Speeding things up a little

We've had another run of weirdly warm weather for this time of year, with the Fahrenheit temperature rising into the 70s.  And once again, atmospheric conditions have been unsettled and eventually stormy.

On Tuesday I did a gym session at home and then went down to the river to paddle.  I paddled steady for 50 minutes with a one-minute surge at 4-minute intervals.  I wanted to move at 12 kilometers per hour during the surges, but a strong south wind made the G.P.S. readings not so reliable.

Yesterday morning it was warm again, and not so windy, so I took the opportunity to ride my bike for a little over 70 minutes.  I rode the Greater Memphis Greenline out to where it meets the Wolf River Greenway, and then rode the Greenway south for a bit before turning around and coming back home.  My total distance covered was 26 kilometers or 16.16 miles.

Yesterday afternoon the stormy weather arrived.  This time it was heavy rain, mostly.  A pretty strong wind blew, but nothing like what brought devastation to our neighbors in western Kentucky several weeks ago.

This morning it was cooler--around 53 degrees Fahrenheit--and dead calm.  I went down to the riverfront and found that the harbor was smooth as glass.  With some intense downwind paddling just over three weeks off in my future, it was time to start some faster stuff: I got in the boat with the intention of doing six 250-meter pieces, starting every sixth minute.

I hadn't paddled with any real intensity in almost three months, and I discovered that I was not only out of shape, but also out of practice in dreaming up a workout that my body was ready to do.  I went way too hard in the first piece and could barely manage my last few strokes.  My time was about 69 seconds.  For the second piece I backed off the intensity, but I don't think I had entirely recovered from the first piece, and again my arms went dead on me for the last twenty meters or so.  I decided to add a minute to the recovery interval, and from then on I managed to settle into the workout better.  My times were in the 73-75-second range.  It was still hard, but reasonable.  Once it was over I was reminded how good I can feel after one of these intense-but-quick sessions: the endorphins were flowing and I felt good about having this first hard workout in the bank.  Hopefully my body will adapt quickly and I'll be sprinting more comfortably next time.

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