Training starts now

A month or two ago, a few friends started kicking around the idea of doing the Queen Lili'oukalani race in Kona this year. It didn't become "real" for me until last week, when I made that switch from "would be cool" to "I'm doing this". I figured that starting up a blog might help with motivation and keeping track of my training.

I've been to the race once before. I didn't race the long distance 18-mile race, just the 6-mile double hull sprint. At the time I didn't think I was fit enough or comfortable enough with my paddling to do the 18-miles. Since then I've helped  others train 2-3 years in a row to get ready for the race. This year it was time.

I've been paddling pretty consistently in both the club's Race and Recreational practices, so at least I'm not super rusty. But having decided to do the race, I want to be as prepared as I possibly can. For now I've come up with a tentative training schedule. There's almost exactly 4 months between now and the race, so that's a lot of time to improve in my paddling and steering ( in case I end up steering). I have a lot to improve on technique and fitness wise. 18-miles is no joke in practice, but in a race, in the much hotter Hawaiian heat, in unfamiliar waters, is something you have to prepare for.

Currently the plan is something like this:

Weekly Training

Monday: Race practice
Tuesday: OC-1 Practice
Wednesday: Race practice
Thursday: Recreation practice
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Race in the morning, Recreation in the afternoon.
Sunday: Rest or other-training.

I also want to fit Yoga in there somewhere. The doctor said it would do well for my back ( lower back issues) and overall flexibility.

On top of all this, I'm also going to have to be even better about watching my diet. I'm not going to completely change everything I eat, but I will start gradually removing the unnecessary/unhealthy foods that have been reintroduced in the past year or so.