On Thursday I did what is likely the hardest workout I'll do this year: ten pieces of 75 seconds on, 45 seconds off. It's basically a lactic tolerance workout. By the third or fourth piece my muscles were starting to burn, and as always my challenge was to keep my form together and not get sloppy. In next Saturday's Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race, when I enter the harbor with eight hundred meters or so to the finish line, I'll surely have to put the hammer down, either chasing somebody in front of me or holding off somebody behind me, and this workout is intended to prepare me for that.
On Friday I did the May-June strength routine for the last time, and yesterday I taught a beginner class out at Shelby Farms. I plan to spend this coming week doing a few short sprints to polish my speed and getting as much rest as I can.
I haven't talked much about my shoulder lately, so here's an update. In short, it's doing much better; but there are hints of pain in the area now and then. I continue to be conscientious about the stretching and the warmup and the rehab exercises. The best news is that it has held up very well through a few crushing workouts in the boat.
It seems to be out-of-the-boat activities that pose the greatest threat to my shoulder. A couple of days ago I was in my workshop doing some tool sharpening, standing at a counter pressing blades down onto sharpening stones; after a while I realized that the previously-injured part of my shoulder was starting to hurt, and it continued to hurt the rest of the day. Fortunately the pain has subsided, but I'm re-thinking my body position while I sharpen my tools. The Japanese tradition is to kneel on the floor and put more of the entire body into the sharpening motions, and I think I'll give that another try the next time I'm sharpening.
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