Cold and Painful Race

Tonight's race was going to be from Deep Cove, to the lighthouse south of Hamber Island, then back across to Grey Rocks, and back to the cove. The start was cool. As we lined up at the dock, the starter announced the route that we were going to take, then said that all the boats would start except the surf skis. Which had to wait 5 minutes before starting.

The race started and we watched the field head off towards Hamber. Most of the skis went for a warm up paddle while we waited for the five minutes to end. As it got closer to the five minutes all the skis came back to the start line. One minute was announced and everyone got ready to go. At the start, I kind of blew a stroke, but mange to power my self away from the skis on both side of me, and moved over to the right, and started to wash ride.

This is where I made a big mistake. I was content to ride the wash, and not try to power up to the front group. It wasn't long before the front group powered forward and created a gap. so here I was in the second group cruising along at a good pace. We were wash riding the XT double with Jodi and Colleen making it look easy. So here we were, Jodi and Colleen on the right, Rod on their left, with Matt on his stern wash, and me on Matt's stern wash.

I stayed there for a little while, but I knew I did not want to stay in that position. It is too easy to get dropped off the back, and it takes more power to move up from there. So I went to the left to ride Matt's side wash, but as I started to move up a huge side stitch hit me on the left side. With that pain in my side, I dropped back behind Matt.

I knew this was going to be a big hassle if I could not get rid of this stitch. Looking at the double, I saw that they were in the perfect position, and were creating a great cradle between them and Matt. So I went to the right to get in the spot, but as I was doing this, the girls decided to power up and go to the front, and with that the cradle disappeared. So back behind Matt I went yet again.

By now the pain was increasing in my side. We were just coming up to the lighthouse, and I decided that I had enough of this pace, and needed to slow down a touch to try and get rid of this stitch. I went wide at the lighthouse, and Micky took the inside and scooted up to the group, and away they went.

So I slowed my pace a touch, and started to work on my breathing to try to ease the pain from he stitch. Half way to Grey Rocks, I caught the back markers in the kayak group that started 5 minutes ahead. So now it was time to thread my way through the kayaks. by the time I got to Grey rocks, the pain was minimal. I wasn't too far behind Micky and the group that I was in. So I started to up my stroke rate to try and catch up. I managed to ride some good waves and was closing the gap.

But this was not going to be my night. The stitch came back. CRAP! So the group moved ahead, but I managed to hold on, and power up a bit to keep the gap the same. I was now just holding on to the finish. After I crossed the line, I paddled over to the closest dock, and laid across it. It took what seemed forever for the pain to go away. Katja came up to me and asked how I was doing. I told her about my race, and she said that she didn't have a good one either.
from there I paddled over to the beach. Not wanting to do a cool down paddle that I normally do. I just wanted to get out of my ski, and change into warm clothes. The race manged to be 4.55 kilometres long, with a average speed of 9.0 kph (included sitting at the start for 5 minutes) and a maximum speed of 14.1 kph.

Now it is time to do research on stitches and to make race plans for the Big Chop #1, which is only two days away.