The beat goes on with my arm woes. I'm managing them the best I can. I don't think my achy biceps are as bad as they were before my trip to Virginia, but the tennis elbow in my left arm has returned with a vengeance.
I spent the first half of this week doing stuff of moderate intensity--paddling with Joe in the harbor on Tuesday and doing rounds of the strength routine Monday and Wednesday.
Then yesterday I went back downtown to do another set of four bridge-to-bridge sprints. I've been frustrated by my lack of stamina in this workout so far this year, and was hoping maybe this time I could crank out four fairly consistent times. For this latest go-round I tried a different boat: a V10 Sport surf ski of Joe's that he told me I could paddle if I wanted to. The V10 Sport is slightly wider and more stable (and therefore slower, at least on paper) than the V12 that I normally train in. But Joe's V10 Sport is a lighter layup than my V12--it's what Epic Kayaks calls the "ultra" layup, while my boat is the heavier "performance" layup. And Joe's boat feels light even by "ultra" layup standards. So my spirits were buoyed just knowing I had a bit less weight to push around.
I warmed up and did three 8-stroke sprints, and then lined up under the monorail bridge. The first piece got off to a good start--I hit that roof edge right at the one-minute mark. I stroked as hard as I could and finished the piece in 2:02. It still wasn't the sub-two-minute time that I shoot for, but it was my fastest time so far this year.
I took a 5-minute rest interval, during which I paddled back to the monorail bridge. My goal now was to produce three more times in the neighborhood of 2:02. The second piece seemed much like the first, but this time I could only manage 2:05, and I was starting to hurt by the end of it. I gave myself an extra recovery minute, but in the third piece I was really starting to fall apart. I limped across the finish in 2:11.
Feeling defeated, I did just a half-piece for the fourth sprint (from the monorail bridge to the roof edge). I sprinted as hard as I could and did it in 63 seconds.
Once again, I'm trying not to obsess over it too much. Fortunately, few races demand a lot of time in the lactic zone. But I am a bit puzzled with my inability to get through this workout like I did last year and the year before.
This morning I did another round of the strength routine, and then went back to the river for a steady paddle at medium intensity. I paddled to the mouth of the harbor and then up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Wolf River, where next Saturday's Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race will start. Today's river level was about 31.2 feet on the Memphis gauge, and one bright side of this fairly high level is that racers won't have to carry their boats down any steep grades to get to the water. The forecast says the river will be at 29.2 feet on race day.
Tomorrow morning I'm heading down to the beach! My mother and my sister's family and I typically get together at Dauphin Island on the Alabama Gulf Coast around this time each year. I'd been wavering on whether to make the trip at all this year--the idea of yet another long drive isn't something I'm thrilled about--but I've decided I shouldn't pass up several days of relaxing beach time. The paddling I do there will be whatever I feel like doing. Any hard paddling I do will be in the service of FUN (i.e., downwind surfing). Let us never forget that paddling is always fun, whether I'm in top racing form or not.
I plan to return home Tuesday and get myself rested and ready for the big race.
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