Plodding along through motivational doldrums

I mentioned in my last post that the weather was quite lovely when I paddled with Amelia Thursday afternoon even though there were scattered showers in the area.  Amelia took a photo that captured the beauty very nicely:

It just goes to show that not all nice days involve clear blue skies and abundant sunshine.

On Friday I stayed home and did a gym session.  I woke up yesterday feeling unusually sluggish, apathetic, and uninterested in doing anything serious in the boat.  Saturday is usually a workout day for me, but yesterday I just did a calm 60-minute paddle.  I actually felt good in the boat once I got going, but I needed a mental break from intense training.

Some strong thunderstorms moved through the area last night, and this morning it was sunny, cooler, and quite breezy.  I was feeling somewhat sluggish again, but I was determined to do the workout I couldn't find the gumption to do yesterday.  I warmed up and did three 8-stroke sprints, and then did two 1500-meter pieces and one 1000-meter piece, starting every 15th minute.  As I've said before, I like the idea of being able to average 5 minutes per kilometer (7:30 for 1500 meters; that's a 12-kilometer-per-hour pace), but the wind, though supposedly from the west, was the kind that swirls all over the place, so I knew I shouldn't have my heart set on any particular speed.  I tried to focus on good stokes and stroke cadence (80-85 strokes per minute for the 1500s, closer to 90 for the 1000).  I clocked 7:48 and 7:55 for the two 1500s, and 5:10 for the 1000.  The workout felt hard every stroke of the way, and I was fading badly in the closing meters of the last piece.  Not exactly my finest hour.  But as I returned to the dock I felt good about myself for overcoming the lethargy and getting some decent work in.

As for upcoming races, I'm still thinking about attending the event on the Saline River at Benton, Arkansas, in two weeks.  But I'm not sure what the competition will be like.  I've already heard that one person I'd hoped would be there will not be.  So I'm sort of playing it by ear.

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