Last week I got Joe to shoot some video of me in the harbor so that Maks could have a look at how my stroke is doing these days. Unfortunately, I seem to be suffering from the same flaws that I was when Maks and I started working together in January. Maks suggested a drill that promotes the mechanical improvements I need to make, and so it continues... my forward stroke is forever a work in progress. I really shouldn't let it gnaw at me, but sometimes I do. If my stroke never gets any better than it is now, at least it'll still be decent. But I hate this feeling that I've taken a big fat step backward.
By Tuesday the blister at the base of my right thumb had healed some, but remained tender. Once I was in the boat paddling it was uncomfortable if not as painful as it had been on Sunday. As I warmed up I tried the stroke drill that Maks had suggested, and it felt flat-out awkward, as though I would have to learn to paddle all over again.
Those issues made Tuesday's workout seem much harder than it should have. It was four sets of (5 minutes in the A1 stroke rate zone/2 minutes in the A2 zone/4 minutes in the A1 zone/2 minutes in the A2 zone/2 minutes rest). One of the objectives was to make the lower-intensity efforts seem like recovery intervals even though they weren't.
(Just a reminder to those unfamiliar with Maks's stroke rate zones: A1 is around 60-75 strokes per minute; A2 is around 75 to 90; A3 is over 90.)
It was sunny and lovely when I got to the river Tuesday morning, but it clouded over as I paddled, and by that afternoon there were showers moving through with some heavy rain falling in the evening. Behind all that, winter was flexing its muscles one last time. When I got to the river yesterday morning it was overcast and 52 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind was howling out of the north.
For my warmup I paddled to the north end of the harbor so that I could do my workout with the wind at my back. The assignment was five 500-meter pieces. The first one was to be done entirely in the A2 zone; the second one, A3 for the first 100 meters and A2 for the rest; the third, A2 for 400 meters and A3 for the last 100; the fourth, A3 for the first and last 100s and A2 for the middle 300; and the fifth, A2 all the way through.
Maks didn't specify a recovery interval, so I started a new 500 every 6th minute. That gave me a little over three and a half minutes to recover. I shot for 80-82 spm in the A2 zone and 92-94 spm in the A3 zone. My times for the pieces, all wind-aided because I was paddling toward the south, were as follows: 2:28, 2:23, 2:24, 2:24, 2:23. Oddly, the higher-intensity pieces didn't seem to produce any significant improvement in time, but in those blustery conditions there were all kinds of things that could have been speeding me up or slowing me down.
That blister was still bothering me a lot as I paddled yesterday. With the frustration over my stroke and the unsettled weather piled on top of that irritant, I have spent this week in a lousy mood and feeling like a complete klutz in my boat.
The temperature dropped into the 30s overnight, and this morning it was 48 degrees when I got to the river, made chillier by another stiff north wind. But the sky was clear and sunny, and while the blister was still causing me some pain, it seemed more bearable today. I did another of those variable-rate workouts that seem to be the bread and butter of Maks's training program: it was four sets of (4 minutes at 60 spm/2 minutes at 68 spm/3 minutes at 64 spm/1 minute at 72 spm). There was 1 minute of rest between pieces, and 2 minutes between sets. I felt about as good in the boat as I have since I raced last Saturday. Maybe my mojo is back on the upswing.
Maks promises an easier week next week, but first I've got some tough sessions looming this weekend.
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