I'm trying to be chill about the chill

I do believe winter has arrived for real.  When I put my boat in the water Thursday morning the Fahrenheit temperature was about 25 degrees, and after 60 minutes of paddling it had warmed up to 30 or so.

I own two pairs of pogies: a simple nylon pair that protects my hands from the wind, and a fleece-lined pair for more frigid conditions.  The unlined pogies are adequate for a good 95 percent of the winter days we have in Memphis and the Mid South; I don't break out the fleece-lined ones until it's below freezing.  Since that was the case on Thursday, fleece-lined it was.

Yesterday was balmy by comparison: about 40 degrees.  The unlined pogies worked fine. And yet, paddling yesterday felt like more of a chore than it had Thursday: on Thursday it was sunny and there was little wind, so once I got going I felt perfectly toasty.  Yesterday it was overcast with a pesky north wind, and the paddling felt labored and my body not so comfortable.  I tell people often that 30 degrees and sunny and calm is much more pleasant than 40 degrees and overcast and windy.

On these cold winter days I usually just do a steady paddle.  Sure, I'm working on my stroke--I'm always working on my stroke--but I give myself a break from sprints and drills and stuff.  Even in our colder winters we have a good number of days in the 40s and 50s, and the drills can wait until those days come back around.

Today we're back to frigid.  A new front came in yesterday afternoon: by four o'clock the temperature had dropped below freezing, and the overnight low was in the teens.  With today's high predicted to be about 25 degrees, I was happy to stay in and do the current strength routine.  With a new month about to begin, this was probably my last time doing this routine.

More freezing weather is in store for the next several days, with highs in the low to mid 20s and single-digit overnight lows possible.  Those fleece-lined pogies will probably be back on the next time I get in the boat.  I tentatively plan to paddle tomorrow--I can think of few better ways to start a new year that paddle a boat--and as far as I know my Tuesday morning paddle with Joe is on this week.