Another week of winter behind me

On Sunday afternoon I told one of my non-paddling friends that I'd paddled that morning, and he was awe-struck by the thought of somebody doing that on such a frigid day.  I explained that it really was not a bad day to paddle at all because the sun was out and the wind was light.  I went on to say that if it had been fifteen degrees warmer, but overcast and windy, it would have been miserable out there.

That's exactly the sort of day I had when I went down to paddle on Tuesday.  The temperature was around 44 degrees Fahrenheit, and it was as cloudy as could be, and the wind was screaming out of the southeast.

But in the end I wasn't really that miserable.  I tried to stay in the most protected areas of the harbor, and the hour in the boat went quickly enough.  I did my three 8-stroke sprints in a downwind direction and paddled a good solid tempo after that.  As usual, the worst part was the ten minutes I had to spend on the dock afterward, changing into dry clothes and putting my boat away before I could flee to the comfort of indoors.

For most of Wednesday the rain poured down, just like it did last Saturday.  And just like last Saturday, the system had a mass of cold air behind it.  Could this be a pattern for the next little while?

When I woke up yesterday morning the temperature was in the mid 20s under sunny skies.  I headed for the riverfront expecting a carbon-copy of Sunday's paddle, but when I got down there it was a few degrees warmer.  My rudder was frozen when I got in the boat but it didn't take even a minute for it to free itself from its icy bonds.

I warmed up and did another set of three 8-stroke sprints.  I ventured out onto the Mississippi, but returned to the harbor in short order because of approaching barge traffic.  I was not eager to take a bunch of frigid waves in my lap.

I spent the rest of the 60 minutes doing some minute-long surges, trying to get all the involved muscles firing in unison.

I did rounds of the strength routine Monday, Wednesday, and today.  By this time next week I'll have made it through another January.