Yesterday Adam Davis and I got together for a somewhat more ambitious outing. Adam had never paddled the section of the Mississippi River from the Shelby Forest access to the Memphis riverfront before, so we loaded our boats on my car and drove up to Shelby Forest to do just that.
The remnants of Hurricane Laura had dumped a lot of rain on the Mid South Friday, and by yesterday the region was enveloped in warm, humid air. Fortunately, overcast skies kept the Fahrenheit temperature in the 80s. We launched from the boat ramp at Shelby Forest and paddled a solid, but not intense, pace down the river. Except for where it passes the occasional city like Memphis, Helena, Vicksburg, Natchez, or Baton Rouge, the lower Mississippi is quite the remote wilderness, and Adam and I took in the solitude as we paddled by such landmarks as the Hickman Bar, the Redman Bar, and the mouth of the Loosahatchie River.
Finally the downtown Memphis skyline came into view, and we made our way past the mouth of the Wolf River, Mud Island, and the Hernando DeSoto Bridge. Then we were in the harbor approaching our journey's terminus at Harbortown Marina. When it was all over we had paddled for two hours and were thoroughly exhausted. I paddle for two hours once in a while and it doesn't seem like I'm usually so tired, but the muggy conditions were a factor, as was the fact that the entire production consumed the better part of five hours (we had to take Adam's vehicle back up to Shelby Forest to retrieve my car at the end).
In any case, I'm glad we got out and saw a longer section of the river. Keeping my boat at the marina means I mostly see the same landscape over and over when I paddle, so it's good to be paddling most weekends with a guy like Adam who'll motivate me to alter my routine once in a while.
I was still feeling tired this morning and knew that my body could use something briefer in duration and higher in intensity. So after warming up and doing three 8-stroke sprints, I paddled up to the Hernando DeSoto Bridge and did some hard ferries. I ferried fast from the piling on the Tennessee bank to the middle piling, then paddled a rest interval from the middle piling to the piling on the Arkansas side of the main channel, then ferried fast back to the center piling, then recovered from the center piling to the piling on the Tennessee bank. Then I repeated that sequence for a total of four fast ferries. I didn't time myself or shoot for a specific speed or anything, but I'd say each fast ferry amounted to about 90 seconds of hard paddling.
After that I returned to the harbor and headed back toward the dock. Along the way I timed myself in a sprint from the monorail bridge to the Hernando DeSoto Bridge. The distance is very nearly 450 meters, and I covered it in 2 minutes, 1 second. That works out to about 2:14 for a full 500-meter sprint--not so bad, I guess, for a guy who just turned 53.
Maybe it seems counterintuitive to go out and do some hard paddling on a morning when you're feeling really tired, but I felt a lot better after this morning's session. A hard workout like that produces endorphins, resulting in an "elated tired" feeling that stands in contrast to the "beat-down tired" feeling one has after an hours-long slog.
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