Back home and recovering

This morning I paddled in the rain for about ten minutes, and thought I detected a theme for the weekend.  But then the rain let up and I did the rest of my 70-minute recovery paddle under overcast skies in high humidity.

I'd decided that as long as my boat was on the car I ought to paddle someplace different, and give myself a break from the same old, same old.  I drove down south of downtown Memphis to McKellar Lake, which in fact is not a lake at all, but a slackwater harbor off the Mississippi, lined by an assortment of industrial concerns as well as TVA's Allen Fossil Plant.  It'll never be mistaken for pristine wilderness, but it's ours, by golly.

Beautiful McKellar Lake.

I felt sluggish and tired in the boat--not unusual for a recovery paddle.  The whole point of a recovery paddle, after all, is to flush out the lactic acid and get some fresh blood into your race-damaged muscles so they can mend more quickly.  Tempting though it is to stay home and lie on the couch after a race or hard workout, you'll feel better sooner if you drag yourself down to the river and paddle a bit.

Now I turn my attention to my second competition is as many weeks: the Big River Regional, a 13-mile race on the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge.  I have five days to get my (as of this Friday) 48-year-old self ready to go.