Thursday, March 12, 2026

I'll be racing again before long

We've had a good bit of rain lately, and that rain has moved across the Tennessee, Cumberland, and Ohio River watersheds, so it's translating into higher levels on the Mississippi River.  When I did a steady 60-minute paddle Tuesday morning, the river was flowing at 15.2 feet on the Memphis gauge.  When I got back on the water for a workout today, it had risen to just over 19 feet.  As of this writing the river is forecast to crest at 21.8 feet next Monday or Tuesday.

I paddled in the afternoon today because of some nuisance stuff I had to deal with in the morning.  With just ten days to go before my race down at Ocean Springs, it was about my last chance to do a workout that's likely to have any bearing on my race-day fitness.  I did four bridge-to-bridge sprints, starting every 8th minute, and clocked 2:14, 2:15, 2:15, and 2:15.  My times were a bit slower than when I did the same workout two weeks ago, and I think the main reason was a light headwind today as opposed to almost no wind then.  I didn't use my cadence sensor two weeks ago, but today I used it and tried to keep things under control by targeting a stroke rate of 90 spm.  I think that helped me stay consistent over all four sprints.

The afternoon's effort has me feeling pleasantly tired this evening.  Knowing that I can cut back the volume a bit between now and race day has me feeling upbeat as well.


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