Friday, September 20, 2019

Still trying to outlast the summer

This week I learned of this race on the Mississippi River down at Helena, Arkansas, on October 5.  Not only is it a short drive (Helena is some 80 miles from Memphis), but also the race distance, 9 miles or 15 kilometers, is up my alley--I should be able to do that in less than an hour with help from the big river's current.

So, I'm thinking this is how I'll wrap up the 2019 race season.  I certainly hope the temperature will have moderated by then, but I'd better not count on it: the extended forecast on the Weather Channel's website is showing Fahrenheit highs mostly in the 90s through October 4.  Sigh.  I apologize to those readers who are tired of my complaints about the weather, but the fact is that this summer heat has persisted beyond all reason.

In spite of the heat, I've managed some training activities that I feel good about this week.  I've been hitting the strength routine hard and am pleased with the results.  I've mentioned here many times that strength work is my least-favorite part of training, but this routine is short and sweet (it's taking me around 20 minutes to do two rounds of it) while putting me through some good substantial exercise.  This week I did it Tuesday and yesterday and plan to do it again tomorrow.

I paddled a loop of the harbor with Joe on Tuesday, and then returned to the river yesterday with a workout in mind.  With the not-so-long race coming up in just over two weeks, I'm back to focusing on shorter, faster stuff.  After warming up and doing three 8-stroke sprints in the harbor, I did a set of ten 30-second sprints at three-minute intervals.  I did about half of them out on the river since the race will be on it.  I'd done the strength routine before leaving the house yesterday morning, but even with my arms tired I felt strong throughout the workout.


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