Making some progress

We had several days of pleasant weather in the first half of the week, with sunny skies, Fahrenheit temperatures in the 80s, and moderate humidity.  Joe and I availed ourselves of a lovely day when we paddled a loop of the harbor on Tuesday.

Now, at the end of the week, we're returning to the sort of weather we're used to in the Mid South this time of year.  I wasn't able to get down to the riverfront until the afternoon yesterday, so I'd be doing my workout in the heat and humidity.  My plan was to do another set of sprints over the 450-meter stretch of the harbor between the monorail bridge and the Hernando DeSoto Bridge.

As I've mentioned before, when I'm in good shape I'm breaking two minutes for this sprint.  When I did this workout three weeks ago I was well off that pace.  My energy level is often flagging by afternoon, and yesterday as I warmed up and did three 8-stroke sprints I wondered how my workout would go.

Once again I did four sprints; the recovery interval was five minutes, during which I paddled back to my starting position at the monorail bridge.  The workout was tough: the first piece was by far my best, while the other three took some considerable willpower.  But I can't complain about the results: 1:56, 1:57, 1:59, 1:59.  By the end I was really struggling to keep my form together and that last piece was probably a "heavy" 1:59--1:59.9 or maybe even 2:00.0.  But I'm happy that I managed a time that was reasonably consistent with the other three sprints.  (The equivalent times for a full 500 meters are 2:09, 2:10, 2:12, and 2:12.)

The most encouraging thing about the workout is how I felt the rest of the afternoon and evening: I was tired and a little sore, but it was what I would call a "pleasant" fatigue.  One of the signs of good fitness for me is quick recovery.  I know there's room for improvement because my in-workout recovery yesterday wasn't as fast as it could be--in other words, each sprint was affected by the impact of the previous sprint.  And it showed in my times.

I started my new strength routine on Wednesday, and did another round this morning.