For this current phase of training, Tuesday mornings have been pretty loaded, with some running, a gym session, and a workout in the boat. I've been waking up each Tuesday wondering if I've got it in me to do it all once again. The physical intensity is one reason for this anxiety, and another is the time aspect: I do have other things going on in my life, after all, and I feel some pressure to pack all the training activities into the morning so I'll have the afternoon to tackle the non-athletic stuff.
So far, every Tuesday I've managed to get the work done, and it's given me a nice satisfied feeling by lunchtime. And this week I managed to do it once more. I started with my usual around-the-block, half-mile-ish run, followed by a gym session, followed by some work in the boat. I paddled for 60 minutes, and I broke the 40-minute period from 0:10 to 0:50 into 3-minute intervals. For the first two minutes of each interval I paddled at 60 strokes per minute, and for the third minute I alternated between 70 spm and 80 spm. With a pretty long race coming up in less than six weeks, I think it's useful to move around among some different cadences and intensities, because while I might not need much top speed in a long grind of a race, I will nevertheless need more than one gear.
The weather continues to be hot here, but not oppressive. As I paddled on Tuesday I had a nice northwest breeze keeping me cool. Sooner or later I expect the wind will shift to the south and bring moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, and then it'll be that sweltering summer we know so well around here. It's also been very hazy the last several days; whether it has anything to do with the Canadian wildfires, I'm not sure. Right now on the news I'm hearing about dangerously poor air quality in the Northeast and upper Midwest. I hope things get better up there before I travel to Massachusetts and Maine.
I spent Tuesday afternoon doing some repair work on the damage I'd done to my boat and rudder in last Saturday's race. Of course that included using some epoxy resin that I had to let cure overnight.
Yesterday morning I went to see the surgeon to discuss my options for fixing my nerve woes. I told the doctor that any surgical procedure I might undergo would have to wait until after my trip to New England next month; the doctor, meanwhile, thought it would be sensible to try medication and nerve-block approaches before making the leap into surgery. So it was an easy decision to start with those things and see how I'm feeling after I return in August.
I came home from the doctor's office and took a look at my boat-repair work. I had applied a Kevlar and fiberglass patch to the hull over the hole where the rudder comes out, and then turned the boat over and poured resin into the rudder-shaft housing with the hope that it would seep into the cracks that had allowed water into the boat. Now that the resin had cured, I had to drill out the blockage in the rudder shaft housing. I did this with an old-fashioned hand-operated brace and bit to put as little stress as possible on the waterproof seal. I reopened the tunnel, then used a rasp to gently enlarge it so that the rudder shaft would fit again. Then I filled the boat with water again to see how successful my repair was, and... not a drop leaked from that area! Forgive me for my blatant self-congratulation, but I think the repair method I devised was quite clever and elegant, and I am extremely pleased that it seems to have worked.
I also did some cleanup work on the rudder. Like I said in my previous post, I've ordered a new one, and I'll keep the repaired one for emergency backup purposes.
This morning I went down to the dock and hopped in the whitewater boat. More drills ensued. I'm encouraged by how my body has responded and I'm looking forward to getting on a river or two soon.
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