking about the big items: kayak; flights; big guns. Perhaps it’s worth thinking about all the other things we’re going to have to carry in our “Yukon Queen”. See below the official packing list (and extensive it certainly is…):

17.  Mandatory Equipment

The following items are considered mandatory equipment for each team starting the race, and are to be carried the entire length of the race course. Not carrying these items shall result in disqualification. Photos of many of these items will be available in a link on the race website:

1.  
   1. Each kayak must start with a double-bladed kayak paddle for each person in the vessel and a spare double-bladed kayak paddle.
   2. Each vessel must have a towline attached to the vessel.
   3. Each team member must carry a U.S. Coast Guard or Canadian Department of Transport approved Personal Flotation Device. This must be worn at all times when on the river or in the water (e.g. Swimming). The PFD must be equipped with a whistle. Self-inflatable PFDs are not allowed.
   4. Orange garbage bag (for signalling to be provided by YRMPA)
   5. It is required that a team wear a full coverage spray-skirt deck with snaps or tie downs while traveling on the river from Whitehorse to Lower Laberge and Carmacks to Rink Rapids. Lack of, or non-use of the spray-skirt on this section will result in disqualification. 
   6. A buoyant heaving line of not less than 15 meters (50 feet) in length and at least 1/4” diameter. It must be accessible to hand.
   7. Sufficient food and fluids to sustain team members throughout the course of the race.
   8. One Bailer (bucket or pump)
   9. River Map (available for purchase in Whitehorse or from yukonbooks.com)
   10. Race Bibs to be issued by YRMPA and signed by racers.
   11. Basic First Aid Kit (www.yukonriverquest.com/firstaidkit.htm)
   12. One emergency space bivy sack per person
   13. Waterproof matches/lighter and firestarter material on the person of at least 1 member of the team.
   14. One sleeping bag per person rated to -5C.
   15. A free-standing Tent(s) to shelter all members of a team.
   16. Watertight flashlight or navigation light for night travel and signalling (required by Transport Canada) – Petzel type LED either mounted on front of boat or in use as a headlamp on a solo kayaker or bow paddler of a tandem or voyageur team. Teams are required to turn on the light between dusk and dawn (midnight to 4 a.m.) and have adequate battery power for eight or more hours.
   17. 2 extra layers of warm clothing contained in a dry bag.
   18. Backpack stove and fuel with a pot capable of boiling 16 oz. of water.
   19. Sun screen

I hate to think how heavy our 40kg boat will be once we’ve loaded it up with all this…