Challenging conditions

Though the worst of the winter weather is apparently passing to the north, it's a gloomy day in Memphis today.  It's overcast and sub-freezing, and the forecast calls for freezing rain with a high of 34 degrees Fahrenheit.  Memphis drivers are already going insane, as they always do when a smidge of snow or ice falls anywhere in the area.  I hear the grocery store shelves have been gutted.

And you know what?  I don't care!  I'm down in Tampa, Florida, where yesterday it got into the mid 80s on the Fahrenheit scale, and it's supposed to do the same today.  I'm staying with my friend Heidi, and while she's at work I'm getting a little exercise but also doing quite a bit of relaxing, something I have not gotten to do much in the past year.

On Wednesday I started up a little strength routine for the month of December.  In the past I have always done Hindu squats in a couple of long sets, typically starting off with sets of 60 and nudging that upward through the month until I'm doing sets in the 80s.  I think the most squats I have done in a single set is maybe 100.

This time around, I'm following the model I started last month with pushups: I'm doing ten sets of a smaller number per set.  Yesterday I decided to start with 20 squats, and by the last couple of sets I was feeling it big-time.  It's possible I overdid it a little--I was very sore yesterday and still am today.

Between sets of Hindu squats I did a set of ten front and lat raises with four-pound dumbbells, which is all Heidi seems to have; I'll use heavier ones when I get home next week.

Later Wednesday I paddled on the Hillsborough River, which flows next to Heidi's house.  I brought my old slalom C1 down here with me, mostly because I just didn't feel like fooling with a longer, heavier boat on this trip.  And I think at this time of the year there's some good cross-training value in paddling a different boat and working out a slightly different set of muscles.  I did quite a bit of backpaddling--always a good thing to incorporate some of that into your training to prevent muscle imbalances.  After a while Heidi got home from work and joined me on the river in her inflatable kayak, and that was another reason I brought the whitewater boat instead of a touring or racing boat, so that I could do a reasonable amount of paddling but still move at Heidi's pace and visit with her.

Yesterday, like I said, I was sore from Wednesday's Hindu squats.  I borrowed Heidi's bike and went out to the Flatwoods Wilderness Area northeast of town, and rode for an hour or so.  Probably not a bad active recovery.

Heidi's off work today, and we're going to the beach!  Enjoy your little Snowmageddon up there in Memphis, y'all.