By Friday afternoon some truly delightful weather had settled into the Mid South: sunshine with a pleasant breeze and low humidity. The kind of weather that prompts me to turn off the central air conditioning and open the windows at my house. When I got to the river yesterday morning there were already folks out all over town walking, running, riding bikes, and generally enjoying the outdoors.
I warmed up and did three 8-stroke sprints in the harbor, and then paddled a steady relaxed pace out on the river. At 27.9 feet on the Memphis gauge, the Mississippi was at a good level for watching the people in Greenbelt Park and for paddling through some wooded bottomland over on the Arkansas side.
Another perfect day was shaping up when I went down to paddle this morning. I warmed up and did another three 8-strokers, and headed up the river. It had risen to 28.2 feet, about as high as it can get before it starts flooding the Greenbelt Park. Once again quite a few people were in the park enjoying the gorgeous weather.
Once I reached the park I started the workout I'd planned for the day: twelve 30-second sprints at 3-minute intervals. I did the first five sprints going upstream before heading back downriver. Going downstream I did two more sprints, then took a break because a barge rig was coming upriver producing some nice-looking waves. They really were about as perfect as the ones I surfed back on May 16, but they were moving a bit faster and I had trouble catching them. Several times I surfed for 5-10 seconds right at a wave's crest before the wave passed under me. I sprinted hard but in the end managed just one pretty good ride of maybe 20 seconds.
After all that I considered calling my workout complete, but then I thought, nah... one enjoys the fun stuff on top of, not instead of, the prescribed workout. So I did two more of my 30-second sprints heading downriver toward the mouth of the harbor, and did the last three in the harbor. I got back to the dock feeling good about the amount of speed I'd packed into my 80 minutes in the boat.
The extended forecast shows some Fahrenheit highs in the 90s starting around the middle of this coming week, so I'd better enjoy the rest of this lovely weather while we've got it. Summer is just about here.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Sunday, May 31, 2020
Friday, May 29, 2020
Spring volatility
That sore forearm muscle that was bothering me last week has gotten better, and I'm pleased about that. My right wrist continues to hurt, pretty badly at times and not so badly at other times.
I did a round of the strength routine Tuesday morning. I was running on a tight schedule and had to knock it out quickly. This is a big reason that I try to keep my strength routines short and simple: if it weren't short and simple then I might just skip it on a busy morning like Tuesday's. Instead, I knew it was doable, and I got it done.
I had several errands to run around town, but I managed to make it to my usual Tuesday morning appointment with Joe. We did a nice relaxed loop of the harbor.
The weather has been weird this week. There have been showers scattered all over the central U.S. and they've been moving in a glacially-slow rotating pattern rather than the usual west-to-east. Though parts of the Mid South have had some heavy rain, here in my town there was barely a drop until a shower passed through yesterday afternoon. The temperature has been lower than last weekend but the humidity is still up, and there's that unsettled feeling in the air, as if a severe storm could appear any minute, even though none has.
It was mostly cloudy, but a lot of sun was shining through, when I paddled yesterday morning. I was in the mood for a workout, and I did one on a 5000-meter course I've laid out in the harbor. It's an out-and-back course that starts and finishes next to where the Memphis Queen boats are anchored. The turnaround point is a concrete tower at the barge-loading facility by the old LaFarge plant. I varied the pace on the first half of the course, alternating between sections at 6.5 miles per hour and sections at 7.5 miles per hour. My overall time for this first half was 12 minutes, 56 seconds. Coming back south I tried to maintain a steady pace of 7.1 or 7.2 mph for the whole 2500 meters, but there was just enough of a headwind blowing to make that hard to do. I ended up clocking 13:15, meaning that my pace was just a hair over 7.0 mph.
This morning I did another round of the strength routine.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
I did a round of the strength routine Tuesday morning. I was running on a tight schedule and had to knock it out quickly. This is a big reason that I try to keep my strength routines short and simple: if it weren't short and simple then I might just skip it on a busy morning like Tuesday's. Instead, I knew it was doable, and I got it done.
I had several errands to run around town, but I managed to make it to my usual Tuesday morning appointment with Joe. We did a nice relaxed loop of the harbor.
The weather has been weird this week. There have been showers scattered all over the central U.S. and they've been moving in a glacially-slow rotating pattern rather than the usual west-to-east. Though parts of the Mid South have had some heavy rain, here in my town there was barely a drop until a shower passed through yesterday afternoon. The temperature has been lower than last weekend but the humidity is still up, and there's that unsettled feeling in the air, as if a severe storm could appear any minute, even though none has.
It was mostly cloudy, but a lot of sun was shining through, when I paddled yesterday morning. I was in the mood for a workout, and I did one on a 5000-meter course I've laid out in the harbor. It's an out-and-back course that starts and finishes next to where the Memphis Queen boats are anchored. The turnaround point is a concrete tower at the barge-loading facility by the old LaFarge plant. I varied the pace on the first half of the course, alternating between sections at 6.5 miles per hour and sections at 7.5 miles per hour. My overall time for this first half was 12 minutes, 56 seconds. Coming back south I tried to maintain a steady pace of 7.1 or 7.2 mph for the whole 2500 meters, but there was just enough of a headwind blowing to make that hard to do. I ended up clocking 13:15, meaning that my pace was just a hair over 7.0 mph.
This morning I did another round of the strength routine.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Monday, May 25, 2020
Monday photo feature
Many kayaks and canoes head down the Mississippi River toward a finish in the harbor at downtown Memphis. This is the Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race, circa 2014.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Sunday, May 24, 2020
Weekend mileage
I paddled for 90 minutes yesterday, doing three 8-stroke sprints in the harbor and then paddling downriver past the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge and back up the Arkansas bank. I mostly paddled relaxed but did throw in several good surges.
This morning I paddled for 110 minutes, and enjoyed the company of Adam Davis. We paddled down toward President's Island before coming back up the Arkansas side and looping above the Hernando DeSoto Bridge. We took turns pushing the pace and I was suitably worn out by the end of it.
As usual, Adam's G.P.S. device was tracking our every move:
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
This morning I paddled for 110 minutes, and enjoyed the company of Adam Davis. We paddled down toward President's Island before coming back up the Arkansas side and looping above the Hernando DeSoto Bridge. We took turns pushing the pace and I was suitably worn out by the end of it.
As usual, Adam's G.P.S. device was tracking our every move:
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Friday, May 22, 2020
The days drift by, and the ailments come and go
On Tuesday morning I did a round of the strength routine and then joined Joe for a loop of the harbor. The weather was mostly cloudy but the air was pleasantly cool after a few muggy days.
Yesterday I did a 60-minute paddle in the harbor and on the river, warming up and doing three 8-stroke sprints and then paddling relaxed with a couple of surges.
My right wrist has continued to hurt this week. And since yesterday my right forearm has been sore. I don't know if I did something during yesterday's paddle to irritate it, or if maybe it happened while I was swinging a machete around Wednesday afternoon, trimming some brush behind my building. Whatever the case, I hope it's a temporary soreness rather than a real injury. I looked at some anatomy diagrams on Wikipedia in an attempt to identify the muscle, but they weren't clear enough to be helpful. I think it might be part of the extensor group.
I'd feared the sore muscle would be a major impediment to doing another round of the strength routine this morning, but it turned out not to be so bad. I felt it the most during the front and lat raises.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Yesterday I did a 60-minute paddle in the harbor and on the river, warming up and doing three 8-stroke sprints and then paddling relaxed with a couple of surges.
My right wrist has continued to hurt this week. And since yesterday my right forearm has been sore. I don't know if I did something during yesterday's paddle to irritate it, or if maybe it happened while I was swinging a machete around Wednesday afternoon, trimming some brush behind my building. Whatever the case, I hope it's a temporary soreness rather than a real injury. I looked at some anatomy diagrams on Wikipedia in an attempt to identify the muscle, but they weren't clear enough to be helpful. I think it might be part of the extensor group.
I'd feared the sore muscle would be a major impediment to doing another round of the strength routine this morning, but it turned out not to be so bad. I felt it the most during the front and lat raises.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Monday, May 18, 2020
Monday photo feature
One thing I've been trying to do during this pandemic is take some walks and get to know my part of town a little better. Several days ago I took my camera with me and shot a few photos, including the one above.
One thing every landscape has is some creeks to drain water. In some places they're impossible not to notice; mountainous areas that have a lot of precipitation are a good example. But in other places, including the heart of cities like mine, they're easy to overlook. More often than not they've been channelized and lined with concrete, or even buried underground. Street gutters and stormwater tunnels are simply substitutes for the creeks that drained the countryside before the city was built.
Pictured above is Cypress Creek, a tributary of the Wolf River. Cypress Creek originates south of a neighborhood known as Chickasaw Gardens, flows in a northwesterly direction, and enters the Wolf in North Memphis not far from the old Firestone plant. It drains a pretty good swath of the northern half of Memphis, including my neighborhood.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Sunday, May 17, 2020
Some unexpected sweetness
I might as well retire from paddling right now.
I kid, of course. But I very well may never again have as good a session of surfing on towboat wakes as I had yesterday. And if I do, it might not happen when I have my Go Pro camera with me. Here's the video of what happened yesterday:
Trying to surf towboat wakes is usually an exercise in frustration. Typically, the waves are moving a little too fast, or their amplitude is not quite right, or they're wandering right and left all over the place rather than moving in an organized train. And then, of course, there's the fact that I'm not the most gifted athlete in the world. Over the years it's been rare for me to get anything more than a couple of ten-second rides on towboat wakes.
Yesterday, as I was paddling out of the harbor, there was a barge rig moving upriver just above the Harahan Bridge, and as usual I was inclined to go check it out. What I found was the most perfect set of surfing waves I've ever seen produced by one of those big commercial vessels. From 0:17 until 7:47 in the video above, it's uncut raw footage. My first ride starts at 0:23, and I keep it going until 5:05; I then quickly get established on the next wave back and have another good long ride. I was actually starting to feel sort of lazy just sitting there on the wave... I think I burn more calories sitting on my sofa.
I felt like I was flying as I surfed along. But the speed on my G.P.S. device rarely exceeded 4.5 miles per hour or so. That's because I was moving up the Mississippi River, whose current flows around 4 mph.
Eventually the towboat put more distance on me, the waves began to diminish, and the rides got shorter and shorter. So in the later stages of the video there's more splicing to cut out the non-surfing footage. And, just to be honest... this video is probably a bit boring unless you're an absolute nerd for this kind of stuff. I even say that out loud at 16:35. I do make a few other remarks that contain all the wisdom and wit you've come to expect from My Training Blog by Elmore. I also throw in a few of those obligatory "woo-hoos," and even cough up a catcall at 2:00. That's some real effort for a not-very-emotive person such as I.
Anyway, I had myself some big fun yesterday and I spent the rest of the day with a little smile on my face. For all the misery inflicted upon humanity by this pandemic, I'm having some moments I can look back on fondly later, and I'm grateful for that.
This morning I warmed up and did three 8-stroke sprints in the harbor, and then paddled back out on the river. There was no barge traffic in sight, but a pretty stiff south wind was blowing and creating an "infant" stage of downwind conditions. I worked on getting my boat moving on the little bumps for a while before taking it back in to the dock.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
I kid, of course. But I very well may never again have as good a session of surfing on towboat wakes as I had yesterday. And if I do, it might not happen when I have my Go Pro camera with me. Here's the video of what happened yesterday:
Trying to surf towboat wakes is usually an exercise in frustration. Typically, the waves are moving a little too fast, or their amplitude is not quite right, or they're wandering right and left all over the place rather than moving in an organized train. And then, of course, there's the fact that I'm not the most gifted athlete in the world. Over the years it's been rare for me to get anything more than a couple of ten-second rides on towboat wakes.
Yesterday, as I was paddling out of the harbor, there was a barge rig moving upriver just above the Harahan Bridge, and as usual I was inclined to go check it out. What I found was the most perfect set of surfing waves I've ever seen produced by one of those big commercial vessels. From 0:17 until 7:47 in the video above, it's uncut raw footage. My first ride starts at 0:23, and I keep it going until 5:05; I then quickly get established on the next wave back and have another good long ride. I was actually starting to feel sort of lazy just sitting there on the wave... I think I burn more calories sitting on my sofa.
I felt like I was flying as I surfed along. But the speed on my G.P.S. device rarely exceeded 4.5 miles per hour or so. That's because I was moving up the Mississippi River, whose current flows around 4 mph.
Eventually the towboat put more distance on me, the waves began to diminish, and the rides got shorter and shorter. So in the later stages of the video there's more splicing to cut out the non-surfing footage. And, just to be honest... this video is probably a bit boring unless you're an absolute nerd for this kind of stuff. I even say that out loud at 16:35. I do make a few other remarks that contain all the wisdom and wit you've come to expect from My Training Blog by Elmore. I also throw in a few of those obligatory "woo-hoos," and even cough up a catcall at 2:00. That's some real effort for a not-very-emotive person such as I.
Anyway, I had myself some big fun yesterday and I spent the rest of the day with a little smile on my face. For all the misery inflicted upon humanity by this pandemic, I'm having some moments I can look back on fondly later, and I'm grateful for that.
This morning I warmed up and did three 8-stroke sprints in the harbor, and then paddled back out on the river. There was no barge traffic in sight, but a pretty stiff south wind was blowing and creating an "infant" stage of downwind conditions. I worked on getting my boat moving on the little bumps for a while before taking it back in to the dock.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Friday, May 15, 2020
The present and the future
The same weather pattern that delivered a late snowstorm to the northeastern U.S. brought some cool temperatures to my part of the country. For a few days the Fahrenheit temperature didn't rise above the low 60s, and when Joe and I paddled on Tuesday we did so in a steady rain and a temperature in the low 50s.
Now, I'm thinking such wet chilly days must surely be behind us now. On Wednesday the temperature reached the high 70s, and when I paddled yesterday morning it was mostly sunny and warming up toward a high in the mid 80s. I did a tidy 60 minutes with three 8-stroke sprints and a few relaxed surges. The highlight might have occurred just as I was leaving the harbor and ferrying across the Mississippi: there was a skinny bright-green thing drifting downriver that at first I thought was a piece of gift-wrap ribbon, but turned out to be a little snake. It was probably some variety of garter snake. It's memorable because I almost never see snakes of any kind out in the main flow of the Mississippi.
This week I did rounds of the strength routine Tuesday and today. For some reason I've been feeling weak in my arms lately... I'm not sure if it's my imagination or a real thing. I'm definitely getting sore in my arms doing things that used not to bother me. That biceps soreness I mentioned several weeks ago is better, but not entirely gone. Like that wrist pain I've been having, this biceps pain seems to have taken up long-term residence.
In other news, the outlook has become somewhat clearer for my one race that hasn't been canceled yet, the Gorge Downwind Championships scheduled for July out in the Columbia River Gorge. The state of Oregon has nullified all permits for such events through September, meaning that for the race to go forward it must be based entirely on the Washington side of the river. The organizers sent out an e-mail this week stating that the event, should it happen, will most likely feature a much smaller field of mostly-local participants. In the message they add, "If you are planning travel, are international, have complex arrangements, or have rented skis, it may be in your interest to pull the plug."
A more definitive decision about whether the race will occur at all is supposed to come on June 1. But regardless of that decision, it's looking less likely than ever that I'll be out in the Columbia Gorge to race this July. I haven't completely ruled out the option of driving out there with my own boat, but I doubt that will be a realistic thing to do, considering that the industry I would count on for food and lodging will not be functioning at full strength.
Certainly, I'm disappointed. My trips out there the last two summers have been immensely enjoyable. But at the same time it's nice not to have to go about my paddling routine without knowing for sure whether I'm supposed to be training for an event like that. I plan to continue paddling about four times a week, working on skills and, most importantly, having fun with it. I have a couple of ideas for a trip I could take in lieu of going to the Columbia Gorge, but again, I'll have to see what the conditions are for interstate travel a couple of months from now.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Now, I'm thinking such wet chilly days must surely be behind us now. On Wednesday the temperature reached the high 70s, and when I paddled yesterday morning it was mostly sunny and warming up toward a high in the mid 80s. I did a tidy 60 minutes with three 8-stroke sprints and a few relaxed surges. The highlight might have occurred just as I was leaving the harbor and ferrying across the Mississippi: there was a skinny bright-green thing drifting downriver that at first I thought was a piece of gift-wrap ribbon, but turned out to be a little snake. It was probably some variety of garter snake. It's memorable because I almost never see snakes of any kind out in the main flow of the Mississippi.
This week I did rounds of the strength routine Tuesday and today. For some reason I've been feeling weak in my arms lately... I'm not sure if it's my imagination or a real thing. I'm definitely getting sore in my arms doing things that used not to bother me. That biceps soreness I mentioned several weeks ago is better, but not entirely gone. Like that wrist pain I've been having, this biceps pain seems to have taken up long-term residence.
In other news, the outlook has become somewhat clearer for my one race that hasn't been canceled yet, the Gorge Downwind Championships scheduled for July out in the Columbia River Gorge. The state of Oregon has nullified all permits for such events through September, meaning that for the race to go forward it must be based entirely on the Washington side of the river. The organizers sent out an e-mail this week stating that the event, should it happen, will most likely feature a much smaller field of mostly-local participants. In the message they add, "If you are planning travel, are international, have complex arrangements, or have rented skis, it may be in your interest to pull the plug."
A more definitive decision about whether the race will occur at all is supposed to come on June 1. But regardless of that decision, it's looking less likely than ever that I'll be out in the Columbia Gorge to race this July. I haven't completely ruled out the option of driving out there with my own boat, but I doubt that will be a realistic thing to do, considering that the industry I would count on for food and lodging will not be functioning at full strength.
Certainly, I'm disappointed. My trips out there the last two summers have been immensely enjoyable. But at the same time it's nice not to have to go about my paddling routine without knowing for sure whether I'm supposed to be training for an event like that. I plan to continue paddling about four times a week, working on skills and, most importantly, having fun with it. I have a couple of ideas for a trip I could take in lieu of going to the Columbia Gorge, but again, I'll have to see what the conditions are for interstate travel a couple of months from now.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Monday, May 11, 2020
Monday photo feature
It's around this time each year that my mother and my sister's family and I get together for a little beach vacation at Dauphin Island on the Alabama Gulf Coast. That event, like almost all others, has been scuttled by the Coronavirus pandemic this year.
This photo is from two years ago. That's my nephew Ben off to the left. We're paddling in Mississippi Sound as some rain begins to fall.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Sunday, May 10, 2020
A decent training weekend
Yesterday morning I did a round of the strength routine and then went down to the river. I paddled for 70 minutes in the harbor, doing a set of three 8-stroke sprints and then paddling at varying intensities the rest of the time. The weather was nice and sunny, albeit cool.
Adam Davis met me this morning and we paddled up the Mississippi for four miles before coming back down. We pushed the pace for quite a bit of the time; coming back downriver felt a bit like a race. Adam has improved a lot the last couple of years and he's been pushing me during our paddles together this spring. I'm curious to see how he does whenever we finally have some races to do again. Today is another nice sunny day, and warmer. There was a southwest wind blowing on the river.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Adam Davis met me this morning and we paddled up the Mississippi for four miles before coming back down. We pushed the pace for quite a bit of the time; coming back downriver felt a bit like a race. Adam has improved a lot the last couple of years and he's been pushing me during our paddles together this spring. I'm curious to see how he does whenever we finally have some races to do again. Today is another nice sunny day, and warmer. There was a southwest wind blowing on the river.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Friday, May 8, 2020
Pain and ennui
I hurt my right wrist on Monday. Or, rather, I aggravated an injury that's been nagging at me for the last year or so. Mondays are when I've been doing that fence-rebuilding project over at my rental property, and during this week's work session I managed to wrench my wrist some wrong way while pulling nails out of the old fence.
The bum wrist has never really affected my paddling, and when I met Joe for a loop of the harbor Tuesday morning, it held up just fine. But for a good 36 hours or so it hurt pretty bad anytime I was just sitting around and was unpleasant to live with. By now the pain has ebbed back to the vague level it's been at for most of the last year.
The pain killed my motivation to start up my new strength routine Tuesday. Instead, I waited and did it Wednesday.
This latest motivational challenge highlights the holding pattern we racers are all in these days. With all races canceled at least through June, serious training doesn't seem like a pressing matter. I'm still waiting to hear whether the Gorge Downwind race will go ahead in July; some announcement about that is supposed to come at the first of next month. In the meantime, I'm trying to stay in some baseline-level of shape so I can ramp the training up if in fact I will be racing on the Columbia River in July.
At the same time, all this uncertainty is a reminder of how important it is to enjoy every time out paddling for its own sake. Every session doesn't have to be an obligation to cross off the to-do list. Indeed, I'm fortunate to be paddling at all these days. I think there are parts of the world where even that is forbidden right now.
That's what I was telling myself as I went down to the river this morning. Earlier in the week the wind forecast looked promising for some downwind action, but by last night the outlook had been revised to almost nothing. A period of heavy rain had just concluded and conditions were as calm as could be as I walked down to the dock. I warmed up and did three 8-stroke sprints, and paddled out onto a river that was quite placid save for some chop left over from a couple of barge rigs that had passed through. I worked for a while on keeping the boat gliding in those conditions, and then back in the harbor I threw in a long surge back to the dock.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
The bum wrist has never really affected my paddling, and when I met Joe for a loop of the harbor Tuesday morning, it held up just fine. But for a good 36 hours or so it hurt pretty bad anytime I was just sitting around and was unpleasant to live with. By now the pain has ebbed back to the vague level it's been at for most of the last year.
The pain killed my motivation to start up my new strength routine Tuesday. Instead, I waited and did it Wednesday.
This latest motivational challenge highlights the holding pattern we racers are all in these days. With all races canceled at least through June, serious training doesn't seem like a pressing matter. I'm still waiting to hear whether the Gorge Downwind race will go ahead in July; some announcement about that is supposed to come at the first of next month. In the meantime, I'm trying to stay in some baseline-level of shape so I can ramp the training up if in fact I will be racing on the Columbia River in July.
At the same time, all this uncertainty is a reminder of how important it is to enjoy every time out paddling for its own sake. Every session doesn't have to be an obligation to cross off the to-do list. Indeed, I'm fortunate to be paddling at all these days. I think there are parts of the world where even that is forbidden right now.
That's what I was telling myself as I went down to the river this morning. Earlier in the week the wind forecast looked promising for some downwind action, but by last night the outlook had been revised to almost nothing. A period of heavy rain had just concluded and conditions were as calm as could be as I walked down to the dock. I warmed up and did three 8-stroke sprints, and paddled out onto a river that was quite placid save for some chop left over from a couple of barge rigs that had passed through. I worked for a while on keeping the boat gliding in those conditions, and then back in the harbor I threw in a long surge back to the dock.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
A new strength routine
It's time for something new in the strengthening-activities department. Here's what I plan to do for the next little while.
1. Front and lat raises
2. Hindu Squats (demonstrated in this video)
3. Torso twists with medicine ball (demonstrated in this video)
4. Pushups
5. Stability ball exercise demonstrated at 2:55 of this video
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
1. Front and lat raises
2. Hindu Squats (demonstrated in this video)
3. Torso twists with medicine ball (demonstrated in this video)
4. Pushups
5. Stability ball exercise demonstrated at 2:55 of this video
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Monday, May 4, 2020
Monday photo feature
Nothing puts more strain on the very idea of social distancing than a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon. I saw people congregating in groups on both banks of the river while paddling on Saturday. What you see above is probably the least-egregious example--it might even be a family unit. But it's the only one I got a photo of. I shot it while paddling along the Arkansas side beneath the Harahan Bridge. These folks are enjoying the Big River Trail, and really, who can blame them? Like I said, it was a gorgeous afternoon, and I do believe outdoors is the best place you can be when there's a virus going around. I just hope everybody will continue to be careful about getting too cozy with too many people.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Sunday, May 3, 2020
Some fun surfing and some mechanical difficulties
Yesterday might have been our warmest day so far this year, with the temperature rising into the mid 80s Fahrenheit. I waited until the afternoon to paddle because there was a south wind blowing and I wanted it to build as much as possible so I might have at least a hint of some downwind conditions. I put the more stable surfski that I got just for this purpose on the car, and had it on the water by 3 o'clock.
The wind was up to around 15 miles per hour (just over 13 knots). The conditions weren't big, but there were lots of small bumps with just enough definition for me to work on the basics of downwind paddling. In my quest to find something good, I checked out different parts of the river from the mouth of the harbor to down below the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge.
It was more of a drill session than pure, unadulterated fun--there were no big, fat, sweet, juicy swells to ride. But I was happy to be working on some skills. I kept repeating Dawid Mocke's "five rules" in my head: "nose in the hole," "one at a time," "keep up the run rate," "little ones lead to big ones," and "there's always one behind."
Eventually a big upstream-bound barge rig came along, and I went after it hoping to find some big waves to surf. I wasn't quite able to generate the speed to stay on the biggest swells, but after a while I noticed some interesting things happening along the inside of the big bend just below the old bridges. The river is a bit shallower there, and some breaking waves were forming. The water was quite boily and confused and I wasn't getting any prolonged surfs, so eventually I gave up and headed back upriver.
Once I got up to a point across from the entrance to the harbor, I found that same phenomenon happening: even though the barge rig was now more than a mile upstream, some of its lingering waves were building up as they ran into the shallower water on the Arkansas side. And this time they were cleaner and friendlier to the paddler wishing to surf. I was getting tired but I spent 20 minutes or so having some fun in this area before heading back to the harbor.
I don't think I slept poorly last night, but I had a really hard time waking up this morning. It took longer than usual to beat the sleepiness out of my body. And I was very sore in my midsection, as though I'd done a long hard race yesterday. Eventually I managed to do a thorough round of stretching and head to the river.
I did an easy 60-minute paddle. It was entirely uneventful except for a little mishap at the southern tip of Mud Island. The water there was shallower than I realized, and my rudder plowed into the muddy bottom hard enough to bend the post a little. When that happens, the rudder gets jammed against the bottom of the boat and is very difficult to move with the pedals. I dealt with it as best I could and made it back to the dock. Once I was out of the boat I tried to bend the rudder back so it would move freely again, but it wouldn't budge. I'll have to take some tools with me on my next trip down there and see if I can get the problem fixed.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
The wind was up to around 15 miles per hour (just over 13 knots). The conditions weren't big, but there were lots of small bumps with just enough definition for me to work on the basics of downwind paddling. In my quest to find something good, I checked out different parts of the river from the mouth of the harbor to down below the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge.
It was more of a drill session than pure, unadulterated fun--there were no big, fat, sweet, juicy swells to ride. But I was happy to be working on some skills. I kept repeating Dawid Mocke's "five rules" in my head: "nose in the hole," "one at a time," "keep up the run rate," "little ones lead to big ones," and "there's always one behind."
Eventually a big upstream-bound barge rig came along, and I went after it hoping to find some big waves to surf. I wasn't quite able to generate the speed to stay on the biggest swells, but after a while I noticed some interesting things happening along the inside of the big bend just below the old bridges. The river is a bit shallower there, and some breaking waves were forming. The water was quite boily and confused and I wasn't getting any prolonged surfs, so eventually I gave up and headed back upriver.
Once I got up to a point across from the entrance to the harbor, I found that same phenomenon happening: even though the barge rig was now more than a mile upstream, some of its lingering waves were building up as they ran into the shallower water on the Arkansas side. And this time they were cleaner and friendlier to the paddler wishing to surf. I was getting tired but I spent 20 minutes or so having some fun in this area before heading back to the harbor.
I don't think I slept poorly last night, but I had a really hard time waking up this morning. It took longer than usual to beat the sleepiness out of my body. And I was very sore in my midsection, as though I'd done a long hard race yesterday. Eventually I managed to do a thorough round of stretching and head to the river.
I did an easy 60-minute paddle. It was entirely uneventful except for a little mishap at the southern tip of Mud Island. The water there was shallower than I realized, and my rudder plowed into the muddy bottom hard enough to bend the post a little. When that happens, the rudder gets jammed against the bottom of the boat and is very difficult to move with the pedals. I dealt with it as best I could and made it back to the dock. Once I was out of the boat I tried to bend the rudder back so it would move freely again, but it wouldn't budge. I'll have to take some tools with me on my next trip down there and see if I can get the problem fixed.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Friday, May 1, 2020
Out-of-the-boat beatdowns
I mentioned that I've finished that big landscaping job that I spent March and part of April doing, so that particular beating on my body is over. Now I'm doing some repair work on a fence over at the rental property I own. A few of the posts have rotted at the base and are falling over, so I'm dedicating one day each week to replacing them. Using a pick, shovel, and post-hole digger is something that wouldn't have fazed me when I was younger, but now it leaves me sore for the next several days.
I did this work on Monday, and was sore as usual. Then, on Wednesday, I climbed up on the roof of that same property to clean out the gutters, and that task has left me sore in the darnedest places. It's a two-story building from which a fall would be quite a detriment to my well-being, and I was having to crawl slowly and carefully down the pitched roof to get to the gutters. Somehow, doing so has caused pretty bad soreness in my lower abdominals as well as my arms and shoulders. I've got a couple of bad scrapes on my forearms, too.
The truth is that my non-athletic life is much harder on my body than my athletic life. Sometimes I think my greatest benefit from the athletic workouts I do is the ability to withstand all my non-athletic trials and tribulations.
On Tuesday I did a round of the strength routine and then joined Joe for a loop of the harbor. Yesterday I went back down and paddled for 60 minutes as a stiff north wind blew. I did three 8-stroke sprints in the harbor and then just ferried across the river and back.
This morning I did another round of the strength routine. I hope this soreness will ease up a bit for the weekend.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
I did this work on Monday, and was sore as usual. Then, on Wednesday, I climbed up on the roof of that same property to clean out the gutters, and that task has left me sore in the darnedest places. It's a two-story building from which a fall would be quite a detriment to my well-being, and I was having to crawl slowly and carefully down the pitched roof to get to the gutters. Somehow, doing so has caused pretty bad soreness in my lower abdominals as well as my arms and shoulders. I've got a couple of bad scrapes on my forearms, too.
The truth is that my non-athletic life is much harder on my body than my athletic life. Sometimes I think my greatest benefit from the athletic workouts I do is the ability to withstand all my non-athletic trials and tribulations.
On Tuesday I did a round of the strength routine and then joined Joe for a loop of the harbor. Yesterday I went back down and paddled for 60 minutes as a stiff north wind blew. I did three 8-stroke sprints in the harbor and then just ferried across the river and back.
This morning I did another round of the strength routine. I hope this soreness will ease up a bit for the weekend.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
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