Today I paddled 100 minutes out on the Mississippi. After a couple of days of fighting through windy conditions, it was nice to have a much calmer day. It was cool--probably about 50 degrees when I was on the water--and there was a light but chilly north breeze, but the river was about as glassy smooth as it ever gets.
During these weeks-long periods of doing nothing but LSD, I tend to start feeling tired and sluggish at times. I've found that it's often helpful to work the ATP-CP system a little to get myself feeling sharp again. As I said in my post back on February 16, I do this by doing very short sprints as hard and fast as I can, with a good long thorough recovery in between. If the sprints are longer than 15 seconds or so, or if you don't allow enough recovery time in between sprints, the body will abandon the ATP-CP system and start to go lactic. Since timing myself in the boat for a short intense interval is a pain, I just do 12 strokes (where one "stroke" is actually a complete cycle of a stroke on the right and a stroke on the left).
Today I did six of these 12-stroke sprints, with two minutes of recovery in between. I always do these sprints at the beginning of a paddling session, after a good warmup, while I'm feeling fresh.
Another good reason to do a small bit of speedwork is that my first race of the season, the third annual Battle On The Bayou down at Ocean Springs, Mississippi, is a week from today. I generally train through these early-season races, which is to say I'll continue doing my normal distance paddles and strength sessions for most of next week, but at the same time I want to make a good showing, so I'll hone my speed just a little and try to go down there as rested and focused as I can.
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