Swimming weather

Overall, we've had a pretty mild summer here in the Mid South.  Quite a few days in July and August have seen highs in the mid 80s Fahrenheit and lower.  We're now moving into a hotter spell, with temperatures in the mid to high 90s, but it hasn't seemed stifling the way it typically gets at this time of year.

I thought it was very nice down on the riverfront this morning, where I paddled the K1 for 60 minutes.  The temperature was well on its way up into the 90s, but there was a nice breeze blowing from the south.  I would get pretty hot during my paddling session, but, well, it should be in the 90s in Memphis on the last day of August.

I mentioned in last Sunday's post the importance of incorporating some speed in your training throughout the year.  Ron Lugbill reinforces and expands on the idea in this post on his blog.  He's talking mainly about slalom racing, but I think there's some relevance to the straight-ahead racing I'm doing these days.

After about a 15-minute warmup, I did four of my 12-stroke sprints.  Then I proceeded to do two timed pieces from the monorail bridge to the Auction Avenue bridge, a distance I estimate around 1100 or 1200 meters, maybe.

I've mentioned in past posts that my PR from the monorail bridge to the Hernando DeSoto Bridge is just over two minutes, and from the Hernando DeSoto Bridge to the Auction Avenue bridge it's just under three minutes.  So five minutes would have been an excellent time; considering my not-so-intense training this summer and my intermediate skill level in the K1, I was more realistically expecting 5:15 or 5:20.  And the faster end of that range is what I got: on the first piece, I hit the HDB in 2:05 and the Auction bridge in 5:15, and on the second it was 2:05 HDB/5:13 total.  The times were pleasantly surprising considering that my mechanics felt a little clumsy; my strokes on the right in particular were really ker-plunking.

After the second piece I felt quite fatigued and I think the heat was getting to me a little.  I paddled back to the monorail bridge to finish off with a piece from that bridge to the HDB, but my form was really flagging.  About a third of the way in I missed a stroke on my right, and over I went.  Was I discouraged?  Nope--the water felt wonderful.  I swam the boat over to the Yacht Club boat ramp and dumped out the water, and paddled a nice cooldown back to my dock.