On Friday afternoon I took delivery of a new race boat: a V-10L surf ski manufactured by the Epic Kayaks company. As always, it was a pleasure doing business with the folks at Outdoors, Inc., the greater Memphis area's dealer for boats and paddles and many other kinds of outdoor sports equipment.
For the last seven seasons I've raced in a V-12, also manufactured by Epic Kayaks. The V-10L is designed for a slightly smaller paddler. These days I'm weighing in at not quite 160 pounds (72.6 kg), and that's supposedly right in the ideal range for a V-10L. I paddled a V-10L the whole time I was in Hawaii in February and liked it pretty good, so I'm giving it a go as my next race boat.
This morning I took it out for its maiden voyage: a 60-minute paddle on our wonderful harbor, where the placid conditions were a good setting to get the footboard and the footstrap and all that stuff adjusted the way I like it. So far it feels a little different from the V-12 but I think I'll get used to it.
Once that was all set and I'd warmed up for ten minutes, I embarked on the day's workout: six half-mile pieces. I tried to maintain a 7 mph pace throughout each piece; I started each piece at the top of the second full minute after the end of the previous piece, so my recovery interval ended up being about 2:45 to 2:50. My times ranged from 4:06 to 4:14.
It certainly wasn't an easy workout, but because I had time to paddle for only 60 minutes today I got right to it and knocked it out quickly. Finishing an epic endurance session can be satisfying too, but there's something exhilarating about doing a crisp, efficient workout and not feeling dead tired the rest of the day.
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