As the healing continues, I pay the Magnolia State a visit

On the aches-and-pains front, my lat muscle injury seems to be doing a lot better, but a couple of other stubborn issues remain.  My left forearm and biceps muscles are better some days and worse some days, and I've got a bad spot in the right side of my neck that came on about a month ago.  My chiropractor has been working on that latter spot, and she has said that it might take several adjustments before we can get the tension to release in that area.  I'm dreaming of the day when we achieve that magic crack! that makes everything better.

Meanwhile, I'm wondering whether that neck pain is somehow related to the recent problems in my right lat muscle.  I've noticed that when I tense that part of my neck I can feel it down into the lat.  Hmm.

Friday morning I dared to get back in the boat for an hour of easy paddling.  It would have been nice of Mother Nature to cooperate, but instead she presented me with a cold north wind and a temperature around 38 degrees Fahrenheit.  The sky was mostly cloudy, but as the hour went by the sun began to take over.  I could feel some mild soreness in the lat muscle--not just the injured part near my armpit, but the whole muscle.  But it never got any worse than that: I wasn't feeling any stabs of pain when I stressed it.  So that was encouraging, and I was hopeful that a couple more days of moderate-intensity paddling would bring me closer to full health.

Yesterday morning I took a rather wild notion.  Here at home I do almost all my paddling on the downtown Memphis riverfront because I keep a boat at a marina down there.  But yesterday I found myself wanting to check out Arkabutla Lake, a reservoir in northwest Mississippi some 25 miles south of Memphis.  I loaded one of the surfskis in my garage onto my truck and headed south.  Having scoped out the lake on the Google map, I chose to access it from the Bayou Point public use area on the western shore.

It was chilly as I carried my boat to the water, but the sun was shining bright and the temperature was rising toward a high in the 50s.  I embarked on another 60-minute paddle, heading out on a loop around the heart of the lake.  Situated in an economically-modest region, Arkabutla has a reputation as a somewhat lower-rent recreational spot than Sardis and Enid reservoirs to the southeast.  But I found it a perfectly pleasant setting for a Saturday morning paddle.  Even though I'm a lifelong Memphian, I had spent almost no time there before yesterday, and I'm glad to have gained a modicum of familiarity with this neighboring body of water.

This morning I returned to my home water on the Memphis riverfront.  It was no more than partly sunny, but the temperature was 50 degrees and rising toward a high in the low 60s.  As usual for this time of year, the warmer temperature was accompanied by a south wind, and that wind seemed to get stronger as I paddled for 90 minutes.  I left the harbor long enough to paddle up to the Hernando DeSoto Bridge, but then I went back and spent the rest of my allotted time doing a full lap in the harbor's more sheltered environs.  My lat muscle felt fine, and while I tried to keep the stroke rate low, I put more power into my strokes and got a solid training session out of it.  I'll probably wait until next weekend to do a "real" workout, but it felt good to be paddling strong again.

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More dry-land activity in unseasonably warm weather

In recent times I've been in the habit of making Monday a day off, but this week my mother needed me to drive her to and from the hospital for a small procedure on Tuesday.  The procedure was the kind of thing that could take anywhere from a couple of hours to all day, so I decided to do some training work on Monday and let Tuesday be my day off.

I did a gym session Monday morning.  Then in the afternoon I rode my bike to the park just west of my house, where there's a paved loop of maybe 2000 meters.  I did the same workout I'd done last Thursday, riding the loop hard three times, stopping in between laps to do a couple of sets of Hindu squats.

Just as I'd anticipated, the trip to the hospital took the better part of the day on Tuesday.  I spent that period sitting in a chair and reading a book, and once I was back home I didn't do much else for what was left of the day.  So by the evening I was feeling as though I'd spent the whole day sitting around like a slug.  But I reminded myself that it was a scheduled day off and I wasn't supposed to be doing any major physical activity.

We've had a warm spell for the last several days, with the daytime temperature exceeding 70 degrees Fahrenheit.  Not surprisingly, it's been accompanied by chances of stormy weather.  Yesterday the news was full of warnings about the possibility of severe storms, but by afternoon it looked like they would hold off until the evening.  I got on my bike and rode the Greater Memphis Greenline out to Shelby Farms.  My intention was to do a loop around Patriot Lake out there, but I was hit with a little digestive-tract emergency, and ended up spending a while in a restroom out there instead.  Once that episode had run its course I just came back home on the Greenline.  So what would have been a 34-kilometer ride was probably more like 29 or 30 kilometers.

The storms arrived after 9 o'clock last night, and the sky was lit up with one of the more impressive lightning displays I've seen.  I think it was pretty windy overnight but I haven't heard of any major damage in the Mid South.

I did another gym session this morning.  Now, as I write this, one last line of thunderstorms is about to move through.  The temperature is supposed to drop the rest of the day, and this weekend will see temperatures in the 40s and 50s.  I'm hoping to get back in the boat tomorrow and see how my right lat muscle responds to some easy paddling.

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Monday photo feature

It was about this time of year that I made my first trip to South Africa in 2020.  I shot this photo of the penguins at Boulders Beach, down the False Bay coast from Fish Hoek.

Here in February it's hard not to daydream of that warm South African summer.  I'm weary of winter and pining away for the longer, warmer days of spring and summer.

Then again, this winter hasn't been all that bad, really.  Yes, we had an ice storm a couple of weeks ago, and we had that brutal cold spell back around the 24th of December.  But we've also had quite a few days when the Fahrenheit temperature rose into the 50s and even the 60s.  And the forecast for the first half of this week looks downright balmy, including a high of 74 tomorrow.  In fact, according to The Weather Channel's website, all daily highs except two for the next two weeks are above 55 degrees in Memphis, Tennessee.

Still, I'll be glad when the sub-60 days disappear entirely and we're having more and more days in the 70s and low 80s.  Eventually, of course, the temperature will be rising into the 90s and maybe the 100s here in the Mid South, and I guess I'll be complaining about that soon enough.  But for now those days are out of sight and out of mind.

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Keeping myself busy out of the boat

When I did several sets of Hindu squats on Thursday, it was the first time I'd done so in quite a few months.  So it was no surprise that my quad muscles were sore on Friday.  I stayed home and did a gym session, but skipped the row exercises I'd been doing that I think contributed to my muscle injury.

I was still very sore yesterday.  The weather was not terrible, but not very nice either.  It was mostly cloudy and windy, and the temperature just barely reached 50 degrees Fahrenheit in the afternoon.  I really was not eager to get outside, but I dragged myself out in the afternoon for a 40-minute bike ride.

I could tell as soon as I got up this morning that today would be a much nicer day: I could see bright sunshine dawning in the eastern sky.  I waited until afternoon, when the temperature was reaching its high in the mid 50s, to get on the bike.  It was still cooler than I like to ride in, but when you're out of the boat for a while you have to do what you can.  I felt sort of tired, and my thighs were still sore, but I got in a decent 90-minute ride on my usual course out to Shelby Farms and back via the Greater Memphis Greenline.

I'm pleased to say that my injured lat muscle (or whatever it is) under my right armpit is feeling a lot better.  I've been babying it, heating it up in the bathtub and then icing it, stuff like that.  I probably won't try to paddle again until late this coming week, at the earliest.  The worst thing you can do with an injury is try to come back too soon, and with my first race still six weeks off, there's no reason at all to rush it.  I feel good about my cross-training work and I can keep that up for a few more days.

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Setback

Last weekend I noticed some soreness in my right lat muscle.  It wasn't terrible, and I figured it was just a mild strain that would work itself out in a few days.  By the end of the weekend I'd forgotten about it, but then on Tuesday morning I did a gym session, and as I did a set of dumbbell rows chest-down on the stability ball, I felt discomfort in that area again.

After the gym session I went down to the river and got in the boat.  After a 10-minute warmup I intended to do three 8-stroke sprints, but on the very first stroke of the very first sprint I felt something pop right under my right armpit.  I think it's part of my lat muscle, and I either pulled it or tore it, I'm not sure which.  I knew right then that I couldn't do any more sprints, and the spot continued to hurt as I paddled easy back to the dock.

Whatever this injury is, it's clear that it's going to keep me out of the boat for a few days.  I'm not happy about it, but I'm trying my best to take it in stride and do some alternative workouts while I nurse it back to health.  Tuesday was a lovely warm day, so I wasted no time: that afternoon I rode my bike for about 90 minutes, doing the 34-kilometer course I often do.  Today isn't quite so nice--it's around 50 degrees Fahrenheit with a stiff west-southwest wind--but I got back out and did sort of an interval workout on the bike.  I did three hard laps of a paved loop in Overton Park just west of my house, stopping to do some Hindu squats in between laps.

It's frustrating to have something like this happen, seeing as how just in my last post I was talking about how well things seemed to be going.  But this gives me a chance to incorporate some leg work that I hadn't been doing much of lately, and strong legs are an asset both for paddling and for good general fitness.  And hopefully this ailing muscle won't take too long to heal and I'll be able to paddle again soon.

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Monday photo feature

These photos show what I think is beautiful about ice storms.  There's something mesmerizing about the glistening ice-coated tree branches here in my forested city.

Of course, ice storms are known primarily for the headaches they cause: that beautiful ice can sometimes accumulate to a greater weight than many trees can support.  Fortunately, the one we had here this past week was not all that bad in terms of tree damage and power outages.  Just last year we had one that was quite a bit worse: somehow I was spared a loss of electricity at my house, but the neighborhood where my rental property is lost power for close to a week.

And then there was the truly catastrophic storm in February of 1994.  I remember waking up thinking my neighborhood was being shelled as the branches of large trees cracked off and crashed onto roofs everywhere.  I think it took the better part of a month for our local utility to get power fully restored to its customers.  I was a high school teacher at the time, and school was out for a week.  That might have been nice at the moment, but we paid a steep price later: the school board, in its profound wisdom, decided to make up the missed time by extending the school day an hour for the entire month of April.  Each class period was lengthened from 55 minutes to 65, and considering that I could barely hold those students' attention for even 20 minutes, it's little surprise that that was the most painful month of my teaching career.

We also had a very bad storm back in the early 1970s.  I remember considerable tree damage and long power outages, but I don't remember caring all that much about it.  I think my main source of anguish was that the ice wasn't as much fun to play in as snow.  Meanwhile, school was out, and I didn't really mind the heat going off in our house because we got to have fires in the fireplace along with hot chocolate and all that stuff.

Oh, to be a kid again, with no particular worldly worries.

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Starting to feel like a player again

My first race of the year is seven weeks away.  Right now I'm concentrating mainly on strength and power and endurance, doing a lot of workouts like the resistance session I did Friday.  Over the next few weeks I'll move gradually into doing more speed work.

Regular readers of this blog know that in the last couple of years I've struggled with energy, motivation, and desire.  I'm happy to say that I'm doing a lot better in those respects these days.  I'm excited about the race that's coming up next month, and I'm having some fun getting out there and putting more and more good work in the bank.

Of course, I'm hoping that this work will result in my racing well this year, and it remains to be seen how that will go and how it will affect my attitude toward the sport.  Two or three times in the last several years I was very disappointed in my performance at a race, and that dealt a huge blow to my enjoyment of this whole business.  And that's something I'm going to have to reckon with.  As I get older I can only expect to get slower, not faster, and I have to remember the things about this sport that are rewarding beyond just beating this person or that person.

When it comes to competing while aging, the main person I've looked at as my "ideal" is Greg Barton, a winner of four Olympic medals (two of them gold) in the 1980s and 90s.  Now, Greg might not be the best person to model myself after--at age 63 he's still faster than I ever was at my athletic peak.  But I admire his attitude toward his athletic decline.  There are a couple of current U.S. flatwater team members in western Washington where Greg lives, and Greg seems to savor the challenge every time he races them.  They're beating him, but not without a good fight.  Greg also seems genuinely happy whenever he ends up on the podium for his age group at the Columbia Gorge race.

For now, I'm just happy to be feeling some "giddy-up" each day as I go out and paddle or do some gym here at home.  It wasn't that long ago that the idea of simply getting out and paddling hard felt very intimidating; the hard sprinting that a downwind run requires seemed all but impossible.  Now I'm beginning to look forward to that kind of thing again.  Even though my left arm woes continue, I'm even feeling better about that: when I was in my funk my aches and pains gave me all the more reason for pessimism, but now I'm more inclined to believe I will work through them.

Yesterday morning started sunny, but a thin layer of clouds had moved in by the time I got down to the river.  Even after a sunny, above-freezing day on Friday, there was still quite a bit of ice at the marina, so I had to move around gingerly.  Once on the water I did a steady 60-minute paddle, focusing on the same catch and early-phase-power aspects of my stroke that Friday's workout had been intended to address.

Even though Friday had been a hard day, I woke up this morning feeling more tired and beat-up than I'd felt yesterday.  I went down to the river hoping more steady paddling would help.  The sun was out, and the forecast said today would be our warmest in a long time.  It was already about 50 degrees when I got in the boat.  Not surprisingly, the warmer air was accompanied by a fairly strong south wind, and since I try to be cautious in the wintertime, I didn't venture far from the harbor.  I paddled on the big river long enough to go up to the Hernando DeSoto Bridge and back, and did the rest in the harbor's sheltered environs.  I paddled for 90 minutes, and while I've certainly had more grueling sessions, this one felt tough.  I was tired, like I said, but I again tried to focus on taking effective powerful strokes as opposed to letting the whole thing be just an easy jog.

So I've now had several days in a row of rather tedious, grinding work.  It's definitely not the most fun part of training, but I'm glad to have it in the bank, and I'm hoping that after a day off tomorrow I'll be feeling strong again.

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Ice is... nice?

The biggest news of this past week is the ice storm that hit the southern United States from Texas to Virginia.  Here in Memphis it was nowhere near the worst ice storm I've seen, and I'm grateful for that.  But it still managed to cause me some grief.

I've paddled in sub-freezing weather many, many times over the years.  I think I've paddled when the temperature was as low as 16 or 17 degrees Fahrenheit.  But at age 55 I've decided that those days are over.  When forecasters announced an imminent ice storm at the beginning of the week, I planned to ride it out with perhaps some extra gym work but otherwise a bit of a training break.

Some freezing rain fell in the early hours of Tuesday, and much of the outdoors was coated in ice.  I planned to stay in for the day.  I fully intended to do a good, vigorous gym session that morning.  But then one of the tenants of my rental property called and told me the central heat wasn't working over there.  And just like that my plans were foiled as I ended up spending most of the day at the rental property while a repairman groped around trying to get the system running right again.  The infuriating thing was that there was nothing wrong with the actual heating machinery; the problem was with the electronic components that make the machinery respond to whatever instructions the user types in at the thermostat.  That's pretty much how all modern machinery works.

The repairman installed a new control board (at no small expense to the author), and I expected the problem to be fixed right then and there.  But my optimism was short-lived.  One hour after another slipped away while the repairman fussed and fussed, trying to get the electronic components synchronized so the system would click on and off when it was supposed to.  One thing I'd discovered on the drive over there was that the streets weren't bad, but more precipitation was on its way, and my mood became increasingly sullen as the repairman labored away with no apparent success.  I'd thought about running to the grocery store for a few key items while the streets were still clear, but I eventually realized that was not going to happen.

By the early afternoon the freezing rain had arrived, and I could see the streets worsening by the minute.  My tenant got home from work in the mid afternoon, and since I'd already paid the repairman I took my leave so I could get home before the conditions got any more dangerous than they already were.  Slipping and sliding the couple of miles home, I felt as though my entire day had been wasted.  I had accomplished exactly zero of the things I'd hoped to do, and I went to bed that night thoroughly defeated.

By Wednesday morning the streets were covered in new ice.  This time I did manage to stay in all day.  I did that gym session I'd been so keen to do on Tuesday.  Yesterday the temperature eclipsed the freezing point ever so slightly--I think the high for the day was 33 degrees--and the ice began to melt.  By the end of the day the streets were mostly clear.

The sun finally came out this morning, and the temperature was predicted to rise into the high 30s.  I did another gym session and then headed for the river.  It was still slightly below freezing when I got down there, and though quite a bit of melting had taken place yesterday, a lot of ice remained, and the ramp down to the marina looked like this:

I walked on the ground next to the ramp until I reached the water, where the ramp becomes level.  Then I climbed up onto the ramp and navigated its icy surface the rest of the way.  The ropes that I use to tie my boat to its rack were still coated in ice, and it took much effort to get the knots out so I could get my boat down.

At last I was on the water, and I beheld a lovely view of ice-coated trees along the banks glistening in the sun.  After a 10-minute warmup, I commenced my workout: 10 x (4 minutes on, 1 min. off) with a light resistance (just a rope) on the boat.  I did each piece at no greater than 60 strokes per minute.  Like all these resistance workouts I've been doing lately, the objective was to get a good catch on the water and apply strong power.

In a normal week I'd have done this workout on Saturday.  But since I'd already done a gym session this morning, I decided to make this an ultra-strength day so I can do more relaxed paddling tomorrow and Sunday.

The thaw continues outside as I write this in the afternoon.  There's still a lot of ice in the trees, but with tomorrow's forecast calling for a high in the 40s, I expect it'll be just about gone by the end of the day.

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Monday photo feature

This is an image of my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.  It's the basic satellite photo composite offered on Google Maps.

I live in the Binghampton neighborhood, labeled left of center in the image, between "Memphis Zoo" and "Lowe's Home Improvement."

If you move to the west-northwest you can see the word "Uptown," and just left of there is the marina where I keep my boat.  The harbor is somewhat obscured here, but it's the dark ribbon to the right of the main channel of the Mississippi River.

The harbor and the segment of the Mississippi shown here make up the Memphis riverfront, and of course that's where I paddle most of the time.  I'm grateful to have a place like this to paddle my boat.

Four bridges cross the Mississippi River at Memphis.  The northernmost one, near where I keep my boat, is the Hernando DeSoto Bridge that carries Interstate 40 across the river.  Farther south, next to where it says "Metal Museum," there is a trio of bridges.  One of them is the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge that carries Interstate 55 across the river.

The latter bridge made the national news over the weekend when protesters shut it down for several hours Friday evening.  The group was demanding reforms to the city police department following the release of video footage that showed police officers brutally beating a 29-year-old man they had pulled over.  The man had to be hospitalized and later died from his injuries.

That incident took place on January 7 at a location in the lower right corner of this image, just above where it says "Walmart Neighborhood Market."

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A good weekend of work

Friday was a bright sunny day with a Fahrenheit high in the 50s.  I did a gym session that morning, and in the afternoon I rode my bike for about 70 minutes.  If it had been a miserable wintry day I would have done the gym and nothing else, but instead it was a lovely day, and you gotta "let the weather be your coach"-- remember?

It was sunny again yesterday morning, but clouds started moving in not long after I got up, and the forecast said rain would be moving in later.  It was mostly cloudy and mid 40s when I got to the river.  I did a workout that we had done back on my first day of the training camp: three sets of (3 min. on, 3 min. off) at 80 strokes per minute with moderate resistance (one golf whiffle ball) on the boat.  I took a 5-minute break between sets.  It was another muscle-burning kind of session, but I held up pretty well.  My form didn't start falling apart until the last minute of the last piece, and that's just what you want in any kind of interval workout.

We got a good bit of rain overnight.  By this morning it had just about moved out, but overcast skies remained.  The temperature was a balmy 55 degrees, so I didn't have to wear pogies when I paddled, and that's always nice this time of year.  I paddled a course I hadn't done in a long time: up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Wolf River and back.  I tried to keep the stroke rate low and put good power into each stroke, and that was a lot easier on flatwater in the harbor and in the mouth of the Wolf than out on the Mississippi, where some barge traffic had churned up the water.  All told I was in the boat for 90 minutes.

It sounds like some colder weather is on its way here, so we'll see what I manage to do in the coming week.

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2023 Race Schedule (first draft)

Well, here's something I haven't done since before Pandemic Times: posted a race schedule.

As always, this schedule is a work in progress.  These are the events that are simply on my radar at the moment.  Maybe I'll end up going to every one, and maybe I'll end up skipping them all.  It's too soon to tell.  I am feeling pretty certain about attending the Ocean Springs race in late March.  It's also possible that more events will be added to this list as I find out about them.

As I've mentioned before, races in my part of the country have become scarce in the last few years.  The closest event to Memphis on this list is the one at Monroe, Louisiana; that's a four-and-a-half- or five-hour drive for me.

I've decided not to return to the downwind race in the Columbia River Gorge this summer.  I'm mulling a trip up to the Great Lakes instead, and that's why the Michigan events are on this list.

March

25    Battle On The Bayou.  Old Fort Bayou, Ocean Springs, Mississippi.  8.5 miles (13.7 kilometers) on flatwater.  Register

April

1    Top of the Teche.  Bayou Teche, Leonville, Louisiana.  7.7 miles (12.4 kilometers) down a Class I stream.  Register

15    Ouachita River 4-mile Sprint.  Riverton Lake, Monroe, Louisiana.  4 miles (6.4 kilometers) on flatwater.  This race is described as a "sprint" because it's offered as a companion to a 49-mile (78.9-kilometer) ultra-distance race.  Register

29    Mississippi State Games.  Bonita Lake, Meridian, Mississippi.  Races of 5 kilometers and 10 kilometers on flatwater.  Rumor has it this event is limited to residents of Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana; I will post an update once this has been either confirmed or debunked.

May

13    Chitimacha Nation Race.  Bayou Teche, Jeanerette, Louisiana.  10 miles (16 kilometers) down a Class I stream.  Register

June

25    45 North Solstice Paddle Festival.  Lake Michigan (Suttons Bay), Suttons Bay, Michigan.  5-kilometer, 10-kilometer, and sprint races.  Register

July

8    Belle Isle Classic.  Detroit River, Detroit, Michigan.  7 miles (11.3 kilometers) around Belle Isle in the Detroit River that flows from Lake Saint Clair into Lake Erie.  Register

September

16    The Firecracker Race.  Mississippi River, Alton, Illinois.  15 miles downriver from Grafton to Alton. Register

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Keeping it going in nice and not-so-nice weather

The arm pain hasn't been so bad this week, probably because of the ibuprofen I've been taking.  I'm trying to stay on top of the stretching and rehab work.  Meanwhile, I've got some bad soreness in the right side of my neck: this has been a problem just in the last month, and it doesn't seem to want to go away.

I started Tuesday morning with some gym, and then went down to the river to paddle for 60 minutes.  I warmed up and then, for the first time in what seemed like forever, I did a set of three 8-stroke sprints.  After that I paddled steady with one surge of 3-4 minutes.

It was cool but sunny and lovely Tuesday morning.  Clouds were moving in by the time I got home from the river, however, and it rained a good bit Tuesday night.  Yesterday was just the sort of raw, blustery day that makes a person despise winter.

I was hoping that today would be better, but it really wasn't, at least not this morning.  It was several degrees colder than yesterday, and it was still overcast and the west-northwest breeze was just strong enough to be unpleasant.  As usual, though, I didn't feel so bad once I was in the boat doing my thing.  I warmed up and did another three 8-stroke sprints, then paddled strong while keeping the stroke rate below 70 for the rest of the 60 minutes.  By the time I was back on the dock the sun was starting to peek through the clouds a bit.  It looks like we're in for some slightly nicer weather this weekend.

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Monday photo feature

The sport of whitewater slalom lost one of its legends this past week: Austrian kayaker Norbert Sattler passed away Thursday at age 71.  Sattler won the gold medal in team competition at the 1971 world championships at Merano, Italy, and claimed the individual gold two years later at Muotathal, Switzerland, where this photo was taken.  The world championships was a biennial event in that era.

He also was the K1 silver medalist at the 1972 Olympics at Augsburg, West Germany.

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Strength, power, and endurance

I've mentioned my general feeling of lethargy since my return from Florida.  A new gym routine is one thing I've had to drag myself into kicking and screaming.  Friday morning I made my most serious effort yet to get something going, doing a couple of core exercises along with bench press with dumbbells on the stability ball and dumbbell rows chest-down on the stability ball.  One can always expect to get sore after new gym work, and by late Friday I was feeling it in my upper back and lats and triceps.

It was chilly Friday, but bright and sunny.  It dropped slightly below freezing overnight, but by the time I got to the river yesterday morning it had warmed up to around 40 degrees Fahrenheit.  I did a workout similar to one I did in Florida back on the 6th of this month: 8 x (2 minutes on, 1 min. off) at 60 strokes per minute with moderate resistance (one golf whiffle ball) on the boat followed by 6 x (2 min. on, 1 min. off) at 70 spm with no resistance.  I took an 8-minute break between those two sets, during which I paddled back to the dock and removed the resistance.  Once again, the objective was to concentrate as much power as possible in the catch and the early phase of each stroke.

It stayed sunny for much of yesterday before gradually clouding over.  We got some rain overnight, and this morning it was overcast and 43 degrees.  I went back to the river intending to paddle for 80 minutes.  I left the harbor and paddled up the Mississippi to the Hernando DeSoto Bridge, then went back to the harbor where I figured paddling up to the north end and back down to the dock would just about fill up my allotted time.  But as I approached the area where the Memphis Queen Line boats are parked I saw another surfski paddler coming the other way.  It turned out to be Adam Davis, and he was planning to paddle down the Mississippi to the old bridges, up along the Arkansas bank to the HDB, and then back to the harbor.  I asked if I could join him and he said yes, and what might have been a rather dull, cheerless solitary paddle for me turned out to be very enjoyable.  I hadn't seen Adam in a long time and it was nice to have some company on the water as well as some motivation to paddle at a decent pace.  I figured paddling together would be safer for both of us as well: in the wintertime I tend to stick close to the harbor to lessen the likelihood of a swim in the frigid water.

Today's paddle ended up being more like 100 minutes for me.  I do hope to work in a few more longer paddles in the coming weeks: my first race in Ocean Springs is just over two months away, and it will be good to have some distance under my belt.

My arm muscles continue to have their ups and downs.  My friend Rob, the chiropractor up in New York, recommended a couple of stretch exercises to add to the ones I'd been doing.  I've also started taking a modest dose of ibuprofen, something I really don't want to do for any long period of time, but I've decided is worth a try to see if it makes any difference.

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Availing myself of good weather

I mentioned last week how much it bothered me to let a gorgeous day come and go on Wednesday without getting out and doing anything athletic.  So when another warm day presented itself on Monday, I was determined to take advantage of it.  It actually was nowhere near as nice as Wednesday had been: we had some rain in the morning, and the temperature was just barely touching 60 degrees Fahrenheit.  But it was better than one can ask for in January, and in the afternoon I got out and rode my bike over my usual 34-kilometer course, taking the Greater Memphis Greenline out to Shelby Farms, doing a loop around Patriot Lake, and returning home on the Greenline.

I've been slow to get back into a gym routine, but I began part of one Tuesday morning when I did a couple of abdominal exercises.  Then I went downtown and paddled for 60 minutes.  The temperature had risen well into the 60s overnight, with some heavy rain.  It was foggy yesterday morning, but the voices on my radio were saying it would gradually become sunny; when I got to the dock there was a thin layer of fog over the water, but there were patches of blue sky overhead, and I figured it wouldn't be long before the fog burned off entirely.  But as I paddled south toward the mouth of the harbor, the fog actually got so thick that I couldn't see much more than 20 feet.  I left the harbor and did a surge from the tip of Mud Island to the Hernando DeSoto Bridge, staying close to the bank where I knew no barges would be lurking.  I didn't have my cadence sensor with me, but I aimed for a stroke rate somewhere around 80 strokes per minute.

After reaching the bridge I came back downstream and returned to the harbor.  Paddling north, I eventually moved into an area of lighter fog.  I did another surge from the HDB to the A.W. Willis Avenue bridge, and then paddled calm until my 60 minutes had expired.

Yesterday I was busy with a lot of things but in the morning I found time to do a leisurely bike ride of less than an hour.  It was quite warm all day, and in the evening some heavy rain moved in.

By this morning the rain was all gone and the sun was out.  The temperature was in the mid 50s but was expected to drop in the afternoon, so I got out as quickly as I could this morning.  I did a steady 60-minute paddle and focused on the same thing I've focused on a lot lately: getting a good precise solid catch and putting power into the early phase of the stroke.  There was a pretty good south breeze blowing, and I also did some balance drills by paddling across the harbor in the beam waves.

My left arm felt quite a bit better for a couple of days this week and I wondered whether perhaps I'd turned a corner.  But by last night the pain had returned, and it bothered me today.  I'm still doing rehab exercises and I guess I need to get back in to consult with my chiropractor, whom I haven't seen since before the holidays.

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Fun with A.I.

Keeping this blog updated is a lot of work.  With the remarkable advancements occurring in the field of artificial intelligence, I wonder if I can't lighten my load a bit.  I visited "ChatGPT" and created an account, and began to explore what A.I. can do for me.

Could this technology really write my blog posts for me?  As a prompt, I typed in "Write a blog post for My Training Blog by Elmore in which the author paddles for 60 minutes on the Memphis riverfront." Here's what I got:

Paddling on the Memphis Riverfront: A Refreshing Experience

If you're looking for a new way to get some exercise and enjoy the beautiful scenery in Memphis, then paddling on the riverfront is a great option. Recently, I had the opportunity to paddle for 60 minutes on the Memphis riverfront and it was a truly refreshing experience.

First, I made my way to the riverfront and found a kayak rental shop. I rented a kayak and set off down the river. The weather was perfect, with clear blue skies and a gentle breeze blowing. As I paddled, I was surrounded by the natural beauty of the river and the city skyline. I couldn't help but feel a sense of peace and tranquility as I glided along the water.

The riverfront is a great place to paddle, as it offers a variety of sights and sounds. I saw a wide variety of birds and other wildlife, including great blue herons and egrets. I also passed by several boats and even saw a few people fishing. As I paddled, I felt the workout in my arms and shoulders, but it was a great way to stay active.

After 60 minutes, I returned to the rental shop, feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. Paddling on the Memphis riverfront is a great way to get some exercise, enjoy the outdoors, and take in the beautiful scenery of the city. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a new way to stay active and explore the city.

In conclusion, Paddling on the Memphis Riverfront is a great way to explore the city from a different perspective and also a great way to stay active. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for an [sic] unique way to enjoy the outdoors.

Hmm, okay... not bad. But as far as I know there's only one place on the riverfront where you can rent kayaks, and it's shut down for the winter, so I couldn't pass off this post right now. And of course regular readers know I've already got a boat. I tried another prompt: "Write a blog post for My Training Blog by Elmore in which the author paddles out onto the Mississippi River and surfs the wake behind a barge rig." The bot responded thusly:

Surfing the Wake on the Mississippi River: A Thrilling Adventure

If you're looking for an exciting and unique way to get some exercise and explore the Mississippi River, then surfing the wake behind a barge rig is definitely worth trying. Recently, I had the opportunity to paddle out onto the Mississippi River and surf the wake behind a barge rig, and it was an unforgettable experience.

First, I made my way to the river and found a suitable barge rig to surf behind. I paddled out behind the barge and positioned myself in the wake. As the barge moved, it created a large wave, which I began to surf. The experience was thrilling and exciting, as I felt the rush of the water beneath me and the wind in my hair. I felt my heart pounding as I rode the wake and it was a great workout for my core and legs.

Surfing the wake on the Mississippi River was a great way to experience the power and beauty of the river. The Mississippi River is a lifeline for many communities and cities along its banks, and it is also a great place for recreational activities like wake surfing. The wake surfing behind the barge rig also allowed me to see the river from a different perspective, as well as the different types of boats and ships passing by.

After a few runs, I returned to the shore feeling exhilarated and energized. Surfing the wake on the Mississippi River is a great way to get some exercise, challenge yourself, and explore the river in a unique way. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for an exciting and different way to stay active and enjoy the great outdoors.

In conclusion, wake surfing on the Mississippi River is an exciting and unique way to experience the power of the river and get a good workout at the same time. The different perspective of the river and the rush of the water are a great way to explore the river while having fun. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for an adventure and a different way to enjoy the Mississippi River.

Wow... the wind in my hair! It's never even occurred to me to share sensations like that here. Okay, let's try one more. How about one in which I do a specific workout. Here's my prompt: "Write a blog post for My Training Blog by Elmore in which the author does a workout designed to increase the power in his stroke." This time it took noticeably longer for the bot to come up with something. I sat and watched the blinking black box for at least a minute before it finally generated this post:

Increasing Power in Your Stroke: A Comprehensive Workout Plan

As a paddler, one of the most important aspects of your sport is the power of your stroke. A powerful stroke will not only make you faster on the water, but it will also help you navigate through choppy conditions and currents. In this post, I will be sharing a comprehensive workout plan designed to help increase the power in your stroke.

The first exercise in this plan is the kettlebell swing. This exercise will work your glutes, hamstrings, and lower back muscles, all of which are important for generating power in your stroke. To perform this exercise, stand with your feet hip-width apart and hold a kettlebell with both hands. Swing the kettlebell up to shoulder height, keeping your arms straight and your core engaged. Repeat this exercise for 3 sets of 10 reps.

Next, we have the dumbbell row. This exercise will target your upper back and lats, which are also important for generating power in your stroke. To perform this exercise, stand with your feet hip-width apart and hold a dumbbell in each hand. Bend forward at the hips and keep your back straight, then row the dumbbells up to your sides, squeezing your shoulder blades together. Repeat this exercise for 3 sets of 10 reps.

Another great exercise for increasing power in your stroke is the medicine ball slam. This exercise will work your core and upper body, helping to increase the power of your upper body rotation. To perform this exercise, stand with your feet hip-width apart and hold a medicine ball with both hands. Raise the ball overhead and then slam it down onto the ground as hard as you can. Repeat this exercise for 3 sets of 10 reps.

Finally, we have the deadlift. This exercise will work your legs and lower back muscles, which are important for generating power in your stroke. To perform this exercise, stand with your feet hip-width apart and hold a barbell with both hands. Lower your hips, bend your knees and grip the bar with your palms facing your thighs. Keeping your back straight, lift the bar by extending your hips and knees to a standing position. Repeat this exercise for 3 sets of 10 reps.

In conclusion, increasing power in your stroke is essential for any paddler looking to improve their performance on the water. This workout plan includes exercises that will target all the major muscle groups involved in paddling, including your glutes, hamstrings, lower back, upper back, lats, and core. Incorporating these exercises into your training routine will help you generate more power in your stroke, making you a faster and more efficient paddler.

I was hoping for an in-the-boat workout, actually... but hey, who am I to second-guess ChatGPT? Maybe I should be doing exactly what the bot has suggested.

Anyway... what do you, the readers, think? Should I let an A.I. bot write all my blog posts from now on?

For more information on what this blog is about, click here.

Monday photo feature

Alessia Faverio, Cam Thacker, and Royal McDonnell settle into a two-hour training paddle on the Rainbow River at Dunnellon, Florida, back on January 5.  Dunnellon is located in central northern Florida, 24 miles southwest of Ocala.

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Just trying to stay in motion

Yesterday I paddled a moderate-to-strong 60 minutes in the harbor.  I kept the stroke rate low and tried to put good power into each stroke, sort of like the sessions I did on Tuesday and Wednesday of my week in Florida.

It was cold yesterday--around 34 degrees Fahrenheit--but the sun was out and the wind was light, so once I was in the boat it really wasn't bad at all.  It reminded me of the last couple of mornings in Florida, when we had very nice paddling conditions despite chilly temperatures.  The only reason that it wasn't just as nice as that yesterday morning is that the water is cold in the Mississippi River and the harbor, while the spring-fed Rainbow River is around 72 degrees all year long.

I'm feeling a bit tired and my left arm still hurts, and since returning home I've just been trying to keep something going until I've fortified myself for another good training block that will build on the one in Florida.  One question I'm occasionally asked is "If your arm still hurts, shouldn't you just be resting?"  My answer is that I've tried that.  After coming home from the Columbia Gorge race last summer I pretty much shut down for a while, and saw no improvement in my condition.  I really don't think paddling is what caused my arm woes, and the ailing muscles don't seem directly involved in the act of paddling, so I feel pretty confident that I can continue at least a moderate level of paddling while I keep searching for relief.

This morning it was cold again, but sunny and forecast to rise into the 50s.  Once again I used the memory of those cold but lovely mornings in Florida as motivation to get down to the river.  It was breezier today, meaning that it wasn't quite as nice on the river as yesterday even though it was some 10 degrees warmer.  But it was fine.  I did another steady 60-minute paddle in the harbor.

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Training camp memories

Here's a short film I put together to commemorate last week's training camp experience.  We're on the Rainbow River at Dunnellon, Florida.

The reason the music is so good is that I played it myself!

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Trying to settle in back home

I got in the boat Tuesday morning and paddled a calm 60 minutes.  I tried to focus on a good catch like I had done in our workouts at training camp late last week.

The Mississippi River was up to 16.5 feet on the Memphis gauge Tuesday, and of course it carried its usual sediment load and was nothing like the clear-as-a-bell spring-fed Rainbow River.  Oh well... I'm always preaching at people to paddle whatever water they've got.  They'll grow to love it and they'll have a keener appreciation for what's different about the waters they visit in their travels.

In fact, I'm very glad to be back home.  But of course, being back home means being back with all my real-world responsibilities and the attendant duties and chores.  Since getting home I've had a long to-do list to deal with, partly catching up on things I neglected while I was away, and partly rectifying problems I created during my trip--most notably the disabled driver's side door handle on my car.  Yesterday we had very un-January-like sunshine and Fahrenheit temperatures in the high 60s, and I felt like I needed to be out paddling or riding my bike or something like that, but I was simply too busy with nuisance stuff.  I kept reminding myself that this is supposed to be an easy week to recover from the stress of the training camp, but I hated not to take better advantage of such a nice day.

It was still in the high 60s this morning, but the voices on my radio told me that the temperature would be dropping throughout the day.  So I had the motivation to get on down to the riverfront as early as I could.  My car's temperature display told me it was 66 degrees when I got down there, but as I walked down to the dock there was a swirly breeze blowing, gradually shifting from south to north, and I could feel a chill in the air that would only get sharper as the day went on.  I did another 60-minute paddle, keeping things mostly easy but dialing up the power in a few short pieces to give my muscles a taste of what we worked on in Florida last week.

My car told me it was 62 degrees as I came back home.  Now it's the mid afternoon and we're down into the mid 40s with wind and rain.  The next couple of days promise to be more what one would expect here in January, but more unseasonably warm weather is forecast for next week.

My left arm continues to hurt.  I can paddle with no major pain, but the discomfort makes the rest of my life feel like a struggle.

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Monday photo feature

I really wasn't planning to lift one of Steph Schell's photos from social media for a second week in a row, but I just couldn't resist this one.  The Rainbow River was absolutely gorgeous Saturday morning as we put our boats in the water and prepared for our time trial, and Steph took this photo at KP Hole County Park.  The Fahrenheit temperature was in the high 30s, and the fog over the 70ish-degree water was so dense at times that it was hard to see more than ten feet ahead as we paddled up to Rainbow Springs.  The springs is a pretty place all the time, with large swaths of the phosphorous-rich bedrock showing through the marsh grasses, but with the weather conditions we had Saturday morning, it was hauntingly beautiful.  I was sorry to have to start my time trial and leave the place.

I'm back home in Memphis now, and while I love my home water on the Mississippi River, at the moment I'm missing that crystal-clear spring-fed river in the Sunshine State.

I did in fact shoot some photos and video of my own this past week, and I'll be sharing some of that here as soon as I get a chance.

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Some muscle-burning workouts followed by a time trial

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.

For more information on what this blog is about, click here.

Worn out and locked out

I started Monday morning with a gym session.  It was the same one I'd been doing at home except for the bent-over rows because I hadn't brought any dumbbells with me.  Probably just as well for me not to do too much arm stuff after Sunday afternoon's hard workout in the boat.

After that I got on my bike and rode for about an hour.  The Air B&B I'm staying in is located sort of in the countryside between Dunnellon and Ocala, and I had a network of quiet country roads to ride on.  I saw a few signs advertising "Lots for Sale," so in another 50 years this area might be a dreadful suburban wasteland, but right now it's mostly piney woods and was a pleasant setting for my ride.  It was a gorgeous day, too: it had rained during most of my drive down here, and Sunday had been somewhat overcast, but Monday morning was sunny with a crystal-clear blue sky.

Yesterday morning we were back in our boats doing a steady 75-minute paddle.  Though the workout specified a low stroke rate (I tried to keep mine at or below 70 strokes per minute), the effort was supposed to be quite a bit more substantial than the easy session we'd done Sunday morning.  By the end of it my arms were feeling as achy as they've felt so far this week.

That made the outlook all the more painful for yesterday's afternoon session.  We did three 9-minute pieces at 10-kilometer race pace, or 80+ spm.  We started every 16th minute (in other words, the recovery interval was 7 minutes).  I tried to keep my rate right at 80 and just survive.  Actually, I held up okay through the first two; it wasn't until the last several minutes of the last piece that I felt myself falling apart.

Whatever the case, I was dead-dog tired, and with more tough sessions on the schedule, I headed for bed early last night and hoped I could somehow keep myself going.  One would think I'd have fallen fast asleep without delay, but, well, one would be wrong: I tossed and turned and couldn't nod off for at least two hours.

I managed to get reasonably rested, however, and I returned to the river for another hard, steady, low-stroke-rate paddle.  This one was only 60 minutes, but it was unpleasant enough.  To me, these sessions are much harder than ones like yesterday afternoon's: at least faster interval-type workouts get some endorphins going, whereas all these slow grinding workouts do is wear me down.  And of course, that's the point: you have to beat yourself down so the body can build itself back up during recovery.  But that doesn't mean I have to like it.

This afternoon's session was mercifully easier.  Intense, but not particularly taxing.  We did twelve short sprints starting every third minute.  The odd-numbered sprints were 20 seconds starting from rest, and the even-numbered sprints were 10 seconds with a moving start.  Not having sprinted or practiced any starts in many months, I felt incredibly rusty, but the workout felt good compared to all the other stuff we've been doing lately.

A torrential rain began to fall right at the tail end of our workout--part of the same system that apparently visited violent storms upon the South from Louisiana through Georgia.  But the biggest drama occurred back at the parking lot, where I'd locked my keys in my car.  Chris Hipgrave kindly made a run to the auto parts store and got one of those "slim jim" things that are supposed to trip the lock, but neither he nor Chris Norbury nor Cam Thacker could get it to do the trick.  Meanwhile, Cam and Alessia Faverio and Royal McDonnell and I were unsuccessful trying to wedge the door open enough to stick something in and push the "unlock" button.  In the end we called a locksmith, who (for a fee, naturally) accomplished in 30 seconds what we six paddlers could not over the better part of an hour.  He didn't do any actual locksmithing; he simply had better equipment than we did for wedging open the door and hitting that button.

Now the handle on the driver's-side door no longer works--somebody managed to mess that up while working the slim jim--and that's going to be a real hassle to live with for the rest of this trip.  But it's better than being still locked out of my car.

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