I went downtown to paddle in the mid-afternoon today. It had been a grey, chilly, cheerless day, and as I put on my paddling clothes at home some rain began to fall. But as I drove downtown blue sky moved in from the northwest, and I ended up paddling in bright sunshine. I found myself somewhat overdressed because I had expected bleak conditions. I paddled hatless because I had only brought a fleece cap.
I paddled for 60 minutes and spent the whole time concentrating on rotating in my lower torso. In the past I'd always thought I was rotating pretty well, but I think at least in this past season I was using my arms and shoulders a bit too much, putting stress on my latissimus and trapezius muscles.
Isolating one small part of my technique and focusing hard on it makes for a mentally exhausting session, even when I keep the intensity low like I did today. At one point I did some one-sided paddling drills to break up the monotony as much as anything else. I found myself picking up a theme I had just started before my long break began: using the foot strap to involve my legs more. I tried to accompany each forward stroke with a hard pump of my leg on that side, which in turn pushed my hip back and lengthened my rotation.
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