Wheeling update - Oct-Dec '15

My last wheelchair-specific post was a summary of the half marathon in October. Since then, I haven't done any competing but I have been getting out and about.

Accompanying men - 3 shiny new novices in this crew.

I'm coaching the men's squad of my rowing club, which means that when they go out on the water I need to be able to keep up with them somehow. The easiest way to do this is to cox them, but this doesn't really help with training up our coxes. Most rowing coaches on the Cam cycle along the towpath (the river being too small, narrow and busy for launches to be a safe option) but I can't really do that. Instead, I am the Cam's only - and possibly first! - wheelchair rowing coach.

The main disadvantages of this are that I can't really get over the bridges very easily (so I have to catch them up about a mile down the river) and when they're really going for it I find it hard to keep up. That said, I'm able to keep up nicely when they're just paddling, and the biggest advantage over a bike is that I'm much lower down, which gives me a really good perspective that I've never had with rowers before. I can see what they're doing very clearly and it almost feels as if I'm sitting on their laps, I'm so close!

The towpath isn't an especially nice place to go for a push. It's often wet and muddy and so my chair has had to have a thorough clean a couple of times. I bought some car shampoo (partly because it was cheaper than bike cleaning stuff, and partly because it was green so matched Buster!) so now my chair smells really nice as well as looking shiny. Unfortunately, I managed to get a puncture in my front tyre, so I've had to get that fixed. I'm very lucky that I live quite near Draft Wheelchairs, because they're so good at having things in stock and being able to fit new items quickly.

Buster was even muddier.

When I went to get the tyre changed I was even allowed a little play in their handbikes! I tried out a mid-range model first, which was fun but hard work, then a higher-spec one which was fun but a bit scary. I suspect that if I'd had better control of steering, gears and braking then I would have found it less terrifying but a bit of fear doesn't stop something being fun! I'm hooked now and would love my own bike. The only problem is that having tested both models I now know the difference and would only really want the expensive one...such is life!

Oh my word WANT NEED BUT MAINLY WANT

In our club training sessions, we've now moved on from the roads and paths around the West Cambridge site to the athletics track. Both the roads and the track offer their own challenges. On the track, you have the advantage that it's always flat, but the roads are a nicer surface to push on. In particular, the home straight (last 100m) of the track at Cambridge is quite hard work because it's been resurfaced and is much thicker and springier than the rest of the loop.

This photo from the summer shows starkly where the new bit of track ends and the firmer (but wetter) part starts.

I like being out on the paths, but getting used to the track is really important and it's a set of skills that I would like to improve upon before next year's competitions - and there's something satisfying about pitting yourself against something so unchanging. It's also changed the focus of our sessions - we're now mostly doing a high number of shorter, more intense pieces, and we're usually set off at specific time intervals so that we're chasing each other and attempting to catch those who set off before us. It makes for a tough session but it's a really good way to train and I feel that I'm getting a lot from it. Recent sessions include things like 100m on, 100m off (x as many as can be fitted in), 300m on, 100m off (x 8), and pyramids (200m, 200m, 600m, 1000m, 600m, 200m, 200m). It's safe to say we're being kept busy!

OK, so this is from the summer, but it's the most recent photo I have of me on the track. I was trying to capture myself and the little bunny which is about a quarter of the way in on the left by the hedge...!

My health in recent training sessions has been interesting. I've been taking lots of esomeprazole to try and keep my stomach contents down and have been working on trying to improve both the mobility and stability of my left shoulder. It turns out that this is rather hard to do, and I've had a few times recently where the speed of the chair has been enough to fling my shoulder joint out of place when I put the hand near the pushrim. Because the weather has been getting colder, we've also been trying to adjust to the winter temperatures by wearing the right kit, but it's really hard to predict how rainy it will be and how quickly we will warm up. Probably the biggest problem we've been having is with the wind, which tends to hit hardest between the 75m and 225m mark as you go round the 400m track. It's another thing to fight against, and at least has the effect of making the spongy last 100m feel relatively quick!

Panic-stricken dog in wind. I just love this.

Two other exciting things of note have happened recently. The first was that I finally received my cheque in the post for winning the Perkins Great Eastern Run (which is good because I'd already spent it on riding kit...) and the second is that I was awarded the 'C&C Trophy' for Best Performance by a Wheelchair Athlete - specifically the aforementioned Perkins win. This was presented at an awards ceremony after the club's AGM last week, which was an interesting opportunity to learn more about how the club is run and to learn about Jessica Judd, a young GB middle distance runner who was presenting the prizes.

Looking strangely apologetic - maybe because that's not my trophy...

Actually, the C&C Trophy wasn't presented as there'd been a bit of a mix-up about who was meant to be ordering the trophy (it being a new award) so instead I was handed the 'Multi Events' trophy to look good in photos (!) and also a smaller plaque for me to keep. My mum and John came along on the night to get some photos and although I suspect they didn't find the AGM too interesting they were very polite about it!

To be honest, I feel I should be doing more wheeling training. I'm getting out in the chair twice a week on average at the moment, but I'd like to be doing a lot more. Things are nearly getting settled with the PhD and everything, and then with any luck I'll have a bit more time to think about planning my training properly instead of just slotting it in around everything else. The other day I received a whole load of details about the half-marathon I've signed up for next April (in aid of the British Heart Foundation), and I'm also signed up for one in March, so I need to get training for them as I think I've lost fitness since October, and I want to be going sub 1:25:00 in the next half marathon. I'm quite sure I can do it but only if I get back to the longer training sessions. Tomorrow I've got a lot on, and the day after is rowing races, and the day after that is a dressage competition, but maybe the day after that I'll get some decent training done...