Hoping I'm ready for camp

My mother and I decided to come home Monday, and I'm glad we did.  I've had a bunch of nuisance chores to deal with this week, and with my departure for Florida scheduled for tomorrow, having an extra day to work with has helped a lot.

If we'd waited until Tuesday to drive home I'd have been hard-pressed to get even one paddling session in before leaving, but coming home Monday freed me up to do two.  On Tuesday I paddled for 50 minutes, and did three 5-minute tempo pieces with five minutes recovery in between.  I nudged the stroke rate up a bit with each one, and was pleased with how my body responded.  I was back in the boat this afternoon, paddling for 60 minutes in a steady drizzle, and felt more tired and sluggish.

I did a gym session before both Tuesday and today's paddles.

I've got another crick in my neck, and this one is a lot more stubborn than the one I had a couple of weeks ago.  That first one was in the left side of my neck, and the current one is in the right side.  It's making my everyday existence a lot less pleasant than it should be.  The aches in my left arm muscles continue as well.

But... I'm headed off for training camp anyway.  I hope my body will respond well and it will be a good experience.

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Monday photo feature

Since I've been in North Carolina this weekend I suppose a paddling photo from that state is appropriate.  This is from 1989, and I'm running a drop on the Cullasaja River near Highlands.  I don't think steep-creek paddlers had really discovered the Cullasaja yet, but my friend Randall and I were exploring the area, spotted this rapid that looked runnable, and grabbed our boats off the car.  Randall shot the photo while I took my run.

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Holiday down time

The big winter blast arrived right on schedule Thursday afternoon, and the Mid South got quite a bit more snow and ice than I'd expected.  My mom and I had planned to leave Friday morning to spend the holiday weekend with my sister's family in North Carolina, but we decided to push our departure to yesterday.  By yesterday the streets of Memphis were still quite icy but Interstate 40 was totally clear.  The traffic wasn't bad and the trip was about as painless as a nine-hour trek can be.

Today, of course, was designed for a sedentary existence, but in the mid afternoon I managed to shake off the ennui of Christmas brunch and do a gym session.

We'll be heading back to Memphis either tomorrow or Tuesday... I'm not sure which.  If it's Tuesday then I'll spend tomorrow doing some rehab exercises and general self-care.

I guess my biggest news is that I'll be attending a training camp in Florida starting next weekend.  I'd been holding off on committing myself because of all my ailments and lack of any training intensity, but I've decided to give it a try.  It remains to be seen how my body responds, and I'm prepared to beg off certain workouts if I have too, but I hope that being around some fellow paddlers will enhance my enthusiasm and focus for the coming year.

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Paddling and other exercise ahead of the Arctic blast

My left arm continued to hurt as the week got underway, especially the biceps area.  I woke up in the early hours of Tuesday morning and found it particularly painful and throbbing.

Once I was up later that morning, I did a gym session and was very mindful of how the ailing area responded.  The main exercise I'm doing that engages the biceps muscle is the bent-over rows, and I did that slowly with a moderate amount of weight.  I could feel some soreness in the muscle but the pain wasn't unbearable.

After that I went down to the river and paddled for 60 minutes.  As I've said before, I can feel the soreness while I paddle but the affected area isn't directly involved in paddling.  I actually pushed the intensity a bit for the first time in months: I did three long surges of some 1500 meters each; I kept the stroke rate low and just tried to put a lot of power into each stroke.  I didn't time myself.  Though I got a bit winded in each piece, I otherwise felt great.  The sun was shining and the temperature was rising toward 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and that added to the positive feelings of the session.

It was a reminder that for all the recent muscular woes I've been dealing with, I generally seem to have a lot more "giddy-up" these days than I had over the last couple of years.  I mentioned a while back that my weight is back up near 160 pounds, and I think that has something to do with my overall energy level.

With a Fahrenheit high in the low 50s, yesterday was the warmest day of the week, so I went out for a bike ride in the afternoon.  I did my usual 34-kilometer ride out the Greenline to Shelby Farms, around the lake there, and back home on the Greenline.  I spent the evening in a pleasantly-tired state.

Today Winter Storm Elliott and its dreaded "bomb cyclone" is exploding upon the entire nation, bringing blizzards and extreme cold to almost every state.  This morning the deep freeze hadn't arrived yet, and I took the opportunity to get in a paddle while the temperature was in the mid 40s.  There was a fine drizzle and a somewhat strong south wind, but it wasn't really a bad morning to paddle.

It's now mid afternoon and it still isn't so bad outside, but any time now the wind will be shifting to the north and the temperature will go into free fall.  By early tomorrow morning it's supposed to be about 4 degrees out there.

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Monday photo feature

Austin Kieffer of Asheville, North Carolina, competes in the 2012 U.S. Olympic trials for whitewater slalom at Charlotte.  Photo by Jon Nelson.

These days Austin, who now lives in southern California, is much better known as an elite-level ocean surfski racer.  And he's part of the "expert panel" interviewed in my film A Paddler's Journey.  The film is available for free viewing for the entire month of December, and you can watch it here.

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

A weekend of struggles

I woke up Friday morning with a painful crick in my neck--the sort of thing you get when you sleep in a bad position, I think.  It sort of set the tone for my entire weekend.  Though the pain has gradually eased, I'm still having some discomfort as I write this, and it has a severe impact on my mood and my attitude toward my athletic pursuits.

Making matters worse is that the muscle ailments in my left arm that flared up badly in the middle of the week have continued through the weekend.  Earlier in the week I'd felt like I was making some real progress in that area of my body, but now it feels as bad as ever.

Friday was the worst day.  Somehow I managed to get through a gym session in the morning, but all day I felt like a hopelessly-falling-apart old man.  It was overcast and chilly most of the day and that added to the gloom.

Yesterday the neck pain had improved somewhat, and the sun was shining bright, so that helped my motivation as I headed down to the riverfront.  I had a reasonably good 60 minutes in the boat, though the arm and neck pain were a burden throughout.

This morning was rather frigid: the temperature dropped below freezing overnight, and according to the temperature display in my car, it was only 38 degrees Fahrenheit when I got down to the river.  In recent years I've gone into winter vowing to find some kind of out-of-the-boat activity for the freezing days, but the truth is that I enjoy paddling more than most other things, even when it's really cold.  It's actually easier to stay warm in my boat than, say, on a bike.  It was sunny again today and not very windy, so it was actually a lovely morning to paddle.

The arm and neck discomfort persisted, however.  As I've noted before, the ailing arm muscles don't seem directly involved in paddling, so they're more of a nuisance discomfort than a real impediment.  I just try my best to do the work with my core muscles and put as little stress on my arms as possible.  This morning's paddle turned out to be the most enjoyable activity of my weekend, so I'm trying to savor some kind of moral victory in that.

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Lots of rain, a rising river, and persistent arm pain

I started up a new gym routine Tuesday morning.  I replaced the bench press I'd been doing with pushups, and instead of doing dumbbell rowing exercises chest-down on the stability ball, I started doing rows with a hand and knee on a bench.

There was heavy rain in the forecast for later in the day Tuesday--the same system that brought snow to the upper Midwest and some violent storms to Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma.  Ordinarily I'd have paddled in the morning, well before the rain's arrival.  But I had some nuisance bureaucratic stuff to deal with Tuesday morning, so I went out in the afternoon hoping I wouldn't get rained on like I had the previous Saturday.  It turned out I had nothing to worry about: the rain didn't move in until after 7 o'clock in the evening.  I paddled for 60 minutes, trying my best to use good stroke mechanics and get a comfortable cardio workout.  I went home feeling dead tired from all the paddling and lifting.

I believe the low-water woes on the Mississippi River are behind us for this season.  The rain that came through here on Tuesday moved on into the Tennessee River watershed, and now the Mississippi is forecast to reach 10.5 feet on the Memphis gauge about a week from now.

The rain continued through the mid afternoon yesterday before finally moving out.  Today we had our first sunny day in what felt like forever.  The trade-off was a temperature some 20 degrees lower than it had been.  When I went down to paddle this morning it was in the mid 40s Fahrenheit.  It was a little breezy as well, but the sunshine made it not such a bad day to paddle.  Unfortunately my left arm was really bothering me today in the biceps and forearm area.  Just when I think I might be healing at last, I have a really bad day in that department.  I don't know what to do besides keep doing my rehab work and keep moving and have faith that somehow I will get through this.  I certainly want to believe that there is some great paddling still ahead for me.

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Monday photo feature

When I paddled last Tuesday, this critter was on the bow of my boat when I put in from the dock.  She stayed there as I paddled out of the harbor and did a loop out on the Mississippi, and she was still there when I returned to the dock after an hour of paddling.  So I'd given her an outing, and I walked away from the dock feeling rather good about that.  I hope she was able to settle back into her domestic life once the boat was back on the rack.

Note: I'm merely guessing that this thing is a "she."  I actually have no clue about determining an arachnid's gender.

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Some soggy weekend training

It's gotten cooler this weekend after a particularly balmy week.  It's not really cold--the Fahrenheit highs both yesterday and today are in the 50s--but it's a noticeable change from the 70s we had back in the middle of the week.

One thing hasn't changed with the temperature drop: it's been raining a lot all week.  The good news is that most of the rain has moved eastward from here into the Tennessee and Cumberland River drainages, where it is having an impact on the level of the Mississippi River at Memphis.  This weekend the river has been flowing right at 3.0 feet on the Memphis gauge, and the latest forecast says it will crest later this week at 5.6 feet.  With more rain in the forecast, I expect that prediction will be revised upward.

When I got up yesterday morning I checked the Internet radar and saw a big mass of rain over to the west of Forrest City, Arkansas, moving in this direction.  I hoped that I could eat breakfast and do my other morning chores quickly enough that I'd be able to paddle before the rain arrived, but it didn't work out that way.  It was starting to drizzle as I left the house, and that built into a hard drizzle by the time I got to the riverfront.  Once I was in the boat, the rain really let loose.  I got poured on pretty good for all but just a few of my 60 minutes of paddling, and during that time the chilly north wind picked up as well.  So I was one cold, wet critter by the time I got back to the dock.  What's that I was saying a few posts back, about immersing yourself?  Yes, that's what I did yesterday.

The rain had pretty much moved out when I got up this morning, but it was still overcast and not expected to be much warmer than 50 degrees.  I pondered whether to paddle today, or ride my bike.  At this point in the year I'm still working on general fitness and not dead set on paddling-specific training, and since it wasn't raining I opted for the ride.  I was afraid conditions would be sloppy after all the rain, but the landscape had dried out some by the time I was on the bike.  The Greater Memphis Greenline drains well because it was built on a railroad bed.  Out at Shelby Farms the trails had some puddles, but they weren't hard to skirt.  So I wasn't badly splattered with muddy water when I got back home, and I had a decent cardio workout under my belt.

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How I'm feeling as winter approaches

I did a gym session Monday afternoon, and Tuesday morning I was back in the boat.  This has been a rainy week here in the Mid South, and on Tuesday I paddled in some drizzle and mist.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: wet, misty days might be the most beautiful I have experienced out on the Mississippi River.

As for the aches and pains in my left arm, sometimes I think they're doing a lot better and other times they continue to bother me.  My chiropractor recommended some exercises to do, and I think they have helped some.

All told, I've been feeling better about training in general lately.  A few weeks ago I posted here that even when you're feeling at your lowest it's important to do at least a little something--anything--each day, and string together some days and weeks of doing that something.  Now, here I am a few weeks later and I think that advice to myself is paying off.  I've been doing some gym work, some bike riding, some running, and some paddling, and with the exception of the running it's gone well and I'm feeling good about it.

I'll just add that my weight has come up again over the last couple of months: it had fallen into the low 150s and even the high 140s (that's pounds, for you international readers), and I was feeling weak and listless.  Now I'm back up in the high 150s, and feeling more energetic.  This is all anecdotal observation; I haven't kept meticulous records of my weight over many years.  So I don't know for sure that there's a genuine connection between what I weigh and how I feel.  But I do remember that when I was racing really well several years ago my weight was up, and in the last couple of years as I've felt not so in-the-pink, my weight has been down.  Take from that what you will.

Anyway... this morning I did another good gym session, and now I'm feeling good about it.  The endorphins are flowing.

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Monday photo feature

As I mentioned in a post last week, my film "A Paddler's Journey" is now available for viewing.  This screening will last for the entire month of December.  You can watch the film here.

This past Friday evening I went out to see the guy who played all the music on the film's soundtrack.  Jason Freeman played his guitar and sang some tunes at the B-Side room on Madison Avenue here in Memphis.  Photo by Jonathan Finder.

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Aches and pains and chilliness and a marathon

I'm encouraged by the progress of my right Achilles tendon since I injured it on Thursday.  As of this writing it's still giving me some pain, but it's improved enough that I can walk more or less normally.  I've been giving it the heat/ice treatment, and I'm pretty sure it'll be fine in a few more days.  So I'm upbeat about that.

Whether I want to keep trying to run and risk more episodes of pain like this is another matter.  Maybe I just need to forget it and spend my time on lower-impact cross-training activities.  I never had any grandiose visions of resurrecting my competitive running career, after all.  But it sure would be nice if I could go out for a run when I feel like it, and look good and feel good while I do it.

On Friday morning I did a gym session at home, and then went down to the river and paddled for 60 minutes.  I could feel my ailing left arm muscles but was able to paddle just fine.  The best news I have on the arm/shoulder front is that my rotator cuff area has been feeling a lot better lately.  Certain movements that had been giving me pain for a long time are happening pain-free now.

When I got up Saturday morning the temperature was a pleasant 62 degrees Fahrenheit, but on the radio they were saying it would be dropping into the 40s as the day went on.  Saturday morning is typically a time for me to paddle, but on this day the big annual marathon here in Memphis had shut down most of the streets between my house and the river, so I decided to ride my bike instead.  I tried my best to get out while the temperature was still warm, but it was already down into the mid 50s by the time I was finally on the bike.  I headed west from my house and rode along segments of the marathon course.  In Overton Park I saw some of the better runners as they passed the 20-mile mark.  I think these people were on pace to finish around 2 hours 40 minutes, meaning that they were running just over 6 minutes per mile.  I can remember a time when I considered such a pace "slow," but those days are long gone.  On a quarter-mile track a 6-minute mile is made up of four 90-second laps, and based on my recent runs I think I would be hard-pressed to run one lap in 90 seconds.

Riding along the marathon course meant that my bike ride had to be a leisurely one.  There were places where I had no choice but to get off my bike and walk in order to stay out of the runners' and spectators' way.  I told myself not to worry about it, that there's nothing wrong with some leisurely exercise.

Yesterday morning the sky was overcast, and as I drove down to the riverfront my car's temperature display yo-yoed between 39 and 41 degrees Fahrenheit.  The bright side was that it wasn't windy.  I got in the boat and paddled for 60 minutes, mostly in the harbor.  My paddling sessions these days are mostly low-intensity, but I try to concentrate hard on good stroke mechanics and keep up some muscle memory.  Lately I've been feeling pretty good in the boat, and I think that if I can just find a solution for these arm muscle woes I could be paddling well again.

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A wet bike ride and another frustrating run

I started Tuesday with a gym session.  In case you're wondering what I'm doing for a gym session these days, it's bench press with dumbbells (using the stability ball in lieu of a bench), backups on the stability ball, dumbbell rows (chest down on the stability ball), and a lower abdominal exercise on the stability ball.

After that I went for a bike ride.  I usually paddle on Tuesdays, but this Tuesday morning the temperature was pleasant (mid 60s Fahrenheit), and rain was in the forecast for later, with colder temperatures to follow.  So I "let the weather be my coach" and chose the activity I least like to do when it's colder: ride my bike.

My one mistake was failing to check the Internet radar before I left.  I wasn't expecting rain until the afternoon, but in fact it was moving in right as I embarked on the ride.  By the time I was on the Greater Memphis Greenline it was beginning to drizzle, and a heavier cell moved through when I was almost out to Shelby Farms.  By that time there was nothing I could do but bear down and ride through it.  I was wearing just a light sweatshirt rather than something halfway rain-repellent, so I got drenched quickly.  Another heavy shower gave me a good dousing in the last mile before I returned home.

Oh well... no regrets.  I admit I've been a little squeamish about getting out in the cold here in this early stage of the cold-weather season, and in the summertime as well there are moments when I dread stepping out my door into searing heat.  But being an athlete means being willing to immerse yourself.  Even if you're not an athlete, I think some immersion in the cold or heat is part of a healthy life.  Indoor climate control is a very recent development in human history, and we've evolved to handle much harsher conditions than we think.

The good news for the greater Memphis area on Tuesday is that it was spared some severe weather that the same system inflicted farther south.  I understand there were some tornadoes in the corridor from Texas to Alabama.

My left calf muscle was feeling better by the middle of this week, and this morning I went out to try another run.  I still felt some soreness in the muscle, but it was not as bad as it had been a week ago, and running on grass seemed easier on it than the concrete sidewalk, so I ran on grass wherever I could find it.

I was feeling pretty good about my chances of making it the full 20 minutes this time.  But then, about 12 minutes in, another part of me rose up in protest: my right Achilles tendon.  I felt a shot of pain down there, and I stopped to stretch it gingerly for a minute.  Then I resumed running, and I was determined to keep it slow and easy, but my old pal Achilles simply wasn't having it.  He responded with a couple of sharp pops, and I knew right then that I was finished running for the day.  I was about a half-mile from home, and I limped the whole way.

I'm typing this just a short while later.  I've put an ice pack on the tendon, and at the moment it continues to hurt pretty bad.  Sigh... my body is so darn fragile when it comes to running.  Maybe I should let go of this idea of incorporating running into my routine... after all, a favorite saying of canoe & kayak athletes is "Runners don't paddle, so why should paddlers run?"  I'll just have to see how this thing feels over the next few days.

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Now playing!

For me, 2022 began with the submission of my first feature-length film, "A Paddler's Journey," to the National Paddling Film Festival.  That adventure culminated in a "Viewer's Choice" award.

Now, here in the last month of '22, I'm making the film available for viewing once more.  You can watch it at this link during the entire month of December.

I tried my best to make the film encompass everything this blog is about.  I hope you'll want to have a look!  Thank you and thanks for following this blog.

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