Wet and cold this weekend

Yesterday morning the rain fell on me for all sixty of the minutes I paddled.  Fortunately, it was not absurdly cold; with the temperature around 54 degrees Fahrenheit, I even decided to ditch the pogies. Y'all know how much I cherish a pogie-less day at this time of year.

The Mississippi was shrouded in a thick fog, and I stayed close to the Tennessee bank to avoid brushes with whatever motorized vessels might be hiding in there.  It was quite beautiful: foul weather gives us some of our prettiest days out on the river.

I had my good long-sleeved paddling shell on, and the rain didn't really bother me at all as I paddled. It was back on the dock that the chill began to set in.  When you're soaking wet out in nature in the wintertime, it's just not easy to be anything other than cold.

When I returned to the river this morning to do a longer paddle, the rain had moved out but the sky was overcast and the temperature had dropped into the 30s.  I paddled to the mouth of the harbor and found heavy commercial traffic out on the Mississippi: there were three barge rigs moving upriver and two more coming down.  I usually like to do my longer paddles out on the river because it's more interesting and fun than staying in the harbor, but today, not wanting to expose myself to a lot of rough water on a cold day, I limited myself to a short time out there.  One of the downstream-bound rigs was producing some sweet surfing waves and I wished it were a hot summer day when I have no excuse not to surf my brains out.

Instead I returned to the harbor and did a couple of long surges.  I pushed the pace heading north for about 15 minutes, then paddled easy until I reached the north end of the harbor.  Then I timed myself paddling from the north end back down to my marina.

Every spring I do a time trial over one lap of the harbor, and for years I've been aiming for the 50-minute barrier.  A few years ago I clocked about 50:30, but more recently I haven't been able to break 52 minutes.  From the north end of the harbor to the marina's southeast corner is a little more than a quarter of a lap, and my time today was 13:55, so at best I was on pace for a time of 52 minutes or so.

As usual, I did my 8-stroke sprints both yesterday and today.  My new and (hopefully) improved stroke is feeling more and more natural at my normal cruising pace, but it's been slower to come at high intensity.

All training activity will likely be on hold for at least the next two or three days.  I am on jury duty in my state's judicial system this coming week.