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.


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