Sunny skies and big water

The sun is out again but strong winds continued through yesterday in the wake of that weird storm system.  When I paddled yesterday morning the wind wasn't too bad yet but I could tell it would be a gusty afternoon.

I warmed up for fifteen minutes and did three 8-stroke sprints, then paddled up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Wolf River.  With the water at 31.4 feet on the Memphis gauge the paddle up felt slow--the water was high enough to wash out a lot of the eddies along the bank but not high enough to inundate the Greenbelt Park and provide slack water to paddle on there.  But I got up to the Wolf in less than 50 minutes, and that's reasonably efficient for me.

Once there I commenced my main objective for the day: the "start-to-boat-ramp" workout.  This workout consists of five hard pieces from the power lines that mark the start of the Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race to the boat ramp at the south end of the parking lot, about 400 meters down the course.  The recovery interval is the time it takes me to paddle back up to the start (around five minutes).  It kind of reminds me of the slalom workouts I used to do, where I'd run a course, paddle back up to the top of it, run it again, paddle back up, and so on.

For years this workout was a staple for Joe and me as we prepared for the OICK race, but I hadn't done it in several years before yesterday, largely because doing the start-to-boat-ramp thing is a nearly two-hour undertaking because of the paddle up to the Wolf and back, and I was looking to do crisper, shorter-duration workouts.  But I've decided that the race practice built into this workout is invaluable: in a less-than-20-minute race like the OICK, starting fast and getting good position early is of paramount importance.

These pieces are often physically exhausting, but yesterday they seemed oddly exhilarating even though I was doing them into a pretty stiff headwind.  Maybe it was the fast current in the rising river.  Whatever the case, I was in a mood to paddle hard and was almost disappointed when each piece was over.

Typically a recovery paddle would be in order for the next day, but I really didn't feel so worn out this morning.  Today's weather was gorgeous--the wind finally subsided--and I made the enjoyment of it my main agenda.  I paddled out of the harbor and down the Mississippi to the trio of bridges below downtown (the Harahan, the Frisco, and the Memphis-Arkansas).  I kept the intensity mostly moderate, though a couple of times I did have to hammer a bit while working my way back up along the Arkansas bank: at today's river level I found myself fighting some strong current over there.  There were also a lot of boils and exploding whirlpools and stuff that reminded me of big-water whitewater rivers like the Gauley and the New--it was a little disconcerting for a guy sitting in a tippy race boat.

Once I'd ferried back across the river I finished off my 70-minute session with an easy paddle up the harbor back to the dock.