More Training Plus Firefighter Fundraisers

Training continued last weekend with just one push on Sunday. Unfortunately I got an infection which meant I decided to rest up on Saturday. Sunday however was rather busy with rowing first thing with about 10km rowed and then it was a 15km push in the afternoon. The push started well with the body feeling good and pleasant conditions, there was however a southerly change forecast. So after grinding up my course with little or no wind I turned to return back towards home to be greeted by a good old southerly 'buster'. It was just like my Mayfield push a few weeks back with a very strong head wind...tough stuff. Fortunately I had Denise riding with me and she helped keep my spirits and momentum up.

 

Bruce Day - Snug Fitting Hi Viz

With the Christchurch 1/2 marathon looming the next weekend I started to taper my training. Swim on Monday, rest on Tuesday and then a push with Bruce Day on Wednesday, this time about 12km.  This push again went pretty well with good conditions although I need to time my training so that I don't meet the school pick up traffic. For the rest of the week it was a rest day on Thursday, swim Friday and very gentle row today on Saturday morning.  This morning the Press ran a story about my particapation in the Christchurch Marathon, not a bad read!!

 

On Monday I attended the Ashburton Rural Fire Coordination Group meeting which I am secretary for.  At this meeting they had surprise agenda item; fundraising for Terry's trip to the New York marathon.  This totally blew me away, apparently one Jamie Grant came up with the idea.  The fire boys will now be embarking on selling a thousand raffle tickets.  Watch out Ashburton District!!

Bro In Town

Stephen - Ready to GO!!

Well it looks like I might have over trained last weekend with the shoulder flaring up again. I therefore don't train early in the week and stick to swimming. Come Tuesday evening I have a visitor from the north, my brother Stephen on a work trip. With a memorable Chicken Korma, a nice Hawkes Bay Chardonnay, Denises help in the kitchen and company at the table it is a pleasant evening. To round things off we have an Apple Crumble from home grown apples and a rather nice Dessert Reisling from Nelson...yum. 

 

Another Great Afternoon in Ashburton!

 The next day Stephen has an early start and a busy day going down to Timaru but before he heads home I get him to take a spin with me. With only limited time we do the shorter 7.5 circuit around the urban streets. The trip goes well with another pleasant Ashburton afternoon, below is a short video taken on Stephens phone (not sure this would have complied with Z H&S policies)

 

 

Weekend Pushes + GPS Data

On Saturday I finished another good push. My bike buddy was my daughter Kate. Kate had come down from Christchurch the night before for the open night of GREASE. This was a really good fun production which we all enjoyed.  Back to training, conditions were perfect for me.  It was a cool morning with a few spots of rain with a SW wind and we again completed my 15km course although we finished differently which reduced the distance.

Kate - Bike Buddy

For the first time I attached a GPS to the chair to give me some training data.  The GPS registered that I completed 13.8km which took me 59 minutes, hence an average speed of 13.8 km/hr. My maximum speed was 21.3 km/hr, this would have been a downhill leg with the wind behind us.

Sunday and it was an early start just like a working day as we were rowing at Lake Hood. Denise and all the kids came down. I headed out in my little adaptive single and Denise teamed up with Sue in a double. The kids spent most of the time in the coaching boat with Kate taking photos and the boys eventually having a crack in a single with floats. I had a really good session in my boat (10km rowed) with my race training definitely helping my fitness. 

 



Rowing Lake Hood

After a bbq at the rowing shed and second breakfast at home and a few chores completed Thomas wanted to pit his running skills against the racing chair. We set off on the short 7.5km circuit. Thomas kept up with me quite easily on the first half of the course winding through the domain and gently climbing through the back streets but on the way home with the downhill helping the chair speed get close to 20km/hr, Thomas the runner got left behind.

 

A bit of late breaking news; I am going to enter the Christchurch Half Marathon at Queens Birthday weekend. This will give me a chance to get the feel of being in an event. The only problem is at this stage I will be the only entry in a wheelchair, more about this later.

 

 

Back In The Saddle

After having a bit of a break following treatment to my shoulder and a weekend to Wellington with Denise I had pressure to get cracking again.  The start of this week I had a couple of swims in Ashburtons new pool, a great facility, and then on Wednesday it was back in the race chair. This push I had a new bike buddy - Bruce Day. Bruce use to be my tennis captain at the sunset doubles and he is not a bad bloke. We set out on my 15km circuit and again I had to battle northwest winds. All went well though and the body felt pretty good. Following Wednesday's push I did more swimming along with a short push on Friday afternoon. Again I had a new bike buddy, Bruce Welch, former work colleague and fellow rowing club committee member. Bruce is also a good bloke and was that keen to help me that a cold south west wind and the threat of rain did not put him off the training session.

Tough Test

First time back in the racing chair for a few days and I am planning on heading to a quiet road near Mayfield. After the gale force winds yesterday the wind was lighter today although increasing in strength. After my swim at lunch time I call Alison who is near Mayfield for a wind report, 'pretty strong up here' is the answer, I decide to give it a crack anyway.

I arrive at the meeting place and the car is being rocked around by the wind, oh dear!  I get changed and with help get into the chair. Things are slow to say the least, the wind is almost straight into my face and we are also climbing. After a long and very slow grind I finally get to a point in the road where we turn and get some relief from the wind and the climbing and I start to get some more speed up. With over 30 minutes gone we then decide to turn back and I head home with the assistance of both the wind and the down slope and therefore manage to reach quite fast speeds. I must get a GPS on the chair to record my speeds and other stats.  The trip back to the car does not take long and I have finished a 50 minute push.

Some of the other traffic on the road

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Pool Rules

My weekly appointment at the physio today and it all went well.  The shoulder received some Bowen treatment along with the rest of my body. I am undertaken Bowen treatment to try relieve my neuropathic pain.

After coming out of physio I found that Ashburton was being buffeted by gale force winds with rain threatening. On this I decided to flag wheelchair training and headed to the pool. This was not a bad decision as I had all 6 lanes to myself for my 1km swim.

Ashburton Community Pool - Only open for 2 more days

Achilles Trust and Hand Bike

I heard back from the Catwalk people today and from Peter Loft from the Achilles Trust who help with disabled athletes.  The organisation of the New York trip is now starting to get finalised, it looks like I will be travelling with Marathon Tours & Travel.

No wheelchair training the last couple of days.  Day of rest yesterday after a big day on Sunday. Today I was back at the pool, it is count down time for our old pool with only three more days left in its life with the new pool at the EA NETWORKS CENTRE opening in the weekend.  It is kind of sad, I will miss the 33 & 1/3 metre length with more turns required in the 25m pool, although I will not miss the condensation running down the walls in the changing rooms.

I got some other good news in the weekend with a photo of my new hand bike sent through by the distributor from Wanaka.  It is a Reactive Adaptions Nuke, designed for the off road and with a powered hub. This will be great aid with training allowing another cross training option.

Can the body hold up?

Well not much has been happening over the last couple of weeks with my left shoulder not in great shape. Not only has it been stiff but it has also had limited movement in some directions and causing some discomfort with transfers.  It is very important for me to look after my shoulders as they really allow me to get into my chair, transfer into the car and lift vital beveridges to my mouth.....use your imagination as to what they are.
With concern regarding my shoulder rising I visited a local physio for treatment. After an examination it was decided to try some Kinesio tape. Here the big decision was what colour to choose; pink, black or blue. Since then I rested for more than a week and also after a discussion with Alison Bachelor (fellow pool user and former colleague) I also decided to stop my back stroke which I had recently started. Since then I have done a couple of small pushes, the last was today which seemed ok although I will wait and see how the shoulder feels tomorrow.