Not smooth yet, but not as rough either

For my second paddling session for the past week, I had a choice between Friday, which was forecast to be sunny but chilly, and yesterday, expected to be warmer but cloudy.  I opted for warmer but cloudy, and as a bonus I also got windy.  The misery factor for a windy day isn't too bad as long as it's warmer than 55 degrees Fahrenheit or so, but windy almost always means wet.  Enough waves found their way into my cockpit that I was sitting in a big puddle of water by the end of my sixty minutes in the boat.

Oh well... I was dressed appropriately, and "skin is waterproof," as the counselors at summer camp used to tell me.  I continued my efforts from Wednesday's session to use my legs and lower torso as much as possible.  It felt somewhat laborious, but not like it had on Wednesday, and that's something I've always found interesting and fun about doing something with your body: trying something you're not used to can feel awkward or even painful at first, but if you stick with it it doesn't take that long for it to become second-nature.  Meanwhile, I'm still observing other fundamentals of paddling, such as keeping the boat running smoothly and quietly, and I think if I can put this all together the result will be greater power in my strokes.

Technical intensity

I went downtown to paddle in the mid-afternoon today.  It had been a grey, chilly, cheerless day, and as I put on my paddling clothes at home some rain began to fall.  But as I drove downtown blue sky moved in from the northwest, and I ended up paddling in bright sunshine.  I found myself somewhat overdressed because I had expected bleak conditions.  I paddled hatless because I had only brought a fleece cap.

I paddled for 60 minutes and spent the whole time concentrating on rotating in my lower torso.  In the past I'd always thought I was rotating pretty well, but I think at least in this past season I was using my arms and shoulders a bit too much, putting stress on my latissimus and trapezius muscles.

Isolating one small part of my technique and focusing hard on it makes for a mentally exhausting session, even when I keep the intensity low like I did today.  At one point I did some one-sided paddling drills to break up the monotony as much as anything else.  I found myself picking up a theme I had just started before my long break began: using the foot strap to involve my legs more.  I tried to accompany each forward stroke with a hard pump of my leg on that side, which in turn pushed my hip back and lengthened my rotation.

Monday photo feature

The Mississippi is fairly low these days--below 5 feet on the Memphis gauge.  So I thought I'd follow Memory Lane back to May of 2011, when the river was approaching a crest of 47.3 feet.  The only evidence of the existence of southern Mud Island was the lights and placards and walkway cordons of Mud Island Park.

One's frame of mind as a new season approaches

This morning Joe and I did another 70-minute circuit in the harbor.  Though cool--mid 40s Fahrenheit--it was an ideal day to paddle.  The sun was out and the wind was at a minimum.

I felt quite good in the boat today.  There was a bit of soreness in my upper back, but not much, and paddling didn't seem to aggravate it.  Of course, the long layoff means my fitness is down a bit, and by the end of the session I was feeling some fatigue.

It's not uncommon for me to take some time off in the fall.  Some years I take just a short time off, and other years, like this one, I stay out of the boat for six weeks or more.  It all depends on how busy I am with other things, and how I'm feeling.  Every year during this down-time, I get anxious about the lost fitness, and sometimes I even entertain some doubts about whether I have it in me to come back for another season of training and racing.  But so far, I've done it every year.  It always starts with some easy sessions like Tuesday's and today's.  Before I know it, I've settled into a consistent routine, and after a couple of months I'm ready to start doing some more serious workouts.

And that's the big secret (and it's not really a secret): take things a day at a time and just enjoy the process.  I follow the St. Louis Cardinals during baseball season, and players quite often talk about how it's important to focus on one game at a time, and not succumb to thoughts like "we're five games back; we have to go out and win eleven of our next twelve!"  This theme was also emphasized by Bill Endicott during his tenure as coach of the U.S. whitewater slalom team: he often noted that a trait he saw in successful people in all fields was "fascination with the process."

So, I need not be anxious about all the work it's going to take to get myself back in shape.  I should just relax and enjoy myself each time I go down to paddle, and it'll add up to some good training soon enough.

Paddle care

As I said in yesterday's post, I didn't spend my time out of the boat just lying around.  I did all kinds of things both related and unrelated to paddling.  One of the paddling-related things I did was refurbish some of my wooden paddles:

At the very least, they were due for a new coat of spar varnish.  A couple of them needed some fiberglass repair.  The second one from the left needed a new T-grip because I had broken the old one off on the Gauley in September.

Equipment overhaul is an easy thing to keep putting off, so it feels good to have these paddles all slicked up and ready to go.

Okay, I'm back

Well, it's been a while, and I wouldn't be surprised if every single one of my readers has given up on me by now.

After some six weeks out of the boat, I began to grind back into motion this morning, meeting my friend Joe downtown for a 70-minute paddle in the harbor.  We kept the intensity low, and I concentrated hard on rotating fully in my strokes.  I had wondered whether I would even know what to do in the boat after such a long layoff, but as they say, "It's like riding a bike."

I wasn't exactly out of motion during my break from paddling.  I've been working a lot on strength, doing a bunch of core exercises on the stability ball in October and working out with my Smart Bell this month.  I've also been doing a lot of rehab exercises and getting regular massages for my back pain; though the pain is not gone, I'm seeing some improvement.  Finally, I've been busy in my professional life, doing a couple of public demonstrations and getting some construction work done on my storefront.

Joe and I plan to paddle together again on Thursday.  I think for the next little while I'll be paddling two or three times a week, and my goal for this period is to establish a physical and technical routine that won't worsen my back pain.  Last season I did a lot more short, fast pieces than I'd ever done before, and I think because my stroke form is not as good at high intensity than at normal intensity, I put a lot of stress on muscles that weren't used to it.  I don't want to stop working on speed this coming season, but I want to be a bit smarter about it and try to figure out what my body can take.

Monday photo feature

In late September the world championships for canoe and kayak marathon racing took place at Oklahoma City.  Mike Herbert (middle, red jersey) was the U.S. representative in men's kayak.  This photo was taken by Vadim Lischuk, whose son, Jesse, competed in kayak at the junior level.

Marathon racing, as the name suggests, is a long-distance discipline; the racers pictured here completed a 30-kilometer course.  Typically, the course is done in laps of a circuit, with a portage in between laps.