Endurance Champs

Spent the past couple of days hammering out the @cdnpdlleague Endurance Championship event. I started on Friday, thinking I’d have both Saturday and Sunday, but with calls for thunderstorms all day Sunday, my race window was closed to 2 consecutive calendar days…that’s ok though, just the first indication that this event would have me making lemonade out of lemons the entire way!!!!

Run #1 – August 19
Tried a downwind run on Lake Huron from Port Franks to Grandbend. Unfortunately, conditions didn’t really line up, but paddling Lake Huron is always a joy 🙃

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/9434869694

Run #2 – August 19
Since Lake Huron was a bit of a washing machine, I gave Pittock Lake a go. The first 6km was great, but then got hit with an enormous headwind…the back half of this run was a slow slog! 🙄 On the bright side…I was half way done!

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/9436260397

Run #3 – August 20
Had to stay close to home, so this piece was done on Sharon Creek…it’s a 3km loop at most, so, I was literally going in circles. Despite the boredom of repeating scenery, conditions made for a comfortable 15km paddle !😜

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/9441795260

Run #4 – August 20
Back to Sharon Creek for the final piece. To stop myself from going crazy, paddling the same 3km loop 10 times in one day, I turned the last 15km piece into some interval training. Did it slow me down? Absolutely! Was it worth it? 100% 😂

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/9443953710

Total – 07:42:54
Total – 60km

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dholdsworth

2000m Sprint

Tried to beat the storms today for 2km time trial training…made for a moody paddle 🙂 The good news is the water was super calm!

Using my best 2km time trial for today for the 2000m sprint. What an ugly distance!!! Will definitely keep working on this one over the month of August 🙂

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dholdsworth

Fastest Five at the Belle Isle Classic

Race number two of the weekend was the Belle Isle Classic in Detroit! Had a blast circumnavigating Belle Isle, especially the back side of the island with it’s terrifying “hold on and hope you don’t die” mix of current, wind and freighter wake! Even with some crazy conditions, the back side of the race produced some fast paced paddling! Maybe not Bow river fast, but probably the fastest conditions I’ll find around here 🙂

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dholdsworth

Canada Cup/ECSC

Had a blast at the Eastern Canadian SUP Championship this past weekend! This one was all about getting back on the lake, getting comfortable with other paddlers close by and being ready to deal with whatever conditions presented on the day! This was my first big “in-person” event since the start of Covid! I wasn’t crazy fast, but I definitely accomplished my goal!

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dholdsworth

Downwind

The Kawartha Paddle Quest was rocking yesterday, and it just so happens the first leg of this 50km race was a half decent downwind! This time is definitely better than my first attempt…I’ll take it 😉

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dholdsworth