Facing the chill with a grin

Winter has settled in here in the Mid South.  The Fahrenheit temperature is expected to rise above 50 degrees only one day this week, and that day is supposed to be a rainy day.  The overnight lows aren't just brutal right now, but they're at freezing or a bit below.  It's suitable weather for the final days of December, I suppose.

Yesterday I paddled for 60 minutes on a gray, cheerless day with a temperature in the high thirties.  I paddled out on the river, and even though it wasn't that rough besides some small waves from a barge rig, I felt a bit tentative because I really didn't feel like going for a swim.  I have in fact flipped on cold days a couple of times in the past, and each time I climbed back on my ski and carried on, but it's not an experience I relish, and I don't need to be tempting fate any more than necessary.

Today I did the December strength routine for the last time.  The next time I do strength work it will be a new month and a new routine.

Monday photo feature

One of those races I listed in yesterday's post is the Battle On The Bayou race at Ocean Springs, Mississippi.  This race starts in a cove of the Back Bay of Biloxi and proceeds promptly up into Old Fort Bayou.  In this photo, taken at the 2011 edition, I am right at the bayou's mouth, about a half-mile into the race.  Although most of this race does go up Old Fort Bayou, I have never detected much opposing current.  I would characterize this race as a flatwater event.  Photo by Robbie Capel.

Pondering the year ahead

Well, once again it's been a while since I've posted here, but I've been trying to keep at least a remnant or two of training activity going.  I spent most of this past week in North Carolina with my sister's family for the Christmas holiday, and I didn't have a boat with me, but I did do my December strength routine Wednesday and Friday.  Joe and I got a 70-minute session in on Monday, just before I left.  As we move into a new month, I hope to increase my paddling from twice a week to thrice a week.

With a new year starting this coming week, perhaps it's a good time to look over my possible racing schedule for 2015.  Here's a list of events that are on my radar at the moment:

March 28: Battle on the Bayou.  About 9.5 miles on a flat coastal bayou at Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

April 11: Bluz Cruz Canoe and Kayak Race.  About 22 miles down the Mississippi River from Madison Parish Port, Louisiana, to Vicksburg, Mississippi.

April 18: Top of the Teche.  A race of about 7.7 miles on Bayou Teche from Leonville to Arnaudville, Louisiana.

April 25-26: French Broad Classique.  Two races on the French Broad River near Asheville, North Carolina.  Saturday's race covers 18 miles from Blantrye Access to Westfeldt Park in Henderson County.  Sunday's race covers 16 miles from Westfeldt Park to the Asheville Outdoor Center.

May 2: Osage Paddle Sports Spring 12 Race.  A 12-mile race on the Osage River near Osage City, Missouri.

June 20: Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race.  My hometown race since 1982.  About 5000 meters down the Mississippi River from the mouth of the Wolf River to Mississippi River Park on the downtown riverfront.

July 19-25: Gorge Paddling Festival.  Columbia River near Hood River, Oregon.  A series of elite-level surf ski competitions including a 21.5-kilometer downwind race and a 40-kilometer relay race.

September 6: The Paddle Grapple.  A 10-kilometer race on Lake Fontana near Bryson City, North Carolina.

September 26: The Gator Bait Race.  A race of about 5.5 miles on Ross Barnett Reservoir near Jackson, Mississippi.


It is very unlikely that I will do every one of these races.  The races at Ocean Springs, Vicksburg, and Memphis have been fixtures on my schedule for years and I will probably make each of them this coming year.  Whether I do some of these other events will depend largely on my physical health, my obligations at home, and my appetite for travel.  The Gorge Paddling Festival is no more than a "sorta-maybe" at this point.  Even if I am in excellent shape I would likely be in the bottom quarter of the field there, so if my fitness is anything shy of excellent I'll probably pass.  It's been quite a few years since I have taken a big trip out West and I would love to take another one, so I'm listing this event here as one possible carrot to lure me out that way.

Anyway... for now I'm just going to take one day at a time and get my paddling and strength work in. With any luck I'll have laid a strong foundation once the end of March rolls around.

Monday photo feature

Jennie Goldberg crosses the finish of the FIBArk downriver race in June of 2005.  The race, which covers some 26 miles of the Arkansas River from Salida to Cotopaxi, Colorado, is the oldest whitewater competition in the U.S.  The first FIBArk race took place in 1949.

The week that was

I attribute my failure to post anything here lately to a busy week.  But that business did include some training activities.

I did two sets per day of the December strength routine on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and today.  On Tuesday and Thursday, I was in the boat.  I paddled for 60 minutes by myself on Tuesday and for 70 minutes with Joe on Thursday.  Joe was dealing with a mild muscle-pull and was apologetic about having to go slow, but it was fine with me.  I usually have no trouble pushing the pace when paddling by myself, and I used the slower pace on Thursday to concentrate on the various aspects of paddling that I've been working on lately.  Conversation with Joe helped keep both sides of my brain engaged.

My upper back area has been sore recently, probably because of some construction chores in my building that included some lifting of unwieldy objects.  I have a massage scheduled for tomorrow.

Monday photo feature

Nath Thompson, the late director of the summer camp I went to as a kid, was not great at any one camp activity, but he was good at a lot of things, and at the very least he tried them all, including paddling.  I used to tease him about a photo proudly displayed in his office in which he was floating through Nantahala Falls in an aluminum canoe, his hands gripping the gunwales for dear life.  There's also an old story of lore in which Nath was in the bow of a canoe approaching Bull Sluice on the Chattooga River, and at the brink of the drop he turns around and sees an empty seat, his stern man swimming for the bank... or maybe Nath was the one swimming for the bank... I can't remember.

Anyhow, that was the Nath I loved, and in the photo above, his son Alfred follows in his footsteps.  Alfred, who would take the camp director's reins from Nath several years later, runs Suddy Hole on Big Laurel Creek in the spring of 1994.  My best recollection is that he stayed in his boat for this entire trip, and a kayak has no gunwales to grab.

Strength

I'm on a twice-a-week paddling program right now, and yesterday afternoon I got in my second session in windy, mostly cloudy, chilling conditions.  But as usual for this time of year, I felt fine in the boat.  Standing on the dock before and after, changing clothes and getting my boat on/off its rack, was the toughest part.

I continued to work on paddling more with my legs and lower abdominals, and I'm reinforcing these muscle groups in my strength routine.  With a new month starting last Monday it was time for a new routine, and the one I've drawn up goes like this:

Hindu squats
Rotation exercises with a medicine ball
Several rubber band drills
Hindu pushups

I make two trips through this routine about three times a week (every other day, more or less).  I generally try to increase the number of reps as the month goes along, though with some exercises I concentrate more on good technique and speed than on volume.  As of this writing I'm at 62 Hindu squats per set and 30 Hindu pushups per set.

Brrrr

Joe and I typically go our separate ways during holiday weeks, but with Thanksgiving behind us we were back on the water together this morning, doing another 70-minute loop in the harbor.  I continued to feel better with my technical adjustments.

Today was a grey, cold day.  The Fahrenheit temperature hovered in the 30s as I walked down to the dock, but with dead-calm conditions I figured I'd warm right up once I got to paddling.  I didn't.  It was that penetrating sort of cold today--foggy and damp--and I felt a bit chilled from my first stroke until my last.  It was not a miserable session, mind you; but I never achieved the toasty feeling I usually get when I'm well dressed on a calm day.

Monday photo feature

In July of 2008, my niece Ada and I paddle a canoe down the White River alongside the City Bluffs near Calico Rock, Arkansas.