The digestive situation has been up and down since my last post. I continue to have that unsettled feeling down in my tummy. The good news is that it hasn't stopped me at all from doing the physical activities I'm wanting to do these days. I've been paddling my boat and doing some bike riding, and haven't skipped anything because of stomach distress. While I really hope to see some resolution of this problem before I launch into the Grand Canyon, I'm hopeful that even if I don't, it won't be something that makes me absolutely miserable on the trip.
I think stress is likely to blame for these woes. With less than eight weeks to go before I Launch Day, I've had a lot of anxiety about whether I'll truly be ready. I do in fact think I will be, but being responsible for having everything ready for fifteen other people as well as myself is weighing on me. It's not entirely rational: I think I've put together a strong group with a number of people whose experience makes up for my inexperience in certain areas. Just last week I was writing here about good I was feeling about things... as I said then, the best thing I can do is trust my companions to do their thing, and give them support when they need it. But sitting here at home without any of them around, I'm having hard time relaxing in the belief that everything will go smoothly, and letting it go.
Again, the physical conditioning seems to be the least of my worries. I did some good bike riding on Monday and yesterday. Tuesday I paddled the whitewater boat in the harbor, doing lots of the stroke drills that I used to do in my slalom racing days. When I paddle the surfski I usually paddle for 60 to 90 minutes, but when doing stroke drills in the whitewater boat, I've found that 40 minutes or so is plenty. I think a big reason for that is the high degree of concentration I put into those drills: it's more mentally taxing than just forward paddling and taking in the scenery like I do in the ski. In any case, I had an enjoyable time down there on Tuesday: those sessions remind me of the hours I spent 40 years ago playing around on the lake at camp, in whatever boats I had access to there. That was a huge part of my early paddling education. It was sunny and hot on Tuesday, but my routine included some Eskimo rolls, and that helped me stay cool. And of course I took a hose bath on the dock afterward.
I was in the surfski this morning, and when I reached the mouth of the harbor I found not one but two big barge rigs coming up the Mississippi from below the old bridges. I found lots of big workable waves, especially once I was behind the second rig. I didn't really get any of those sweet extended rides that every surfski paddler dreams of, but I got a lot of brief ones, many of which I was able to carry onto other waves--similar to "linking runs" in a downwind situation. The most satisfying thing was how well my body responded to the near-constant sprinting I was doing. While there were moments when I was too gassed to keep paddling, each time I recovered quickly and resumed my attack. That's always been a sign that I'm in pretty good shape, and I've been feeling good about that the rest of the day. The session I had this morning may have been just what I needed.
It continues to be hot today, but making it more bearable is that the breeze is from the north, meaning the humidity is down. I expect in another couple of days we'll be back to the usual south wind that carries moist air up from the Gulf of Mexico.
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