Hard paddling and recovery paddling

Adam Davis joined me yesterday to paddle around the Loosahatchie Bar.  It was one of those days of unsettled weather conditions, the sunshine appearing and disappearing and reappearing, and a wind blowing from the west-southwest that grew quite a bit stronger as the morning went on.  Here's the map of our route that Adam's G.P.S. device generated:

Paddling up the Mississippi, we stayed on the Tennessee side longer than I normally do.  I usually paddle up to a big eddy right about where Mile 4 is marked above, and then ferry across to complete the trip around the Bar's northern end.  But yesterday we continued up the Tennessee bank to the sand and gravel operation just north of DeWitt Spain Airport.  That area is quite exposed to the river's current, and with that mostly-west wind hammering us we had to spend a lot more energy than usual navigating that stretch.  And then the trip across the main channel (5 to 6 on the map above) was right into the teeth of that wind.

With the current helping us, we got a bit of a break coming down the Loosahatchie Chute.  After one last hard push across a turbulent main channel, we were safely back in the harbor.  I was thoroughly zonked for the rest of the day, much more tired than I'd been after Adam and I paddled for three hours nine days earlier.

The wind continued to intensify as the afternoon went on, and I realized I'd probably missed a good downwind opportunity.  Just below downtown the river bends to the right and flows in a westerly direction for a few miles, and I would bet that wind was creating some good swells in that section.  I've got to start paying closer attention to the wind forecast and making downwind opportunities a priority.

It was mostly sunny when I went down to the river this morning, and the wind had abated and shifted to the north.  It was time to do a recovery paddle.  I got in the boat and paddled easy for 60 minutes.

Once in a while somebody asks me if it wouldn't be better to skip paddling and just rest when I'm recovering.  But I've been a believer in active recovery for my entire athletic career, dating back to my teenage years as a runner.  By doing some easy paddling, I'm getting blood flowing precisely in the muscles that need repair.

Whitewater slalom coach Ron Lugbill once wrote that the danger of recovery in the boat is that an athlete might get carried away and end up paddling harder than he should, and that's a valid concern.  If a barge rig passes by with some nice looking waves, I have to restrain myself from going out and surfing, for instance.  If I need something to occupy my mind, I'll focus on technical stuff.  Today I tuned in to the feeling of solid blade pressure as each stroke moved through the water.  By the end of the hour I'd kept the intensity low and felt better than I'd felt before paddling.


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