Monday 17 March 2008

Packing

Training camp runs from Wednesday to Saturday. I will be taking:

3 lycra unisuits;
2 pairs leggings;
1 pair shorts;
10 tech tops;
2 lightweight running tops;
1 running vest designed to accommodate heart rate monitor;
1 splashtop;
2 caps;
12 pairs sports socks;
1 pair wellies;
1 pair indoor trainers;
1 pair running trainers;
2 water bottles;
Sunglasses;
Contact lenses;
Stopwatch;
Heart rate monitor;
Surgical spirits (for palms);
Moisturiser (for backs of hands/face/other exposed flesh);
Wash kit;
Towels;
Phone;
Phone charger;
Camera (for pictures of crew, caravan and callouses/blisters);
Charging cradle;
Spare memory cards;
Some snacks for between sessions and between meals:

  • 6 maltloaves;
  • 6 apples;
  • 7 bananas;
  • 6 pears;
  • 3 boxes cereal bars;

2 bottles squash;
12 sachets potassium chloride (lo-)salt;
12 sachets sodium chloride (table) salt;
1 kg bag of sugar;
Clothes for lounging around and recovering in;
One set of 'real' clothes (on the off-chance we summon up the energy to go out);
A couple of books for the evenings.

Last minute additions 19/3/8 06:15:
One tube of Deep Heat;
An ice pack;
A hot water bottle.

It's not my usual holiday packing...

14 comments:

KindaBlue said...

To this largely non-physical specimen, your kit bag sounds like a portable torture chamber... good luck!

But Why? said...

Yup, and truth be told, I'm not looking forward to the state of my hands at the end of the week. I am looking forward to eating a lot, and some hopefully flat water.

DJ Kirkby said...

What do you mean its not your usual holiday packing? I don't believe you...have a great time testing your endurance. I will be spending this weekend at the other end of the spectrum getting my adrenaline rushes from writing the rest of 'Without Alice' in the small hours of the night while N3S sleeps! I am looking forward to reading your posts about your weekend and I think you should begin composing a book about all of it (not just this weekend but all of your training and competitions)actually.

Rob Clack said...

I suspect you've gone by now, so I'll just say welcome home and I hope you had a fantastic time! R

But Why? said...

DJ,
Really, seriously, I like lying on a beach as much as the next person, but I get bored of it after a couple of days.

I'm immensely flattered you suggested writing a book, but I can't help feeling the market for my particular brand of ramblings might be uneconomically small. Might be good fun in a test-of-dicipline-and-endurance kind of way, tho...

I honestly don't know how you do it - I just imagine you must be some sort of super-human.

Rob C,
Thanks to the wonders of caravans with wireless tinternet, I can do updates whilst in situ. I'll leave the massive missives for when I'm back in civilisation proper, tho.

Anonymous said...

This list seems perfectly feasible to me, considering the type of weekend you've got planned. Rather you than me though. However, I can't be the only person to be ever so slightly perplexed and concerned by the inclusion of a 'HEART MONITOR'...!!

But Why? said...

TV de plasma,
Hmmm...

Anon,
I like to check I'm still viable at the end of each outing...

More seriously, it's to enable me to keep a check on my heart rate to ensure I'm training in the right zone (recovery/aerobic/anearobic and so on). I have absolutely no strong feelings about whether this does me any good physically, but it does give me something other than my 500m average split to think about on long erg pieces, which is amazingly welcome.

Kahless said...

Hope you had a wonderfully hard training camp!
I guess you have a couple of days to recover before work.

But Why? said...

Kahless,
Your hopes were granted. Plan A was flooded and the river unrowable, Plan B involved piling into cars at some godforsaken time of the morning and driving down the M4, only to find the most desolate and windswept lake known to man to row on. There's very little in the way of shelter there, and in addition to the rowing, nine hours being outside when it's cold and wet and the winds are reaching 30 mph is of itself sufficiently unfunny to cause me to be a little bit grumpy. Throw in rowing in the wind, a few outings that didn't quite go as planned, and two of our crew having a sense of humour failure, and it's been a tough few days.

So now I'm ready to spend a day in bed with deep heat and doughnuts, but I have to haul myself to this morning's training sessions. I am so looking forward to a hot bath and collapsing in bed later on.

DJ Kirkby said...

Well I would buy your book and I am not a rower! I think loads of people would be interested, because of the way you write, it draws the reader into the story.

But Why? said...

DJ,
Thanks again - if I ever write a book, I'll know who to email for it to for reviews(!) Mind you, I write the way I talk and people tell me to shut up on a remarkably regular basis. I suppose if I wrote a book, people would just stop reading it whenever they'd had enough...

Perhaps I should communicate only in writing? Oh, but then what about all those times when you don't want to leave an audit trail??

titration said...

Um, wait this for rowing holiday?... All I know is this sounds like you are serious. I know nothing about rowing. Maybe one day you could educate us, ok educate me.

RCaroe said...

Glad I found your blog. I have listed it on my post about rowing bloggers here
http://caroe.typepad.com/rebecca_caroe_rowing/2008/04/new-rowing-blog.html


Keep up the good work!
Rebecca Caroe

But Why? said...

Titration,
I'm afraid so. (In common with other 'pain' sports, e.g. cycling, distance running, triathlon, etc., most people who row devote an unseemly amount of their time to their sport.) I'm also afraid that the club I row for is seen as being a drinking establishment with a sideline in rowing when compared with the 'serious' clubs it shares the local stretch of the Thames with! I suspect most rowers would be found to be slightly unhinged if examined closely enough...

Rebecca,
Thanks for the link - I try to keep a hint of anonymity both for my sake and that of my customers, who I occasionally, just occasionally, have been known to whinge about a little. I mustn't grumble too much, though - I need something to keep me busy between sessions!