How's The Water Up There?

So I'm going to pose a question to you. What do you do when you are 2 months behind on training and counting with one of the hardest endurance and adventure races in the world looming less than 3 months away?

While our southern counterparts have been canoeing in preparation for the TWS for the past few weeks, or in some cases months, we've been in the grips of winter with an average temperature from December 16th 2009 to March 16, 2010 of - 11C. Mild by winter standards, but still cold enough to freeze water fairly quickly.

In fact, up to three weeks ago, the Bow River running through Calgary was fairly covered in ice, but over that time temperatures have been well above seasonal, setting record highs three times now we are seeing some quick progress in the thawing process. Unfortunately, not all rivers are at the same stage of opening up.

This past weekend my wife and I drove up to Edmonton to relocate a domesticated painted turtle to a co-worker. Along the way we drove over the Red Deer river. Now, Red Deer is a mere 150km north of Calgary, yet the river showed no signs of thaw. Ice coverage was 100% and I could have probably walked from one side to another without much worry of breaking through. This poses a bit of a logisitcal hurdle for our training as the Red Deer river is to be the staging ground for our endurance training, the reservoirs being flat water are still further behind the rivers.

So you might be thinking to yourself, what about the Bow River? Why not do some paddling in there

and get out sooner? I can't say that hasn't been ruled out yet, but what we have to remember is that the Bow River is a mountain fed river, meaning that even though it is open, its flowing at a quick pace, in some places I'd estimate the flow to be close to 10kph (7 mph). Add to that an average temperature of likely less than 2C (5F) and abrupt ice bridges we have a recipe for disaster. It gets really frustrating knowing that you are doing all you can in the gym, but reading about other teams who are in the water already. This makes you question how your performance will stack-up, but I remain optimistic, I've been sticking to a regimented work-out, increasing my endurance, and testing my body in different states of fatigue. But cue Yoda to remind me "there is another."

Lake Okanagan, nestled in the beautiful Okanagan Valley of B.C. is a large, deep, glacial relic of a lake. It measures 145km (90 mi) in length and in some places 5km (3 mi) in width...and it never freezes. Okay, maybe not never, but I think it has only frozen over twice in the past 150 years or so, and the lake is only 600km to the west. Yes, sadly, the only place that is paddleable is a 7 hour drive through the Canadian Rockies. Now for the good news, this month ends in a long weekend and I already have confirmed free room and board in Kelowna, so the only hurdle that exists is finding a canoe to rent at this time of year. With the weather in Kelowna being above normal this year and the water being fairly calm, the lake becomes very enticing.

Whatever happens in the next little bit, there are signs all around that dry-land training is slowly coming to an end. Both my partner and I have agreed that when the waterways of Alberta become navigable, we'll have to be out every weekend to compensate for our glaring major disadvantage...a below freezing winter.

Now my answer to the original queston: Train harder, keep positive and don't sweat the little things. When the time comes that you get into water, you'll find your other training will have helped dramatically.