Stripping Down

Summer

A strange thing has happened at the river, the sun has finally come out!! ....After a long cold winter summer is trying very hard. The blossom is colourful  on the trees, small ducklings are learning to swim and sprint kayakers are training with no clothes on.

What?

Yes, that was my first response too as I did a double take when 3 men with bare torsos paddled  past. Realistically they probably weren't completely naked... but you couldn't see below the boat line so how was I to know? 

This was the same day that my coach persuaded me to paddle bare foot- "she is starting me off gently" I chuckled to myself, "next week it'll be my socks and then my top..... " Naked paddling is obviously the way to go!

To be honest I think I would have preferred to paddle naked than go through the training I have had in the last month.
I have been totally stripped down,  not in the clothes sense however but metaphorically with my technique.
My technique  was originally put together in a rush 7 months ago to enable me to achieve selection time- but now this basic paddling style had to change.
My coaches all agreed  I had to be stripped back down to square 1 with the intention of building something bigger and better in time for races later in the season.

In the gym again.

It has been the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Every inch of my brain has had to concentrate and  learn new ways for my body to move- remember as a cyclist I've never had to rotate my torso and now rotation was the key. My timing needed to be changed- my legs feel things differently to each other so when I feel equal I'm not. I've had to learn to to use them 'unequally' which  actually makes them work the same. Yes complicated!

As a physio I know how the brain and body works, and it takes at least 6 weeks for a new movement pattern to become 'established'  I was trying to learn not one new movement, but several interrelated patterns at once and I had less than 4 weeks to master them. Not just master them but be able to use them at sprint pace on wobbly water at the European selection regatta.

My goal was to paddle better but I also wanted to win my races. This would enable me to qualify to race for team GBR at the European champs in June.

As I said, I would have preferred to paddle with no clothes on than be stripped down metaphorically in this way so close to a selection regatta. 

In addition to my training sessions I have had to use every trick I know in my Physio 'tool box' to help expedite the process. I have practiced,  practiced and practiced and discovered first hand muscles in places I have only ever seen on the chart in my treatment room.

Keeping with the stripping bare theme, Ive developed some mighty fine sores on my feet where the skin has been stripped off the top from the pull bar, and from the bottom by the grip tape on my foot plate. Who needs a pedicure, pumice stone or ped egg to remove layers of hardened skin?? 

sad feet

I'm happy to say that despite not feeling totally ready to be 'on show' I won my races - just! I also managed to hold onto my new technique - just! and I also managed to stay 'unequally  equal' for the most part, despite the customary Nottingham wavy water and gusty side winds.

So what next?
Its back to join in the 'naked' paddlers at Wey, where I hope I'll be getting less naked by steadily putting my 'layers' of technique and confidence back on as the summer progresses. I'm really looking forward to this challenge!

Thanks again to Claire, Matt, Colin and Batty and all for your support - I can't do any of this without you. 

Boat Shoes have their uses

Yesterday the sun came out briefly and in a brave moment my coach declared that today was the day I was going to start paddling without my boat shoes.
Im pretty fond of my boat shoes and needed a lot of convincing. - at less than £15 they provided an amazing number of benefits/pound.

My trusty boat shoes

They made me feel really secure in the kayak,  not only did they take up space jamming my feet into the cockpit they also seemed to even out the sensation differences  between my feet making it easier to put even pressure through the foot plate as I paddled. They also kept my feet toasty warm all winter! But now it was officially summer and the boat shoes had to go.
"Did you see any of the GB paddlers wearing boat shoes at the National regatta?" No - but none of the GB paddlers have wonky feet either!
It was no use- Claire was adamant that the boat shoes added no benefit - for one I couldn't steer with them on.  With out the boat shoes I would eventually learn to connect better with the boat.

I felt very disloyal and sad leaving my trusty boat shoes at the side of the river as I paddled off. Claire had said they had no benefits......as I paddled I began thinking of what my boat shoes could do once retired from my feet.
So here are a few ideas for alternative uses for my boat shoes, proving that they still have lots of benefits - though maybe not in my boat.

Amazing pet hair remover from carpets and upholstery

Mashing potatoes was never this easy- or fun

Keeping those beer bottles cool on a hot summers day

A very satisfying fly swatter- it makes a great noise!

No more stinky trainers from Simon. Just sprinkle tea tree oil over boat shoe and insert

A nifty little hair straightener holder preventing accidental carpet singes

No more searching around the bottom of the bath for my soap- yes it floats!

The cat thought it made an interesting water bowl

A coaster to add intrigue to any afternoon tea party

Any other ideas greatfully received, anything to keep my boat shoes off my feet!

My first Regatta

My first race of the season is done...  What am I saying?!... It was my first regatta ever , and now I have two wins under my belt...

Me at the end of my race

 But it's not just me. Anyone who has been following my progress so far will know that I'm  really lucky to have support, so I thought it was time to introduce the amazing "Team Dickins"...

- Colin and Matt, the coaches at GB Paracanoe
- Claire, Phil and Batty coaches at Wey Kayak Club
- Pippa my kayak, (she looks great from behind)

- and Rory aged 6 and Elsie aged 4, my very own special fans!

The story so far... I got into ParaCanoe because Colin, the lead coach for GB Paracanoe in Nottingham, persuaded me to turn up for a try out. At my first trial I did ok, but I really needed to learn to paddle a kayak.  "How hard can it be?"  I thought. Six months in and I still don't fully understand how much more I have to learn.  I just know it's a lot... As I live in Surrey with family and work commitments, I needed to find something a little closer than Nottingham for my day to day training. Weekly commutes I could just about manage, but I was going to need a lot more training than that.

When Colin pointed me in the direction of Wey Kayak Club he knew he was recommending a good club.  It has a reputation for producing GB squad members and medal winners. But even he couldn't have known just how much the club would rally around and support me.  Being a disabled friendly club, with a new paracanoe specfic boat (sponsored by Sanofi Health) was a real bonus, but within weeks of me turning up I had my own coaching team.

last minute boat check from Phil and pep talk from Claire

Team Dickins is based around Claire Gunney (ex world no 2 marathon paddler).  Coaching a complete novice with the goal of GB number 1 and a dream of Rio is a tall ask and I can never thank her enough for taking on the challenge!  Phil, Claire's husband (who was her coach), brings a wealth of coaching tips (and pain!) to the team. If I can talk at the end of a session then I haven't paddled hard enough!
Dave Batteshaw (Batty) is another ex GB paddler based at Wey with his own para-athletes to train. His sessions complement Claire's, meaning every training session is bringing something different. With so many accomplished paddlers at Wey there are many others eager to offer support and tips (thanks to Richard-Rachel Cawthorns Dad for pointing out that it's a pull bar, not a roll bar;-) ) or just people to train with in the club gym. When I train alongside the u23s I get the added bonus of expanding my traditional musical knowledge as their iPod tracks fill the gym. 

At the Start

It is almost impossible to quantify how much being at a club has assisted in getting me through this first regatta.

If the team at Wey wasn't enough, I also have sessions at the 'High Performance Centre' in Nottingham -The hub for GB para canoe. Colin works with Claire to make sure my Surrey programme is integrated with the Nottingham sessions and they work together on my year's race plan.  We now also have Matt on board, who helps with the sessions in Nottingham.

I then have my very special boat Pippa, named after a certain Middleton who apparently also looks amazing from behind - My aim is that all my competition gets used to that view ;-) Her artwork was designed for me by a friend of mine, Kelvin.  His work is always inspiring. Hope you like her?

Pippa

So back to this weekend's regatta - a weekend full of firsts for me.

 My 10 firsts this weekend:
1/ First regatta (really scary)
2/ First time using my new Thule roof kayak rack (having used their bike racks before I knew they would be great, thank you Thule)

Easy loading Thule Kayak specific roof rack

3/ First time driving with a boat on the car (also scary)
4/ First race (glad to get that one out the way - my 'start' and race was pretty ragged -  its amazing what nerves can do, and I was really annoyed that I let my technique go)
5/ First win (yay!) Well done to all the paddlers out there in testing conditions.
6/ First start into a howling gale (I guess it's good experience, but it meant no chance of notching up a personal best.

7/ First pre-race curry (Simon, when I said that I needed distracting the night before the race, a curry wasn't quite what I had in mind)
8/ First post-race debrief with the GB paracanoe coaching team (Yes Steve and Colin, I know I paddled with more enthusiasm than finesse but am just as excited as you about how much room there is for improvement!)
9/ First fan club (Rory and Elsie, you are adorable. Thank you for cheering me on so loudly on the bank - I promise to let you know when the next race is in town!)
10/... Nope, you know I still lose count...

Ive been Kayaking for 6 months....

September 2012 was my first time in a sprint kayak. It is now March 2013 and I am firmly on the GB Paracanoe team. I am less than 3 weeks away from my very first race and with a winter of training behind me I feel might be able paddle and not look like a total beginner. It has been quite a journey with lots to learn.  Here's my top 10 lessons!

1/ A kayak isn't a canoe. With a kayak you use a double ended paddle and you sit down, where as in a canoe you use a single ended paddle and you kneel. I feel It's important that as a new member of team GB I know all the nuances of my sport ;-)

Its official!

2/ Kayaking is not a pulling action but a push. (the top arm  pushes the kayak past the lower arm) This involves a huge amount of trunk rotation- something I had none of as a cyclist.  Or maybe I did... which would explain my inability to control my bike around corners;-) 

3/ You don't really use your arms to create power, it's your trunk and your legs that do most of the  work- the arm just acts as a lever to transfer the force. This I struggle with as part of my disability means I have limited sensation under my right foot and buttock. Because of this,  I can't really gauge how to put even pressure through my legs or whether I'm sitting squarely on the seat. I go wonky quite regularly - which is comical when the sprint course is a straight line! One coach who didn't realise why I go wonky, was a little anxious when I called out at the end of an effort that it had gone wrong because I had "lost my arse"  halfway down the river.

4/ Sprint Kayaking gives you a really flat stomach and strong core :-) I have lost inches from my waist  and my hips-  I have totally changed shape, its as though someone has squeezed  my bottom half like a toothpaste tube and its all ended up at the top. 

6 months later

5/ Sprint kayaking is the most technically difficult sport I have ever been involved with. It is possibly the most opposite sport from endurance cycling (in terms of movement patterns and fitness) that you could find. I dream about paddling every night and have done since I first started. I'm hoping this subconscious visualisation will help speed up my learning curve, rather than just wear me out or hurt my partner as my arms flail about during my sleep! 

6/ Kayaking makes controlling a full shopping trolley around the supermarket really easy. I can now navigate off camber corners with a full trolley and I frequently avoid mid isle collisions with  Grannies meandering unexpectedly into my path! This is definitely one of the surprising benefits of sprint kayaking...

7/ Kayaking eliminates bingo wings, but on the flip side I can no longer get my arms into my favourite shirt. 

8/ The water can get no colder than zero degrees... or it stops being water. On many occasions through the winter the water has been significantly warmer than the air. I tell myself this regularly to persuade me to go paddling despite this being the coldest winter we have had for 50 years! We don't wear wet suits and most people paddle in bare feet and yes we get cold!

minus 5 degrees

snow doesn't settle on the water so no excuses

9/Hydrodynamics- The warmer the water the faster you go - I have yet to experience this warm water phenomenon.....Roll on Rio

England Vs Rio.

10/ I can't count.

 Genuinely! Ask my coach if I can remember how many reps Ive done after a session. I reckon I blank just them out....

GB Training Camp

It's not every day that you get asked how big your chest is by a man 20 years your junior. In this instance it was neither cheeky or pervy, Colin my coach was simply ordering my GB kit and as such didn't receive a slap! 
Despite being on a team GB winter training camp It was only at this moment, when uniform was being ordered, that it dawned on me I was actually part of 'team GB'. 

The winter training camp was the first camp for the new para canoe squad and  I was suitably nervous.  I had only been kayaking for 3 months and here I was amongst the best para canoeists in the country- in fact the world. In this squad of 20 there were 4 athletes who had won medals at last years world championships. Just a little daunted doesn't even come close to how I was feeling!
Looking around I was struck by the diversity of the group. Almost every demographic box had been ticked. All so different and yet united by some event in our past which had changed our bodies and our lives. We all sat there- some in wheelchairs, some with prosthetic legs, some with wiggling stumps, some with crutches but all athletes with an incredible mindset that anything is possible. We could all have decided after our injury that we were a victim of circumstance and put our 'glass half empty' down on the table. In contrast, everyone had raised their 'glass half full' up high, in celebration of what we yet could achieve. 

The week was divided up into water sessions, seminars, gym sessions and testing. 
I'm now getting used to the fact that I am constantly going to be tested to make sure I am improving. The first time I went to this gym was 3 months ago I couldn't even lift the bar without any weights on it - what a total wimp! 

I have spent considerable time down the 'other' end of the gym at home- No more am I at the end full of ladies in matching gym kit who check the mirrors regularly to ensure there is no makeup slippage or VPL. I'm now pumping iron in the smelly end of the gym. I am surrounded by men in baggy sweat shorts who's arms no longer hang vertically.  The sleeves are torn off their t shirts and they gaze into the mirror to ensure that their shiny biceps are getting bigger. 

My hard work has paid off, I manage a new personal best both in the gym and on the water!

My ethos is black and white, do it or don't. So when the coaches say give it 100 % -I do just that. By day 4, I couldn't even take my t shirt off as my arms were so stiff and sore- my core was exhausted and it felt more like wet pasta than muscles of a 'finely tuned' athlete.

Despite being in shreds, I had a brilliant week! My highlights were having a training session alongside the face of GB para-canoe and treble world champion. I had a - "ooo crickey, this is surreal! "  moment as we paddled down the lake together. 

The bigger highlight however was getting to know my team mates. What a fantastically brilliant, uplifting bunch of people. Everyone should spend time with a squad of para athletes in the hope that some of their spirit, determination and irreverent sense of humour might possibly rub off on them. 

From Zero to 'hero' in 7 weeks. GB para canoe selection.

It felt very odd standing at the paddler briefing at the GB selection event. Lots of Team GB track suits and athletes who's faces I recognised. They must have wondered who I was, standing there in my cycling 'race team' kit ( I hadn't bothered buying any canoe specific kit yet). Only my boat shoes confirmed that I probably hadn't turned up to the wrong briefing! 

"Is everyone ok with the starting mechanism?" Steve Harris ex world champion and head of the para canoe program was asking.
I hesitated, then reluctantly put my hand up. There was an awkward moment when all the other Athletes eyes seemed to turn to me- the only one in cycling kit. "Im not sure how it works" I said. I had just admitted out loud to everyone that I was a newbie and that I had never been in a race.  

The day was precisely organised. Every athlete had to do 2 water 200m time trials, an ergo test and I, as a new athlete was to have my para athlete classification medical as well. 

It was time to head out for my water time trial - I wished my legs would stop shaking with nerves as I walked over to my boat. To my surprise, my coach had put my name in large letters across the bow making me smile which also seemed to calm my legs down a bit. 

Ready steady.... Last week I had capsized and frightened myself comprehensively by being unable to breathe in the freezing water as I struggled to swim to the shore.
This image was not helping! 

go! 

The bucket start mechanism released the boat and I plunged the paddle into the water. All technique seemed to go to pot ( frog in a blender comes to mind) as I furiously splashed my way down the course.  I vaguely remember going cross eyed as I pushed to my maximum. At about 150m everything was excruciatingly painful and it felt like my eyeballs and core muscles would pop. How can a minute or so of exercise be so hard? I told myself to "get a grip, it was only temporary" I put the pain out of my head, went more cross eyed, hoped nothing would burst and pushed harder. I had worked incredibly hard over the past 7 weeks, this was a one chance opportunity and I had put everything into it. I had been coached at Wey Kayak club 3 times a week under the critical but encouraging eyes of Claire Gunney. (ex team GB and marathon champ) We practiced until my body felt like a rag doll and my hands bled. I had travelled to Nottingham once a week for more torture. I squeezed in daily gym sessions which focused on changing my strong cycling core into a kayaking core. I worked on facilitating the strength I already had into specific kayaking patterns. ( being a physio is really useful sometimes and this is the kind of work I specialise in.)

At the end of the time trial I was too out of breath to smile but I knew I had done my best. I was really pleased that  A. I hadn't fallen in and B.despite being cross eyed had managed a vaguely straight line (not as easy as it sounds) I also felt it was a decent time. But was it good enough for the team?

My coach was grinning, he had been right. That games-maker he met in the coffee shop 2 months ago was a para-canoeist (even though she didn't know it yet). I had posted the fastest time of the day out of all the girls, including those already on the GB team! Yaaaaaay!

Not only that, I had received my official para classification enabling me to be a LTA classified athlete. I had had mixed feelings about putting myself forward to officially classify my 'disability' Admitting to this disability, in my mind was a failure. I had struggled on in denial trying unsuccessfully to race my bike, becoming increasingly frustrated and depressed with my weak leg limiting me. I was really very down about it until I was given this opportunity to do something completely different. It was as if a light had gone on in my head and I had something positive to work towards again rather than standing at a dead end trying to 'ride my bike through a brick wall'. One door closes but another one opens, and classification (despite being something I didn't want to be true) was the key to that door. 

I had made it! In seven weeks I had managed to achieve the squad selection time!

The official email followed welcoming me onto the GB squad with a list of dates- including the world champs 2013- to keep free.. 

I keep having to re read that email just to make sure. It doesn't seem possible that a chance meeting in a coffee shop at the Olympics (see my olympic legacy post) would lead to this. I still can't believe that I made it onto the GB squad never having raced a canoe and having spent nothing on canoeing except petrol and precisely £ 6.99 on a pair of boat shoes! 

It just goes to show that anything is possible if you are open to change, want it enough and have the correct support around you.
I could never have decreased my time to get squad time without the coaches at Wey kayak club and of course Colin the Games-maker/GB coach who saw beyond the lopsided cyclist. 

My Olympic "Leg"acy

This is not a normal Monday morning. I am sitting in a logo'd "team GB" race canoe and I'm using an uber bling carbon fibre paddle to splash my way furiously up the 200m sprint course at the National waters sports centre. ....

Working at the Olympics had been an amazing experience, but not for any of the reasons I could have predicted. A chance meeting and a casual conversation in a cafe with a random fellow gamesmaker turned into an invitation for me to try out for the GB squad para canoe team.

All gamesmakers have a real life job, and his job was GB paracanoe coach. In between sips of coffee he was explaining that he was searching for suitable athletes to train for Rio 2016

"you can have me if you like" I said

This was meant asG a joke but his coffee was soon forgotten as I received a fast and furious Q and A session about my back injury, my weak leg and my bike racing history.

He left me feeling slightly giddy with a date in my diary to be assessed for suitability to join the team.  In the time it had taken to eat half a muffin I had gone from frustrated endurance cyclist with a dodgy leg to a possible GB para sprint canoeist. 


I was trialling for team GB in a sport which I had never done- did I mention that bit?- I've never actually been in a canoe.

I arrived at the water sports centre and met the gamesmaker who was now wearing his team GB coach polo shirt looking very official. He was talking to the other athletes and suddenly I felt like I was in the wrong place. They were all in wheelchairs and I couldn't help wondering What the hell was I doing here? My legs 'work' and I can't canoe!! 

It was explained that there is a spectrum of disability classification for each sport and I am at one end, having reduced use of my leg, whereas they are at the other end having use of just arms. 

First things first-to learn how to 'paddle'. I had a swift half hour session on the ergo (dry land canoe) - I had no idea how complicated it all was.  "right, let's see what you can do. "

As an endurance cyclist I'm all slow twitch with weedy arms so a 200 meter sprint  at full pelt on the ergo put me into a whole new world of pain. 

Despite my time putting me 17th in the world for my category which I was actually ok with, it was a 'disappointing' time. In order to make the team I would have to be within sniffing distance of a medal on the world stage!

Then moment I had been dreading- actually getting onto the water. 

 The other athletes had made it look so easy! I scramble into the boat and wobble. One girl says "you will fall in - we all do in the beginning" ....thanks:-) 

I start off down the lake and massive a smile spreads across my face, I  work!! My arms, unlike my legs are equal and for the first time since my accident I don't have to struggle or concentrate on walking. I feel free, I feel like I'm flying!  whoaah! Plop!

It was 7 weeks ago that I was given the challenge by the GB coach to turn myself from slow twitch sloth into a fast twitch cannon with guns of steel. I was told that I had to drop a considerable number of seconds to be any where near the selection criteria.

 So much has happened in the last 7 weeks. I have been training, paddling, working and sleeping and not much else. I have open blisters on my hands, aching shoulders and quite scary looking biceps. I have learnt the difference between a Kayak and a canoe and stopped mixing up the words paddling and peddling!

This weekend is crunch time. I have a total of about 2 minutes racing time and a medical to determine my path for the next 4 years, and whether Im going to be paddling to Rio.

Nervous? Me? hell yes!