Feeling the temperature rising

We're getting an early taste of full-on summer here, with the mercury rising above 90 degrees Fahrenheit this week.  I'm not crazy about the hot weather, but I do like it for paddling.  It's nice to wear shorts and short sleeves and have no qualms about getting wet.  It won't be long before I'm taking hose baths on the dock after paddling.

I was feeling lethargic again Tuesday morning as I plodded through my little gym routine, and I worried over my ability to kick it into a higher gear once I was in the boat.  My left deltoid/biceps area bothered me a lot as I warmed up and did three 8-stroke sprints, but eventually these muscles loosened up to the point that they almost didn't bother me at all.

My workout for Tuesday was a set of six 200-meter pieces starting every 5th minute.  In calm conditions my target pace would have been 12 kilometers per hour, but with a tailwind I aimed more for 12.5-13.0 kph.  I think the wind picked up a bit because by the last piece I was exceeding 13.0 kph with no trouble.

I did the whole workout near the mouth of the harbor, doing each piece headed north and then looping back to where I'd started.  There was a barge rig coming upriver as the workout went along, and I kept telling myself that it wasn't a day for wake surfing, but after the fifth piece I gave in to the temptation and paddled out there.  The waves weren't the best I'd seen and no surf lasted long, but I managed to get several good rides before I returned to the harbor.  I did my last 200-meter piece and headed back to the dock.  Having inserted a bit of "play" workout into my "work" workout, I was feeling pretty good.

As I returned to the dock this morning, we were well on our way to another hot day: it was over 80 degrees when I got in the boat just after 9:30.  But out on the river there was a lovely layer of cool, misty air that I usually associate with a mountain stream like the Nantahala.

I'd hoped maybe I could do some more wake surfing today, but there was no barge traffic in sight when I left the harbor.  I did a strong loop out on the river instead.  As I returned to the harbor I saw a barge rig approaching the old bridges downriver, but by that time I felt that I'd done enough.  Maybe I'll get to have some fun with that this weekend.

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