I got in to see the chiropractor Monday afternoon and it was a worthwhile visit. I'm still feeling some tightness in my neck, but the pain in my shoulder and lat muscle went away almost immediately as a result of the adjustments she made.
With that part of my body feeling better, I'm back to doing the whole strength routine except for the bent-over rows--I didn't want to push my luck with those. I did strength work Monday, Wednesday, and today, and I plan to start up a new routine next week.
I didn't get back in the boat this week until yesterday. I missed paddling Tuesday because I had to meet some contractors to get some work done on my rental property. I'm not really concerned about missing a day: I've strung together quite a few weeks in a row where I didn't miss a single paddling session, so I figure a little break couldn't hurt.
Yesterday I got back to the river and settled down to business. After warming up and doing three 8-stroke sprints, I did four 5-minute pieces with three minutes recovery in between. My target pace for each piece was 7.2 miles per hour. There was a light south breeze blowing, but I did the workout in the north end of the harbor where there's good wind protection, and I was able to trust the accuracy of my G.P.S. device more than I had in previous uses of it this winter. With the wind at my back my pace was more like 7.4-7.6 mph, and when paddling into the wind I tended more toward 6.9-7.1. All told, the workout was taxing but I felt a lot better than I did doing the same workout (three pieces rather than four) almost a month ago.
The other interesting thing that happened this week was a little presentation I gave Wednesday morning. I have a friend who is an elementary school teacher, and she's leading sort of a pre-spring-break "camp" group consisting of first-, second-, and third-graders, and the theme for the week is the Olympic Games. They're learning about many of the various sports on the Olympic programme, and learning some of the history of the Olympics and the cities that have hosted it.
I happen to be the closest thing to an Olympic athlete this friend of mine knows (which is to say, I have never competed in an Olympic Games but I have participated in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for whitewater slalom), and so she invited me in to speak to the kids about my experience. The kids asked all kinds of good questions; some of my favorites were "Why did you want to [try out for the Olympics]?" and "Do you ever get scared of kayaking?" and "Where do you go to kayak?" I spent most of the half-hour dwelling on the kind of inspirational and motivational stuff that I try to share in this blog--find something you love doing every day, compete hard but always remember good sportsmanship, and so on.
Finally, a Mississippi River update: it crested this week at just under 41.4 feet on the Memphis gauge, and now it's dropping. As I write this it's still over 40 feet, but it's expected to drop to the low 30s by a week from now. Of course, that forecast could change if more rain falls in the watershed.
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