'Merica!!

This holiday has been a long time coming and to say I'm excited is an understatement! The weather is looking hot and we have a but load of stuff to do. So far the plan is lots of shopping, eating, whitewater rafting, hiking and just general site seeing, gonna be awesome! It's also the first time my parents have been there and met Jessica's parents so it's going to be really cool to show them around and have a good time.

I've really laid on the training in preparation for this holiday as although I'm going to be running and pumping iron out there, we are going to be hitting the food, it's impossible not too.... for me anyway! With all this training I'm actually 5 pounds under my ideal weight so this has made a nice benchmark for growth, I just need to make sure it goes to the right places!

Sprints have been going great and stamina has been increasing, same with running. My weights have been stepped up which is a great confidence boost. When I was at my biggest in NZ I weighed 96kg and I'm now benching 97kg. Not much for the weight lovers but for a skinny guy currently weighing 68kg it's promising to know my strength is in the right areas.

It has raised an issue that with the training I'm doing and active lifestyle, I need to eat more of the right proteins to prevent me losing too much weight before Sickline. I eat a lot, I just don't think it's enough of the good stuff to maintain my weight. More chicken, beans, protein!

I have some Teva Gnarkosi's waiting for me in the States as I wanted a midway shoe for creeking. I have Canyoneers which I love for creeking but for when I have my creek boat on whitewater courses or less rugged terrain I wanted a water shoe that wasn't too flimsy but didn't quite have the bulk of the canyoneers. So I'm really excited to see how they work out. They will definitely be my shoe of choice for the Sickline.

So stay tuned for photo's etc of our USA adventure coming soon!

Cardiff training

Today I decided it'd be a great idea to do some sprint training at CIWW. So I met up with Ben Coulton and headed to the course. The sun was shining and we hit the water! I wanted to do as many laps as I could and I lost count at around 20, I did a lot more after that so I'm assuming it was around 30. Not bad! The course wasn't that busy and there weren't too many rafts so it was pretty spot on for blasting down the middle at high speeds!

I had a Beet-it shot on arrival and I felt really good throughout the day not really getting majorly fatigued on any of the sprints so it seems to be doing it's thing well! It turned out to be a really good training ground because although it's very easy, the features are pretty much back to back so your often moving from one boof to the next and the water is so pushy and swirly it can be a challenge to hold your line. Also the conveyor belt to bring you back up is an added bonus! A great day with great friends and now I'm knackered! Mission accomplished!