):

The period that has passed since my last training-related post has been full of ups and downs.  Right now things are sort of down.  My left shoulder and biceps area has been acutely sore, and lately even my left wrist and forearm have been hurting some.

In recent months I've had thoughts of getting back out on some whitewater, but I don't know if my body will let me do that in its current state.  On Tuesday this week I broke out my old Superglide C1 that I raced slalom in from the late 1990s into the mid 2000s, and took it down to the harbor.  Forward paddling wasn't really a problem, but my left arm and shoulder didn't respond particularly well to draw strokes with the blade opened way up (I paddle on my left in a whitewater C1).  I finished 40 minutes of paddling feeling sore and discouraged.  I think part of the problem is that the boat's outfitting is the same as it was when I last raced slalom back around 2005, and my body has surely changed some since then.  I probably should find myself a more comfortable, more forgiving boat to paddle than this high-performance race boat, but that would involve some financial investment, and again, I'm not sure serious whitewater paddling is something I can do right now.

Today is the last day of pleasant, balmy weather before much colder air moves in, so it would make sense to paddle one more time today, but my body just doesn't want to do it.  I've actually done a lot of out-of-the-boat stuff this week: bike riding, rehab exercises, and some light weight work.  Today I'm feeling pretty tired from all that.

This evening Greg Barton is delivering an online lecture about wintertime cross-training.  I plan to tune into that and see what good ideas I might get.

For more information on what this blog is about, click here.