Since the Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race I've been taking a little bit of a break from "serious" training. I'm still paddling, still doing my strength routine; but I haven't yet started focusing on the races to come.
Those races will be here before I know it, however. The next race I might do is just three weeks from tomorrow. And then the next three weekends after that feature races that I might do in the form of a little two-week vacation trip. So that's four consecutive weekends of racing I could be looking at. Hmm.
Last night I paddled at high intensity for the first time since the OICK Race, and it was pretty taxing. One thing I've learned is that when you have a really good race, a euphoria ensues that makes it very easy to forget just how hard the workouts were that produced the good result. I met other local paddlers out at Shelby Farms for a set of five 500ish-meter sprints followed by a fast lap of the lake, and I guess it was my harsh reminder that the euphoric period is over and it's time to get back to business. By the last two sprints, I was struggling. I did see a silver lining in the lake lap, which was somewhere in the neighborhood of 3000 meters. I found a decent rhythm and I was encouraged by how well I was able to paddle after those exhausting sprints.
Besides last night's session, this week I did the strength routine Monday, Wednesday, and today, and on Tuesday Joe and I did out usual loop of the harbor.
Friday, June 30, 2017
Monday, June 26, 2017
Monday photo feature
Before the Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race, my mother and my sister's family and I spent several days at Dauphin Island on the Alabama Gulf Coast. Here I am on a breezy afternoon, paddling with my niece Rachel in Mississippi Sound near our rented house.
Sunday, June 25, 2017
Playing around this weekend
Yesterday morning I paddled in the harbor for 60 minutes. After warming up and doing three 8-stroke sprints, I did a few one-minute surges with two minutes recovery in between. I didn't hammer them at all; I just picked up the pace a bit. I don't remember how many pieces I did--five or six, maybe. It was an unstructured sort of thing.
Today I didn't make it to the river until the afternoon, but it was the highlight of my day. The weather was gorgeous: sunny, mid 80s Fahrenheit, not humid. I paddled out of the harbor and up the Mississippi just above the Hernando DeSoto Bridge, and then ferried out into the river where a barge rig was heading upstream. The towboat's engines were producing some excellent waves and I got a few absolutely sweet rides. Who says Memphis isn't Surf City USA?
After a while the barge rig had moved on upriver and the waves petered out, and I ferried on over to the Arkansas side. Over there I discovered a new channel that the river has cut through the bottomland sometime in the recent past, and I paddled up it a ways. At one point I paddled right over a gigantic gar and when it reacted in surprise I thought it might flip my boat. I weathered the storm.
I apparently hadn't drunk enough water during the day because for the last 40 minutes of my 90-minute session I was quite dehydrated. I had water back on the dock but not in the boat with me. I don't think I was in any great danger but it made for a sluggish paddle back. My water was in one of those insulated flasks and it was still cold, and once I was back on the dock it felt like heaven to drink deeply.
Today I didn't make it to the river until the afternoon, but it was the highlight of my day. The weather was gorgeous: sunny, mid 80s Fahrenheit, not humid. I paddled out of the harbor and up the Mississippi just above the Hernando DeSoto Bridge, and then ferried out into the river where a barge rig was heading upstream. The towboat's engines were producing some excellent waves and I got a few absolutely sweet rides. Who says Memphis isn't Surf City USA?
After a while the barge rig had moved on upriver and the waves petered out, and I ferried on over to the Arkansas side. Over there I discovered a new channel that the river has cut through the bottomland sometime in the recent past, and I paddled up it a ways. At one point I paddled right over a gigantic gar and when it reacted in surprise I thought it might flip my boat. I weathered the storm.
I apparently hadn't drunk enough water during the day because for the last 40 minutes of my 90-minute session I was quite dehydrated. I had water back on the dock but not in the boat with me. I don't think I was in any great danger but it made for a sluggish paddle back. My water was in one of those insulated flasks and it was still cold, and once I was back on the dock it felt like heaven to drink deeply.
Friday, June 23, 2017
Some cross-blog promotin'; what's up with my stroke?
Chris Hipgrave, who finished second at the Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race last weekend, has a blog of his own: www.chrishipgrave.com.
I was honored when Chris asked me if he could re-post my race recap on his blog. You can see it here. While there you can watch the video Chris shot from the deck of his boat. I appear to Chris's right for a few seconds right at the beginning, starting around 0:11. In the later parts of the video Chris has left the likes of me behind and you can see how his duel with Mike Herbert unfolds. Chris's speed (in kilometers per hour) and heart rate are also on display.
One personal note: in that brief footage of me up at the start, it looks like I might not be getting my left-side blade fully immersed. This seems to be a recurring problem for me: once in a while I'll become aware of it and focus on correcting it, but by and by the habit seems to return. If there are any coaches reading this who'd like to watch that footage and tell me what they think, I'd be grateful.
I was honored when Chris asked me if he could re-post my race recap on his blog. You can see it here. While there you can watch the video Chris shot from the deck of his boat. I appear to Chris's right for a few seconds right at the beginning, starting around 0:11. In the later parts of the video Chris has left the likes of me behind and you can see how his duel with Mike Herbert unfolds. Chris's speed (in kilometers per hour) and heart rate are also on display.
One personal note: in that brief footage of me up at the start, it looks like I might not be getting my left-side blade fully immersed. This seems to be a recurring problem for me: once in a while I'll become aware of it and focus on correcting it, but by and by the habit seems to return. If there are any coaches reading this who'd like to watch that footage and tell me what they think, I'd be grateful.
Moving forward
I'm trying to get myself going again now that the Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race is behind me. Some of the same out-of-the-boat problems I was having before the race are rearing their ugly heads once more, but I have managed to paddle twice so far this week. On Tuesday Joe and I did our usual loop of the harbor, and yesterday I went out and did three 8-stroke sprints followed by some solid-tempo paddling with several surges thrown in.
It was nice having a break from strength work, but all good things must come to an end. As outlined in my last post, I've started a new routine. Normally I do a routine two times through, but I started today with just one. I'm easing into it, just like I usually do.
It was nice having a break from strength work, but all good things must come to an end. As outlined in my last post, I've started a new routine. Normally I do a routine two times through, but I started today with just one. I'm easing into it, just like I usually do.
A new strength routine
Here's the strength routine I hope to do for the next few weeks. The Jing-Jing Li and Daniele Molmenti videos I refer to are posted here.
1. Hand-paddling and hand-backpaddling with rubber bands. Demonstrated at 6:54 and 7:10 of the Daniele Molmenti video.
2. Plank exercise on stability ball. Demonstrated at 1:56 of the Jing-Jing Li video.
3. Rubber band row exercise. Demonstrated at 5:42 of the Daniele Molmenti video.
4. 4-way abdominal crunches
5. Behind-the-head lift with a dumbbell. I've never really known what this exercise is called, but it's been around longer than I have, probably. It looks like this:
1. Hand-paddling and hand-backpaddling with rubber bands. Demonstrated at 6:54 and 7:10 of the Daniele Molmenti video.
2. Plank exercise on stability ball. Demonstrated at 1:56 of the Jing-Jing Li video.
3. Rubber band row exercise. Demonstrated at 5:42 of the Daniele Molmenti video.
4. 4-way abdominal crunches
5. Behind-the-head lift with a dumbbell. I've never really known what this exercise is called, but it's been around longer than I have, probably. It looks like this:
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
MORE photos
There was another photographer at the race Saturday: somebody from Blair Ball Photography. This enterprising concern sent me an e-mail on Sunday with proofs of several shots they'd gotten of me. I guess they must have had access to the list of participants' race numbers and e-mail addresses.
And... I bought a couple of nicely re-touched digital images. Yes, this company made about 30 bucks off my vanity.
Remember that photo I posted on Monday? If we could scroll to the left a bit in that photo, the scene above is what we would see... me! You can see the boats of Mike Herbert (yellow) and Rick Carter (orange tip) that were fully visible in the other photo. Over on the other side of this photo you can see Mike's daughter Savanna wearing an orange visor and paddling an orange and grey boat. I think the white boat to my right belongs to Kata Dismukes.
Blair Ball Photography was down at the finish as well. This is my favorite of the shots they got of me there:
Monday, June 19, 2017
Monday photo feature
I've lost count of the number of times I've been just out of the frame of photographs of the Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race that run in our local media.
Here we have a shot taken at the starting line Saturday by Jim Weber of our daily newspaper, The Commercial Appeal. That's winner-to-be Mike Herbert in the middle of the photo, as he should be. Just behind Mike in the red-tipped Epic boat is Chris Hipgrave, the eventual runner-up. Over on the left side of the photo (number 8) is Rick Carter, who went on to finish fourth. Obscured by Rick's head is race director Joe Royer, who's paddling in the bow of a tandem boat with his wife Carol Lee handling the stern.
Where am I? I'm just to Rick's right. Out of the photo. Story of my life. I didn't merit a mention in the newspaper article either.
But you know... it's okay. If my main reason for being a canoe and kayak racer were to feed a craving for public adulation, I'd have starved to death decades ago. To be successful in this sport you have to be happy performing in a venue whose only spectators are fish, birds, turtles, and snakes.
Sunday, June 18, 2017
A few race photos
A photographer from Calo's Camera Photography was at the race yesterday and got all kinds of good shots. You can see the full photo set here. A few from my own boat class are shared below.
The horses are out of the gate as (bottom to top) Rick Carter, yours truly, Kata Dismukes, Jason and Ahava Salomon, Shaun Caven, and Joseph DiChiacchio paddle out of the Wolf River onto the Mississippi.
Chris Hipgrave and Mike Herbert are headed up into the harbor toward the finish line. That's me in the background rounding the southern tip of Mud Island. This photo makes it look like I'm a lot closer to Mike and Chris than it actually seemed to me in the race.
Now I'm headed up into the harbor myself with Rick Carter and Kata Dismukes in hot pursuit.
Rick Carter and Kata Dismukes are locked in a tight race for fourth place overall. Behind them, the finish order for the rest of the top ten is anything but decided. At the moment it appears to be Jason and Ahava Salomon in sixth; Joseph DiChiacchio in seventh; Andy Capel in eighth; Tim Schramm in ninth; and Waylon Willis in tenth. Did any shuffling occur between here and the finish line? Look here to find out.
Saturday, June 17, 2017
Reporting on the 36th OICK Race
The Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race is in the books for another year. This event has now happened 36 times, and I have participated myself 22 times.
Today's river level--13.5 feet on the Memphis gauge--was what I would call a very "average" level over all those years. The day was expected to be a steamy one, but thanks to some showers last night the temperature was surprisingly comfortable as we prepared to get started. There was a tradeoff, however: part of our relief from the heat was provided by a stiff south wind, and that same wind would make for choppy conditions and slow times on the race course.
More than 220 boats maneuvered into position at the starting line in the mouth of the Wolf River--possibly the highest turnout ever, I understand. I doubt anybody would have disagreed that the pre-race favorite was Mr. Mike Herbert of Rogers, Arkansas. A three-time Olympian and a three-time world championships medalist, Mike has a resume not too many people can match, and he continues to race at a high level in his fifties.
The gun went off, and sure enough Mike shot right to the front of the pack. But I knew he was not the only force to be reckoned with in today's field. The fastest starter was actually a 17-year-old Oklahoman named Garrett Wampler, an aspiring flatwater sprint racer. If this race had been entirely on flatwater I think Wampler might have left us all in the dust. But once we were out on the Mississippi it became painfully clear that his K1 was not a good boat for those sloppy waters. He stuck close to the bank and quickly fell off the pace, and I understand he later flipped. Still, I have filed his name away in my mind as one to watch for over the next two or three Olympic quadrennia.
Another fast starter was Chris Hipgrave of Bryson City, North Carolina. Chris is a guy I've known out on the race circuit for nearly twenty years, and when he's at his best I can't touch him, but in several races over the years I've finished tantalizingly close behind him. Today it quickly became apparent that he was in "can't touch him" form. He and Mike broke away from the rest of the field, and from where I sat it seemed Chris was really taking the fight to the Olympian.
By the end of the first kilometer I was alone in third place, but there was no time to rest on that laurel, for I knew people like Rick Carter and Kata Dismukes couldn't be far behind. Rick, who hails from South Carolina, has become something of a nemesis in the last several years with his wily racing tactics and his competitive tenacity. Kata, a resident of Memphis's eastern suburbs and the top female racer in this part of the country, has proven herself entirely capable of taking me down if I don't have my game in order.
So the pressure was on. But I have to say that I was feeling really, really good in my boat. Over the last month I had put in a steady diet of hard, fast pieces, and by the end of that period I felt I was moving the boat with authority and recovering quickly from each hard interval. Having logged some valuable rest this past week, I was feeling as fresh as I've ever felt in the middle of a five-kilometer race. Once I'd settled into my mid-race pace after the initial sprint off the starting line, it felt like a recovery interval. That gave me the confidence to throw in a 30-second surge every several minutes in the hope of increasing my lead on the racers behind me, knowing that I would have something left for the final dash to the finish line in the harbor.
Meanwhile, I was watching the race up front. As Chris and Mike approached the mouth of the harbor Chris appeared to have a solid boatlength on the Arkansan. Chris was a member of the U.S. wildwater team for a decade or so--"wildwater" is downriver racing through whitewater rapids--and I expect he was drawing heavily on that experience. Soon, however, they would be on the harbor's flatwater, and that's very much Mike's domain. (That's one of the things I've always loved about the OICK race, the way it brings together athletes from different paddling disciplines--whitewater specialists, flatwater specialists, open water specialists, sprinters, masters of endurance... you name it, they have raced here.)
I reached the harbor entrance myself a minute or so behind Mike and Chris, and as I rounded the southern tip of Mud Island I stole a glance over my left shoulder. I could make out only a white blur, but I knew it was Rick's boat or Kata's boat or both. Seconds later the finish buoys came into view some five or six hundred meters distant, and I began to sprint as hard as I could. I knew it would hurt, but not any worse than those sprints I'd done with Kata and other local paddlers out at Shelby Farms this month.
Mike did indeed outsprint Chris in the harbor, taking the overall victory by six seconds. An agonizing 66 seconds later I moved my own boat across the line for a satisfying third-place finish. I turned around just in time to see Rick claim fourth place, with Kata taking the overall female crown two seconds behind him. A half-minute later Memphian Jason Salomon and his daughter Ahava finished first among tandem kayaks.
Among the other notable finishers were tandem canoe winners Dale Burris and Don Walls. Dale is from Russellville, Arkansas, and Don lives in the neighboring town of Dover. Andy Capel of Sherwood, Arkansas, won the class for touring kayaks longer than 17'6", edging out Tim Schramm of Jackson, Tennessee, by less than one second. Memphian Tonya Tittle was the fastest female in that same class.
The complete results are posted here. As I mentioned before, the times were slow across the board today because of the wind and turbulent water. Mike Herbert's best time on the course is more than three minutes faster than his time today of 18 minutes, 53 seconds, for example. I, too, have produced a time more than three minutes faster than what I managed today (20:05).
But that's all just part of the fun. Having completed a good hard-fought contest, we carried our boats up the bank into Mississippi River Park for a post-race festival of live music and camaraderie, culminating in the awards ceremony. A few of us even indulged in the beer provided by one of our local breweries. I believe I speak for just about everybody involved as I thank the principals and staff of Outdoors, Inc., for carrying this wonderful event past the three-and-a-half decade mark.
Today's river level--13.5 feet on the Memphis gauge--was what I would call a very "average" level over all those years. The day was expected to be a steamy one, but thanks to some showers last night the temperature was surprisingly comfortable as we prepared to get started. There was a tradeoff, however: part of our relief from the heat was provided by a stiff south wind, and that same wind would make for choppy conditions and slow times on the race course.
More than 220 boats maneuvered into position at the starting line in the mouth of the Wolf River--possibly the highest turnout ever, I understand. I doubt anybody would have disagreed that the pre-race favorite was Mr. Mike Herbert of Rogers, Arkansas. A three-time Olympian and a three-time world championships medalist, Mike has a resume not too many people can match, and he continues to race at a high level in his fifties.
The gun went off, and sure enough Mike shot right to the front of the pack. But I knew he was not the only force to be reckoned with in today's field. The fastest starter was actually a 17-year-old Oklahoman named Garrett Wampler, an aspiring flatwater sprint racer. If this race had been entirely on flatwater I think Wampler might have left us all in the dust. But once we were out on the Mississippi it became painfully clear that his K1 was not a good boat for those sloppy waters. He stuck close to the bank and quickly fell off the pace, and I understand he later flipped. Still, I have filed his name away in my mind as one to watch for over the next two or three Olympic quadrennia.
Another fast starter was Chris Hipgrave of Bryson City, North Carolina. Chris is a guy I've known out on the race circuit for nearly twenty years, and when he's at his best I can't touch him, but in several races over the years I've finished tantalizingly close behind him. Today it quickly became apparent that he was in "can't touch him" form. He and Mike broke away from the rest of the field, and from where I sat it seemed Chris was really taking the fight to the Olympian.
By the end of the first kilometer I was alone in third place, but there was no time to rest on that laurel, for I knew people like Rick Carter and Kata Dismukes couldn't be far behind. Rick, who hails from South Carolina, has become something of a nemesis in the last several years with his wily racing tactics and his competitive tenacity. Kata, a resident of Memphis's eastern suburbs and the top female racer in this part of the country, has proven herself entirely capable of taking me down if I don't have my game in order.
So the pressure was on. But I have to say that I was feeling really, really good in my boat. Over the last month I had put in a steady diet of hard, fast pieces, and by the end of that period I felt I was moving the boat with authority and recovering quickly from each hard interval. Having logged some valuable rest this past week, I was feeling as fresh as I've ever felt in the middle of a five-kilometer race. Once I'd settled into my mid-race pace after the initial sprint off the starting line, it felt like a recovery interval. That gave me the confidence to throw in a 30-second surge every several minutes in the hope of increasing my lead on the racers behind me, knowing that I would have something left for the final dash to the finish line in the harbor.
Meanwhile, I was watching the race up front. As Chris and Mike approached the mouth of the harbor Chris appeared to have a solid boatlength on the Arkansan. Chris was a member of the U.S. wildwater team for a decade or so--"wildwater" is downriver racing through whitewater rapids--and I expect he was drawing heavily on that experience. Soon, however, they would be on the harbor's flatwater, and that's very much Mike's domain. (That's one of the things I've always loved about the OICK race, the way it brings together athletes from different paddling disciplines--whitewater specialists, flatwater specialists, open water specialists, sprinters, masters of endurance... you name it, they have raced here.)
I reached the harbor entrance myself a minute or so behind Mike and Chris, and as I rounded the southern tip of Mud Island I stole a glance over my left shoulder. I could make out only a white blur, but I knew it was Rick's boat or Kata's boat or both. Seconds later the finish buoys came into view some five or six hundred meters distant, and I began to sprint as hard as I could. I knew it would hurt, but not any worse than those sprints I'd done with Kata and other local paddlers out at Shelby Farms this month.
Mike did indeed outsprint Chris in the harbor, taking the overall victory by six seconds. An agonizing 66 seconds later I moved my own boat across the line for a satisfying third-place finish. I turned around just in time to see Rick claim fourth place, with Kata taking the overall female crown two seconds behind him. A half-minute later Memphian Jason Salomon and his daughter Ahava finished first among tandem kayaks.
Among the other notable finishers were tandem canoe winners Dale Burris and Don Walls. Dale is from Russellville, Arkansas, and Don lives in the neighboring town of Dover. Andy Capel of Sherwood, Arkansas, won the class for touring kayaks longer than 17'6", edging out Tim Schramm of Jackson, Tennessee, by less than one second. Memphian Tonya Tittle was the fastest female in that same class.
The complete results are posted here. As I mentioned before, the times were slow across the board today because of the wind and turbulent water. Mike Herbert's best time on the course is more than three minutes faster than his time today of 18 minutes, 53 seconds, for example. I, too, have produced a time more than three minutes faster than what I managed today (20:05).
But that's all just part of the fun. Having completed a good hard-fought contest, we carried our boats up the bank into Mississippi River Park for a post-race festival of live music and camaraderie, culminating in the awards ceremony. A few of us even indulged in the beer provided by one of our local breweries. I believe I speak for just about everybody involved as I thank the principals and staff of Outdoors, Inc., for carrying this wonderful event past the three-and-a-half decade mark.
Friday, June 16, 2017
Getting ready to race at Memphis
My brief visit to the beach is over, and I'm back home getting ready for tomorrow's race. Last time I checked there were over 200 boats signed up, with some very solid athletes entered in the race boat class.
The main objective for my time on the coast was rest, and I got that. Most of the paddling I did was some relaxed touring of Mississippi Sound in the vicinity of our rented house. Well, it actually wasn't entirely relaxed: on Monday there was some stormy weather in the region, and when I went out on the water with my niece and nephew that afternoon there was a pretty stiff wind from the southeast. My nephew flipped twice while trying to turn in the waves, and we discovered that a glue joint holding two pieces of my bilge pump had failed. My nephew was able to make the pump work by holding the pieces together with one hand while working the plunger with the other, but it was a slow process getting the water out of his boat. As I sat there holding his boat steady while he pumped, I worried as the wind blew us farther out into the sound toward higher seas where bailing would be more difficult. But my almost-15-year-old nephew did an admirable job of keeping his cool and patiently restoring his craft to a paddlable state.
The weather had calmed down completely by Wednesday morning and my niece and I paddled a mile and a half or so out into the sound. Along the way we encountered a pod of dolphins and at one point saw several of the mammals coming up for air less than fifty feet away.
The closest thing to a "training" paddle I did took place on Tuesday morning. I paddled for 60 minutes and did a set of eight 12-stroke sprints at two-minute intervals. The objective was to practice starts and to give my ATP-CP energy system some work.
I came on home Wednesday afternoon, and yesterday and today I did a few more 12-stroke sprints on my home water of the harbor.
It looks like the river level will be about 14 feet on the Memphis gauge tomorrow. That's not a bad level, all things considered. If I could order up any level I wanted for Race Day, I'd go with something around 20 feet: that's high enough to cover up the muddiest parts of the banks at the start and finish, but not high enough to lop a radical amount of distance off the course at the southern tip of Mud Island. Tomorrow I would expect a little bit of mud while putting in and taking out, but nothing too terrible.
Well, all that's left is to get some rest tonight, show up at the race site tomorrow, and do the best I can.
The main objective for my time on the coast was rest, and I got that. Most of the paddling I did was some relaxed touring of Mississippi Sound in the vicinity of our rented house. Well, it actually wasn't entirely relaxed: on Monday there was some stormy weather in the region, and when I went out on the water with my niece and nephew that afternoon there was a pretty stiff wind from the southeast. My nephew flipped twice while trying to turn in the waves, and we discovered that a glue joint holding two pieces of my bilge pump had failed. My nephew was able to make the pump work by holding the pieces together with one hand while working the plunger with the other, but it was a slow process getting the water out of his boat. As I sat there holding his boat steady while he pumped, I worried as the wind blew us farther out into the sound toward higher seas where bailing would be more difficult. But my almost-15-year-old nephew did an admirable job of keeping his cool and patiently restoring his craft to a paddlable state.
The weather had calmed down completely by Wednesday morning and my niece and I paddled a mile and a half or so out into the sound. Along the way we encountered a pod of dolphins and at one point saw several of the mammals coming up for air less than fifty feet away.
The closest thing to a "training" paddle I did took place on Tuesday morning. I paddled for 60 minutes and did a set of eight 12-stroke sprints at two-minute intervals. The objective was to practice starts and to give my ATP-CP energy system some work.
I came on home Wednesday afternoon, and yesterday and today I did a few more 12-stroke sprints on my home water of the harbor.
It looks like the river level will be about 14 feet on the Memphis gauge tomorrow. That's not a bad level, all things considered. If I could order up any level I wanted for Race Day, I'd go with something around 20 feet: that's high enough to cover up the muddiest parts of the banks at the start and finish, but not high enough to lop a radical amount of distance off the course at the southern tip of Mud Island. Tomorrow I would expect a little bit of mud while putting in and taking out, but nothing too terrible.
Well, all that's left is to get some rest tonight, show up at the race site tomorrow, and do the best I can.
Monday, June 12, 2017
Monday photo feature
The mouth of the Wolf River is a place I have been many, many times. From the marina in the harbor where I keep my boat, I have paddled up the Mississippi to this spot in sunny weather, overcast weather, stormy weather, hot weather, cold weather... you name it. Typically I am a lone paddler on these waters, or once in a while I might be joined by a companion or two.
But one day each year, this riverscape comes alive with hundreds of colorful kayaks and canoes, when the Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race starts right beneath those power lines. That day in 2017 is this Saturday. Get yourself registered and come experience the Memphis riverfront at its very best.
Photo by Teresa Faulk.
Massive decompression
I arrived on Dauphin Island on the Alabama Gulf Coast yesterday in the late afternoon. I'll be spending several days with my family here before I head back home for the big race at Memphis.
On top of the intense training I was doing, I was dealing with an out-of-the-boat issue that was causing me considerable stress over the last couple of weeks. I won't bore you with the details, but it came to a head over the weekend and forced me to delay my trip for a day. I think it is now resolved and I am looking forward to several days here at the beach doing a whole lot of nothing. I'll paddle my boat a little, swim a little, nap a little, read my book, enjoy the company of my niece and nephew... maybe I'll feel like a live human being again after a while.
In the boat I plan to do a few short (10-15 sec) sprints to polish my speed, and otherwise let my body recover and rest ahead of the race this Saturday. This morning there's a pretty big thunderstorm system moving in but maybe by this afternoon I'll find a good window for paddling.
On top of the intense training I was doing, I was dealing with an out-of-the-boat issue that was causing me considerable stress over the last couple of weeks. I won't bore you with the details, but it came to a head over the weekend and forced me to delay my trip for a day. I think it is now resolved and I am looking forward to several days here at the beach doing a whole lot of nothing. I'll paddle my boat a little, swim a little, nap a little, read my book, enjoy the company of my niece and nephew... maybe I'll feel like a live human being again after a while.
In the boat I plan to do a few short (10-15 sec) sprints to polish my speed, and otherwise let my body recover and rest ahead of the race this Saturday. This morning there's a pretty big thunderstorm system moving in but maybe by this afternoon I'll find a good window for paddling.
Thursday, June 8, 2017
Winding up the pre-OICK training block
On Tuesday Joe and I did an easy loop of the harbor, and once again it felt good to flush some fresh blood through my body after the hard work I'd done on Monday.
Yesterday I did the strength routine for the last time before the Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race a week from Saturday. It feels good to have a break from the strength work for a while.
This evening it was back out to Shelby Farms for another group workout on Patriot Lake. Once again we did four 500ish-meter sprints followed by a "fast lap" of the lake. It was tiring but I came away feeling good about my fitness, as I felt as strong at the end as I'd felt in the first piece.
Now it's time to get some rest and head into the race next Saturday feeling fresh and sharp. This weekend I'm heading down to Dauphin Island for my family's annual stay on the beach, and I'm looking forward to some relaxation and salt-water therapy.
Yesterday I did the strength routine for the last time before the Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race a week from Saturday. It feels good to have a break from the strength work for a while.
This evening it was back out to Shelby Farms for another group workout on Patriot Lake. Once again we did four 500ish-meter sprints followed by a "fast lap" of the lake. It was tiring but I came away feeling good about my fitness, as I felt as strong at the end as I'd felt in the first piece.
Now it's time to get some rest and head into the race next Saturday feeling fresh and sharp. This weekend I'm heading down to Dauphin Island for my family's annual stay on the beach, and I'm looking forward to some relaxation and salt-water therapy.
Monday, June 5, 2017
Monday photo feature
With the Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race less than two weeks away, it's time to take another look back at OICK races past.
Looking very young and svelte here are Memphians Kenny Allen (stern) and Jim Wilson (bow), who took fourth place in the men's tandem canoe cruising class in 1991. In that era there was no stronger class than this one, and fourth place was a very respectable finish.
The OICK race hasn't changed a whole lot since its inception in 1982, but there have been little changes here and there. The event's name might be the biggest: when this photo was taken, the race was actually known as The Great Mississippi River Canoe and Kayak Race. It was the first race of its kind on the lower Mississippi River, and that name was a good fit. Outdoors, Inc., didn't become the "title sponsor" until the mid to late 1990s even though it had been the entity putting the event on from the beginning.
The finish line used to be the Mud Island monorail bridge, so Jim and Kenny have at least another hundred meters to go in this photo. The finish line was relocated to its current location next to Mississippi River Park when the Interstate 40 Tennessee Welcome Center was constructed a few years later.
Photo by Katie Wilson.
Just a little more hard work to do
The end of the current hard training block is coming into view. The saying goes, "If it doesn't kill you, it'll make you stronger," and I guess we're putting that to the test.
On Saturday I paddled mostly steady for 60 minutes. I paddled both in the harbor and on the river, doing a couple of surges, but nothing extraordinary. As always, I practiced good strokes.
This morning I did another round of the current strength routine. I plan to do it for the last time Wednesday.
After that it was time to head down to the river. I warmed up and did three 8-stroke sprints, paddled up the Mississippi to the southern end of the Greenbelt Park, and then turned back downstream and commenced the day's workout. I did eight intervals of 75 seconds on, 45 seconds off, with each "on" interval done at sub-maximum intensity. It's basically a lactic tolerance workout. I rarely actually go lactic in these distance races I do, and that's why I do this workout only once or twice a year, but I'm hoping it might give me an edge on the 17th if I'm in a tight competition with somebody going into that last 500 meters in the harbor and I really have to hammer to the finish.
I came home from the river with that "satisfied" tired feeling. The last hard workout planned is another session this Thursday out at Patriot Lake with other local racers. After that I'll be tapering until race day with some short sprints and as much rest as possible.
On Saturday I paddled mostly steady for 60 minutes. I paddled both in the harbor and on the river, doing a couple of surges, but nothing extraordinary. As always, I practiced good strokes.
This morning I did another round of the current strength routine. I plan to do it for the last time Wednesday.
After that it was time to head down to the river. I warmed up and did three 8-stroke sprints, paddled up the Mississippi to the southern end of the Greenbelt Park, and then turned back downstream and commenced the day's workout. I did eight intervals of 75 seconds on, 45 seconds off, with each "on" interval done at sub-maximum intensity. It's basically a lactic tolerance workout. I rarely actually go lactic in these distance races I do, and that's why I do this workout only once or twice a year, but I'm hoping it might give me an edge on the 17th if I'm in a tight competition with somebody going into that last 500 meters in the harbor and I really have to hammer to the finish.
I came home from the river with that "satisfied" tired feeling. The last hard workout planned is another session this Thursday out at Patriot Lake with other local racers. After that I'll be tapering until race day with some short sprints and as much rest as possible.
Friday, June 2, 2017
Mustn't overtrain
That discomfort in my neck and the muscle-tension headaches I mentioned last week persisted a lot longer than normal. My intuition is that the headaches were brought on by stresses in this strength routine I've been doing. Several exercises are kind of hard on my shoulders, especially the "explosive" pushups.
Because of that, and because of the strain of Monday's hard workout and the tree-cutting and all, I was feeling pretty beat-up for a few days. It was a good reminder of the importance of getting enough rest to recover from all that.
I've heard many athletes talk about how they flirt with overtraining in the weeks leading up to a big competition. "Overtraining" is what happens when you don't allow your body adequate recovery from the workouts. It's during recovery that you actually "get in shape" because that's when your body fortifies itself to withstand the new stresses you put on it in those workouts. Without adequate recovery the body has no chance to complete that fortification and instead languishes in a damaged state. An athlete who has overtrained sees his performances get worse, not better.
And so, an athlete in the midst of a hard training block has to be careful, and careful is what I'm trying to be right now. The 5000-meter Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race, two weeks from Saturday, is the shortest race I'm likely to do this year; it's too long to be an all-out sprint, but I'll be paddling at a high level of intensity for the better part of 20 minutes. And so my training right now includes a whole lot of short- to middle-distance pieces done as fast as I can do them. With the strength training I'm also doing, I'm good for a couple such workouts in the space of a week. The rest of the time I need to be disciplined about getting my rest; the storm-damage-cleanup responsibility hasn't helped with that.
But that's all settling down now, and I'm feeling a bit better just in the last couple of days. The aches in my head and neck seem to have eased up. I think the paddling I did with Joe on Tuesday was a big help: we just did an easy, relaxed loop of the harbor, and by the time it was over I felt I'd done just what the doctor ordered.
By yesterday afternoon I was feeling ready for another intense session in the boat, and this time I drove out to Shelby Farms to join about nine other local paddlers for some 500-meter sprints on Patriot Lake. My stiffest competitor would likely be Kata Dismukes, one of the top female racers in this part of the country, whom I don't see that much because we live on opposite sides of town and train in different places. Jason Salomon and his daughter Ahava would also be pushing me in their tandem surf ski.
We did four sprints--apparently the buoys were set so that the distance was more like 495 meters than a full 500--and my times were all in the 2:10 to 2:15 range. I was a narrow winner over Kata in each one. The recovery interval was however long it took everybody to get back up to the line--about five minutes, I think. That was just enough time that I felt ready to go hard in the next one.
After the sprints we did an up-tempo lap of the lake. The distance for a lap is just under two miles, and we didn't go as hard as we would in an actual two-mile race, but the pace was somewhere approaching anaerobic threshold. Whatever the case, it felt easy after doing those intense sprints. That's a state of fitness I'm always striving for, where the body feels like it's getting a break whenever I'm not surging in a race.
I did a round of the current strength routine today and plan to do it again Monday and Wednesday. Then I'll stop the strength work until after the June 17 race. My paddling will be relaxed over the weekend, and then I'll do one more hard workout in the middle of next week before I begin my taper. In between those activities, I'll be looking to recover from them with rest, some stretching, good nutrition, and good hydration.
Because of that, and because of the strain of Monday's hard workout and the tree-cutting and all, I was feeling pretty beat-up for a few days. It was a good reminder of the importance of getting enough rest to recover from all that.
I've heard many athletes talk about how they flirt with overtraining in the weeks leading up to a big competition. "Overtraining" is what happens when you don't allow your body adequate recovery from the workouts. It's during recovery that you actually "get in shape" because that's when your body fortifies itself to withstand the new stresses you put on it in those workouts. Without adequate recovery the body has no chance to complete that fortification and instead languishes in a damaged state. An athlete who has overtrained sees his performances get worse, not better.
And so, an athlete in the midst of a hard training block has to be careful, and careful is what I'm trying to be right now. The 5000-meter Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race, two weeks from Saturday, is the shortest race I'm likely to do this year; it's too long to be an all-out sprint, but I'll be paddling at a high level of intensity for the better part of 20 minutes. And so my training right now includes a whole lot of short- to middle-distance pieces done as fast as I can do them. With the strength training I'm also doing, I'm good for a couple such workouts in the space of a week. The rest of the time I need to be disciplined about getting my rest; the storm-damage-cleanup responsibility hasn't helped with that.
But that's all settling down now, and I'm feeling a bit better just in the last couple of days. The aches in my head and neck seem to have eased up. I think the paddling I did with Joe on Tuesday was a big help: we just did an easy, relaxed loop of the harbor, and by the time it was over I felt I'd done just what the doctor ordered.
By yesterday afternoon I was feeling ready for another intense session in the boat, and this time I drove out to Shelby Farms to join about nine other local paddlers for some 500-meter sprints on Patriot Lake. My stiffest competitor would likely be Kata Dismukes, one of the top female racers in this part of the country, whom I don't see that much because we live on opposite sides of town and train in different places. Jason Salomon and his daughter Ahava would also be pushing me in their tandem surf ski.
We did four sprints--apparently the buoys were set so that the distance was more like 495 meters than a full 500--and my times were all in the 2:10 to 2:15 range. I was a narrow winner over Kata in each one. The recovery interval was however long it took everybody to get back up to the line--about five minutes, I think. That was just enough time that I felt ready to go hard in the next one.
After the sprints we did an up-tempo lap of the lake. The distance for a lap is just under two miles, and we didn't go as hard as we would in an actual two-mile race, but the pace was somewhere approaching anaerobic threshold. Whatever the case, it felt easy after doing those intense sprints. That's a state of fitness I'm always striving for, where the body feels like it's getting a break whenever I'm not surging in a race.
I did a round of the current strength routine today and plan to do it again Monday and Wednesday. Then I'll stop the strength work until after the June 17 race. My paddling will be relaxed over the weekend, and then I'll do one more hard workout in the middle of next week before I begin my taper. In between those activities, I'll be looking to recover from them with rest, some stretching, good nutrition, and good hydration.
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