Physical labor in my non-athletic life. Most recently I've been painting the outside of a rental property I own. This past week I spent a lot of time up on a ladder, and somehow that makes the work a whole lot more exhausting. Paying attention to balance and making sure I don't fall and break my neck increases the stress level, and I think that adds up to a greater expenditure of energy as the day goes on. One thing I've learned from listening to baseball games on the radio is how much more stressful it is for a pitcher to pitch an inning with a lot of baserunners than to pitch an inning with the bases empty, even if the total number of pitches is the same. I imagine there's a similar difference between painting up on a ladder and painting while standing on the ground or a solid scaffolding.
Hot, humid weather. The last couple of weeks in the Mid South were marked by Fahrenheit highs in the 90s with triple-digit heat index values. Even while doing light chores outside I'm drenched in sweat in no time. With such conditions piled on top of the challenges described above, I've been in a perpetual state of lethargy.
My epic trip out West. Exciting and rewarding as it was, the trip took a lot out of me. It felt as though I packed an entire season into that two-and-a-half-week period. The idea of continuing the race season since then has been difficult to wrap my mind around.
The cancellation of all my September races. This has made it that much more difficult to keep my head in the game. By the time I line up to race on October 6, it'll have been over two months since my last race. Sharp racing form isn't something you can turn off and on at will; it takes some practice and some fairly regular repetition to do it well.
I guess in a way this post is a preemptive excuse for whatever lousy effort I manage in my October 6 race on the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River up in Kentucky. Then again, maybe I shouldn't be such a pessimist. I am still getting down to the river for my regular paddling sessions, putting my body through the motions if not my brain, and once I'm there on the starting line alongside athletes I respect, maybe the adrenaline and the competitive juices will kick in and I'll produce a result I can feel good about. And even if that doesn't happen, it'll be good for me to make the trip. That part of the country is lovely in October, and I expect to see some people whose company I enjoy.
On Tuesday I paddled a loop of the harbor with Joe. Thursday, yesterday, and today saw me doing 60-minute sessions in which I mostly just paddled steady. The Mississippi River crested at 23.3 feet on Thursday, and remains unusually high for this time of year. The heat finally broke Friday evening when a system of rain moved into this region, so I was no longer enduring the scorching heat this weekend. Instead there was rain, and I've been torn between elation at the cooler temperatures and melancholia over the gloomy weather. As I paddled this morning the precipitation built from a steady drizzle to a pretty heavy downpour. I didn't let it bother me. It sort of suited the mood I've been in lately.
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