Who pi are?

I didn't manage to run on Saturday owing to interviewing Ighsahn's brother, Hassiem, who will almost certainly be doing our home renovations.

We did manage an assault on Elephant's Eye in Tokai though, which proved to be a nice stroll on the berg in awefully nice weather.

Then this morning I had my vitality assessment.
Turns out I can only do 29 pushups in one minute.
51 situps.
My average heartrate for the step test was excellent
My body fat percentage is 14%
My stress, rest and diet are all well above acceptable.

However, I am so unsupple, I could barely touch the minimum mark for the test, and my legs can be a whole 60' apart when straight...

This means I have loads to work on - not the least being pushups. I'm on something like 29%...
I also have to focus on flexibility, because I am below poor on that score.

Interesting.

A light paddle in the sun

Saturday's session marked a return to calm.
No pushups.
Long stretch.
Started late.

Thor
Martin
Sandra
Mandi
Iemraan
Imtiaz (welcome back! - again)
Faiza
Nazli
Vince
Coleen
Carol
JJ
=-- Jman
Session focus was on length of stroke, with the introduction of the 1,2,3,4,5 (increasing length on catch AND finish).
Reversed the crew and got in long sessions of backwards paddling for shoulder training.
Jman should be commended for an incredible 180' handbreak turn with the crew in reverse.

It was a light session, by comparison, but one that nailed the shoulders.

A good run (but not for me)

Whilst I was learning the "intro to equities" (somewhat below my expectations), you lot had your session under Thor's guidance.

He clocked in a : 17:35
(8:56 and 8:39) timetrial time, which is the office besttime of the club this season.

From what I gathered from Carol, it was
Daggie Des
Jman Vince
Anees Nazli
Col Carol
Gillian
=--Thor spent some time correcting the individual strokes of some of the paddlers, a well overdue event.
How I got it into my head that Igshaan and Craig S were there but not paddling, I have no idea.

Thanks to Vince for keeping me informed, and to Carol for repeating what she tells me.
Pardon?

LoA

I'm busy at work tonight. Thor has the session plan and has agreed to take it.

In pennance, I attempted pull-ups and upper body one-arm cable pulls (amongst dips, crunches, curls and presses).

I can manage about 7 pullups now. Pushups are coming along, but I am concerned I am behind my targets.

Expect a full team test on Saturday.

A Change is as Good as a Holiday

I had a great run with Thor, Yoshia and Mandi. The route is the abbreviated UCT 10km route, covering somewhere between 6 and 7km. We managed 3 sets of 15 Pushups during the run.
It was magnificent to run downhill first and then have a steep uphill to end off.

Lesson: Sometimes, going backwards is forwards.

Time trial, Sat 17th June

Ran with Mike on the time trial light-house distance. Seem to have erased the times from my phone, but I recall the out time as being 9'30 and the return time being 9'01 giving 18'30 over 4km.

It is on and around my best time in this set, but progress has been slow of late. This is perhaps attributable to the massive excesses of Thursday night, followed by an assault on Skeleton Gorge on Friday, which took it out of the old pins.

We'll see next Saturday...

Saturday 17th June

Session focus: Endurance and rate.

3x10 to start with.

Jono and Skwij reappeared after some intimidation and cajoling by Des.
We had just over 1 boat, which we split into two.

Mujaji 1
Thor Martin

Kerri Mandi (Kerri in her last session :-( )

Des Col

Jono Skwij
=--Jman

Tai Joss
Mike Iemraan

Gill Faiza

Anees Darren?
Vince Igshaan

Carol (?? Departed early)
=--Craig S

After the stretch, Thor and Martin had a punitive power 50 for not paying attention. From there, straight into the first piece:
1.5 laps of the basin doing exercises, paddling continuously.
Twisting, Catching, Finishing, Power, Rate.

Next was a 50 pyramid of normal N, rating up in 10s for N, Big stride to normal rate, and Down in 10s for balance of N.
Eg if N = 30:
30 Normal,
10 UP, 10 UP, 10 UP stride stride NOW
10 "normal rate"
10 Down.
10 Down.
Move onto 40 back at "normal rate"...

The famous 1km race.
This was an epic session from the point of view of this race.
The two half boats were lined up under the white bridge, with the heavier (Tai Joss) boat on the inside.
The crews sped off down towards the tug, using a racing start (5,10,10, up for 30) followed by stride, rating up everyso often. At the tug, Mujaji 1 was ahead marginally, but had the wider turning circle, allowing Tai Joss to sneak inside and get a length ahead, showing the importance of good sweeping - we must do more exercises that encourage this.
Both teams headed back for the finish in great fighting form, with Mujaji 1's better run allowing the crew to coast better.
Jono was particularly vocal in his encouragement - welcome back!

Following the race, another exercise 500 was completed in towards the tug with a final powerup for Kerri's benefit and farewell.

Shane and Kerri's seats are safe in our crew as long as they wish to paddle. We will miss them bitterly.

Interlude: Wednesday 14th June
Mamma Mia performance at Artscape.

Herewith the review I wrote for my work intranet, adjusted for paddling.

Abbreviated version:
Suitability: PG (occasional lewd references, and blatant pafdoggery)
Contra-indications: Pathological aversion to ABBA's music
Recommended position: long (buy)

Full version:
Occasionally when accounting for time spent, one finds that insufficient time has been invested in the arts, and an attempt is made to make amends.
The arts are a murky world of subjectivism, fraught with lurking expenses and nuances that make you feel that perhaps you've just been touched for cash for the privilege of being told you're dumb by a troupe in leotards.

Mamma Mia is nothing like that (although they do wear lycra!).
It is, from beginning to end, a romp through ABBA's hits (only notable exceptions I missed were "Fernando" and "Ring Ring") by a very credible cast (backed by a very competent band), set to a storyline that manages to be engaging as well as plausible. The basis of the storyline is a 21 year old girl (Sophia) born in 1979 who is getting married presently (year 2000, obviously) to her love (Skye), discovers her single mom's diary from '79 indicating that her father could be any of 3 different men and proceeds to invite all 3 to her wedding in an effort to determine which of them is her "dad". This all unfolds on the small Greek Island she and her mother live on.

The cast perform with an energy that one can only marvel at, as they are necessarily performing those routines for the zillionth time, and yet you feel like the events unfold for the first time as you sit there. [Kinda like summoning the reptile for another race... M]

A special mention, for the play-buffs must be made of the set and the musicality. The set is very cunning™ly put together and scene changes were smooth and well executed. I expected the music to resemble hack-style karaoke by middle aged yesteryears who thought ABBA was only all about cool tunes, lycra and big boots and who's asking price reflected on the royalty costs only. I feared the Casio keyboard with immense trepidation. I was wrong again, and the cast and band delivered powerful renditions (both the "young" - i.e. 21ish and "old" - 40somethings) that echoed the humanity that first inspired the lyrics, but showing how the lyrics are not limited in relevance to promiscuous flower children.

On the lighter side, when one observes a dozen actors hopping around in unison in snorkelling kit and singing in 4 part harmony, one is reminded that life really need not be all that serious, and I believe that art that accomplishes entertainment (fun) with an optional intellectual slant is good art. (And yes, I will have this argument with anyone else who watches this show - you can opt to interpret the play intellectually at times!)

I despair at how wholly inadequate modern pop music wannabes are in comparison to ABBA, as the modern bimbos' offerings lack both the musicality and universality. I shudder to think of taking my children to see "Hit me baby one more time!" in 20 year's time where someone has set a play to Ms. Spears' "work" reworked into an engaging play. As if!
I am, in short, embarrassed that contemporary music is regarded as popular in the first place.

Mamma Mia is good art, well worth seeing, even if the excellence is "priced in" to a certain extent.
I paid R242 per ticket for seats that had a clear view of the stage from the upper balcony thanks to Quarkman.
To quote the same: "Your median ABBA attendee is a middle-aged SUV-driving couple or family with an infinite capacity for clogging the underground parking, so make sure you leave time to park your car and get upstairs" (which reminds me - I forgot to reference quarkman in the intranet posting).

I managed to procure an ABBA Platinum hits CD from Cavendish CNA two weeks ago for R33, where modern pop is fetching 4x that. This tends to suggest "undervalued".
Given all of the above, I issue a strong buy recommendation.
Go and see it.

Tueday June 13th. Power

This session focussed on power. I recall there being 12 paddlers (3 groups of 4), in the following config:

Thor Iemraan
Mandi Kerri
Des Sandra


Gill Col
Igshaan ??
Craig S Jman
=-- Martin

Vince was excused.
3x10 to start.
Lots of pairs, quads and 6s.
Resisted sets.

Focus on slow, long, deliberate strokes.

Raindrops keep falling on my (and Jman's) head

Yesterday's Newlands forest run was exceptional. It was so wet that the rivers were flowing across the roads and my stopwatch reset itself half-way through, leaving me unable to clock an accurate time.
I guess the forward time was approx 41 minutes, and we skipped all pushups and runbacks.

The temperature was warm (18 deg C), and the rain was pleasant, if occasionally driving. The feeling of pushing the last assault to the end was awesome. The shoes were totally soaked and in reality chocolate and couches would have been a more sane (in)activity, but I wouldn't trade that run for all the tea in china.

Splendid. I'll report on the next time trial on Saturday.

Resistance is fertile

I had a crap run on Saturday. Here are the details:
3'28
9'47 \___ 19'05 time-trial time
9'18 /
3'53

I felt leaden and battled at every step. Set a disappointing time.
Lesson: You won't always "be at" your best. It helps to be able to perform so much better than the competition, that even on "off days" you claim victory.

The session was hard. No doubt about it.
5x10 with 1x5 to finish off.

Ben / Sandra
Mandi / Daggy
Laura / Hayley
Col / Gil (moved to 9)
Martin / Jman
Craig S / Anees
Vince / Igshaan
Zayd / Nadir
Carol / Faiza
Mark / Kerri / Iemraan
=---Shane

Nazli did the junior session.

Session focus: endurance. Pyramid to 50 with rating. Then 500m races focusing on half-boat.
Whole boat start, then half doing 50s, then boat finishing off with crescendo.

I can sense the boat is getting much fitter and stronger. Soon it will be beneficial to work on technique (get the length back, and use the twist optimally).

Tonight is another forest run, and expect strength training on Tues.

Harden the abs, broaden the shoulders.

Session focus: abs and shoulders.
Begin with 5x10, shortened to 4x10 in lieu of lesson learned about energy budgets etc.
Pushups altered to slow down, explosive up.
Thor, Shane and Martin took part in lighthouse run prior.

Shane Thor
Mandi Kerri
Nadir Iemraan
Gillian Coleen
Nazli Laura
Jeremy Sandra
Zayd Anees (new)
Vince Igshaan
=----Martin
Absent: Mike (ill), Ben, Des (returning), Craig S (charity function), Craigus (Climbing), Carol (grief-> RIP Diesel Cat).

Attempted new "locked arms" twisting stroke. Failed to accurately instruct crew, causing confusion and inadequate training.
Reverted to twisting pyramid to 40, taking the twising rate up each 10.
N normal, N twist taking the rate up every 10.

Followed by Forwards, Backwards. 30 twisting forwards, 20 reverse x 4.
Full 250m forwards, backwards race.
Crew showing signs of extreme fatigue by end of piece.

Resisted twisting front half, back half (50 strokes, last 10 pulse-resisted).

2x full 250m race pieces, 5, 10, 10, twising for 30, power for home keeping twist.

Cool down.

Welcome to Anees, probably the sorest person in the Western Cape today! :)

Running Update

Completed the lighthouse run in the following split times:
Cape Grace to BMW: 3'24"
BMW to Lighthouse: 8'54"
Lighthouse to BMW: 9'32"
BMW to Cape Grace: 3'42"

Meaning Time trial time of 18'32". This is in line with goal.
Recall, started running the timetrial in 20 mins, and wish to get to 16 mins by Oct 1.
That means in
June : >19'00"
July: >18'00"
Aug: >17'00"
Sept: =16'00"

Status: satisfactory.

Runtime Error

Yesterday, as a herd of Jman, Craigus and I charged through the Newlands forest, a typical Paddlesnappers shortcoming occured, and one we must be most wary of.

It's called "The underestimation".
At the outset, I indicated I'd like a forward runtime of under 40 mins for the course.
Craigus and I particuarly pushed the first section of the run, especially the uphills. Recall that the runs are broken up into 4 parts, with 1x15 pushups at the end of the first 3 parts each as a break from running, but a strain on the arms.
Anyway. We pushed the first 3 sections quite hard, and made some good time.
We did our push ups slowly down and explosive up, taking care to do them properly.

All we had to do was have an average run in to home (back the the old Zoo parking lot) and we'd have a sub 40 minute forward run. Typically we are motoring the last section, so by average I mean usual level of motoring.

Alas. We lost concentration and started talking about a particularly annoying Ethics question of the CFA II exam, which was a great conversation, but ultimately meant we left the push for the end too late. We came in in 40 mins 20 secs. We easily had enough energy left to have pushed harder over a longer period. The results show that we failed, however.

The Lesson here is to keep focus and keep pushing. If you want to achieve a goal, it is not enough simply to prepare or exert yourself into a position of dominance and then relax, you have to keep pushing all the way to the last stroke.

In this case, it's not that serious - we can achieve our goal next time. But what happens when we think we have something done and dusted in an important final, and lose focus?

I urge you to think about this lesson, and learn from this basic training mistake.

News from a broad.

Kristi sent this pic from her UK HQ of a hotel named for me in Amsterdam.
http://img131.imageshack.us/my.php?image=friscoinn4pa.png


For some reason the "add image" button, she is not working...
I'll edit some other day.

Here's one of Bonjourman.
http://img104.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bounjourman8rx.jpg

Heh.

Life gets in the way of a good plan.

So, I merrily created the blog and set forth to populate it with information on a regular basis.
But, alas, life had other plans. This is typical: you take a decision (e.g. lose weight and get strong or in this case, make a blog), and no sooner have you taken that decision, and life throws something to test it.
In my case it was the CFA level II exam on the 3rd of June.
It meant that I have not captured 2 Saturdays ago's session, nor Tuesday's nor the regatta that was held this last weekend.
The lesson here is to just make do with what you can. Keep up doing your best, and nobody can ask any more.
Fine, I couldn't blog last week, nor exercise as much as I would have liked, but I can now. And I will.

I was out of office and away from all comms.
Anyway, I'm back.

IIRC, 2 Saturdays (Saturday 27th May) ago it was cold. Very cold in fact because I remember sweeping for the Amabele belles afterwards and feeling rather miserable.
The focus was upper body strength and endurance - twisting, forwards and backwards paddling. Thanks again to Mandi who helps out with the ladies whenever she can.

We completed 3x10 before the 'snappers session.
Absent were Mike, Des, Shane, Kerri, JJ , Thor and Craigus and some others.

Tuesday 29th May was back on the power.
Shane was still recovering from his wisdom teeth being removed, Sandra had a fam emergency, Mike in JNB, Des and JJ in China, Thor on CFA, Craigus on his weekly commitments to climbing, Nadir claiming his leg was injured, and Vince excusing himself for a family commitment.

5x10 to warm up. Paddlers starting to show some stamina with most completing all the 3x20 secs bridging in each of the 5 (although there were some loud sighs when the last "easy" was called!)

The focus of the session was power, with successively smaller and smaller sets of paddlers putting their backs into pieces of work. Mostly 30s but some 20s too. Whole boat, half boat, 4s and then 2s.
Some resisted starts and some full blooded drag races.

The "fours" seemed particularly rewarding, with some strong commitment coming from all on the water.

Notice was given that there was to be a regatta on Saturday the 3rd.

The regatta on Saturday 3rd June apparently showed the precarious nature of "being on top", with the 'snappers losing a race or two before taking the regatta in the final.
Some points to note:
1. Lane bias still exists. When the other clubs are fully competitive (and note I don't say IF, I really mean WHEN), lane lengths will be a contentious issue.
2. Snappers had a 12 female crew vs 6 in the opposition at some points. This means we still have a "sharpness" premium in our boat speed - being a coherent unit is allowing us to dominate even though we are not necessarily the strongest 18 people on the water.
Never lose sight of that, but why rely on that? Why not be the strongest too?
3. Our focus in no longer on Wooden Boats although we should take them out every so often to keep "up to speed" as it were.

I will go to gym tomorrow to determine my mass and work some more on my strength.
Tonight is the forest run with Jman and Craigus.

More reports later in the week.