As training camp in Florida continued Thursday morning, I found myself in a foursome with Cam, Alessia, and Royal. We did a "calm to moderate" 120-minute paddle, and while the pace wasn't what I would call torrid, it was solid enough, and doing anything physical for two hours is sure to wear you out. We paddled up the Rainbow river from Blue Run Park to Rainbow Springs State Park, site of the natural springs that feed the river. Then we came back downriver, and had to continue past Blue Run Park and then paddle back up to fill out the two hours.
We were out of the boat Thursday afternoon, and I chose to do a mostly-leisurely bike ride. I started on the Blue Run Trail, merged onto the Dunnellon Trail, and then, via a recently-finished connector, I picked up the Withlacoochee Trail. I followed this path as far as Citrus Springs before turning around and coming back.
A front came through overnight and we had a very un-Florida-like temperature in the mid 30s Fahrenheit when I got up yesterday morning. It had warmed into the mid 40s by the time I got to the river; I normally consider that quite chilly, but the sun was shining bright and there wasn't much of a breeze, so once I was in my boat it was surprisingly pleasant. It helped that the Rainbow River's water is warm, too.
Yesterday morning's workout was a set of ten 4-minute pieces with 1 minute recovery; we had light resistance on our boats (just a rope), and did each piece at a stroke rate at or below 60 strokes per minute. The idea was to feel the "catch" phase of each stroke, and put a lot of power into it. The rope served to kill the glide to that every stroke had an enhanced catch on the water. I started out with Chris H. and Royal and Cam; they quickly pulled away from me and I was all by myself for several pieces. Then Chris N., who had started a few minutes after us, caught up to me and I focused on staying with him. That made the workout more enjoyable, and it gave me a better feel for what I needed to do to keep my boat moving as quickly as possible.
The temperature had risen well into the 50s by the time we got off the water yesterday morning, and it was an absolutely gorgeous day by lunchtime. When we reconvened for our afternoon session it was 68 degrees with plenty of sunshine. The workout had a very similar focus to the morning's: Alessia, Royal, Chris H., Cam, and I did two sets of 6 x (2 min. on, 1 min. off) with moderate resistance (one golf whiffle ball) on the boat; then we took the resistance off and did two sets of 4 x (2 min. on, 1 min. off). The stroke rate with the resistance on was 60 spm, and once the resistance was off we raised it to 70 spm.
Just like in the morning, the workout demanded that we focus on our catch and put a lot of power into the early phase of each stroke. It was a taxing workout, but I held up quite well. Oddly, my success relative to my training partners went down a bit once we took the resistance off: with the resistance on I was faster than everybody but Cam and Chris, while with it off I was the slowest of the five even though I tried my best to work the same components of my stroke I'd been working with the resistance on.
I went to bed last night hoping I would recover enough to handle the final workout of the camp for me: a time trial from Rainbow Springs to the County Road 484 bridge next to Blue Run Park. We met this morning at Blue Run Park, ran a shuttle to KP Hole County Park about five and a half kilometers upriver, and did a warmup paddle another two and a half kilometers to the springs. The temperature was in the high 30s and a fog hung over the water. Up at Rainbow Springs the river was especially beautiful.
Chris H. started first, followed by Cam, Alessia, me, and Royal. I tried to get a good sprint out of the starting gate and then settle into a comfortable pace around 80 strokes per minute. I've mentioned in the past how much more painful a time trial is than a head-to-head race: it's just you and the clock, without much in the way of distraction or diversion. Alessia had started some 40 seconds before I had, and I kept my sights on her, knowing that reeling her in would be a slow process.
In the early going I struggled to move my boat much more than 11.5 kilometers per hour, but as time went on I started getting more help from the current and eventually was moving well over 12 kph. (I've heard at least one person say that the Rainbow River flows around 0.9 miles per hour or 1.45 kph.) Royal caught me about two kilometers in, and I was briefly able to ride his wake before he overtook me and pulled away.
The next several kilometers were the toughest mentally. I kept focusing on Alessia, but when Royal caught her I think she got some good rides on his wake and increased her distance on me. That was the height of the mental taxation for me.
I passed the sign marking the town limit of Dunnellon, located just barely over a mile from the finish, and I started to find a second wind. I was moving the boat over 13 kph in the smoothest stretches of river, and I knew I didn't have much longer to endure the discomfort. I imagined myself entering the harbor back home, where there's only about 2000 meters between me and the dock.
As I entered the final kilometer, Alessia seemed quite within reach. I bore down and raised my stroke rate into the 85-90 spm range. I inched closer and closer, but it soon became clear that she was a little too quick and the course wasn't quite long enough for me to catch her. I crossed the finish line two or three boat lengths behind her. My elapsed time was 39 minutes, 20 seconds. My G.P.S. device measured the distance at 8.12 kilometers (just a hair over 5 miles). Overall I felt good for having given the trial a good consistent effort from start to finish.
Officially, the camp isn't quite over yet: most of the other athletes are sticking around for another session this afternoon and two tomorrow. But I've got to get back. And I think it's been a productive experience for me in a variety of ways. I wasn't as physically prepared for this camp as I like to be and it felt like a struggle at times, but the main objective was to beat ourselves down a bit so our bodies can recover and come back stronger in the coming weeks, and I think I accomplished that. I just hope my body will respond well as I move forward, and that maybe these muscle pains will heal at last.
It was also good to renew some friendships and exchange some ideas with other athletes, and find some inspiration and purpose for this thing that we all like to do. I still don't have a clear idea of what this coming race season will look like for me. In my part of the country, there simply aren't many races anymore. I expect I'll go to Ocean Springs at the end of March, and after that... who knows. But the better my training base, the more numerous my options will be, and that's a big reason I decided to come on down here and put myself through this boot camp.
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