The Vicksburg race

I'm home from my whirlwind trip to Vicksburg, and I'm plenty tired and sore.  I finished first overall in the race, and I'm pleased about that, but the race seemed harder than usual this year.  Maybe my memory isn't that good--I'm sure the race is always pretty tough--but it seems like in past years I was able to race aggressively three or four miles longer than I did today.  I was feeling quite taxed just an hour in and had to move into energy-conservation mode.  The conditions played a role: there was a persistent wind that on most of the course blew from right to left, and the water was pretty bumpy the whole way.  And I guess I spent more energy early than I usually do: in past years I've spent the first half-hour or so riding competitors' wakes before eventually pulling away, whereas today I took the lead right away and tried to separate myself as soon as I could.  Such aggressive tactics served me well at Ocean Springs two weeks ago, but maybe weren't the best idea in a race like today's, where I was competing with the elements as much as with other paddlers.

One of my goals for this race is always to break two hours, but I fell short on that one: 2:01:37.  My elapsed time was an hour and 48 minutes as I entered the mouth of the Yazoo River for the final approach to the finish, and I figured I had a sub-two-hour time in the bag, but that last bit of the race always takes longer than I think it will.  By 1:59 I was still at least 200 meters out, and I had almost nothing left in the tank, and that's when I knew a sub-2 time was a lost cause.

But in general, I have no regrets.  I competed as hard as I could and came away with some ideas of what I should work on before my next big race in a couple of months.  I saw lots of nice people and had a great time at this fine event whose organizers work hard year after year.

Yesterday I paddled for 30 minutes in the harbor before loading the boat for the trip.  I did eight 6-stroke sprints at one-minute intervals, concentrating hard on pushing the boat forward with my legs.

I left Memphis after lunch and arrived in Vicksburg in the late afternoon.  After dropping my boat off at the start and getting my race packet at the event HQ, I retired to my motel room and did some tub-soaking and stretching.  I tried to stream the Cardinals game while I did so, but the motel's wifi signal was pretty unreliable, and I wasn't able to relax like I wanted to as I tried repeatedly to reset the stream.  I did sleep pretty well, and felt ready to go at the start this morning.

Two people came up today and told me they enjoy reading this blog, so as promised, I recognize them here.  Thanks to Jimmy Guidry of Lafayette, Louisiana, and Stan Stark of Gulfport, Mississippi, for being loyal readers.