Early fall on the river

So far this week the weather has been warm but not sweltering hot, and mostly sunny... in other words, gorgeous.  Not coincidentally, my time in the boat has felt quite satisfying the last several days.

On Tuesday Joe and I paddled about two thirds of the harbor.  Then Joe had to go and I commenced this workout: three sets of three (3 minutes on, 1 min. off) at 64 strokes per minute (first set), 70 spm (second set), and 60 spm (third set).  Maks described these as "technical" sets, and he also said that this week we're moving "back to more endurance and grinding workouts."

For yesterday, Maks assigned "an anaerobic workout broken into shorter sets with short rest intervals."  It was four sets of (3 min. at 80 spm/1 min. rest/2 min. at 80 spm/1 min. rest/1 min. at 80 spm), starting a new set every 14th minute.  Maks went on to say "it is supposed to be a moderately hard workout, but not the 'killing' type."  That statement turned out to be accurate: I felt reasonably taxed but not utterly exhausted.  What I did not feel was that I was going anaerobic--breathing hard, yes, but not in oxygen debt.  I decided to play around with this a bit by nudging the stroke rate into 82-84 territory for the third and fourth sets; I didn't want to alter the workout beyond Maks's intentions, but just see if i could get a bit closer to anaerobic.  The higher stroke rate was definitely more taxing, but still not quite anaerobic.  Oh well... I think it was a good workout, all told.

Today I did eight sets of (8 min. on/2 min. off) at 60 spm, with some extra weight in the boat.  It was basically a distance paddle with a heightened sensation of the water pressure against my blades.

The Hurricane Ida rain that fell in the Mississippi watershed is now reaching Memphis.  Yesterday's river level was 11.7 feet on the Memphis gauge, the highest stage we've had in quite a while.  I did my workout out on the big river and it was fun to escape the monotony of the harbor.  The river went on to crest at 12.1 feet and this morning I paddled with a level of 11.9.  Once again I enjoyed the expanded paddleable real estate out on the river.  I don't normally enjoy these grinding sessions, but the higher water combined with lovely weather has lifted my mood.

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