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.

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