My first couple of days in Florida were warm and muggy with Fahrenheit temperatures in the low 80s. Cooler weather has moved in since then. For the last several days I have woken up to temperatures in the 30s, and the afternoon highs have been in the 60s. It's not ideal beach weather, but it's quite acceptable for a few days of hard training in the boat.
I had a nice restful day Monday, and then on Tuesday morning I got back at it with a vengeance. Terry, Alessia, Chris N., and I got together for a set of ten 5-minute pieces with one minute recovery in between. (Chris H. had done the workout earlier so he could participate in a job-related conference call.) The pieces were to be done at a low stroke rate--around 65 strokes per minute or less--with a lot of power in each stroke. While I never felt like I was hurting, the workout took a lot out of me. By the last couple of pieces I had little power left to put in my strokes.
Afterward we said goodbye to Terry, who had to head back to Chattanooga. I returned to my lodging to have lunch and get some rest.
Tuesday afternoon's workout was less of a grind but no less intense. Both Chrises, Alessia, Steph, and I did three 150-meter sprints at 5-minute intervals, four 100-meter sprints at 3-minute intervals, and five 50-meter sprints at 2-minute intervals.
One thing I learned back on Friday was that for years and years, when starting my boat from rest, I'd been doing it wrong. For some reason I'd long had the idea that one was supposed to use a few quick staccato strokes to get the boat moving. But when Chris N. saw me doing that, he informed me that this technique wasn't getting me anywhere. The two Chrises went on to explain that one should start with his blade in the water and do several longer strokes with a lot of bicep involvement to get the boat moving, and then let loose with a high stroke rate before settling down into a sustainable race pace.
And so Tuesday afternoon's workout for me was a chance to work on improving my starting technique. And the effort will be ongoing. Both Chris H. and Alessia were getting off the line much faster than I was. I was moving the boat better once I'd settled into a rhythm, but I'll just have to keep practicing my starts.
Tuesday evening was the first time on this trip that I've felt truly beat to the socks. I slept soundly and got up yesterday morning feeling a bit sore but mostly ready for more. I drove to our usual putin place at Blue Run Park, where our group had grown by one: in addition to the Chrises, Steph, Alessia, and me, Roy Roberts had come down from Chattanooga. We paddled easy upstream to a spot on the Rainbow River known as KP Hole, and for our morning workout we did a time trial back down to Blue Run Park, a distance of about 5.3 kilometers. (This course is apparently an established Strava segment.)
We started at 1-minute intervals with Steph leading off, followed by Chris N., Alessia, me, Roy, and Chris H. Chris H. had urged us all to keep our efforts under control, and once I'd started I tried to keep the stroke rate under 80 and take strong, precise strokes. As the trial wore on I felt the same sort of fatigue I typically feel over the course of a race of that distance, but I refrained from any hard surges. I reached the finish with a time of 25 minutes, 59 seconds. Since I'm not a Strava enthusiast, I don't know where that would put me in the Strava rankings. Chris was the fastest of our group, more than two minutes faster than I, while Roy beat me by around 45 seconds.
After Tuesday's efforts and yesterday morning's time trial I was tired indeed, but there was yet another substantial workout to go. Yesterday afternoon I joined Chris H., Roy, and Alessia for a set of six 4-minute pieces with six minutes recovery in between. Once again Chris reminded us not to let effort overwhelm technique. He pointed out that we were all tired and ready for a break, and this workout would train our bodies to push past that and continue paddling with good form. And so that's what I did, keeping my stroke rate under control while trying to keep pace with Chris and Roy, who opened a gap on me in each piece anyway.
After two very taxing days, we'd earned a little break. On tap this morning was an "active recovery" paddle. For a change of scenery, we traveled an hour or so south of Dunnellon to the Weeki Wachee River to do it. The Weeki Wachee is a clear spring-fed stream like the Rainbow River, but it offered us something we haven't found yet on the Rainbow: manatees. We observed a dozen or more manatees hanging out in a deep pool near our putin spot at Rogers Park:
Once we'd said "Awww" over those adorable creatures a few times, we headed on up the river. The Weeki Wachee is quite a bit shallower and more winding than the Rainbow, and it took quite a bit of energy to paddle up it. Besides the "bottom drag" one experiences in shallow water, we had to concentrate hard to find the most efficient lines and avoid fighting the current as much as possible. We finally reached the turnaround point up at Weeki Wachee Springs (where the mermaids roam) and paddled a spirited pace back down.
There's an annual race on the Weeki Wachee that I participated in some 12 years ago, but I'd forgotten how long it is from Rogers Park to Weeki Wachee Springs. The round trip is nearly 19 kilometers. It turned out not to be the most relaxing "recovery" paddle I've ever had, but at least I got my blood flowing. We took this afternoon off, and I hope that bit of rest will have me ready for some more hard workouts tomorrow and Saturday.
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