Plenty of work for a weekend

Friday was an out-of-the-boat day for me.  Maks assigned what he calls a "non-specific endurance activity": "bike, hike, trek..."  I opted for the bike.  My bike's rear tire has been acting funny lately; I installed a new tube several weeks ago, and it's been going flat in storage even though I can't find any leaks in it.  This morning I re-inflated it and chose a course that wouldn't take me too far from home in case of any problems.  I started out heading east on the Greenline as far as High Point Terrace, then came back west past my place and into Overton Park, where I did several laps in the Old Forest.  A walk home from either far end of this course would have been lengthy, but not unmanageable.  Fortunately the tire held up fine and seemed fully inflated when I returned the bike to its storage spot in my garage.  We'll see how long it stays that way.

Yesterday was a soggy, rainy day, and I had two paddling sessions to do.  In the morning I did a "wake-up" session: 40 minutes at 55-60 strokes per minute.  It rained pretty steadily the whole time, and I was good & soaked afterward.  As I was driving home the rain became torrential, and the Internet radar made it look like it would last all day.  But it slacked off after lunch, and by the time I was back at the dock there was no rain falling at all.  The afternoon workout was three sets of (4 min. at 80 spm/1 min. rest/2 min. at 80 spm/1 min. rest/1 min. at 80 spm/3 min. rest).  As usual, the objective was to be mindful of all the technical aspects of paddling--mechanics, posture, breathing, leg drive--while paddling at a mildly anaerobic pace.

As I arrived at the riverfront this morning it seemed as though the clouds were about to give way to a bright, sunny day.  But just as quickly the cloud cover thickened back up, and I paddled under overcast skies.  The assignment was an easy 90-minute paddle, and I enjoyed the mild temperature while I persuaded my muscles to recover from a rather strenuous week.

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