The weather was simply gorgeous over the weekend, and I believe spring is beginning to assert itself. I expect I'll be seeing some new duck families down at the harbor soon.
Monday, March 28, 2016
Monday photo feature
The weather was simply gorgeous over the weekend, and I believe spring is beginning to assert itself. I expect I'll be seeing some new duck families down at the harbor soon.
What's next?
Now that one race is in the books for 2016, I realize that I haven't said much about my plans for the rest of the year. Here are the events I hope to participate in:
April 30: 13th annual Bluz Cruz Canoe and Kayak Race. Starts at Madison Parish (La.) Port on the Mississippi River and finishes 22 miles downriver at the Vicksburg Front.
May 14: Osage Spring 12. A 12-mile race down the Osage River at Osage City, Missouri.
June 18: 35th Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race. A 5000-meter race down the Mississippi River at downtown Memphis, Tennessee.
June 25: The Great Chickasawhay Race. At 21-nautical-mile (that's what it says on the website) race down the Chickasawhay River from Shubuta, Mississippi, to Waynesboro, Mississippi.
July 30: USCA National Championship for downriver kayak. A race for boats that meet ICF wildwater specs. Held in conjunction with the Aluminum Canoe Nationals. White River at Batesville, Arkansas.
August 6: The Paddle Grapple. A 6-mile race on Lake Fontana near Bryson City, North Carolina.
August 12-14: USCA Marathon National Championships. A 13-mile course up and down the Connecticut River at Northfield, Massachusetts.
September 17: Gator Bait Canoe and Kayak Race. A 5.5-mile race on Barnett Reservoir outside Jackson, Mississippi.
Of course, I might not make it to all the races on this list, and I could end up doing something that's not on this list. But this is a pretty good outline of what's to come.
Last weekend's race gave me some idea of what things I need to work on, and with the next race a whole five weeks away, I'm heading back to the drawing board. I spent most of the race in Ocean Springs afraid to push the pace, and it cost me at the end; so some pace work is in order. Also, at least four of the races on this schedule are what I consider "long" (and I'll just point out here that I do not do ultra-distance events). So some training of commensurate distance is in order.
Saturday's Loosahatchie Bar circumnavigation is part of that plan. Yesterday's workout is another. Yesterday I paddled to the south end of the harbor and did six repeats of a course between the Hernando DeSoto Bridge and Beale Street Landing. Paddling at about a 10-kilometer race pace, I aimed for a time of about seven minutes. I rested for 2-3 minutes in between pieces. There was a pretty good south wind blowing, and it made about a 20-second difference in either direction--that is, my time was around 6:40 with a tailwind and about 7:20 with a headwind. This was a tough workout. Already tired from Saturday's long paddle, I was feeling it by the end of the first piece and I just had to grin and bear it through the next five.
And now I'm ready for some recovery time. I'm taking today off and I'll do an easier paddle tomorrow.
April 30: 13th annual Bluz Cruz Canoe and Kayak Race. Starts at Madison Parish (La.) Port on the Mississippi River and finishes 22 miles downriver at the Vicksburg Front.
May 14: Osage Spring 12. A 12-mile race down the Osage River at Osage City, Missouri.
June 18: 35th Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race. A 5000-meter race down the Mississippi River at downtown Memphis, Tennessee.
June 25: The Great Chickasawhay Race. At 21-nautical-mile (that's what it says on the website) race down the Chickasawhay River from Shubuta, Mississippi, to Waynesboro, Mississippi.
July 30: USCA National Championship for downriver kayak. A race for boats that meet ICF wildwater specs. Held in conjunction with the Aluminum Canoe Nationals. White River at Batesville, Arkansas.
August 6: The Paddle Grapple. A 6-mile race on Lake Fontana near Bryson City, North Carolina.
August 12-14: USCA Marathon National Championships. A 13-mile course up and down the Connecticut River at Northfield, Massachusetts.
September 17: Gator Bait Canoe and Kayak Race. A 5.5-mile race on Barnett Reservoir outside Jackson, Mississippi.
Of course, I might not make it to all the races on this list, and I could end up doing something that's not on this list. But this is a pretty good outline of what's to come.
Last weekend's race gave me some idea of what things I need to work on, and with the next race a whole five weeks away, I'm heading back to the drawing board. I spent most of the race in Ocean Springs afraid to push the pace, and it cost me at the end; so some pace work is in order. Also, at least four of the races on this schedule are what I consider "long" (and I'll just point out here that I do not do ultra-distance events). So some training of commensurate distance is in order.
Saturday's Loosahatchie Bar circumnavigation is part of that plan. Yesterday's workout is another. Yesterday I paddled to the south end of the harbor and did six repeats of a course between the Hernando DeSoto Bridge and Beale Street Landing. Paddling at about a 10-kilometer race pace, I aimed for a time of about seven minutes. I rested for 2-3 minutes in between pieces. There was a pretty good south wind blowing, and it made about a 20-second difference in either direction--that is, my time was around 6:40 with a tailwind and about 7:20 with a headwind. This was a tough workout. Already tired from Saturday's long paddle, I was feeling it by the end of the first piece and I just had to grin and bear it through the next five.
And now I'm ready for some recovery time. I'm taking today off and I'll do an easier paddle tomorrow.
Saturday, March 26, 2016
A trip around The Bar in pictures
I don't do as much "overdistance" training as I used to, but with several sort-of-long races coming up I want to get a few longer paddles in. This morning I paddled around the Loosahatchie Bar. This is something I've done at least once or twice a year for many years now. The Loosahatchie Bar is the big island in the Mississippi River shown on this map here:
Starting and finishing at my marina in Wolf River Harbor, a trip around The Bar typically takes me a little over two hours--it took me two hours and five minutes today. I think I once did it in an hour and 55 minutes or so.
The water level needs to be over 16 feet on the Memphis gauge, or else you'll end up hiking over some sandbars up at the north end of The Bar. Today's level was 20.3 feet, and I hit the bottom with my paddle several times up there. The big flood of 2011 deposited a bunch of sand in that area.
As I prepared to leave the dock I set my Go Pro camera to take a still photo every 60 seconds. The resulting pictures might not be the best quality, but I hope they'll give you some idea of what I saw and did today.
Starting and finishing at my marina in Wolf River Harbor, a trip around The Bar typically takes me a little over two hours--it took me two hours and five minutes today. I think I once did it in an hour and 55 minutes or so.
The water level needs to be over 16 feet on the Memphis gauge, or else you'll end up hiking over some sandbars up at the north end of The Bar. Today's level was 20.3 feet, and I hit the bottom with my paddle several times up there. The big flood of 2011 deposited a bunch of sand in that area.
As I prepared to leave the dock I set my Go Pro camera to take a still photo every 60 seconds. The resulting pictures might not be the best quality, but I hope they'll give you some idea of what I saw and did today.
Heading south toward the mouth of the harbor.
Paddling out of the harbor and up the Mississippi River toward the Hernando DeSoto Bridge.
Still paddling upriver, just above the Hernando DeSoto Bridge. You can sort of see the Loosahatchie Bar off to the left of my bow.
Still heading upstream; now I'm just north of the Maynard C. Stiles sewage treatment plant. The barge rig in the left side of the photo is one of only two I saw while I was out.
Not long after the last photo got shot, I started ferrying across the river. The northern end of the Loosahatchie Bar lies ahead.
Approaching "the summit" of the bar. It's some tough paddling here because this area is fully exposed to the Mississippi's current.
Now I'm headed back downstream through the chute between The Bar and the Arkansas bank. This piece of the river is one of my favorite places in the whole Mid South: just a couple of miles from downtown Memphis, it has the look and feel of remote wilderness. Of course, by the time I get here I'm always really tired from all the upstream paddling and the ferry across the river.
Eventually, the Hernando DeSoto Bridge and the Memphis skyline come back into view.
I think my city on the river is just lovely.
Heading back up into the harbor.
And at last, I'm back on the dock. Yippee!
Monday, March 21, 2016
Saturday's results
The results from the 7th annual Battle On The Bayou race are now posted here.
I should point out an unfortunate error in my post yesterday: I mis-identified the sixth-place overall finisher. It was Muril Robertson of Huntsville, Alabama (the man pictured in this week's "photo feature"), who clocked one hour, 29 minutes, 36 seconds. Muril also happened to be the first non-race-boat finisher.
The top female finisher Saturday was Wyndy Amerson of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Her time was 2:04:38.
UPDATE: It turns out I was right the first time: Randy Hargroder was in fact the sixth-place overall finisher. Muril has informed me that his time was 1:47, not 1:27, and that it was mis-printed in the race results. So much for everything I read on the Internet being true.
I should point out an unfortunate error in my post yesterday: I mis-identified the sixth-place overall finisher. It was Muril Robertson of Huntsville, Alabama (the man pictured in this week's "photo feature"), who clocked one hour, 29 minutes, 36 seconds. Muril also happened to be the first non-race-boat finisher.
The top female finisher Saturday was Wyndy Amerson of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Her time was 2:04:38.
UPDATE: It turns out I was right the first time: Randy Hargroder was in fact the sixth-place overall finisher. Muril has informed me that his time was 1:47, not 1:27, and that it was mis-printed in the race results. So much for everything I read on the Internet being true.
Monday photo feature
Muril Robertson of Huntsville, Alabama, approaches the Washington Street Bridge about a mile into Saturday's Battle On The Bayou race at Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Some 140 racers competed in all types of canoes, kayaks, and paddleboards. Photo by Kay Taylor.
Sunday, March 20, 2016
A Gulf Coast dog fight
I arrived in Ocean Springs Friday evening amid grave concerns of stormy weather and strong winds on race day. Particularly troubling was the possibility of lightning, the standard deal-breaker for a water-borne event like a canoe and kayak race. But when Saturday dawned, the storms had just about moved out, and the heavier winds wouldn't arrive until late afternoon--in other words, we lucked out.
We lined up in the little cove of the Back Bay of Biloxi next to the Gulf Hills Hotel, and the starting gun went off promptly at 10:15 AM CDT. As expected, three-time Olympian Mike Herbert sprinted into the lead and was already beginning to pull away as we made the turn up into Old Fort Bayou just a couple hundred meters in.
I had my hands full from the start. I'd hoped to get a better start than I did, and maybe make my competitors do some work to pull even with me; but the Pellerin triplets (Carson, Conrad, and Peyton) of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, got a very good start and I had to settle for a spot on their wake immediately. Rick Carter of Eutawville, South Carolina, grabbed my stern wake. Before long we were joined by the tandem of Phil Capel (Sherwood, Arkansas) and Brad Rex (Baton Rouge, Louisiana), and our four boats would keep each other company for the next eighty minutes or so.
One thing I've learned in this business is that unless you have the speed of Mike Herbert and everybody else in the race has my degree of ability or worse, the race does not always go to the speediest. When you're racing in a pack of people who are all about as good as you are, you have to do more than just be the fittest or the strongest or the fastest to assure yourself of victory. In other words, you're not assured of victory, and I guess that's part of the beauty. In a situation like I was in yesterday morning, you have to know what your own strengths are, and assess how good a job you've done of racing efficiently and conserving energy, and make an educated guess of how well the other racers have conserved their energy, and make your move when the time is right, and hope for the best. And even if you do all those things beautifully, you still might not win.
I spent a huge chunk of the race just sitting on the wake of the triplets, who were paddling as a K3 in one of those hybrid boats you see in races like the Texas Water Safari. Rick, in turn, sat on my wake for most of that time. A little over halfway through Phil and Brad moved up front and started pushing the pace, and once they'd done that for a while I finally made a move of my own, hoping maybe they were getting tired. But they held me off and I dropped back, and with maybe 2000 meters left I had one of those mental lapses that was all the two team boats needed to open a couple of boat lengths on me. I still had something in the tank and I threw in a hard surge, but though I was able to open some distance on Rick, I couldn't quite regain a wake-ride on the triplets or Capel/Rex.
Mike Herbert had tucked his victory away by the time we were anywhere near the finish line. His time was a course-record one hour, 17 minutes, 57 seconds. Phil and Brad finished strong to take second place, with the triplets taking third just several seconds back. I held my lead over Rick to claim fourth, and a short while after Rick crossed the line Randy Hargroder of Opelousas, Louisiana, finished in a respectable sixth place overall.
Due to some software problems the results are not yet posted online. At the moment I don't even know what my own time was; I think I heard that our four-boat pack finished some eight minutes after Mike. The race organizers were hopeful they could get the results up by tomorrow, and I will post a link to them whenever they do.
Dana and Nick Kinderman very kindly hosted me during my stay on the Gulf Coast this weekend. Nick raced on the Bayou as well, while Dana spent the morning running a 10K over in Mobile, Alabama. As a result we were three tired people by late yesterday afternoon and we spent a quiet evening at their house in Ocean Springs. We ate some takeout Japanese hibachi and watched the movie Pee Wee's Big Holiday, which I thought was sublimely hilarious.
This morning I woke up feeling quite good for the day after a race. After a lovely breakfast of "protein pancakes" prepared by Chef Nick, I pondered my paddling options. Typically I have gone out on the Back Bay of Biloxi the day after racing at Ocean Springs, but a cold front had moved in yesterday evening, and it was chilly and very windy outside, and I wanted something more protected. On Nick's advice I drove up just north of Interstate 10 and put my boat on the Tchoutacabouffa (pronounced Chu-ta-ca-BUFF) River a few miles above where it empties into the Back Bay. I paddled comfortably, pushing the pace at times, for 80 minutes.
When I'd finished observing that ritual I got back in the car and made the six-hour trip home. Now it's time to recover a bit, and start up a new strength routine, and basically just see what I can do to get ready for the next race.
We lined up in the little cove of the Back Bay of Biloxi next to the Gulf Hills Hotel, and the starting gun went off promptly at 10:15 AM CDT. As expected, three-time Olympian Mike Herbert sprinted into the lead and was already beginning to pull away as we made the turn up into Old Fort Bayou just a couple hundred meters in.
I had my hands full from the start. I'd hoped to get a better start than I did, and maybe make my competitors do some work to pull even with me; but the Pellerin triplets (Carson, Conrad, and Peyton) of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, got a very good start and I had to settle for a spot on their wake immediately. Rick Carter of Eutawville, South Carolina, grabbed my stern wake. Before long we were joined by the tandem of Phil Capel (Sherwood, Arkansas) and Brad Rex (Baton Rouge, Louisiana), and our four boats would keep each other company for the next eighty minutes or so.
One thing I've learned in this business is that unless you have the speed of Mike Herbert and everybody else in the race has my degree of ability or worse, the race does not always go to the speediest. When you're racing in a pack of people who are all about as good as you are, you have to do more than just be the fittest or the strongest or the fastest to assure yourself of victory. In other words, you're not assured of victory, and I guess that's part of the beauty. In a situation like I was in yesterday morning, you have to know what your own strengths are, and assess how good a job you've done of racing efficiently and conserving energy, and make an educated guess of how well the other racers have conserved their energy, and make your move when the time is right, and hope for the best. And even if you do all those things beautifully, you still might not win.
I spent a huge chunk of the race just sitting on the wake of the triplets, who were paddling as a K3 in one of those hybrid boats you see in races like the Texas Water Safari. Rick, in turn, sat on my wake for most of that time. A little over halfway through Phil and Brad moved up front and started pushing the pace, and once they'd done that for a while I finally made a move of my own, hoping maybe they were getting tired. But they held me off and I dropped back, and with maybe 2000 meters left I had one of those mental lapses that was all the two team boats needed to open a couple of boat lengths on me. I still had something in the tank and I threw in a hard surge, but though I was able to open some distance on Rick, I couldn't quite regain a wake-ride on the triplets or Capel/Rex.
Mike Herbert had tucked his victory away by the time we were anywhere near the finish line. His time was a course-record one hour, 17 minutes, 57 seconds. Phil and Brad finished strong to take second place, with the triplets taking third just several seconds back. I held my lead over Rick to claim fourth, and a short while after Rick crossed the line Randy Hargroder of Opelousas, Louisiana, finished in a respectable sixth place overall.
Due to some software problems the results are not yet posted online. At the moment I don't even know what my own time was; I think I heard that our four-boat pack finished some eight minutes after Mike. The race organizers were hopeful they could get the results up by tomorrow, and I will post a link to them whenever they do.
Dana and Nick Kinderman very kindly hosted me during my stay on the Gulf Coast this weekend. Nick raced on the Bayou as well, while Dana spent the morning running a 10K over in Mobile, Alabama. As a result we were three tired people by late yesterday afternoon and we spent a quiet evening at their house in Ocean Springs. We ate some takeout Japanese hibachi and watched the movie Pee Wee's Big Holiday, which I thought was sublimely hilarious.
This morning I woke up feeling quite good for the day after a race. After a lovely breakfast of "protein pancakes" prepared by Chef Nick, I pondered my paddling options. Typically I have gone out on the Back Bay of Biloxi the day after racing at Ocean Springs, but a cold front had moved in yesterday evening, and it was chilly and very windy outside, and I wanted something more protected. On Nick's advice I drove up just north of Interstate 10 and put my boat on the Tchoutacabouffa (pronounced Chu-ta-ca-BUFF) River a few miles above where it empties into the Back Bay. I paddled comfortably, pushing the pace at times, for 80 minutes.
When I'd finished observing that ritual I got back in the car and made the six-hour trip home. Now it's time to recover a bit, and start up a new strength routine, and basically just see what I can do to get ready for the next race.
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Pre-race tuning
I've spent the week getting some rest and trying to get sharp for Saturday's race. Tomorrow I plan to do a short paddle in the harbor before loading the boat and heading for the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
On Tuesday I paddled for 60 minutes and did six 12-stroke sprints. This morning I was feeling lethargic and spent a long time on the dock stretching and doing some rubber band exercises ("pre-hab" for my shoulder) before I finally got in my boat to paddle. Once on the water I paddled for 40 minutes and did another six 12-stroke sprints.
I should have plenty of competition on Saturday and I hope to paddle up to the starting line as prepared as I can be.
On Tuesday I paddled for 60 minutes and did six 12-stroke sprints. This morning I was feeling lethargic and spent a long time on the dock stretching and doing some rubber band exercises ("pre-hab" for my shoulder) before I finally got in my boat to paddle. Once on the water I paddled for 40 minutes and did another six 12-stroke sprints.
I should have plenty of competition on Saturday and I hope to paddle up to the starting line as prepared as I can be.
Monday, March 14, 2016
Monday photo feature
As I prepare to travel to Ocean Springs at the end of the week, I share this memento of trips past: the rotating railroad bridge at the passage from Mississippi Sound into the Back Bay of Biloxi. I like trains and train tracks and train trestles, and one of the great things about being a paddler is I often get up close and personal with such things.
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Racing to win, even if I probably won't
My first race of the season is now less than a week away. On Friday I will make the six-hour drive down to Ocean Springs, Mississippi, for the annual Battle On The Bayou canoe and kayak race. This event debuted in 2010 and will go off for the seventh time Saturday. It starts in the Back Bay of Biloxi and quickly enters Old Fort Bayou, following this mostly-currentless creek some nine and a half miles (approximately 15 kilometers) to a finish line next to The Shed barbecue joint.
I won the first two editions of this race rather easily, but since then the competition has beefed up a bit and I've managed only one victory in the last four Battles. The likelihood of my notching another win this Saturday plummeted this past week when Mike Herbert of Rogers, Arkansas, signed up. Mike is a three-time Olympian (1988, 1992, 1996) in flatwater sprint kayaking and a member of the tiny group of U.S. paddlers who have medaled at the world championships (he won two silvers and a bronze at the 1990 and 1991 worlds). He has stayed in excellent shape in his middle age, and in 2014 he returned to world championships competition at age 53 as a member of the U.S. marathon team.
At the non-world-class level Mike still likes to get out his boat and race, and since he and I live in neighboring states I see him at races several times a year. What usually happens is that after we wish each other luck at the starting line, Mike rockets into the lead and vanishes from my view in a matter of minutes. I wish I were more competitive with the man, and I have a feeling Mike wishes I were, too: he's a competitor and relishes a good hard-fought contest. But the truth is, we're in different leagues. If our sport were baseball, Mike would be in the majors while I might be playing my whole career in double-A ball.
As far as my preparation for next Saturday goes, nothing really changes. My task is to put Mike out of my mind and stick to my own race plan. I know at least two or three other boats have registered that should give me plenty of competition; the only difference now is that we're racing for second place overall.
My plan for this week is to get some rest, but that doesn't mean just lying around doing nothing, and it also doesn't mean paddling so slowly my heart rate barely rises above normal. Actually, I'll do some very high-intensity paddling this week, but not so much in any one session that I'll get worn out.
I paddled for 60 minutes both yesterday and today. Yesterday I warmed up for ten minutes and then did three of my backpaddling-then-forward-paddling power drills. After that I paddled at a medium-highish speed--about the pace I'd be going in a race while sitting on a competitor's wake and not pushing the pace. Today, after warming up, I did eight 12-stroke sprints at two-minute intervals to work my ATP-CP energy system, and then did some more paddling at non-surging-race-pace. At the end of both sessions this weekend I did not feel tired even though I'd done some high-quality paddling, and that's what I'm shooting for in the days leading up to a race. Sometimes I feel fresher after such a session than I'd felt before.
The greater Memphis area is pretty soggy right now. I've managed to avoid paddling in the rain since Thursday's session, but we had some heavy rainfall yesterday evening and we may get one more round of it this evening. After that the weatherman says it'll dry out and be lovely for a good long time.
I won the first two editions of this race rather easily, but since then the competition has beefed up a bit and I've managed only one victory in the last four Battles. The likelihood of my notching another win this Saturday plummeted this past week when Mike Herbert of Rogers, Arkansas, signed up. Mike is a three-time Olympian (1988, 1992, 1996) in flatwater sprint kayaking and a member of the tiny group of U.S. paddlers who have medaled at the world championships (he won two silvers and a bronze at the 1990 and 1991 worlds). He has stayed in excellent shape in his middle age, and in 2014 he returned to world championships competition at age 53 as a member of the U.S. marathon team.
At the non-world-class level Mike still likes to get out his boat and race, and since he and I live in neighboring states I see him at races several times a year. What usually happens is that after we wish each other luck at the starting line, Mike rockets into the lead and vanishes from my view in a matter of minutes. I wish I were more competitive with the man, and I have a feeling Mike wishes I were, too: he's a competitor and relishes a good hard-fought contest. But the truth is, we're in different leagues. If our sport were baseball, Mike would be in the majors while I might be playing my whole career in double-A ball.
As far as my preparation for next Saturday goes, nothing really changes. My task is to put Mike out of my mind and stick to my own race plan. I know at least two or three other boats have registered that should give me plenty of competition; the only difference now is that we're racing for second place overall.
My plan for this week is to get some rest, but that doesn't mean just lying around doing nothing, and it also doesn't mean paddling so slowly my heart rate barely rises above normal. Actually, I'll do some very high-intensity paddling this week, but not so much in any one session that I'll get worn out.
I paddled for 60 minutes both yesterday and today. Yesterday I warmed up for ten minutes and then did three of my backpaddling-then-forward-paddling power drills. After that I paddled at a medium-highish speed--about the pace I'd be going in a race while sitting on a competitor's wake and not pushing the pace. Today, after warming up, I did eight 12-stroke sprints at two-minute intervals to work my ATP-CP energy system, and then did some more paddling at non-surging-race-pace. At the end of both sessions this weekend I did not feel tired even though I'd done some high-quality paddling, and that's what I'm shooting for in the days leading up to a race. Sometimes I feel fresher after such a session than I'd felt before.
The greater Memphis area is pretty soggy right now. I've managed to avoid paddling in the rain since Thursday's session, but we had some heavy rainfall yesterday evening and we may get one more round of it this evening. After that the weatherman says it'll dry out and be lovely for a good long time.
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Cats & dogs
Some serious rain moved in yesterday and has continued through today. It's the same system that has caused major flooding in northern Louisiana and eastern Texas and southern Arkansas. Here in the greater Memphis area we've been fortunate to get by with some localized flash-flooding. Other than that we've just been soaking wet.
As promised, I took it easy for the first half of this week, although I'm not sure doing landscape work on my property is really "taking it easy." I've been careful, but my back is nevertheless a bit sore from a lot of squatting and bending over.
Today was about the latest I could get in a workout from which my body might reap some benefit in time for the Ocean Springs race a week from Saturday. Down on the harbor in a steady downpour, I did pieces of 1', 2', 2', 6', 2', 2', 6', 2', 2', 1' with two minutes recovery in between. I did all ten pieces at about the maximum pace I hope to maintain (i.e., the pace during a long surge) in the race.
As promised, I took it easy for the first half of this week, although I'm not sure doing landscape work on my property is really "taking it easy." I've been careful, but my back is nevertheless a bit sore from a lot of squatting and bending over.
Today was about the latest I could get in a workout from which my body might reap some benefit in time for the Ocean Springs race a week from Saturday. Down on the harbor in a steady downpour, I did pieces of 1', 2', 2', 6', 2', 2', 6', 2', 2', 1' with two minutes recovery in between. I did all ten pieces at about the maximum pace I hope to maintain (i.e., the pace during a long surge) in the race.
Monday, March 7, 2016
Monday photo feature
Well, I followed up on last Monday's thought and took my Go Pro camera out with me the other day. I set it to take a shot every ten seconds as I ferried across the river above the Hernando DeSoto Bridge. Many of the resulting photos went straight to the trash, of course, but there were a dozen or so keepers. I think my fair city is every bit as picturesque as the islands of Hawaii.
Sunday, March 6, 2016
A grueling-hard time trial Saturday and a fun-hard session today
Yesterday I observed what seems to have become an annual ritual: a time trial for one lap of the harbor. You can read my account of last year's trial here. The 2014 edition is here.
I first timed myself over one harbor lap seven or eight years ago; I'm pretty sure I still had my old Speedster surf ski when I did it. My time was 56 minutes and change. I don't think I did it again until two years ago, when I wanted a fitness check several weeks before my first race of the year down at Ocean Springs. This time my time was 50:32, and since then a sub-50-minute performance has been on my wish list. It hasn't happened yet, however.
My "starting gate" for the course is between two trees at the north end of the harbor. I paddle all the way to the south end and make a turn around an imaginary buoy that sits on the line you get by extending the center line of Beale Street down into the harbor. I've picked out a spot on the Beale Street Landing dock to help me determine when to make the turn. The finish line is the same as the starting line. For a better idea of what I'm talking about, read my description of Wolf River Harbor here. It includes a map.
Using a time trial like this as an indicator of fitness and race-readiness is not an exact science. A big part of the reason is that weather and water conditions affect how "fast" the course is, and so it's hard to compare one year's performance to another year's accurately. This year the conditions appeared to be good for a fast time: the water level was a medium-high 26.7 feet on the Memphis gauge, meaning I could cut the insides of bends closer and take more direct lines than I would be able to at lower levels; skies were clear and the temperature was in the low 60s Fahrenheit; and the wind wasn't too bad, maybe 8 or 9 miles per hour from the southwest.
A good or bad time trial also does not necessarily predict a similar result in an upcoming race. In a race you're typically doing some tactical things--sitting in a pack and trading wake rides, for instance. In a time trial you just put the hammer down and try to go as fast as you can.
Anyway...
Yesterday I put my boat in the water and used the paddle up to the north end of the harbor as a warmup. I did three eight-stroke sprints and then moved into the starting gate. When my watch reached the top of the next minute, I was off. Starting fast and getting good position early in a race is always important, and I went hard off the line yesterday. I kept the intensity high for about two minutes--longer than I probably would do in a race.
Then I settled into the pace I hoped to maintain for the bulk of the trial, a little bit under anaerobic threshold. Again, this was harder than I'm likely to go in a race, but one of the things I want to accomplish in a time trial is to make a race seem easy by comparison.
By the time I passed the marina, which is about halfway between the ends of the harbor (and thus the approximate quarter-mark for the entire time trial) fatigue was setting in, and I knew I was in for a struggle. My exposure to the headwind increased as I moved south of the monorail bridge. I reached the turnaround point in about 26:55, well off the pace for a sub-50. But I was switching from a light headwind to a light tailwind, so I refused to give up hope.
Of course, a tailwind is not without a couple of drawbacks. My sunglasses began to fog up, and sweat started stinging my eyes. I think two different times I had to stop paddling and splash my face.
By the time I was back north of the monorail bridge I was hurting pretty good. I lowered my stroke rate and tried to paddle with the best form I could manage.
I crossed the line in 52:15, slower than I'd hoped for. Then again, I was encouraged by my negative split: I was a minute and 35 seconds faster in the second half than in the first.
Utterly exhausted, I paddled slowly back to the marina. My total time on the water was just over 90 minutes. I had put some well-above-average stress on my body and I could feel it the rest of the day. I managed a small bit of landscape work in the afternoon but I was too spent to do much else. I slept the sleep of the dead last night.
I felt surprisingly good this morning--not too stiff or sore. Some recovery time is definitely on the schedule for the next several days, but today I wanted to get in another good quality session if I could. I paddled to the mouth of the harbor and up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Wolf River. During this period I tried to maintain a good solid pace without feeling like I was really pushing it.
Then I picked up the pace, paddling up the Wolf near anaerobic threshold, turning around at the Second Street bridge, and continuing my elevated pace back down to the Mississippi.
I paddled easier back down the big river. A towboat was pushing a barge up into the harbor when I arrived down there, and the pilot must have been on a tight schedule because he was going faster than a towboat really should go in the harbor, generating some nice-looking waves. Tired or not tired, I couldn't resist the urge to surf. I managed to ride a couple of little bumps briefly. Then the towboat slowed to a crawl in the no-wake zone at the Mud Island Marina between the monorail bridge and the Hernando DeSoto Bridge, and I caught up and overtook his stern. Once beyond the no-wake zone, the pilot revved the engines again, and this time I was in perfect position and grabbed a long, sweet ride on an ample wave. There were some spectators up on the Bass Pro Shops observation deck, but if they were oohing and aahing at my masterful display I didn't hear them.
I finally washed off the wave, and several hard sprints couldn't quite get me on another. So I retired to the dock to conclude what turned out to 100 minutes of good-quality work.
Like I said, I plan to take it easier for the next several days. Maybe I'll manage one more decent workout that my body will have time to absorb before the Battle On The Bayou race at Ocean Springs on the 19th.
I first timed myself over one harbor lap seven or eight years ago; I'm pretty sure I still had my old Speedster surf ski when I did it. My time was 56 minutes and change. I don't think I did it again until two years ago, when I wanted a fitness check several weeks before my first race of the year down at Ocean Springs. This time my time was 50:32, and since then a sub-50-minute performance has been on my wish list. It hasn't happened yet, however.
My "starting gate" for the course is between two trees at the north end of the harbor. I paddle all the way to the south end and make a turn around an imaginary buoy that sits on the line you get by extending the center line of Beale Street down into the harbor. I've picked out a spot on the Beale Street Landing dock to help me determine when to make the turn. The finish line is the same as the starting line. For a better idea of what I'm talking about, read my description of Wolf River Harbor here. It includes a map.
Using a time trial like this as an indicator of fitness and race-readiness is not an exact science. A big part of the reason is that weather and water conditions affect how "fast" the course is, and so it's hard to compare one year's performance to another year's accurately. This year the conditions appeared to be good for a fast time: the water level was a medium-high 26.7 feet on the Memphis gauge, meaning I could cut the insides of bends closer and take more direct lines than I would be able to at lower levels; skies were clear and the temperature was in the low 60s Fahrenheit; and the wind wasn't too bad, maybe 8 or 9 miles per hour from the southwest.
A good or bad time trial also does not necessarily predict a similar result in an upcoming race. In a race you're typically doing some tactical things--sitting in a pack and trading wake rides, for instance. In a time trial you just put the hammer down and try to go as fast as you can.
Anyway...
Yesterday I put my boat in the water and used the paddle up to the north end of the harbor as a warmup. I did three eight-stroke sprints and then moved into the starting gate. When my watch reached the top of the next minute, I was off. Starting fast and getting good position early in a race is always important, and I went hard off the line yesterday. I kept the intensity high for about two minutes--longer than I probably would do in a race.
Then I settled into the pace I hoped to maintain for the bulk of the trial, a little bit under anaerobic threshold. Again, this was harder than I'm likely to go in a race, but one of the things I want to accomplish in a time trial is to make a race seem easy by comparison.
By the time I passed the marina, which is about halfway between the ends of the harbor (and thus the approximate quarter-mark for the entire time trial) fatigue was setting in, and I knew I was in for a struggle. My exposure to the headwind increased as I moved south of the monorail bridge. I reached the turnaround point in about 26:55, well off the pace for a sub-50. But I was switching from a light headwind to a light tailwind, so I refused to give up hope.
Of course, a tailwind is not without a couple of drawbacks. My sunglasses began to fog up, and sweat started stinging my eyes. I think two different times I had to stop paddling and splash my face.
By the time I was back north of the monorail bridge I was hurting pretty good. I lowered my stroke rate and tried to paddle with the best form I could manage.
I crossed the line in 52:15, slower than I'd hoped for. Then again, I was encouraged by my negative split: I was a minute and 35 seconds faster in the second half than in the first.
Utterly exhausted, I paddled slowly back to the marina. My total time on the water was just over 90 minutes. I had put some well-above-average stress on my body and I could feel it the rest of the day. I managed a small bit of landscape work in the afternoon but I was too spent to do much else. I slept the sleep of the dead last night.
I felt surprisingly good this morning--not too stiff or sore. Some recovery time is definitely on the schedule for the next several days, but today I wanted to get in another good quality session if I could. I paddled to the mouth of the harbor and up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Wolf River. During this period I tried to maintain a good solid pace without feeling like I was really pushing it.
Then I picked up the pace, paddling up the Wolf near anaerobic threshold, turning around at the Second Street bridge, and continuing my elevated pace back down to the Mississippi.
I paddled easier back down the big river. A towboat was pushing a barge up into the harbor when I arrived down there, and the pilot must have been on a tight schedule because he was going faster than a towboat really should go in the harbor, generating some nice-looking waves. Tired or not tired, I couldn't resist the urge to surf. I managed to ride a couple of little bumps briefly. Then the towboat slowed to a crawl in the no-wake zone at the Mud Island Marina between the monorail bridge and the Hernando DeSoto Bridge, and I caught up and overtook his stern. Once beyond the no-wake zone, the pilot revved the engines again, and this time I was in perfect position and grabbed a long, sweet ride on an ample wave. There were some spectators up on the Bass Pro Shops observation deck, but if they were oohing and aahing at my masterful display I didn't hear them.
I finally washed off the wave, and several hard sprints couldn't quite get me on another. So I retired to the dock to conclude what turned out to 100 minutes of good-quality work.
Like I said, I plan to take it easier for the next several days. Maybe I'll manage one more decent workout that my body will have time to absorb before the Battle On The Bayou race at Ocean Springs on the 19th.
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Feelin' the power
Both Tuesday and today I paddled for 60 minutes downtown. It would have made sense for me to start up a new strength routine for March yesterday, but I didn't. Right now I'm taking advantage of a lull in woodworking projects to do some long-overdue landscape work on my property, and that has involved a lot of digging in tough soil full of roots and gravel. Two or three hours of that kind of work leaves me with little energy for any kind of weight work. Besides, the digging itself, especially the post-hole digging, works some interesting muscle groups. I'm trying to use good technique and not do anything that might throw out my back or something like that.
Meanwhile, I'm trying to follow up last month's power-oriented strength routine with some in-the-boat power drills.
Here are some interesting thoughts from Ron Lugbill on the issue of power. Ron is a slalom coach writing primarily for slalom racers, and power is a more important component in slalom, in which the paddler must constantly re-accelerate the boat from one move to the next, than it is in the type of racing I'm doing these days. But power definitely has its place in what I do.
I was reminded of that several years ago when I traveled to a race in October. That year my highest-priority races were in the spring and summer, and by October I was sort of going through the motions, spending the hot late-summer days doing mostly low-intensity paddling. Going to this race was sort of an "Oh, why not?" decision for me.
There were several athletes in the race I considered "in my league"--people I felt I should be competitive with and maybe even beat. But when the gun went off I found I had only one gear: slow. I had absolutely no "pop" off the starting line. Two hundred meters in I was all but out of contention.
Since that day I have tried not to let that happen again. Exploding off the starting line may be the most obvious example of how power is useful in open water/marathon/surf ski racing, but it comes in handy at other moments, too. It enables you to throw in a burst of speed mid-race to break away from a pack. And in downwind conditions, power can make the difference between catching a ride on a wave and sliding off the back of it.
I like how Ron distinguishes power from plain strength in his post: "Power is the ability to move against resistance quickly. This is different from strength, which is just the ability to make the movement against resistance."
A typical power drill involves doing an explosive movement a small number of reps at a time. If you do too many reps, you get tired and can no longer explode, and then you're just developing regular strength. In last month's routine I was doing those exercises in sets of maybe five reps at a time.
I know several in-the-boat drills for working on power. The one I did both and Tuesday and today had me taking a few backstrokes to get the boat moving in reverse, and then paddling forward as hard as I could for a few strokes, overcoming the inertia. I did this drill early in each session while I was still fresh, and each day I did it just three times with two minutes recovery. I just paddled normally for the rest of each session.
Another way to work on power is to paddle forward into an immovable object, like a dock or the riverbank. I've found that this isn't very easy to do in my surf ski. You can also add resistance to your boat by tying a rope around the hull or by towing some kind of weight or other resistor. A couple of years ago I tied one end of a polypropylene rope to a five-gallon bucket, looped the other end of the rope around my waist, and paddled hard against that resistance for a few strokes at a time. In between, I took the rope off my waist and paddled easy to recover before doing the drill again. Polypropylene rope floats, so I would circle back around to where I left it and put it back on. That method of resistance worked well but it was kind of a time-consuming hassle, and that's why I haven't done it again since then.
Anyway, we'll see how things go this time around. I'll be racing soon! The season opener is just two weeks from this Saturday.
Meanwhile, I'm trying to follow up last month's power-oriented strength routine with some in-the-boat power drills.
Here are some interesting thoughts from Ron Lugbill on the issue of power. Ron is a slalom coach writing primarily for slalom racers, and power is a more important component in slalom, in which the paddler must constantly re-accelerate the boat from one move to the next, than it is in the type of racing I'm doing these days. But power definitely has its place in what I do.
I was reminded of that several years ago when I traveled to a race in October. That year my highest-priority races were in the spring and summer, and by October I was sort of going through the motions, spending the hot late-summer days doing mostly low-intensity paddling. Going to this race was sort of an "Oh, why not?" decision for me.
There were several athletes in the race I considered "in my league"--people I felt I should be competitive with and maybe even beat. But when the gun went off I found I had only one gear: slow. I had absolutely no "pop" off the starting line. Two hundred meters in I was all but out of contention.
Since that day I have tried not to let that happen again. Exploding off the starting line may be the most obvious example of how power is useful in open water/marathon/surf ski racing, but it comes in handy at other moments, too. It enables you to throw in a burst of speed mid-race to break away from a pack. And in downwind conditions, power can make the difference between catching a ride on a wave and sliding off the back of it.
I like how Ron distinguishes power from plain strength in his post: "Power is the ability to move against resistance quickly. This is different from strength, which is just the ability to make the movement against resistance."
A typical power drill involves doing an explosive movement a small number of reps at a time. If you do too many reps, you get tired and can no longer explode, and then you're just developing regular strength. In last month's routine I was doing those exercises in sets of maybe five reps at a time.
I know several in-the-boat drills for working on power. The one I did both and Tuesday and today had me taking a few backstrokes to get the boat moving in reverse, and then paddling forward as hard as I could for a few strokes, overcoming the inertia. I did this drill early in each session while I was still fresh, and each day I did it just three times with two minutes recovery. I just paddled normally for the rest of each session.
Another way to work on power is to paddle forward into an immovable object, like a dock or the riverbank. I've found that this isn't very easy to do in my surf ski. You can also add resistance to your boat by tying a rope around the hull or by towing some kind of weight or other resistor. A couple of years ago I tied one end of a polypropylene rope to a five-gallon bucket, looped the other end of the rope around my waist, and paddled hard against that resistance for a few strokes at a time. In between, I took the rope off my waist and paddled easy to recover before doing the drill again. Polypropylene rope floats, so I would circle back around to where I left it and put it back on. That method of resistance worked well but it was kind of a time-consuming hassle, and that's why I haven't done it again since then.
Anyway, we'll see how things go this time around. I'll be racing soon! The season opener is just two weeks from this Saturday.
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Americana fun
One more bit of follow-up on my trip to Hawaii: I have now visited forty-eight of the fifty states in the United States of America! Only Alaska and Rhode Island have never enjoyed the favor of my presence.
What follows is a list of the fifty states. Those marked with an asterisk (*) are the ones I have merely visited. Those marked with a pound sign (#) are the ones I have visited and in which I have paddled a boat.
[Note: I do count it as a "visit" if I do nothing but drive through a state. I do not count it as a "visit" if all I do is change planes in an airport in a state.]
Alabama#
Alaska
Arizona*
Arkansas#
California#
Colorado#
Connecticut#
Delaware*
Florida#
Georgia#
Hawaii#
Idaho#
Illinois#
Indiana#
Iowa*
Kansas*
Kentucky#
Louisiana#
Maine*
Maryland#
Massachusetts*
Michigan#
Minnesota*
Mississippi#
Missouri#
Montana#
Nebraska*
Nevada*
New Hampshire*
New Jersey*
New Mexico#
New York#
North Carolina#
North Dakota*
Ohio*
Oklahoma*
Oregon#
Pennsylvania#
Rhode Island
South Carolina#
South Dakota*
Tennessee#
Texas#
Utah#
Vermont*
Virginia#
Washington#
West Virginia#
Wisconsin#
Wyoming#
What follows is a list of the fifty states. Those marked with an asterisk (*) are the ones I have merely visited. Those marked with a pound sign (#) are the ones I have visited and in which I have paddled a boat.
[Note: I do count it as a "visit" if I do nothing but drive through a state. I do not count it as a "visit" if all I do is change planes in an airport in a state.]
Alabama#
Alaska
Arizona*
Arkansas#
California#
Colorado#
Connecticut#
Delaware*
Florida#
Georgia#
Hawaii#
Idaho#
Illinois#
Indiana#
Iowa*
Kansas*
Kentucky#
Louisiana#
Maine*
Maryland#
Massachusetts*
Michigan#
Minnesota*
Mississippi#
Missouri#
Montana#
Nebraska*
Nevada*
New Hampshire*
New Jersey*
New Mexico#
New York#
North Carolina#
North Dakota*
Ohio*
Oklahoma*
Oregon#
Pennsylvania#
Rhode Island
South Carolina#
South Dakota*
Tennessee#
Texas#
Utah#
Vermont*
Virginia#
Washington#
West Virginia#
Wisconsin#
Wyoming#
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