Paddling easy and hard and everything in between

I started Friday morning with some gym work, and then went to the river and did three sets of four (1 minute on/1 min. off) at 80 strokes per minute.  I did the second set with resistance on the boat, the first and third sets without.  Maks described it as more of a "feeling" workout than anything else--"feel the glide of the boat and embrace the grip/anchoring," he said.  After feeling sort of sluggish in the boat the previous several days, I felt better on Friday.  Maybe being back home consuming my normal diet and sleeping in my own bed is helping.

Yesterday was a normal "two-a-day" Saturday.  The morning session was easy: two sets of (2 times 2 min. on/1 min. off at 50 spm and 2 times 3 min. on/1 min. off at 64 spm).  The heavy duty stuff came in the afternoon with a long, hard lactic session: four times (1 min. on/1 min. off), two sets of four (45 sec. on/45 sec. off), and four times (30 sec. on/30 sec. off), all at an "A3+" stroke rate or all-out.  Maks told me to take long breaks between the sets so I could do each set at close to all-out intensity.  Said he, "This is supposed to burn and hurt!"  I can handle some burn, and I can handle some hurt... but BOTH???  Lord help me.

Finding the right stroke rate was a challenge in this workout.  While doing the 1-minute pieces, I started off around 110 spm but in the last 15 seconds I was struggling to keep it above 100 spm.  By the 45-second pieces I was paddling around 106-108 spm and maintaining that throughout each effort.  For the 30-second pieces I paddled at about the highest rate of which I'm physically capable--something over 120 spm--and was able to maintain it, but when I was able to glance at my G.P.S. device's speed readout I saw that I wasn't moving the boat as fast as I had in the longer pieces.

I had some company yesterday afternoon: longtime racing friend Chris Hipgrave was passing through town on his way out West from his home in western North Carolina.  He paddled with me on my warmup and then did a loop out on the Mississippi while I stayed in the harbor and did my lactic workout.  Afterward he continued on toward the Colorado Rockies, where he hopes to do some whitewater paddling before moving on up to the Pacific Northwest, where I'll see him in the Columbia River Gorge next month.

This morning I enjoyed a calm 75-minute paddle in the A1 (below 75 spm) stroke rate zone.  Besides savoring the lovely morning, I worked on all the technical stuff that's occupied me this spring: stroke mechanics as well as sitting up straight in the boat and not slumping my head forward and stuff like that.

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