My mission for this week has been to get some rest, sharpen up my speed, and address a whole list of chores that needed my attention before I left town.
As far as training goes, I've been doing what are more or less considered "peaking" activities, as if the race tomorrow were some kind of major championship. For me, it sort of is, frankly. Race events of any kind within a reasonable drive of my home are an all-but-extinct species these days. It's possible I'll participate in a race or two farther from home as part of a summer vacation trip, but that's at least three months off, plenty of time for me to ease into a whole new phase of training.
On Monday and Wednesday I went downtown and paddled just long enough to get warmed up, do a few short sprints (eight 12-stroke sprints Monday, six Wednesday), and cool back down.
It was pouring down rain this morning when I left my house and got myself southbound on Interstate 55. My original plan was to stop and paddle on Arkabutla Reservoir about 20 miles south of Memphis, but it was still raining and the western sky looked ominous. So I continued some 45 miles farther south to Enid Reservoir in Yalobusha County, where I knew the rain wouldn’t arrive until later in the day. But the wind sure had arrived: I looked out over the water and saw small but genuine downwind conditions.
There was no point doing my usual 12-stroke sprints in those conditions, so instead I paddled into the wind to the far side of the lake and then did a few sprints by way of catching a few runs as I paddled back.
Now I’m down in Ocean Springs hoping to get a good night’s rest for the race tomorrow. Where the aches and pains are concerned, I've been been feeling neither great nor terrible. I'm taking some ibuprofen for a couple of days, hoping that will settle it down for the race.
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