Summer pace work

We've gotten a break in the weather this week: since Tuesday the Fahrenheit highs have been in the high 80s or low 90s, and the humidity is down.  It's significantly more comfortable than it was last weekend.

Not sure how much longer the nice conditions would last, I made sure to get in a good workout in the boat yesterday.  I warmed up for ten minutes and did three of my backpaddling-then-forward-paddling power drills.  Then I paddled up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Wolf River.

I started my G.P.S. and did a one-mile piece up the Wolf, trying to maintain 7 miles per hour.  At yesterday's Mississippi level (12.7 feet on the Memphis gauge) I expected to have flatwater for at least a mile up the Wolf, but I suspect I might have been fighting a slight current in the second half of my piece.  I finished the piece in 8:42.  I recovered by paddling back toward the mouth of the Wolf, and the ease with which I moved around 6.7 mph supported my belief that there was a bit of current flowing.

I started my next one-mile piece at the power lines that mark the OICK race start and headed out down the Mississippi, where I definitely had some current flowing.  Because of that I wasn't really paddling a true mile, but I tried to keep the intensity the same.  I maintained about 11.4 mph on the G.P.S.--on flatwater that would be around 7 mph since the Mississippi River flows at 4-ish mph.  My elapsed time for this mile was 6:43.

I finished the piece and paddled/drifted downriver in recovery.  I was quite tired by the time I reached the mouth of the harbor and gathered my courage for one last piece on what I knew would be dead flatwater.  Once again 7 mph was the target pace.  I was feeling it bad as I gazed longingly at the landmark where I knew my mile would end, and I attempted to comfort myself with reminders that it wasn't as god-awful hot as it was last weekend.  At last I completed the piece 8 minutes and 32 seconds after I'd started, and it felt good to know that I'd pushed through the pain with an effort consistent with the previous two pieces.

I arrived back at the dock with a total in-the-boat time of 100 minutes.  If I can get this kind of workout in at least once a week through the heart of summer, I'll have accomplished something.