On Friday morning I returned to the protected area at the northeast end of Dauphin Island. I had a "maximum power" session to do: four sets of four 15-second sprints at 2-minute intervals, with "big resistance" on the boat.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: workouts like this might look scary on paper--Maks described it as "big resistance, high stroke rate emptying all your power reserves by the end of the session"--but it didn't feel anywhere near as brutal to me as, say, the power-building workout I'd done on Wednesday. My power reserves were emptied by the end of the session, but at that point the session was... over. I felt better after doing it than I'd felt before.
Friday morning's workout was actually scheduled for Saturday afternoon, but I had to do some shuffling because Saturday was a travel day for me (not Maks's fault at all--I hadn't really told him I'd be vacationing at the beach this week). So I did the workout Friday morning and reserved Friday afternoon for one more possible downwind session.
The wind had shifted to the west-southwest and I wasn't sure what to expect out on the Gulf, but when I paddled out from the beach Friday afternoon I found more good swells coming at me. The Gulf just keeps on giving. I paddled into the wind until my G.P.S. device told me I'd gone 1600 meters (1 mile), and then I rode the swells almost back to the beach. Then I did two more laps of that. I felt really good in the boat--the most confident I'd felt all week in downwind conditions.
Mind you, I was far from perfect. Lots of runs got away from me. One useful thing about this trip is that it's helped me make up my mind what boat to take out to the Columbia Gorge with me next month. On this trip I had the V10L surfski that I use for the mostly-flatwater races I do in this part of the country, including the one in Kentucky last weekend. In terms of stability it's an elite-level ski, and while I didn't feel in over my head using it for downwind, there were many moments when I was within one good stroke of catching a good run, but was too off-balance to take that stroke. I have a more stable V10 Sport model at home, and I will be taking that out West.
But aside from that, I had a great afternoon of paddling. I think by Friday my body had adapted to the frequent hard sprints that downwind requires: earlier in the week I was having to stop and catch my breath a lot more. The hard workout in the morning and the fun downwind session in the afternoon made Friday my best paddling day since before I left home on the 4th of this month.
We had an early checkout deadline at our condo, and I wanted to follow my mother back home to Memphis, so that was my only plan for yesterday. The trip went smoothly enough and we're now safely back in good old Memphis, Tennessee.
It was good to be back on my home water this morning. I went out and did a simple endurance workout: four sets of (6 min./4 min./3 min./2 min.) at 60-64 spm, with a minute rest between pieces and 2 minutes between sets. I made a big loop out on the Mississippi during the course of the session. The temperature was on its way above 90 degrees Fahrenheit, so I cooled off by doing some remount practice during those 2-minute breaks between sets. I took a hose bath back at the dock. Yep, it's good to be home.
Looking back on the past week, I'm pleased with how it went. It took me several days to find my groove, but in the end I got some good downwind practice while still executing the meat of Maks's plan. I plan to leave for the Pacific Northwest on July 1--18 days from now--and hopefully Maks has good ideas for helping me get as fast as I can be on flatwater during that period. Once I'm out in the Columbia Gorge I'll have eight or nine days to get myself "downwind fit" for the big race out there. Exciting days indeed, these are.
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