My dad always says that "Consistency is the essence of progress"; and it was this quote that i was pondering while the monotonous "plop plop plop" of my paddle strokes lulled me into a semi hypnotised state. An instinctive look to my right woke me up with a jolt of adrenaline as a wave suddenly appeared and very almost broadsided me. Waves move silently and the only sound you'll hear is the detonation as they break on the impact zone. If you're anywhere nearby, and broadside like I was, the sound of a breaking wave usually means that admin is already there; sorry for you. But I just made it over the top and was straight back into my 47km paddle across False Bay, along the breakline. The couple of seconds of excitement was a welcome distraction from the 3 hours i still had ahead of me, but very soon I was back into the monotony of plop plop plop; one stroke at a time.

I'm in the base phase of training so I'm doing mega distance at a low heart rate. It's 4 hours a day, 6 days a week; 6am in the morning, 4am in the afternoon, paddling, gym, some running and some swimming. Day in, day out, week in week out, on and on it goes, a monotonous schedule which is plainly putting one brick on top of another. I find it funny and significant how my paddle "plop plop plopping" away on this long stretch of water is indicative of my current training program. It's exertion in monotone. All I know is that what I am doing now, will be the base that I build on for this season's preperation. Without this monotony my fitness will be shallow and I won't have the depth to draw on when I need it most later on in the year when I'm 2kms from some finish line, lungs burning, arms that feel like cardboard, eyes barely able to focus and the frantic "plop plop plop" of an adversary's paddle mere meters away. It's then, where 1 second equals 1000dollars, when my current monotony will hopefully be transformed into excellence.

I heard a saying once that excellence is doing things right all the time, every time. That sounds pretty monotonous to me, but not nearly as montonous as the plop plop plop of my current paddle strokes, Gordon's Bay in view, but just not getting closer as fast as I has hoped. There are moments of brilliance; but excellence, is monotonous.