Several weeks ago I decided to place many of the games in my videogame collection up for sale. I posted this link on the Gamecritics.com message board and within days sold over 50 titles. Although the $600 I received for the games was a far cry from how much I spent on those games over the years, they were simply collecting dust and doing me no good on my shelf. It was time to trade up. What I traded them for was a kayak.
REI's Anniversary Sale came at just the right time and I was able to save 15% off the price of the kayak, 20% off the price of the roof rack (my Element now looks like the ultimate Thule-branded utility truck: cargo case, kayak carrier, bike racks), and 10% off a paddle and PFD. The kayak is the Necky Manitou and it's a 13-foot open-cockpit kayak that is narrow enough to function as a touring boat while being stable enough and short enough to be recreationally-friendly and not too hardcore. It weighs 45 pounds and is surprisingly not difficult to hoist onto the roof of the Element, although being six-feet tall does help.
With only 6 or so weeks until the Mountains to Sound race and its 12-mile kayak leg, it was high time that I start really training for it. I have less than 4 weeks until my trip to Europe and I can't afford any more interruptions. So today I took the kayak over to Rattlesnake Lake for its maiden voyage. The park was filled with hundreds of hikers, fisherman, swimmers, picnicers, and dog walkers. But there was only a light chop on the lake and I was able to get a solid 50 minutes of paddling in before handing the boat over to Kristin for her turn on the water. The boat tracks well, feels very stable, and was very fun to use. And what a workout! I made an effort to paddle hard for nearly the entire 50 minutes and was able to really feel the workout in my upper body.
Upon handing the kayak over to Kristin, I immediately went for a run. Wow, is that Mountains to Sound race going to be tough! Despite only paddling for less than an hour, my upper body was definitely tired, and my legs were also a bit stiff from bracing myself inside the kayak. I loosened up about two miles into my thirty-minute run, but it is going to be very hard to paddle for three hours and immediately transition to a three-hour run. All of this coming after 73 miles of biking. No more screwing around, it's time to get serious.
The week ahead:
- Monday: 54 mile road bike ride
- Tuesday: 8 mile trail run in the morning, group mtn bike ride at night.
- Wednesday: 90-minute kayak session, followed by 4 mile run.
- Thursday: 30-40 mile fast group road bike ride.
- Friday: 11 mile trail run in the morning, group mtn bike ride at night. (campout)
- Saturday: Long, hilly group mtn bike ride. (campout)
- Sunday: Shorter, less hilly group mtn bike ride.
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