I have completed the first leg of my journey to South Africa: a trip by automobile from Memphis to Atlanta. I'm staying with a cousin of mine in Atlanta, and tomorrow I will fly from here to Washington, DC; from DC to Johannesburg; and from Johannesburg to Cape Town. I'm scheduled to depart Atlanta at 2:35 PM EST and arrive in Cape Town at 9:00 PM SAT on Friday. Lots of things can go wrong during air travel and I have my fingers crossed that none will on this trip.
For me, leaving home is tough. I'm really very much a homebody. As I said goodbye to my cats and drove out of my neighborhood this dreary overcast morning, I was overcome with melancholy. I do believe that ultimately the trip will prove worth it, but I've got several days of long flights and subsequent jet lag to get through first.
Last night I got a text message from Dawid Mocke telling me that the wind forecast looks good this weekend, but calms down for much of next week. So we're going to double up on my coached sessions Saturday and Sunday to take full advantage of the good conditions out on Miller's Run. I was sort of hoping I might ease into this program a bit more, but you can't pick the weather. I've never been very good at sleeping on airplanes, but tomorrow would be a good time to learn how. I do have a couple of benign sleep aids at my disposal (Melatonin, Tylenol PM).
Yesterday morning I did one last paddle at home: an easy 40 minutes. I'm feeling some soreness in my right oblique abdominal area, and it's sometimes hard to distinguish that from the rib pain. That's another reason I hope I can get at least a little rest on the planes and in the airports.
It could be a few days before I manage another post here. Hopefully the good times will be winning out by then. Thanks to everybody who's checking!
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Monday, January 27, 2020
Monday photo feature
Jasper (left) and Dawid Mocke paddle the "Miller's Run," an area of South Africa's False Bay that contains some of the world's best downwind action. They're headed toward their hometown of Fish Hoek, visible beyond the Roman Rock lighthouse.
This photo is another screen shot from the Mockes' online video courses "Masters of Surfski" and "Downwind Pro," which you can learn more about here.
By this weekend, I should be paddling these waters myself. A lot of energy, both physical and mental, has been spent getting myself ready. Hopefully it will all pay off, and my body will cooperate, and a truly epic experience will unfold over the next two weeks.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Wrapping up the pre-travel training
By Friday morning the rain was down to just a stray shower or two. But it was still grey and cheerless with the temperature not expected to rise much above 40 degrees Fahrenheit all day. The 5-day forecast isn't promising much improvement through the middle of this coming week. Have I mentioned how much I'm looking forward to getting in on that South Africa summer?
I hopped on the bike and pedaled over to the park, where I did another five laps of that paved loop through the woods. Once again I rode hard over the 1.02-mile section that's closed to automobiles and used the remaining 0.39 mile for recovery. I stopped to do sets of Hindu squats after the second and fourth laps.
Saturday morning I did a round of the core exercises and then went down to the river. Once again it was overcast and about 40 degrees. I had no agenda besides doing a relaxed 60-minute paddle. I ventured out onto the Mississippi for the first time in quite a while, and found it somewhat turbulent from an upstream-moving barge rig that had passed through earlier. I tried to move with the conditions and not put any sudden stress on my ribcage area.
I woke up yesterday with my legs still very fatigued from Friday's workout. I've been working my legs hard this whole month, and now, on the verge of overtraining in that way, I think it might be time to "call it good." So I ruled out doing a bike ride or other leg work yesterday. Meanwhile, my rib felt tender enough to need another day before paddling hard again.
Today I felt fresher, and I did a round of core exercises and then headed for the river. It's getting a bit warmer outside, but sunny skies are still hard to come by. When I arrived downtown it was 45 degrees and the sun was trying mightily to peek through, but it wouldn't start winning that battle until my last ten minutes on the water.
I warmed up and then did this workout:
10-second sprint
60-second recovery
10-second sprint
50-second recovery
10-second sprint
40-second recovery
10-second sprint
30-second recovery
10-second sprint
20-second recovery
10-second sprint
10-second recovery
10-second sprint
I went through this sequence twice, with four minutes off in between. This workout is similar to one I did back on December 12, and at that time my plan was to do such workouts throughout the months of December and January. But then this rib thing happened, and today was the first time I felt bold enough to try something like that again. I'm happy to say that my body responded well and I feel no worse now that I did before the workout. This is the last hard paddling I'll do before traveling to South Africa, and it feels good to go out on a positive note.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
I hopped on the bike and pedaled over to the park, where I did another five laps of that paved loop through the woods. Once again I rode hard over the 1.02-mile section that's closed to automobiles and used the remaining 0.39 mile for recovery. I stopped to do sets of Hindu squats after the second and fourth laps.
Saturday morning I did a round of the core exercises and then went down to the river. Once again it was overcast and about 40 degrees. I had no agenda besides doing a relaxed 60-minute paddle. I ventured out onto the Mississippi for the first time in quite a while, and found it somewhat turbulent from an upstream-moving barge rig that had passed through earlier. I tried to move with the conditions and not put any sudden stress on my ribcage area.
I woke up yesterday with my legs still very fatigued from Friday's workout. I've been working my legs hard this whole month, and now, on the verge of overtraining in that way, I think it might be time to "call it good." So I ruled out doing a bike ride or other leg work yesterday. Meanwhile, my rib felt tender enough to need another day before paddling hard again.
Today I felt fresher, and I did a round of core exercises and then headed for the river. It's getting a bit warmer outside, but sunny skies are still hard to come by. When I arrived downtown it was 45 degrees and the sun was trying mightily to peek through, but it wouldn't start winning that battle until my last ten minutes on the water.
I warmed up and then did this workout:
10-second sprint
60-second recovery
10-second sprint
50-second recovery
10-second sprint
40-second recovery
10-second sprint
30-second recovery
10-second sprint
20-second recovery
10-second sprint
10-second recovery
10-second sprint
I went through this sequence twice, with four minutes off in between. This workout is similar to one I did back on December 12, and at that time my plan was to do such workouts throughout the months of December and January. But then this rib thing happened, and today was the first time I felt bold enough to try something like that again. I'm happy to say that my body responded well and I feel no worse now that I did before the workout. This is the last hard paddling I'll do before traveling to South Africa, and it feels good to go out on a positive note.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Thursday, January 23, 2020
Winter flexes its muscles
Tuesday marked six weeks since I first noticed the pain in my right ribcage area. The injury has progressed to a state that I would describe as improved, but still tender. And so continues the standard procedure for coming back from an injury: put a bit of stress on it, let it recover, put a bit more stress on it, let it recover, put even more stress on it, let it recover, and so on.
Having paddled hard on Monday, I intended to spend Tuesday's paddle with Joe paddling as easy as possible while taking good precise strokes. And for the most part that's what I did, though I'm sure I lapsed into some sloppiness here and there; these Tuesday paddles are always a chance for Joe and me to chit-chat and catch up with each other, and it's easy to get distracted from what I want my body to be doing. But in general I think it was a good recovery session and I came away with the injury feeling tender, still, but not too bad.
I also did a couple of strength exercises on Tuesday. I was still feeling deep fatigue in my legs, so I did just the core exercises. I took Wednesday completely off. Hoping to get in one more good round of hard workouts, both in and out of the boat, before my departure, I wanted to give my whole body a nice break.
This morning I was back at it with the whole strength routine except for the lunges. As I spend more time in the boat, I figure I can dial back some of the out-of-the-boat work. I'm still doing some stair climbs, Hindu squats, and bike riding, so my legs aren't exactly getting off easy right now.
This week began with a frigid spell outside, and I found myself paddling in sub-freezing temperatures. It's warmed up a little here in the second half of the week, but only a little. After the strength work this morning I went down to the river, and when I got there it was 39 degrees Fahrenheit and raining. In South Africa it's summer right now, and you have no idea how much I'm looking forward to enjoying some of that.
But there's still some work to do in the meantime. After warming up and doing three 8-stroke sprints, I did eight 20-second sprints at two-minute intervals. The sprints felt good and under normal circumstances I might have stretched the workout to ten or twelve of them, but with my still-healing rib I didn't dare push my luck. I spent the rest of my 50-minute session paddling at a comfortable cruising pace. There was at least a hard drizzle falling the whole time.
I've been feeling my rib the rest of the day. I don't think I've made it any worse than it's been lately, but I definitely want to rest it for at least the next day. I'm a veteran of all kinds of muscle and tendon injuries, but this is the first broken bone of any kind I've ever had, so I'm not entirely sure how it's supposed to feel before it's a hundred percent healed.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Having paddled hard on Monday, I intended to spend Tuesday's paddle with Joe paddling as easy as possible while taking good precise strokes. And for the most part that's what I did, though I'm sure I lapsed into some sloppiness here and there; these Tuesday paddles are always a chance for Joe and me to chit-chat and catch up with each other, and it's easy to get distracted from what I want my body to be doing. But in general I think it was a good recovery session and I came away with the injury feeling tender, still, but not too bad.
I also did a couple of strength exercises on Tuesday. I was still feeling deep fatigue in my legs, so I did just the core exercises. I took Wednesday completely off. Hoping to get in one more good round of hard workouts, both in and out of the boat, before my departure, I wanted to give my whole body a nice break.
This morning I was back at it with the whole strength routine except for the lunges. As I spend more time in the boat, I figure I can dial back some of the out-of-the-boat work. I'm still doing some stair climbs, Hindu squats, and bike riding, so my legs aren't exactly getting off easy right now.
This week began with a frigid spell outside, and I found myself paddling in sub-freezing temperatures. It's warmed up a little here in the second half of the week, but only a little. After the strength work this morning I went down to the river, and when I got there it was 39 degrees Fahrenheit and raining. In South Africa it's summer right now, and you have no idea how much I'm looking forward to enjoying some of that.
But there's still some work to do in the meantime. After warming up and doing three 8-stroke sprints, I did eight 20-second sprints at two-minute intervals. The sprints felt good and under normal circumstances I might have stretched the workout to ten or twelve of them, but with my still-healing rib I didn't dare push my luck. I spent the rest of my 50-minute session paddling at a comfortable cruising pace. There was at least a hard drizzle falling the whole time.
I've been feeling my rib the rest of the day. I don't think I've made it any worse than it's been lately, but I definitely want to rest it for at least the next day. I'm a veteran of all kinds of muscle and tendon injuries, but this is the first broken bone of any kind I've ever had, so I'm not entirely sure how it's supposed to feel before it's a hundred percent healed.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Monday, January 20, 2020
Monday photo feature
Hollie Hall of South Point, Ohio, navigates Flare Rapid on the Allegheny River at Warren, Pennsylvania, last August. She was there participating in the U.S. Canoe Association's annual national championships event. Photo by John Foreman.
Hollie is one of the stars of the movie I made last year. I'm sorry to inform you that this work was snubbed by the Motion Picture Academy when it announced its Oscar nominees last week. Oh well... it's okay. My film contains layers of complexity that I wouldn't expect those Hollywood elites to understand.
Perhaps a little box office bump will show those Academy mucketymucks how misguided they were. Let's all go enjoy the movie here.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
A whole variety of workouts and weather conditions
I got up Saturday morning with the intention of doing another bike workout in the park near my house. Outside it was pouring down rain with the temperature at a fairly balmy 57 degrees Fahrenheit. According to the forecast, later in the day the rain would move out with much colder air taking its place. So I had a choice between doing my workout in the morning while it was warmish and wet and doing it later when would be drier but cold and probably windy. I opted for the former. As we used to say at the summer camp I attended, "Skin is waterproof."
I did five laps of that paved loop through the woods, riding the carless section hard and recovering on the other section. After the second and fourth laps I stopped to do sets of Hindu squats. Its was a taxing workout, particularly on an uphill part of the loop of around 800 meters. But I held up just fine.
The rain was just a drizzle as I pedaled away from the house. But right as I got to the park the heavens unleashed a massive torrent. Within a couple of minutes I was your basic drowned rat. The rain had stopped completely by the end of my first lap, so I was able to air-dry somewhat. The creeks through the park were flowing bank-full, and that always makes the old whitewater paddler in me happy. After I'd finished the workout and was riding back to the house another stiff shower moved through, but I was singin' in that rain, because I knew I had a some lovely dry clothes waiting for me less than a mile away.
I'd hoped to get back in the boat yesterday, but my injured rib was still feeling a little tender, so I decided to give it another rest day. It's killing me to have to be this careful with the South Africa trip looming, but I keep reminding myself that I'd rather be paddling there in less-than-ideal physical condition than go there with pain that could jeopardize my ability to paddle at all.
Anyway, I did another round of the strength routine. There was some pretty deep fatigue in my legs, so I did just one set each of the stair-climbs and lunges while doing the usual two sets of each core exercise.
I wasn't too sorry not to be paddling yesterday because the temperature didn't rise much above 40 degrees and the wind was blowing relentlessly. By this morning the temperature had plummeted into the mid 20s but the north breeze was relatively light. I've said many times that I'd rather paddle when it's 25 degrees and calm than when it's 40 degrees and windy, and today I would be putting my money where my mouth is on that. I got out my fleece-lined pogies for I think only the second time this mostly-mild winter, and headed for the river.
After warming up and doing three 8-stroke sprints, I got right to it. I did eight 30-second sprints at three-minute intervals, half of them at a moderate stroke rate and the other half at the highest stroke rate I could do while still maintaining control. My rib felt mostly okay and I'm now waiting to see how it feels the rest of the day.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
I did five laps of that paved loop through the woods, riding the carless section hard and recovering on the other section. After the second and fourth laps I stopped to do sets of Hindu squats. Its was a taxing workout, particularly on an uphill part of the loop of around 800 meters. But I held up just fine.
The rain was just a drizzle as I pedaled away from the house. But right as I got to the park the heavens unleashed a massive torrent. Within a couple of minutes I was your basic drowned rat. The rain had stopped completely by the end of my first lap, so I was able to air-dry somewhat. The creeks through the park were flowing bank-full, and that always makes the old whitewater paddler in me happy. After I'd finished the workout and was riding back to the house another stiff shower moved through, but I was singin' in that rain, because I knew I had a some lovely dry clothes waiting for me less than a mile away.
I'd hoped to get back in the boat yesterday, but my injured rib was still feeling a little tender, so I decided to give it another rest day. It's killing me to have to be this careful with the South Africa trip looming, but I keep reminding myself that I'd rather be paddling there in less-than-ideal physical condition than go there with pain that could jeopardize my ability to paddle at all.
Anyway, I did another round of the strength routine. There was some pretty deep fatigue in my legs, so I did just one set each of the stair-climbs and lunges while doing the usual two sets of each core exercise.
I wasn't too sorry not to be paddling yesterday because the temperature didn't rise much above 40 degrees and the wind was blowing relentlessly. By this morning the temperature had plummeted into the mid 20s but the north breeze was relatively light. I've said many times that I'd rather paddle when it's 25 degrees and calm than when it's 40 degrees and windy, and today I would be putting my money where my mouth is on that. I got out my fleece-lined pogies for I think only the second time this mostly-mild winter, and headed for the river.
After warming up and doing three 8-stroke sprints, I got right to it. I did eight 30-second sprints at three-minute intervals, half of them at a moderate stroke rate and the other half at the highest stroke rate I could do while still maintaining control. My rib felt mostly okay and I'm now waiting to see how it feels the rest of the day.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Friday, January 17, 2020
Getting a little more serious back in the boat
Sunday evening and all day Monday I felt just awful. I wasn't sick, but my whole body ached and my eyes were tired and watery. It was all sort of puzzling because I'd had a decent night of sleep, my diet hadn't been any worse than normal, and I'd been attentive to hydration like I usually am. Whatever the case, I took it easy on Monday.
I was feeling fresher by Tuesday morning, and I did a round of the strength routine I've been doing lately and then headed downtown to paddle a loop of the harbor with Joe. Once again I felt some light pain in my injured rib area but nothing I didn't feel I could paddle through.
On Wednesday I got the bike out and rode back to Overton Park near my house. The fallen trees and other debris had been cleaned up from the loop in the woods. I expect there are some volunteers to thank for that service. Like so many modern-day city governments, my city's has decided that providing parks and green spaces for its citizens shouldn't be part of its job and has farmed the upkeep of several of our biggest parks out to nonprofit conservancies. The conservancy that runs Overton Park has limited funds at its disposal and relies on volunteers for "emergency" tasks like cleaning up after a severe storm.
Anyway, the volunteers' efforts allowed me to do another set of laps on the loop. I did four laps, once again doing the carless section "on" and the other section "off." After the first and third laps I stopped to do sets of Hindu squats. I felt pretty good throughout the whole workout... my legs must actually be getting in shape.
I had a full day of non-athletic activities yesterday, but I managed to get in another round of the strength routine. The core exercises on the stability ball and the lunges might be the most taxing things I'm doing these days.
This morning I was back in the boat in chilly, blustery conditions. I warmed up and then did a drill I learned watching the Mocke brothers' "Masters of Surfski" video that involves paddling at varying cadences (stroke rates). I did twenty strokes at a fairly slow rate, then twenty strokes at a medium-fast rate, then eight strokes at the fastest rate I could manage. I did three five-minute periods of this drill, with five minutes recovery in between.
It was the hardest I'd paddled in a month. I've definitely lost some in-the-boat fitness, but I'm hoping the hard out-of-the-boat workouts I've done, on top of the good workouts I'd done before I injured my rib, will help me get it back quickly. I could feel some slight pain in my rib toward the end of the 60-minute session, and for the rest of the day there's been some very slight discomfort, so I need to be careful to give it the recovery it needs before I paddle hard again.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
I was feeling fresher by Tuesday morning, and I did a round of the strength routine I've been doing lately and then headed downtown to paddle a loop of the harbor with Joe. Once again I felt some light pain in my injured rib area but nothing I didn't feel I could paddle through.
On Wednesday I got the bike out and rode back to Overton Park near my house. The fallen trees and other debris had been cleaned up from the loop in the woods. I expect there are some volunteers to thank for that service. Like so many modern-day city governments, my city's has decided that providing parks and green spaces for its citizens shouldn't be part of its job and has farmed the upkeep of several of our biggest parks out to nonprofit conservancies. The conservancy that runs Overton Park has limited funds at its disposal and relies on volunteers for "emergency" tasks like cleaning up after a severe storm.
Anyway, the volunteers' efforts allowed me to do another set of laps on the loop. I did four laps, once again doing the carless section "on" and the other section "off." After the first and third laps I stopped to do sets of Hindu squats. I felt pretty good throughout the whole workout... my legs must actually be getting in shape.
I had a full day of non-athletic activities yesterday, but I managed to get in another round of the strength routine. The core exercises on the stability ball and the lunges might be the most taxing things I'm doing these days.
This morning I was back in the boat in chilly, blustery conditions. I warmed up and then did a drill I learned watching the Mocke brothers' "Masters of Surfski" video that involves paddling at varying cadences (stroke rates). I did twenty strokes at a fairly slow rate, then twenty strokes at a medium-fast rate, then eight strokes at the fastest rate I could manage. I did three five-minute periods of this drill, with five minutes recovery in between.
It was the hardest I'd paddled in a month. I've definitely lost some in-the-boat fitness, but I'm hoping the hard out-of-the-boat workouts I've done, on top of the good workouts I'd done before I injured my rib, will help me get it back quickly. I could feel some slight pain in my rib toward the end of the 60-minute session, and for the rest of the day there's been some very slight discomfort, so I need to be careful to give it the recovery it needs before I paddle hard again.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Monday, January 13, 2020
Monday photo feature
Three weeks from now I'm scheduled to be in Fish Hoek, South Africa, studying the art of downwind surfski paddling. One of my tutors will be the man pictured above, Dawid Mocke. Could I ever look this studly on the water? Hey, you never know. Right now I just hope I will have my body ready for what should be eight very intense days of paddling.
This photo is a screen shot from one of a couple of instructional videos that Dawid and his brother Jasper have produced. The videos are titled "Masters of Surfski" and "Downwind Pro," and for 20 bucks each you can have unlimited access to them. Go here for more information.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Sunday, January 12, 2020
Dodging violent weather
Some strong storms hit Memphis and the Mid South in the pre-dawn hours yesterday. I was among the fortunate residents: my electricity was out for only several hours, and the strongest winds seemed to miss my block. Later in the morning when I headed for the river, I saw trees down on several houses and other moderate to severe damage in neighborhoods adjacent to mine.
The wind had calmed down and the rain had just about stopped when I got downtown just before 10 o'clock. My boat and everything else on the dock seemed to have weathered the storm just fine. The temperature would be dropping throughout the day, but it was still warm enough to paddle without pogies.
During my 60 minutes in the boat I got rained on some but endured nothing too oppressive. I stayed in the harbor and paddled at my normal cruising pace, a little harder at times and a little easier at times. There were moments when I could feel a bit of pain in my rib, but overall it held up well. It felt okay for the rest of the day, and that was an encouraging sign. I plan to keep easing back into paddling and carefully increasing the stress on my ribcage area.
It turned out that I'd hit the day's best window for paddling. By the early afternoon it was drizzling hard and the wind was back up as the front came through that sent temperatures downward.
Today the violent weather is all gone. It's just gloomy and rather cheerless: overcast with the temperature not rising much above 40 degrees Fahrenheit. This morning I did the same strength routine I described in my last post, with the stair-climbs and lunges and core exercises. Then I took my bike out for a workout. There was a tree down on my loop in the woods, so I ended up doing some shorter sprints up a gradual incline.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
The wind had calmed down and the rain had just about stopped when I got downtown just before 10 o'clock. My boat and everything else on the dock seemed to have weathered the storm just fine. The temperature would be dropping throughout the day, but it was still warm enough to paddle without pogies.
During my 60 minutes in the boat I got rained on some but endured nothing too oppressive. I stayed in the harbor and paddled at my normal cruising pace, a little harder at times and a little easier at times. There were moments when I could feel a bit of pain in my rib, but overall it held up well. It felt okay for the rest of the day, and that was an encouraging sign. I plan to keep easing back into paddling and carefully increasing the stress on my ribcage area.
It turned out that I'd hit the day's best window for paddling. By the early afternoon it was drizzling hard and the wind was back up as the front came through that sent temperatures downward.
Today the violent weather is all gone. It's just gloomy and rather cheerless: overcast with the temperature not rising much above 40 degrees Fahrenheit. This morning I did the same strength routine I described in my last post, with the stair-climbs and lunges and core exercises. Then I took my bike out for a workout. There was a tree down on my loop in the woods, so I ended up doing some shorter sprints up a gradual incline.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Friday, January 10, 2020
Doing the legwork
I got in the boat Tuesday and paddled very easy in the harbor for 80 minutes. I could definitely feel some pain in my right ribcage area. It wasn't really a surprise, seeing as how the injury is still healing; the challenge now is not to come back too fast. Since Tuesday I've avoided stressing the area, and I plan to try paddling again tomorrow.
I've spent the rest of the week working my legs hard along with a couple of core exercises. In Overton Park just west of my house there's a paved loop in a heavily-wooded area, and I've been riding my bike a lot there because of the wind protection. According to my G.P.S. device, the loop is 1.41 miles (2.27 kilometers) long, and 1.02 miles (1.64 km) of the loop is closed to motorized traffic. So I've been doing laps where I go hard over the carless part and use the remaining 0.39 mile (0.63 km) for recovery. On Monday I did four of these laps; after the first and third laps I stopped to do sets of 60 Hindu squats.
On other days I do a strength routine at the house. I do several versions of running up stairs, a static core exercise with the stability ball (demonstrated at 1:56 of this video), lunges while holding a couple of dumbbells down at my sides, and the core exercise demonstrated at 3:52 of this video. I did this routine Tuesday morning before I went to the river.
By Wednesday I was feeling considerable fatigue in my legs and sensed the need to back off a little. I did another four laps in Overton Park but this time I paced them out more evenly. My legs didn't exactly get off light, as I did another two sets of 60 Hindu squats.
I was again feeling strain in the legs yesterday, and when I did that strength routine I did just one set each of the stair runs and lunges while doing two sets of the core exercises. Then I rode my bike to the bank and back, maybe a 5-mile (8-kilometer) round trip.
I'm taking today completely off and hoping to paddle tomorrow feeling fresher.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
I've spent the rest of the week working my legs hard along with a couple of core exercises. In Overton Park just west of my house there's a paved loop in a heavily-wooded area, and I've been riding my bike a lot there because of the wind protection. According to my G.P.S. device, the loop is 1.41 miles (2.27 kilometers) long, and 1.02 miles (1.64 km) of the loop is closed to motorized traffic. So I've been doing laps where I go hard over the carless part and use the remaining 0.39 mile (0.63 km) for recovery. On Monday I did four of these laps; after the first and third laps I stopped to do sets of 60 Hindu squats.
On other days I do a strength routine at the house. I do several versions of running up stairs, a static core exercise with the stability ball (demonstrated at 1:56 of this video), lunges while holding a couple of dumbbells down at my sides, and the core exercise demonstrated at 3:52 of this video. I did this routine Tuesday morning before I went to the river.
By Wednesday I was feeling considerable fatigue in my legs and sensed the need to back off a little. I did another four laps in Overton Park but this time I paced them out more evenly. My legs didn't exactly get off light, as I did another two sets of 60 Hindu squats.
I was again feeling strain in the legs yesterday, and when I did that strength routine I did just one set each of the stair runs and lunges while doing two sets of the core exercises. Then I rode my bike to the bank and back, maybe a 5-mile (8-kilometer) round trip.
I'm taking today completely off and hoping to paddle tomorrow feeling fresher.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Monday, January 6, 2020
Monday photo feature
Anybody who owns a Go Pro camera might appreciate this collage of photos. Anytime I mount my camera on my boat to shoot video of a paddling session, the very first thing I see in the resulting raw footage is my face as I switch the camera on, and the very last thing I see is my face as I switch it back off. I don't know what the newer models are like, but my old "Hero 2" model has the LCD mode display on its front, so I'm always looking right at it to be sure the camera is in the mode I want.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Sunday, January 5, 2020
Pedaling for all I'm worth
Since last Tuesday, I've been centering my training around some hard bike rides.
Like so many, I learned to ride a bike when I was a kid, and I've owned some kind of bike ever since. But I've never pursued riding seriously. I decided a long time ago that I have the time and money to devote to only one sport, and that sport would always be paddling.
My current ride is a low-tech mountain bike that I bought for a couple hundred bucks in a silent auction at a slalom race I attended 23 years ago. For me, riding a bike is a way to get around the neighborhood, mostly during the warmer times of year. I rarely mention the riding I do on this blog because I've never really counted it as "serious" training, even though I'm sure it doesn't hurt.
But now here I am relying on my bike to maintain some fitness until I can get back in the boat. On Tuesday, Friday, and yesterday I did rides between 30 minutes and an hour that included some hard surges. On Tuesday and Friday I took breaks during the rides to do sets of Hindu squats. Thursday and yesterday I did strength workouts at the house that included running up stairs, lunges with dumbbells, and core exercises.
For much of today I was involved in some activities with the handbell group I play with, so today was a scheduled rest day. It's still important to allow my body some recovery time--maybe even more so than normal, because I've been going at these workouts extra-hard to compensate for the fact that I'm not able to do any "real" (in-the-boat) training.
Like I said in my last post, I hope to start easing back into paddling on Tuesday. My rib still hurts some, but hopefully this rest has set it on a solid course toward healing.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Like so many, I learned to ride a bike when I was a kid, and I've owned some kind of bike ever since. But I've never pursued riding seriously. I decided a long time ago that I have the time and money to devote to only one sport, and that sport would always be paddling.
My current ride is a low-tech mountain bike that I bought for a couple hundred bucks in a silent auction at a slalom race I attended 23 years ago. For me, riding a bike is a way to get around the neighborhood, mostly during the warmer times of year. I rarely mention the riding I do on this blog because I've never really counted it as "serious" training, even though I'm sure it doesn't hurt.
But now here I am relying on my bike to maintain some fitness until I can get back in the boat. On Tuesday, Friday, and yesterday I did rides between 30 minutes and an hour that included some hard surges. On Tuesday and Friday I took breaks during the rides to do sets of Hindu squats. Thursday and yesterday I did strength workouts at the house that included running up stairs, lunges with dumbbells, and core exercises.
For much of today I was involved in some activities with the handbell group I play with, so today was a scheduled rest day. It's still important to allow my body some recovery time--maybe even more so than normal, because I've been going at these workouts extra-hard to compensate for the fact that I'm not able to do any "real" (in-the-boat) training.
Like I said in my last post, I hope to start easing back into paddling on Tuesday. My rib still hurts some, but hopefully this rest has set it on a solid course toward healing.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
Friday, January 3, 2020
A broken rib, but no broken dreams
It's been eleven days since I last posted something here. I haven't paddled a stroke during that period.
I'm now convinced that this pain in the right half of my ribcage is in fact a fractured rib. My buddy Rob is a chiropractor up in New York, and during a lengthy e-mail chat last week he asked me a bunch of questions and put me through a battery of tests, and that was his conclusion.
I'd always thought that to break a rib you had to be whacked across the chest with a pool cue or something like that. But Rob said that stressful movements can sometimes cause hairline fractures. I told him how the area had started hurting after I'd done a set of military presses, and he confirmed that that could have been the cause.
And so, just a month before I'm scheduled to be doing some intense paddling in South Africa, I'm out of the boat for what will probably be at least two weeks. A typical rib fracture can take around a month to heal, and stressing it prolongs the healing time, so I'm giving it the rest it needs in the hope that it'll get all better and I'll still have some decent training time before I depart.
One paddler I know who recently dealt with a broken rib is none other than Greg Barton, who hurt his rib last fall a few weeks before traveling to Australia for some racing. I don't know how he hurt it or how severe the injury was, but he wrote in a social media post that when he did get back in the boat, he was careful not to come back too fast: he'd paddle one day, then take several days off, then paddle again, then take a slightly shorter break, and so on.
So that's my plan. I'm hoping I can do my usual loop of the harbor with Joe next Tuesday. Then I'll wait until maybe next Saturday before I paddle again, and ease back into it like so.
For the non-paddling days I'm putting together some cross-training routines that stay away from stressing my ribcage area. Effective kayak technique actually relies heavily on the legs, so I'm taking this opportunity to work my legs hard with some bike riding, squats, and lunges. I'll also do some core work--primarily static drills on the stability ball.
That's how I'm dealing with this most untimely injury. Yes, I've experienced feelings of denial ("This can't be happening! No! NO!!") and anguish ("Why must this happen to me now? Why? WHY???"). Now I've reached the acceptance stage and am doing what I can to make this work. And I will make it work. It's not ideal, but "it is what it is," as people like to say. One way or another I'll be fine.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
I'm now convinced that this pain in the right half of my ribcage is in fact a fractured rib. My buddy Rob is a chiropractor up in New York, and during a lengthy e-mail chat last week he asked me a bunch of questions and put me through a battery of tests, and that was his conclusion.
I'd always thought that to break a rib you had to be whacked across the chest with a pool cue or something like that. But Rob said that stressful movements can sometimes cause hairline fractures. I told him how the area had started hurting after I'd done a set of military presses, and he confirmed that that could have been the cause.
And so, just a month before I'm scheduled to be doing some intense paddling in South Africa, I'm out of the boat for what will probably be at least two weeks. A typical rib fracture can take around a month to heal, and stressing it prolongs the healing time, so I'm giving it the rest it needs in the hope that it'll get all better and I'll still have some decent training time before I depart.
One paddler I know who recently dealt with a broken rib is none other than Greg Barton, who hurt his rib last fall a few weeks before traveling to Australia for some racing. I don't know how he hurt it or how severe the injury was, but he wrote in a social media post that when he did get back in the boat, he was careful not to come back too fast: he'd paddle one day, then take several days off, then paddle again, then take a slightly shorter break, and so on.
So that's my plan. I'm hoping I can do my usual loop of the harbor with Joe next Tuesday. Then I'll wait until maybe next Saturday before I paddle again, and ease back into it like so.
For the non-paddling days I'm putting together some cross-training routines that stay away from stressing my ribcage area. Effective kayak technique actually relies heavily on the legs, so I'm taking this opportunity to work my legs hard with some bike riding, squats, and lunges. I'll also do some core work--primarily static drills on the stability ball.
That's how I'm dealing with this most untimely injury. Yes, I've experienced feelings of denial ("This can't be happening! No! NO!!") and anguish ("Why must this happen to me now? Why? WHY???"). Now I've reached the acceptance stage and am doing what I can to make this work. And I will make it work. It's not ideal, but "it is what it is," as people like to say. One way or another I'll be fine.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
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