It took me all week, but I'm feeling more or less back to normal after the big racing trip. I did the new strength routine just one time through on Wednesday, and then did it the normal two times through on Friday.
In the boat I haven't done anything special; I'm just trying to settle back into a normal routine. On Thursday, yesterday, and today I paddled for 60 minutes, warming up and doing three 8-stroke sprints and then paddling as hard or as easy as I felt like paddling. All three days I paddled strong at least some of the time. As I was paddling out of the harbor today there was a Corps of Engineers rig churning upriver--it looked like a dredge or something similar--and there were some nice glassy-smooth waves coming off her bow. I got several brief but fun rides.
It's been pretty hot since I got home. For most of my trip the weather was delightfully mild with cool, dry air, but the first thing I noticed when I got home last Monday was how much more humid it was in Memphis. It went on to be a pretty typical August week and I hope fall will come sooner rather than later. Doing some re-mount practice has helped me cope with it while out paddling: I flip and then just lie there in the cool water for a couple of minutes before re-mounting.
The Mississippi River is settling into its usual low water levels for late summer and fall. The Memphis gauge reading this morning was 1.9 feet, and the forecast has it dropping below zero in several days. High-water periods are fun because of the expanded exploring opportunities, but low water can be nice in its own way. I believe the water is cleaner when the river is low because it's not picking up pollutants in flooded farmland and dump sites and what have you. The water is still muddy--the Mississippi is always muddy--but I think it's a "cleaner" muddy.
When I go out and paddle on the river I see all kinds of little things and most days I don't give them much thought, but once in a while I'll pause to observe some aspect of that environment and appreciate just how beautiful it is. Today that "aspect" was the water as it rushed past the pilings of the Hernando DeSoto Bridge. Flowing water, from Class VI mountain creeks down to meandering Class I streams in the flatlands, is just so beautiful. I remember being a summer camper going on canoe trips, thinking that even the easy rivers we paddled were just such pleasant places to spend hot summer days. The older I get the more I appreciate the fact that I still get to do this.
No comments:
Post a Comment