A reality check

I arrived at Taylorsville Reservoir, some 45 minutes southeast of Louisville, Kentucky, in the late afternoon on Friday.  I went down to the race site for a pre-race session: two times (4 minutes on/1 minute off) at 60 strokes per minute, four times (1 min. on/1 min. off) at 80 spm, and two times (4 min. on/1 min. off) at 60 spm.  The buoys marking the course were already out: we would be doing three laps of a 5-kilometer loop.

After paddling I went up to the state park campground and set up my tent, and then ventured into the town of Taylorsville to see what kind of supper might be had.  The choices were few, but I was awfully hungry, and the local Mexican restaurant seemed like a good bet to take care of that.  Three beef enchiladas and a tamale later, the meal was sitting heavy in my stomach and I hoped I hadn't made a dietary mistake the night before a race.

The race would be starting at 8:30 AM Saturday morning, so I set my alarm for 5 AM.  My body thought it was 4 AM... darn Eastern Time.  Once I'd had some coffee and breakfast and visited the restroom, I was feeling reasonably race-ready.  I headed down to the race site to get ready.

There were four racers entered who had beaten me at least once in the past, but who I considered to be at my competitive level or "in my league" or however you like to say it.  To be perfectly honest, I was feeling confident that I might pull off a win.  I mean, with my fancy new Internet coach and all the sophisticated workouts he's been putting me through, I couldn't believe that anybody else was as fit as I was.

We put our boats in the water and warmed up, and when the clock chimed 8:30 we were off.  I sprinted pretty hard off the line, but not as fast as Terry Smith of Chattanooga, Tennessee, just to my right.  I quickly moved onto his port-side wake, but was unable to match his speed and dropped back to his stern wake.  Scott Cummins of Louisville was to our left and he took my place on Terry's side wake.

Meanwhile, 16-year-old West Virginian Corbin Peters was moving up on my left side.  Before the race Scott had remarked, "He'll be beating us all in a year or two."  But at that moment it seemed that the future was NOW.

I was feeling some oxygen deficiency in my thigh muscles--a sign that I wasn't quite as warmed up as I should have been.  More dire than that was that the torrid early pace had zapped the confidence I had enjoyed in the early stages of my race in Louisiana three weeks prior, and in that state I'm prone to making bad decisions.  Corbin and I both were struggling with the confused wakes behind Terry and Scott, and when Corbin dropped off the pace about a kilometer in, I decided to stick with him, thinking I could regroup and rejoin the lead pack later.  One thing I've learned in many years of racing is that's never a good idea: once "the train" has left you behind, it's very difficult to reel it back in and get back on it.  But at the moment my survival instincts were doing all my thinking for me.

Terry and Scott were starting to open a gap on us.  As Scott told me later, Terry was dictating the pace and he was just trying to hang on.  At about the same time another Chattanoogan, Roy Roberts, came chugging past Corbin and me with the intention of joining the leaders.  I wanted to go with him but just didn't have it in me to sprint again at that moment.  About a kilometer later Ryan Landis of Corwin, Ohio, whom I'd last seen back in 2018 on the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River, came gliding by.  This time I did give chase and I managed to drop Corbin, but I was unable to stay with Ryan.

And so the order was set with the lead pack moving farther and farther ahead with Ryan in fourth and me in fifth, and I realized the rest of my morning was going to be long and lonely.  This was not at all the kind of race I'd envisioned myself having.  Where was my power?  Where was my speed?  I told myself to concentrate on posture and good strokes and all that, and at least make a respectable showing, but all the air had gone out of my balloon.

I spent the rest of the race paddling as efficiently as I could and gazing forlornly up ahead.  By the third lap the lead pack was well over 90 seconds ahead of me.  Ryan was some 40 seconds closer to them than I was, but otherwise he was in the same no-man's-land predicament that I was in: fourth place was his destiny, assuming nobody in the lead pack crashed and burned.  Up in front Terry continued to lead while Scott, one of the most tenacious competitors I've ever met, hung on to his side wake (Scott told me later that "hanging on" is all he was doing).  Several times it appeared that the pair had opened a gap on Roy, but Roy, who may rival Scott in the tenacity department, always managed to regain contact.

In the end, it was Terry claiming the victory in one hour, 16 minutes, 23 seconds.  Scott took second place just three seconds back, with Roy finishing third in 1:16:49.  Ryan captured a fourth-place finish that he can be proud of under the circumstances.  I brought my own ordeal to a close at 1:19:37.

Elaine Harold of Louisville overtook Corbin en route to the women's title with a time of 1:23:34.  Hollie Hall of South Point, Ohio, was the second-fastest lady in 1:25:50.

The complete results are posted here.  (Note: Ryan Landis's time is incorrect.  He in fact finished in the neighborhood of one hour 17 minutes.  There was electronic timing in effect and my guess is that some kind of chip error is to blame.)

I carried my boat back to the car and licked my wounds.  I had not felt fresh as the race began and I wondered if I was not adequately rested even though last week was supposed to be an "easy" week of training.  One of the perils of using an Internet coach is that the coach can't really know how you're feeling at any given moment, or what your unique competitive priorities might be.  And I'm a meticulous sort who likes to follow coach's instructions to the letter, even when it might be in my better interest to back off.

Meanwhile, I would be remiss not to point out that I was beaten by fit, strong, smart, talented athletes.  The 56-year-old Terry, with his tall, powerful build, has always been a solid talent, and talking to him after the race I learned that he's embraced his training this spring like never before.  Let's face it: even a fantastic race on my part might not have been enough to beat him.  The other guys readily admitted that they haven't been doing what Terry has, but they nevertheless did a better job of going after him than I did.

We enjoyed a nice lunch provided by the race organizers, with the awards ceremony following.  Then we all parted company and I returned to my campsite for an afternoon nap.  I slept for maybe an hour or so, then got back up to prepare myself for my big date!  Okay, not that kind of date--I was going to Louisville to see Scott.  But hey, Scott knows how to show somebody a good time on a Saturday night.  What were we going to do?  Surf behind the Belle of Louisville.

The Belle is the oldest still-active steam-powered sternwheeler in the U.S., and its big paddle wheel generates some really nice surfing waves out on the Ohio River.  It was scheduled to take passengers out on an evening excursion starting at 8 PM, and Scott and I got ready to take advantage, shuttling a vehicle to Cox Park before putting in at the Louisville Rowing Club.  We were both stiff and sore from the morning's race, but we took a nice long warmup and by the time the Belle had set sail, we were ready to go.

The waves were big fun, but we had to work hard to stay on them.  Scott said the Belle wasn't traveling as fast as she usually did, and was apologetic about the waves not being as juicy as they can be.  No worries on my part--that just gives me something to look forward to the next time I get a chance to surf at Louisville.  Scott and I both felt better after the session than we'd felt before.  At that moment I definitely needed a reminder that there's still plenty of joy to be found in the sport no matter how poorly I might race.

I bade Scott farewell and made the 45-minute drive back to my campsite in the state park on Taylorsville Reservoir.  I crawled into my tent and got a pretty good night's sleep, although I wasn't entirely ready to get up when I did the next morning.  I arose at 6:45 AM, but my body thought it was 5:45.  Darn Eastern time.

I made some breakfast, broke camp, and headed down to the lake for a recovery paddle.  Maks had assigned five sets of (13 min. on/2 min. off) in the "A1" stroke rate zone (about 60-75 spm).  I kept the rate in the low 60s and tried to relax and concentrate on good strokes and enjoy the overcast, slightly-drizzly morning.  Taylorsville Reservoir was created by the construction of a dam on the Salt River.  Situated in hilly terrain, it's one of those lakes that are easy to get lost on, with many fingers branching off the main channel.  I used my 2-minute rest breaks to look back and study where I'd come from so I could recognize it on the way back.

After paddling I stopped back at the campground bath house to grab a quick shower, then hit the road.  I wasn't headed back to Memphis: every year at this time (excepting last year, of course), my mom and my sister's family and I get together at Dauphin Island on the Alabama Gulf Coast for a little beach vacation.  It took me some 11 hours to make the trip down Interstate 65 through cities like Bowling Green, Nashville, Birmingham, Montgomery, and Mobile.  The weather was rainy most of the way down, and it really started to pour when I reached Mobile.  I grabbed the essentials form my truck, found shelter in our rented condo, and soon was in bed for a much-needed sleep.  I slept well, but the way I'm feeling this morning I don't expect I'll be doing much more than lying around like a slug today.  Maks has sent me a workout plan for the week but I don't even want to think about that any sooner than tomorrow.

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Working and resting and preparing to race

I mentioned in my last post how worn out I was from the previous two weeks of training.  I finally had a day off on Monday, and I basically crashed.  I got a modest amount of work done around the house and in the workshop, but I spent much of the day just lying around like a slug.

The rest did me some good: by Tuesday morning I was feeling fresh again.  I went to the river and did eight sets of (1 minute at 60 strokes per minute/1 min. at 50 spm/1 min. at 70 spm/1 min. at 50 spm/1 min. at 60 spm).  I did this with some extra weight in the boat.  The main objective was to maintain good posture and stroke mechanics and keep my blade pressure consistent throughout all the various stroke rates.  It was a pretty easy workout; it took more mental concentration, thinking about the varying stroke rates, than physical exertion.

This entire week is intended to be an easy week, both because of the harder weeks I've just done and because of the race I've got coming up this Saturday.  In keeping with that, yesterday was a break from paddling: Maks told me to go out and do some "non-specific endurance" activity.  I got on my bike and rode the Greenline out to Shelby Farms and back.  I always enjoy riding the elevated section of trail through the Wolf River bottoms just east of Interstate 240.  I was expecting the Wolf to be swollen from the heavy rain we'd had overnight, but it wasn't really.

I was back in the boat this morning doing another session with extra weight in the boat.  For me, the "extra weight" is a few barbell plates stacked in the space just fore of my surfski's footboard.  Usually I make it 12.5 pounds, which is about 5.67 kilograms.  Putting extra weight in the boat increases blade pressure on your paddle without killing your glide like a resistor does.  As Maks puts it, its purpose is "to stimulate you into feeling the catch and pull phase of the stroke even better."

Today's workout was five sets of (8 minutes on/2 minutes off).  It was a somewhat tiring endurance session but it didn't beat my body up too badly two days before a race.

I leave in the morning for Taylorsville Reservoir in Kentucky.  I expect it to take me around six hours.

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Monday photo feature

Elaine Harold of Louisville, Kentucky, and Alessia Faverio of Asheville, North Carolina, race in the South Carolina low country last September.  I think I see some palmettos in the background.

This Saturday I'll be joining a couple of dozen other athletes for a race on Taylorsville Reservoir near Mount Eden, Kentucky.  Elaine is among those signed up to race.  The last I checked Alessia wasn't signed up, but I hope she knows we'd love to see her there.

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Fighting through some tribulations

It's the Memorial Day holiday weekend here in the U.S., when people like to fire up their backyard grills.  I was invited to some friends' backyard function yesterday afternoon, so I had to do some shuffling of my training schedule.  That was merely one of the difficulties that cropped up this weekend.

Friday morning I did a gym session and then headed down to the river to do seven sets of (4 minutes on/1 minute off) at a "strong" A1 stroke rate.  Unfortunately, several minutes after I left the dock my G.P.S. device flashed a message that its battery was low, and then shut down on me.  That was odd because I had charged it up just a couple of days earlier, and all spring one recharge per week had been adequate for my seven in-the-boat workouts each week.  Anyway, there I was with no way to time myself and no cadence sensor.  So I had to improvise.  Maks had suggested a "70ish spm" stroke rate, so for each piece I paddled at my best guess of what that rate should be, and did 280 strokes.  Then I took what seemed to me like a 1-minute break.  I doubt that what I did was accurate to the letter of what Maks had assigned, but I got a workout that was in keeping with the spirit of it.

The episode was a reminder that we depend on these gadgets at our peril.  I think I've had my G.P.S. device for close to ten years, and that makes it a Methuselah in the world of modern electronics.

My plan for Friday afternoon was to do the workout scheduled for Saturday morning.  My mail arrived while I was at home having lunch, and that added another item to my afternoon agenda: the surfski that I keep down at the dock was due for new rudder lines, and the new lines, which I'd ordered from the Epic Kayaks east Tennessee office, arrived in the mail.  Changing the lines in a surfski is never as simple as it ought to be; every time I do it it seems to make me want to shout a few expletives at the top of my lungs.  But I wasn't thinking about that as I headed back to the river Friday afternoon.  I figured I would spend 20 or 30 minutes changing out the lines and then fussing with them until the pedals were moving the rudder to my liking, and then I would hop in the boat and execute the workout that my coach had designed just for me.

It didn't go well.  After toiling in vain to get the new lines to feed through the tubes that run through the boat's bowels, I realized that said tubes were broken.  Lacking the tools to address such a problem, I stood there on the dock with a boat that I couldn't really paddle.  So I came back home with a feeling of utter defeat.

I'm a regimented sort who bristles whenever there's a job to do and I fail to get it done.  But skipping that workout might not have been the worst thing for me at that moment.  I was feeling tired to the core, not just from the morning's gym and paddling sessions, but from the last couple of weeks in general, in which I'd faced the hardest training of the year so far.  I'd been trying to grin and bear it, knowing that next week will be easier, but I was feeling pretty beat-up.  My arm and shoulder muscles were achy, and by yesterday morning it felt like I might have strained something in my right shoulder/pectoral area.  Maybe it happened during the gym session, or maybe it happened during the pretty hard paddling I did Friday morning--those lower-stroke-rate "power-paddling" workouts are as tough on my body as anything I do in the boat.

In any case, I knew I had to proceed with caution in yesterday morning's workout.  I took one of my other boats down to the riverfront and eased into a 20-minute warmup.  It didn't seem that I was stressing the ailing area directly, so I proceeded with three sets of (4 minutes at 80 spm/1 minute rest/3 minutes at 80 spm/1 minute rest/1 minute all-out).  Maks described it as a "hard VO2 Max session designed to challenge you when you are the most tired--in the last minute of the set."  And I most definitely was tired by that last minute; I struggled to paddle at more than 100 spm.  But overall I felt pretty good in the boat; there was never that moment when I wondered whether I would make through the whole workout.  Knowing that this was my last hard session of the current training block helped a lot.  Meanwhile, my recharged G.P.S. device seemed to be back working just fine, and I was pleased not to have to go get a new one for the time being.

Yesterday afternoon I had a lovely time in my friends' backyard, thank you very much.

This morning my right shoulder/pectoral area still felt a little off, but perhaps slightly improved since yesterday.  I take it as a good sign that yesterday's hard workout didn't make it worse.  Today's session was a calm 80-minute paddle--just what I needed to smooth my technique back out and let my muscles relax after a couple of tough weeks.  This coming week will be an easier one, and I'll be attending a race on Saturday.  If the race were right now I'd be in big trouble, but with any luck by Saturday I'll be feeling rested, focused, and ready to do well.

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Working to build some power

On Tuesday morning I got in the boat, warmed up for ten minutes, and did two sets of five (3 minutes on/2 minutes off) at 68-70 strokes per minute, with some extra weight in the boat.  I put as much power into each stroke as I could, trying to explode through each one while maintaining good form.  I wasn't halfway through the first piece when I realized that this workout was tougher than it had looked to me on paper.  I wasn't particularly winded but I was really feeling it in my arms, and of course that's how it's supposed to be in these power-building sessions.

It was mostly sunny and hot Tuesday, but yesterday it was overcast and cooler, and a steady drizzle fell the whole time I was in the boat.  I warmed up and did three sets of five (90 seconds on/90 seconds off) at 80 spm.  I had "big" resistance on the boat for the first set, moderate resistance for the second set, and no resistance for the third set.  For the second straight day, my muscles took a beating.  Maks told me to "make sure you catch just as well when the resistance is smaller," and I think I did that--the last set with no resistance seemed just as hard as the first set with big resistance.

Hotter weather was back today.  It was perhaps the closest thing to an "easy day" I'll have this week: a sprint session.  I did four sets of (10 seconds on/110 seconds off/20 seconds on/160 seconds off/30 seconds on).  Maks didn't specify a recovery interval after the 30-second sprint (i.e., between the sets), so I made it 210 seconds, just to keep the arithmetic sequence going.  Maks also didn't say whether to do flying starts or standing starts, so I decided to do flying starts for the 10-second sprints, so I could get as many strokes as possible in those ten seconds, while starting the 20- and 30-second sprints from rest, because I feel like i can never get enough start practice.

The sprints went smoothly enough.  The hardest thing about them was that my muscles were tired from the previous two days.

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Monday photo feature

I've done my share of paddling in the rain, but I never had any decent photos of it because of the obvious issues with using a camera in the rain.  But last Tuesday, as I paddled with Joe Royer in the harbor, a storm cell moved in and doused us for some ten minutes, and Joe decided to capture the joyous moment with his smart phone.  The wet screen gave him some trouble as he tried to get the device to respond to his finger-touches, but at last he was able to shoot this photograph.

Like most people, I tend to cherish the pleasant sunny days out on the water.  But rivers and lakes have a distinct beauty in inclement weather that's well worth whatever small amount of discomfort you might experience when paddling on such days.

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Rising temperatures and intensity levels

The solstice is still a month off, but summer is definitely on its way here in the Mid South.  This weekend the mercury is rising above 90 degrees Fahrenheit for the first time this year.  I think I last had the heat on in my house in mid to late March, and for the last six or eight weeks I've been savoring the time of year when I can be comfortable with the windows open and the ceiling fans running.  But I'm afraid the time has come to turn on the central air conditioning.

Fortunately the Mississippi River, where there's almost always a breeze blowing, is a nice place to be on a hot day.  That's where I went after a gym session Friday morning.  I did four sets of (5 minutes at 60 strokes per minute/3 minutes at 64 spm/2 minutes at 68 spm).  Maks didn't specify how much power I should exert, so I kept it moderate because I was tired from the past several days and I knew some tough sessions were coming up this weekend.  There was quite a stiff wind blowing from the southeast and it was very choppy out on the Mississippi, and maintaining these low stroke rates in those conditions took some extra discipline and focus.  So it was a good balance workout and an exercise for my brain even though I wasn't killing my body.

One thing I've learned is that a typical Maks Frančeškin workout encourages contrasts of one kind or another, and that was the case again yesterday morning.  I did two sets of a pair of (4 times 1 minute on/1 minute off).  Within each set, I did the first four pieces at 50 spm and the second four at 70 spm.  Maks's instructions were to put as much power as I could into the lower-stroke-rate pieces and then paddle smooth and calm at the higher stroke rate.  And so, oddly, the 50-spm pieces hurt a little more than the 70-spm ones.  I wouldn't say they really hurt, actually, but they were rather strenuous just the same.

I did part of the workout out on the Mississippi, and as I was finishing the first set a barge rig was coming downriver generating some decent-looking waves.  So I took a break between sets to surf a little.  The waves weren't the juiciest I've ever seen but they were playful and even a bit downwind-like in their behavior, so I got a tiny bit of practice in the skills I'll need out in the Columbia Gorge in July.  I take whatever I can get around here.

Yesterday afternoon it was time for a workout that would hurt: two sets of four (60 seconds on/60 seconds off) followed by two sets of six (15 seconds on/15 seconds off), all at high intensity.  In the first set of 60-second pieces I paddled around 100 spm; in the second set I lowered that slightly, to around 96-98 spm.  I took a 7-minute break after each of those first two sets.  When I got to the 15-second pieces I paddled at as high a rate as I could--close to 120 spm.  I could feel my form breaking down a bit, and during the 4 minutes I took between sets I paddled very easy with the best strokes I could to get it back.  The first two sprints in the last set felt smooth, but then I started falling apart again.

Then it was over.  I've mentioned in the past that these "lactic capacity" sessions are painful, but they go by quickly.  The endorphin rush had me feeling good once I was back on the dock.  Maks promises that I "will reap huge benefits" from this workout later on, so that's something to be happy about.

Today it was time to calm everything back down with the usual Sunday endurance paddle.  This week it was broken up into five 13-minute pieces with 2 minutes recovery after each one.  The stroke rates were 60 spm, then 64 spm, then 68 spm, then 64 spm, then 60 spm.  At these low rates it was a good time to concentrate on stroke mechanics and good posture in the boat.

That's it for a rather tough week!  I think there's at least one more substantial week in the current cycle, so I'll try to get some rest during my day off tomorrow and dive back in on Tuesday.

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No rest for the wicked

Last week's training plan was easier than it might have been because of my race on Saturday.  When Maks sent me this week's plan he said it would be pretty tough, and I do believe he wasn't kidding.

When I went to the river Tuesday morning there was a system of storms moving through the region, and while I got rained on only just a little, there was an east wind blowing that sort of swirled and whipped all over the place, especially under the bridges.  The workout was two sets of five 5-minute pieces with 1 minute recovery, with some extra weight in the boat.  The first set was to be done at 60 strokes per minute, and the second at 68 spm.  In the early going it didn't seem like a big deal, but I was starting to feel it in my arms by the last piece of the first set, and then the second set with the higher stroke rate was more taxing, especially the last piece.

Yesterday's workout was pretty substantial: five 1000-meter pieces at 76-84 spm, starting every 12th minute.  Maks told me to shoot for consistent times for all five.  I was hoping to break 5 minutes for them all, but the weather was still unsettled: a strong, gusty wind was blowing from the east-southeast, meaning I would often be paddling in a beam wind in the harbor.  So I told myself not to get all upset if I couldn't break 5:00 in all of them.

As it turned out, I did break 5:00 in all of them: 4:58, 4:49, 4:53, 4:48, 4:47.  I think the faster pieces took place in a more favorable wind, while the slower ones were the result of beam winds blowing me around.

Going into yesterday's workout I didn't feel particularly fazed, because I'd just done a race last Saturday that amounted to a series of 1000s.  Surely a mere five 1000s with 7 minutes to recover in between would be no big deal.  But nope!  Yesterday's workout was tough.  Last Saturday I had the excitement of competition and the flow of adrenaline, whereas yesterday I had to rely on sheer will to get it done.  I did feel good once it was over with.

Today was yet another windy day.  I went to the river and did a "sprint session with contrast": six sets of (15-second all-out sprint/2-minute rest/150 meters at 80 spm with moderate resistance/3-minute rest).  The idea was to carry the power from the 150-meter pieces into the short sprints.

So far this week of training has me good and tired, with a pretty loaded weekend still to come.

Meanwhile, here's an update on the Hernando DeSoto Bridge situation that I talked about last week: the span remains closed to automobile traffic, but river traffic has been allowed to resume.  Local paddler and friend Adam Davis paddled out there and shot a few photos, including this one:

The steel beam is sheared about 75% through, according to Adam.  Transportation authorities have announced a repair plan, but it could be some months before the bridge is back open.

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Race schedule update

Now that another race has been run, it's time to look ahead.  The events listed below are the ones I'm currently aware of and either will or might attend in 2021.

June

5  Taylorsville Lake Paddle Battle.  Taylorsville Reservoir, Mount Eden, Kentucky.  A 10-mile (16-km) flatwater race.  Register

July

15-17  Gorge Downwind Championships.  Columbia River, Stevenson, Washington.  A race (course yet to be determined) in the legendary downwind conditions of the Columbia River Gorge on the border between Oregon and Washington.

August

7  Ohio River Paddlefest.  Ohio River, Cincinnati, Ohio.  A 9-mile (14.5-km) race down this major artery of the Midwest United States.  Register

October

9  River Rat Canoe and Kayak Race.  Ouachita River, West Monroe, Louisiana.  A 6.5-mile (10.5-km) race down a Class I river.

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Monday photo feature

At the Chitimacha canoe and kayak race on Bayou Teche from Jeanerette to Charenton on Saturday, Kim Schulte of Mandeville, Louisiana, was the top female finisher.  She's pictured in the foreground here, moving out from the starting line with Denise D'Abundo, Nathanial LeBlanc and Toni Darden, and Elmer Landry.  Photo by Tom Schulte.

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Monday music feature

In Friday's post I referred to the song "Ode to Billy Joe."  It was a hit for Bobby Gentry, but for me the definitive version is this recording by Mr. Yusuf Hazziez (born Joseph Arrington, Jr.), who performed under the name Joe Tex.  Give it a listen and you'll want to go spit some watermelon seeds up there on Choctaw Ridge.

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Racing in the Bayou

I woke up yesterday morning after a poor night of sleep thanks to some particularly obnoxious neighbors in the campground at Morgan City.  There must have been a yahoo convention in town.  I'd set my alarm for 5 AM but woke up around 4:20, and I decided to go ahead and get out of that place.  The race site was still about 40 miles up the road, and along the way I stopped at a gas station for a cup of coffee.  I sat on my truck's tailgate in the parking lot and had some cereal and some fruit as dawn broke in the eastern sky.

I reached the town of Jeanerette, where the race was to start, just before 7 o'clock.  The registration list was small but full of familiar faces, and gradually they began to trickle in.  The race organizers had arranged a shuttle van, so we unloaded our boats and gear on the banks of Bayou Teche at Jeanerette and then moved our vehicles down to the finish at Charenton.

My neck and back were stiff after my unrestful night, and I stretched my entire body and did my best to work out the kinks.  Race directors Ray Pellerin and Scott Moore welcomed the participants in a ceremony that included the mayor of Jeanerette and other local officials.  (Longtime racing friend Tave Lamperez was originally the race director, but sadly was not present as he attended the funeral of his mother.)  As 10 o'clock approached we were in our boats drifting toward the starting line for the 10-mile (16-kilometer) journey down the bayou to Charenton.  From what I could tell, the river seemed to be flowing at about 0.9 mile per hour.

At 10 AM sharp the mayor blew a loud air horn, and off we went.  I sprinted into the lead and checked my peripheral vision to see who would give chase.  200 meters in it was clear that my main competition was just who I'd expected it would be, Christian Massow of Cypress, Texas.  A native Hamburger who now works as an engineer in the Houston area, Christian was a member of the German national team several decades ago.  In more recent years he has been taking masters titles at the 200-, 500-, and 1000-meter distances at the U.S. national flatwater sprint regatta.  In short, he's a formidable adversary.

I led with Christian on my starboard wake for the first two kilometers.  Then I backed off and let him take the lead.  I was feeling good in the boat and boldly I made a plan to control the plot line of the race: I would draft for a kilometer, then lead for a kilometer, then draft for a kilometer, and so on.

But not long after I retook the lead at the 3-kilometer mark, the unexpected happened: Christian dropped off the pace, leaving me all alone.  Sure, it was a lucky break for me in a way, but now I had the challenge of staying focused and keeping my boat moving with authority for another 12-plus kilometers.  I decided to stick to the same basic plan: push the pace every other kilometer while backing off ever so slightly during the other kilometers.

So that's what I did, and as the race went on I realized that I was averaging faster than 5 minutes per kilometer.  I was excited about that until I remembered that I had almost a mile-per-hour current helping me along.  Then again, I was paddling into a pretty good headwind for the entire race that probably offset some of that benefit.  I tried not to overthink it and just appreciate the fact that I was feeling good.  While a racer never likes a headwind, it was nice to have it keeping me cool as the temperature rose toward 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

By 12 kilometers I was definitely feeling some fatigue setting in.  I lowered the stroke rate a bit during my "on" kilometers while trying to continue taking powerful strokes.  As I moved past the one-hour mark, I set a goal of finishing the race under 80 minutes, assuming it was a precise 16 km.

As it turned out, the course wasn't quite 16 kilometers: my G.P.S. device measured it at about 15.2 km (9.4 miles).  I crossed the finish line with a time of one hour, 15 minutes, 14 seconds.

Pleased with my effort, I ferried to the far bank and paddled easily back upriver to watch the other competitors come in.  I fully expected to see Christian not far back, but it turned out he had faded back into third.  The fourth-place overall finisher was also the first female: Kim Schulte of Mandeville, Louisiana, looked strong as she finished under an hour and a half.

The complete results are as follows:

1.  ELMORE HOLMES, K1 race male 1:15:14

2.  BRAD REX, K1 race male 1:22:48

3.  CHRISTIAN MASSOW, K1 race male 1:26:04

4.  KIMBERLY SCHULTE, K1 race female 1:27:40

5.  ELMER LANDRY, K1 race male 1:32:55

6.  MATTHEW BONDURA, K1 race male 1:35:16

7.  DENISE D'ABUNDO, K1 race female 1:46:02

8.  JOEY STRUM, C1 race male 1:50:58

9.  TONI DARDEN AND NATHANIAL LEBLANC, K2 rec mixed 2:02:08

10.  JILL SHOREY, K1 rec female 2:02:22

11.  CYNTHIA BOYER, K1 rec female 2:39:14

Christian had in fact "bonked" in the race--he cited an inadequate nutrition plan--and was understandably frustrated afterward.  I assured him that I'd had a few such days myself and probably will have a few more before I'm all done racing.  He's a quality athlete and person and I have no doubt he'll be back.  I first raced Christian nine years ago at Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and he beat me by some three and a half minutes on that 15-kilometer course.  Since then he and I have been pretty evenly matched, with him beating me sometimes and me beating him sometimes.  I suppose I could think of yesterday's victory as payback for that spanking he laid on me back in 2012.

I loaded my boat on the car, changed into dry clothes, socialized a bit with the other racers, and enjoyed the hamburger lunch that the race organizers provided.  There were a few burgers left over and Mister Ray insisted I take a second one, and I gladly wolfed it down.  As soon as the awards had been handed out I embarked on the trip home.  The hardest part was getting out of the state of Louisiana: because of the swampy terrain of southern Louisiana, there's no direct way to drive anywhere, and a wreck on Interstate 10 near Baton Rouge slowed my progress to a crawl for a while.  Once I was headed north on Interstate 55 I finally began to click off the miles.  Once the sun went down I was able to pick up KMOX from Saint Louis on my AM radio: the Cardinals were playing a late-evening game on the west coast, so I had that for entertainment north of Jackson.  I arrived home around 10 PM.  I was grateful to be crashing in my own bed.

I woke up this morning still feeling the effects of all the stress my body had experienced both in and out of the boat.  I took the time to do some full-body stretching, and it was late morning by the time I got down to the river.  Maks had assigned some "easy endurance" paddling for the day after my race, 60 to 75 minutes in duration.  I made it 70.  I've spent the rest of today unpacking the car and putting gear away and settling back into normal life.

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Race week training

The week started overcast, breezy, and cool with some occasional showers.  It was a little annoying having to get some of my cooler-weather clothing back out, but the truth is we’ll be missing this kind of weather by mid-summer.

On Tuesday I went out and did what Maks called an “aerobic pyramid”: three 18-minute pieces with 2 minutes recovery in between, paddling at 64 strokes per minute for the first and third pieces and at 68 spm for the second.  The biggest challenge over an 18-minute piece is keeping my mind on task so that my stroke rate doesn’t wander all over the place.  I used the time to visualize what this Saturday’s race might be like.  I’ve always been pretty good at staying laser-focused on what’s happening in a race, but one can never get too much practice.

Wednesday was breezy and cool again but the sun was out.  My workout was four sets of four (1 minute on/1 minute off) at 80 spm, with "big resistance" (all three golf whiffle balls) for the first set, no resistance for the second set, "moderate resistance" (two balls) for the third, and no resistance for the fourth.  It was the latest of many power-building workouts, this time at the pace of a longish race like the one this Saturday.  The pieces with resistance were tough, but not as painful as I thought they might be.

Yesterday morning I went out for a sprint session: eight 15-second sprints, with a flying start every 4th minute.  It was a good workout to do two days before a race.  Maks told me to put all the power I had into them, and I also focused on staying smooth.  I've long thought a smooth sprint is a good sprint, just like in my woodworking shop I believe that seamless joinery is strong joinery, and just like a rock climber will tell you that a neat knot in a rope is a strong knot.

It was beautiful down on the riverfront yesterday morning, with clear blue skies and a lighter breeze than we'd had the previous few days.  It was dead calm on the Mississippi, and I did a couple of my sprints out there.

Readers here in the U.S. have likely heard the news about the Hernando DeSoto Bridge that carries Interstate 40 over the Mississippi here at Memphis: it's shut down indefinitely, for reasons detailed in this article.  Even barge traffic on the river is suspended while authorities determine whether the bridge can continue supporting its own weight.  I've paddled under the part of the bridge that spans the harbor, but I haven't yet tried to paddle under it out on the main river, so it remains to be seen whether any law enforcement types have a problem with me doing that.  Whatever the case, it's a serious disruption of both a major road artery across this nation and the continent's biggest waterway.

This morning it was time to hit the road, bound for the Louisiana Bayou Country for tomorrow's race.  Maks had given me a pre-race workout to do, so I planned to do that en route.  When I’m traveling down through Mississippi my go-to training site is usually Enid Reservoir in Yalobusha County, but today I had a small item of business to take care of in the Delta town of Sumner, so I looked for another alternative.  The Tallahatchie River, made famous in the Bobby Gentry song “Ode to Billy Joe,” flows near Sumner, so when I crossed a bridge over what looked like a river on my way out of town, I decided to stop and paddle.

The water was muddy, just as Ms. Gentry sang.  But once I was on the water I noticed there was very little current even by Delta standards, and several hundred meters from the highway bridge the riverbed disappeared into dense vegetation.  I suspected that I must not be on the main Tallahatchie, but one of its oxbows (a check of the Google map later confirmed this).  Fortunately there was plenty of water from the recent storms in the area, and the oxbow was long in the other direction, so it worked just fine for my workout.  It was two sets of (6 times 1 minute on/1 minute off at 60 spm and 4 times 45 seconds on/75 seconds off at 76 spm).  I used light resistance on the boat so I could really feel the pressure on the blades.

I expect not too many surfskis get paddled in the Tallahatchie watershed or anyplace else in the Mississippi Delta.  In any case, thanks to all my moseying around in northern Mississippi, it was dark by the time I got to where I’m spending the night, at a campground in Morgan City, Louisiana.  My site was hard to find in the dark—just my luck, I didn’t think to bring a flashlight—and the place is crowded with noisy people.  Sigh... Time to try to get some rest.

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Monday photo feature

It's just about time for my second race of 2021.  This Saturday I plan to participate in the Chitimacha canoe and kayak race on Bayou Teche in southern Louisiana.  The 10-mile (16-km) race starts at the town of Jeanerette and finishes at Charenton, passing through a part of the Chitimacha Nation.

The current weather forecast for the Bayou Country calls for mostly-sunny skies and Fahrenheit temperatures in the low 80s this weekend.

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A mostly laid-back weekend

As the easy week continued, I had just a gym session to do on Friday.

Friday was a gorgeous day, but by yesterday morning it had turned overcast and chilly with some rain moving through the area.  In the boat I wore the same thing I'd been wearing all week--a pair of swim trunks and a short-sleeve shirt--and at first I thought I was underdressed, but once I got going I felt fine.  The workout was three sets of four (90 seconds on/90 seconds off) at 76-80 strokes per minute.  I did the first set with moderate resistance on the boat, the second set with small resistance, and the third set with no resistance.  So it started hard but got easier with each set.  I focused pretty hard on my stroke mechanics; I'd been working on those bugs in my stroke a lot at lower stroke rates, and now I had a chance to carry whatever progress I'd made to a higher rate.

This morning a thunderstorm with strong winds blew in just as I was walking down the ramp to the dock.  The rain didn't last more than ten minutes or so, but I ended up paddling in a 15-20 knot south wind.  I stayed in the harbor where I would have some shelter.  I concluded my "easy" week with a scaled-back version of the typical Sunday workout: three sets of (5 minutes at 60 spm/3 minutes at 64 spm/2 minutes at 68 spm).  Just a nice aerobic session with a lot of stroke practice.

Tomorrow is a day off, and then I guess I'll be back to serious business Tuesday.

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Taking it easy

Joe and I did a very easy loop of the harbor Tuesday morning.  It had rained heavily overnight and more storms would pass through in the afternoon, but we enjoyed a nice window that morning.  When the messy weather finally moved out there was some cooler, drier air behind it, and yesterday and today have been sunny and delightful.

This is an "easy" week between more substantial training blocks.  Such a week typically includes the same types of workouts that I do during a harder week, but the intensity is lower or the reps are fewer or the recovery intervals are longer.  Yesterday morning I did three sets of two (5 minutes on/1 minute off) with some extra weight in the boat--an "aerobic power session."  I did the first set at 56 strokes per minute, the second at 60 spm, and the third at 64 spm.

Today it was time for what Maks called "a true speed session--long breaks, short efforts, and flying starts."  I did twelve 10-second all-out sprints at 3-minute intervals.  I did what I always try to do during short sprints: move my body as smoothly as I can, with all muscles firing in unison.  I was getting in about 20 strokes in each sprint, meaning I was doing about 120 spm.  That's about as fast as I can make my body turn over while still having a decent amount of control.

The easy week continues through the weekend.  I'm hoping it'll be restful and enjoyable.

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Monday photo feature

For those of you just tuning into this blog, allow me to re-introduce the coach I'm working with over the Internet this season: Maks Frančeškin of Ljubljana, Slovenia.  Anybody interested in learning more about Maks's coaching services should visit his website.  Also, Face Book users can "like" his page, "MaksFit," on that social media platform.

This might come as a shock, but I am not Maks's highest-profile athlete.  He's just wrapped up a few weeks of selection trials in which his Slovenian athletes were vying for the chance to compete internationally in flatwater sprint, whitewater slalom, and downriver (wildwater) racing.

As a result of these trials, one of Maks's athletes is now an Olympian: Eva Terčelj (pictured above) will compete in women's kayak slalom at Tokyo this summer.  She comes in as the reigning world champion, having taken the title at La Seu d'Urgell, Spain, in 2019.

Maks will be busy the rest of the summer as well, as at least a dozen of his athletes will represent Slovenia in other international competitions.  Simon Oven, Anze Urankar, Tim Novak, Ana Steblaj will race in the senior world championships and European championships; Ana Steblaj, Urban Novak, Ziva Jancar, Nejc Gradisek will race in the under-23 worlds and the World Cup series; and Tjas Til Kupsch, Matevz Kampjut, Nika Ozimc, Sara Globokar, Helena Domajnko have qualified for the junior world championships.

If I ever make it over to Slovenia, perhaps I'll have the honor of getting spanked in a workout or two by some of these athletes.

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Another loaded weekend

I started off Friday with a gym session before heading down to the river.  I did a speed session in the boat: two sets of five 20-second sprints.  Within each set I started at 2-minute intervals, and I took a 5-minute break between sets.  Per Maks's instructions, I did a flying start for three of the sprints in each set, and started from rest in the other two.

When paddling "all-out" it's hard to focus on all the various stroke mechanics, but in general I feel like I'm sprinting well if my body is moving fluidly.  My first couple of sprints felt a bit sloppy, but eventually I smoothed things out.

Yesterday morning's session consisted of six times (2 minutes on/1 minute off) at 50 strokes per minute and four times (3 minutes on/1 minute off) at 64 spm.  I used these lower-stroke-rate pieces to concentrate on the mechanics that I'd had to breeze over on Friday.

Yesterday afternoon's workout was one I'd been eying with some trepidation all week.  It was two sets of four (30 seconds on/30 seconds off) followed by two sets of six (15 seconds on/15 seconds off), all done at an A3 stroke rate (more than 90 spm).  The objective, as described by Maks, was "developing lactic capacity via short bursts of heavy intensity efforts combined with equally short breaks.  To put it short--your goal is to 'kill' yourself doing it!"  At least he put "kill" in quotation marks.

In the first set of 30/30s I used a stroke rate a little under 100 spm, and while it was plenty tiring, I didn't feel like it "killed" me.  So when I started the second set about five minutes later, I bumped it up to around 106-108.  Now I was starting to get killed.  Once I was doing the 15/15s I nudged the rate up even a bit more, and my heart rate went with it.

And then... the workout was over.  That's the good thing about these intense lactic sessions--they go by quickly.  There's not much time to think about how miserable you are.  I did a nice long cool-down, and once I was back on the dock I felt better than I'd felt before paddling.  When I paddled with Dawid Mocke in South Africa last year, he called it the "post-workout chill."  It's endorphins, basically.  By the time I was back home the endorphins had worn off and I was tired, but it felt good to have another good workout in the bank.

I wearily got myself back to the river this morning for the last session of the training block: a 90-minute paddle.  It was calm out on the Mississippi with just a mild south wind and no barge traffic in sight.  I tried to relax, take good strokes, and enjoy the river.  There's an easier week coming up--a chance for my body to rebuild itself.

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My non-athletic life clashes with my athletic one

I probably didn't get as much rest as I should have on my "rest day" (Monday).  I spent several hours doing some small-scale logging as part of a project for my woodworking business.  Even small-scale logging is some heavy-duty work, for the simple reason that logs are heavy.  I was careful and managed not to tweak my back, but I wore out my arms swinging a sledge hammer at steel wedges.

It was a rousing start to the last week of the current training block.  Next week will be an easier week, but for now, things are gonna get harder before they get easier.  Tuesday morning I put some extra weight in the boat for the following workout: five sets of (4 minutes at 50 strokes per minute/3 minutes at 60 spm/2 minutes at 70 spm/1 minute at 80 spm).  The rest intervals were 1 minute between pieces and 2 minutes between sets.  As usual, a main objective was to carry the precision and power of the lower stroke rates into the higher stroke rates.  I was sore from Monday's labor and it took a while for those muscles to loosen up; by the end of this long, grinding workout I could feel my power giving out.

I was still a bit on the sore side as I headed back to the river yesterday morning.  The workout was a tough one: three sets of two 750-meter pieces at 76 spm.  The first piece of each set was to be done with moderate resistance (two golf whiffle balls) and the second without resistance (well, except for the bungee cord).  Said Maks, "It will feel like suffering, flying, suffering..."  Maks didn't specify a recovery interval, so I figured that out on the fly: I started the second piece of a set 8 minutes after I'd started the first piece, and I started the first piece of a new set 9 minutes after I'd started the second piece of the previous set.

"Suffering" is the right word for what those pieces with resistance felt like.  I tried not to stress myself over the lack of glide and just take the best strokes I could.  As for the pieces without resistance, Maks told me "It is extremely important that you maximize your stroke efficiency--that you really anchor well." If anything struck me as a bit surprising, it was that my no-resistance pieces were not all that faster than my pieces with resistance.  I was clocking just over 4 minutes with resistance and just under 3:50 without. Then again, the 15-second-or-so difference is a lot, I guess, for 750 meters--if you get beat by 15 seconds in a 750-meter race, you've been beaten bad.

This morning I woke up to pouring rain.  By the time I got down to the river the heaviest rain had moved out, but light rain continued to move in and out as I paddled.  I did two sets of four (4 minutes on/1 minute off), alternating between 60 spm and 70 spm.  I tried to put solid power into each stroke and maintain good mechanics.  The workout was straightforward enough, but I was disheartened by all the floating trash that the rain had washed into the harbor.  Between the Hernando DeSoto Bridge and the harbor mouth the surface was covered in a thick layer of bottles, cans, toys, grocery bags, and styrofoam.  I believe it had washed out of the Wolf River and drifted down the Mississippi River, and then been blown by the south wind up into the harbor.  In other words, I was paddling in litter that had originated everywhere from north Mississippi to Fayette County to Shelby County both inside and outside the city of Memphis.  Sometimes I just about have to hang my head and cry because it seems like we've lost this fight.

Anyway... it's been a substantial training week, and the weekend is yet to come.

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Monday photo feature

In case any readers don't know what I'm talking about when I talk about adding resistance to the boat, here's a photo of how I do it.  It's just a thin bungee cord with several golf whiffle balls on it, wrapped around the boat just aft of the seat bucket where I can reach it.  Sliding one or more of the balls down below the waterline creates drag, forcing me to put more power into my strokes.

The bungee cord itself creates a bit of drag.  If the workout calls for "small resistance," I slide one whiffle ball down underwater.  For "moderate resistance," I use two.  For "big resistance," I use all three of the balls shown here.  For any greater resistance than that, I'll have to go pick up some more whiffle balls.

I'd love to tell you that this method of adding resistance is my original idea, but it's not.  Canoe and kayak racers have been doing it this way for many, many years.

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Some hard training along with some "posture and technic"

On Friday morning I did a gym session and then headed down to the river.  It was a cool 55 degrees Fahrenheit, but warming up toward an afternoon high in the high 60s.  It was cloudy with some intermittent drizzle.  After a 15-minute warmup, I did two sets of eight 10-second sprints, starting at the top of each minute.  Maks told me to use "small resistance" on the boat, so I made it one golf whiffle ball. In between sets I gave myself seven minutes of easy paddling to move some fresh blood into my muscles and smooth my stroke back out.  I felt more fluid and efficient in the second set than in the first.

A decent amount of rain fell overnight and yesterday morning it was cloudy and damp and about 60 degrees.  I got in the boat and did a calm 40-minute paddle--Maks called it a "wake up" session, and that was what I needed because I was feeling pretty lethargic.

The cool, gloomy, rainy-ish weather continued all day yesterday.  I'm not sure I had much more giddy-up in the afternoon than I'd had in the morning, but I had a bigger workout to do regardless.  It was four sets of (3 minutes at 76 strokes per minute/1 minute rest/2 minutes at 80 spm/1 minute rest/1 minute at 84 spm), starting every 12th minute.  For some reason I hadn't thought the session looked like a big deal on paper, but once I was doing it I realized it was a bear.  Maks instructed me to work the 3-minute piece hard and then "try surviving" the higher stroke rates; it hurt a bit, but I did survive.  Maks also reminded me to "maintain the posture and technic."  Posture in the boat is something I've been paying more attention to lately at the behest of the physical therapist who's helping me with my neck ailment.  She said that by rolling my pelvis back a little and sitting more erect, I would encourage more abdominal involvement while paddling and take some stress off my arms and shoulders.  This has of course been known for decades in the sport, but it's an easy thing to slack off on if you're not giving it your specific attention.  My therapist also urged me to keep my neck in a more neutral position, with the ears aligned with the hips, if that makes any sense.  It's another measure to keep stress off my sore trap muscle.

This morning it was warmer and not a cloud in the sky, and I felt more pep in my step.  As usual, Maks gave me a longer, steadier session to do on a Sunday.  It was five sets of (5 minutes at 56 spm/3 minutes at 60 spm/2 minutes at 64 spm).  "Same as always," Maks said, "technic is the first focus during this session!"  So I went out and worked some more on sitting erect and keeping my neck in that neutral position, as well as on the stroke components I need to improve, planting the blade precisely for the catch while my top hand is near my head.  As the session went on I tried to do all those things not so mechanically but more fluidly, so I wasn't bobbing the boat or jerking it around or anything like that.  Whew.  The rest intervals were 1 minute between pieces and 2 minutes between sets, and I think those were mental breaks more than anything else.  Focusing hard on every move the body makes can wear a guy out.

I'm not feeling quite as beat to the socks as I felt this time last week.  Maybe that's because I didn't do some extracurricular surfing like I did last weekend.  Whatever the case, it was a pretty substantial training week and I'll enjoy a rest day tomorrow before getting back at it on Tuesday.

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Three days with a little of everything

On Tuesday I did a workout with some pretty extreme stroke rate variation: two sets of four (1 minute at 50 strokes per minute/1 minute at 80 spm/1 minute at 50 spm/1 minute at 70 spm/2 minutes rest) with some extra weight in the boat.  The idea was to put high power into each stroke at 50 spm and then carry that into the higher stroke rates, and somehow I had as good a "feel" for that as I've had all spring.

I paddled in gorgeous weather on Tuesday: sunny skies with the temperature warming up toward an afternoon high of 75 degrees.  It was the sort of day when I didn't want to be anyplace else as I sat in my boat on the water.  Then early Tuesday evening a front came through, bringing gusty north winds and a small amount of rain, and the temperature plummeted some 25 degrees in the space of a half-hour.  It dropped into the 30s overnight, and when I got to the river yesterday morning at was 43 degrees.  Fortunately the sun was out, keeping the day from feeling too miserable.  Actually, once I was up in the north end of the harbor, where there's some shelter from the wind, it was right pleasant, if not as glorious as Tuesday had been.

Yesterday's workout was two sets of three (3 minutes at 76 spm with moderate resistance/2 minutes rest/1 minute at 76 spm without resistance/3 minutes rest).  That 3-minute piece with resistance was hard.  Looking at the workout on paper, I thought the 3-minute rest interval at the end seemed long, but I wanted every second of it once I was in the boat doing the workout.  The fun part was that the 1-minute piece without resistance felt like I was flying.

It got cold again last night, but today the sun was out again and by the time I got to the river this morning it was warming up nicely.  I did another one of those "bread & butter" workouts: three sets of (5 minutes at 60 spm/4 minutes at 64 spm/3 minutes at 68 spm/2 minutes at 72 spm), with a minute rest between pieces and 2 minutes between sets.  As I usually do during this kind of workout, I tried to put solid power into each stroke but also work on mechanics and staying smooth.  There was no barge traffic out on the Mississippi and I enjoyed doing most of the workout out there.

I'm still feeling tired from yesterday's resistance workout.  I hope I can get recovered a bit more for what should be a hefty weekend of work.

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Monday photo feature

The selection trials for the U.S. national team in whitewater slalom took place last week at Charlotte, North Carolina.  The team is now set for competition in the 2021 World Cup series.

It is also now known who will represent the U.S. in women's kayak and women's canoe at the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer.  In both classes it'll be 17-year-old Evy Leibfarth of Bryson City, North Carolina.  The photo above, shot by Wayne Meverden, shows a 10-year-old Evy racing at Wausau, Wisconsin, in 2014.  At that time she was showing all the signs of a child prodigy.  When she reached age 15--the minimum age to compete internationally at the senior level--in 2019, she immediately began winning medals in World Cup competition.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Olympians in men's kayak and men's canoe are yet to be determined, as no athlete has a decisive lead in the points system that the U.S. uses for selection.  These Olympic team spots will be settled at the World Cup event at Prague in June.

As for flatwater sprint racing, my understanding is that the U.S. will have one athlete in the regatta at Tokyo: 18-year-old Nevin Harrison of Gig Harbor, Washington.  Harrison is the reigning world champion in women's 200-meter single canoe.

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A lot of work with a fun-ish moment thrown in

Friday was a day for stressing some muscles.  It started with a gym session, after which I went to the river for a hard resistance workout.  I did six 150-meter pieces in the A3 (more than 90 strokes per minute) zone.  Maks said do them with "big resistance," so I slid all three of my golf whiffle balls under the boat.  The session was hard.  Not lactic-acid hard--each piece took me between 45 and 50 seconds, and starting every sixth minute, I had plenty of time for my body to recover for the next piece--but hard on the muscles.  Maks urged me to look for a stroke rate that struck the right balance among intensity, speed, and power; I did the first several up near 100 spm, while for the second three I tried to ease the rate down below 95.

Yesterday morning I put some extra weight in my boat and commenced paddling.  I did four sets of (3 minutes on/1 minute off) at 48-50 spm, and four sets of (3 minutes on/1 minute off) at 60 spm.  48-50 spm is quite a low stroke rate, and the biggest nuisance is that there's plenty of time between strokes for water to drip off my blade and onto my feet.  I had a nice puddle going after a half-hour or so.  It was cool--around 60 degrees Fahrenheit--but fortunately not freezing cold.  The upside of the low stroke rate is that it gave me a chance to work on my stroke mechanics: I had time to make sure I was immersing my blade while my top hand was near my ear.  Meanwhile, 60 spm is not a very high stroke rate either, but it felt high after paddling at 48-50.

That was just a warmup for a more stark juxtaposition of stroke rates yesterday afternoon.  The workout was four sets of (4 minutes at 60 spm/2 minutes at 80 spm/3 minutes at 64 spm/1 minute at 84 spm/2 minutes rest).

I started the first set in the harbor and continued it as I headed out onto the Mississippi.  There was a barge rig heading upriver and creating some nice-looking waves.  When I finished the first set, I hit "pause" on my workout and ferried out to see what kind of surfing I could do.  The towboat was a fair distance upstream of me and I couldn't get to the best waves, but with a lot of hard sprints I managed a handful of brief rides on the smaller bumps.  I finally tore myself away and returned my attention to the 75 percent of my workout that remained.  I started the second set out on the river but quickly returned to the harbor where I would have no more distractions.  It wasn't until the third set that my body had settled down from the surfing and my head was back into the task at hand.

As the weather and the water both get warmer, those towboat wakes will be more and more tempting.  Oh well... at least today it didn't stop me from completing the assigned workout.  By the time I was back at the dock I had that pleasantly tired feeling after laying down a pile of hard work on the Memphis riverfront.  Supper tasted good last night, and the night's sleep was even better.

I was definitely tired this morning as I settled into the usual Sunday longer paddle.  I did four sets of (6 minutes at 56 spm/4 minutes at 60 spm/3 minutes at 64 spm/2 minutes at 68 spm).  Maks encouraged me to use this session "to 'fix' all the little glitches that have happened to the stroke during an intensive week."  Once again I focused on keeping my top hand near my head at the catch.  The lower the stroke rate, the easier this was to do.  Another thing I spent some time with was trying to move my body fluidly throughout each stroke, and that was harder to do at the lower stroke rates because of the long pause between strokes.

Once again, Friday through Sunday was the part of the week that wore me down.  A gym session and four in-the-boat workouts (and some wake surfing, too!) is a lot to cram into three days, at least for this 53-year-old non-world-class talent.  I'll be savoring tomorrow's day off.

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Doing my part to (a) end the pandemic, and (b) make boats go fast

On Monday I received my second of the two Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine shots.  I understand that it'll take a couple more weeks for the concoction to reach its full effect, but it feels good to have jumped through the last hoop en route to "fully vaccinated" status.

The concern now, at least in my country, is the number of people who remain unvaccinated.  If we don't get the critical percentage of the population vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, then viral transmission will continue at a level that facilitates the development of variants that might break through the vaccine.  And that affects me and the millions of others who have done right by their duty as citizens of this nation and this world.  If you're refusing to get vaccinated on the grounds that it's "your right" or "your personal choice" or whatever, stop it.  Seriously.  Your behavior is a very real threat to the health and well-being of others.

I spent the rest of Monday sitting around waiting to see what the after-effects of my shot might be.  I think most people have had no major problems, but I do know a handful of people who felt quite ill for a day or more after that second shot.  It appears that I have gotten off light: all I ended up having was some soreness and some itching in my left deltoid area where I got jabbed.

On Tuesday it was time to get back down to business on the water.  Maks promises that this new training cycle will put an emphasis on power-building.  He started me off with one of his bread-and-butter sessions: three sets of (5 minutes at 60 strokes per minute/4 minutes at 64 spm/3 minutes at 68 spm/2 minutes at 72 spm), with a minute rest between the pieces and 2 minutes between sets.  I felt fresh and ready to go after last week's light training load.

We'd had a few days of deliciously warm weather, but by yesterday morning that was over.  It started raining not long after I woke up, and the temperature didn't rise above 60 degrees Fahrenheit until around lunchtime.  Most of my paddling session would take place in a steady light rain.  The workout was two sets of three times (2 minutes on/2 minutes off) at 76 spm with moderate resistance on the boat, and then two sets of three times (1 minute on/3 minutes off) at 76 spm with heavier resistance.  For moderate resistance I used two golf whiffle balls, and then I slid a third ball down beneath the boat for the heavier resistance.  The pieces were quite taxing, but I recovered quickly from each one and felt reasonably fresh for the next one.

The daily high temperatures are expected to stay in the 60s until the middle of next week.  That's really not bad at all even though it's not quite the beach weather we've been having recently.  This morning was sunny and beautiful despite a stiff wind blowing from the north.  I went out and paddled for 60 minutes in the A1 stroke rate zone.  Maks said to make it a "moderate to strong" session, and I think I did that.  I did a nice loop out on the Mississippi, where you sort of have to paddle strong at times just to get where you want to go.

So far I'm feeling great.  Some heavy-duty work awaits this weekend.

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Monday photo feature

Spring has arrived for sure in the Mid South.  Last Tuesday was a day that simply sparkled.  Photo by Joe Royer.

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Relaxing a little

I'm nearing the end of a much easier week.  It's given my body a chance to recharge and internalize the benefits of the last several weeks' hard work.  I'm pleased to add that the blister that made me miserable for nearly a week following the Ocean Springs race is doing much better now.

On Tuesday I paddled with Joe for the first time in many weeks.  We did a loop of the harbor.  I used resistance on my boat and aimed to paddle around 56 strokes per minute, and worked on keeping my top hand closer to my head.

On Wednesday I did six sets of (10-second all-out sprint/2 minutes rest/1 minute at 80 spm/3 minutes rest).  I put as much power as I could into the 1-minute pieces, and they were just enough to get me breathing hard.  The idea was to carry the power of the A2 stroke rate into my all-out sprints.

Thursday was a 50-minute "calm" paddle in the A1 stroke rate zone.  Once again I worked on my stroke mechanics.  It's hard to work on your stroke during a hard training week; ideally, overhauling your stroke is something you do in the offseason.  But this easy week is giving me a chance to tweak the small details that have been giving me trouble.

Yesterday all I had was a gym session to do.  I focused on strength work and addressing the ailment I discussed in my last post.

This morning I did two sets of (4 times 1 minute at 60 spm with 1 minute recovery and 5 times 45 seconds at 76 spm with 75 seconds recovery).  It was the latest variation on the sort of "contrast" workout that Maks likes to assign--the idea is to paddle with power and precision at the lower stroke rate, and then carry that into the higher rate.  I did this workout with some extra weight in the boat: Maks specified 5 to 10 kilograms, so I put some barbell plates in the footwell that amounted to 13.75 pounds, or 6.24 kg.  The weight adds to the inertia you have to overcome with your stroke but it also enhances the boat's glide.

I'm out of the boat again tomorrow.  I think Maks sensed that I was ready for a mental break from paddling, and he wasn't wrong about that.  I haven't decided yet what I'm going to do, but it'll be some kind of easy and fun aerobic activity like riding my bike or going for a hike.  Monday will be a day off as usual, and I expect I'll be back to some more substantial training on Tuesday.

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So, what kind of "gym" am I doing these days?

It's been a long time since I've talked about it here, mostly because I just haven't felt like talking about it.  But I'm still having problems with the right trap muscle in my neck that started bothering me last fall.  It doesn't really interfere with my paddling, but it's tight and sore and generally unpleasant to live with.

Back in November and December I spent many sessions with my chiropractor, letting her have at it.  But for whatever reason, the ailment just never got any better.  She told me the next step would be to see an orthopedist and get referred for some physical therapy, and see what good that might do.  So I got in to the doctor about a month ago, and since then I've been visiting a physical therapy clinic that fortuitously is located just a short walk from my house.

My therapist, a young woman named Sharwil, is quite the taskmaster.  She's done some dry-needling and some deep tissue massage, but most of the therapy involves putting me through all kinds of stretches and weight exercises.  I have a list of dynamic stretches that she recommends I do before getting in the boat, and I have several exercises to do at home several times a week that are designed to strengthen the supportive musculature in my neck and shoulders area.  The exercises include a sort of sitting military press with dumbbells, shrugs with dumbbells, and an exercise I do with my arms while lying on my stomach.

Meanwhile, Friday has been my "gym" day since I started working with Maks.  So lately on that day I've been doing my rehab exercises and supplementing them with a couple of core exercises and some lunges to work my legs.

I'm now about four weeks into this rehab effort, and some days my neck feels significantly better while other days it seems as bad as ever.  Meanwhile, the extra work seems like a lot on top of the extra training load I've taken on in Maks's program.  For now I'm just trying to be patient and give all this work a chance to have an effect.

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Monday photo feature

The harbor comes to life with critters when springtime rolls around, and it's not unusual for a few waterfowl to take up residence at the marina for a while.  In recent weeks I've been seeing this American coot, a truly winsome bird.

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Improving weather and good, honest work

On the race schedule I posted this past Tuesday, there's an event listed for next Saturday, April 10.  I was thinking pretty seriously about attending this race even though it's a longish distance from here, over in South Carolina.  But what I hadn't noticed on the event's website is that there is a cap on the number of people allowed to enter (a COVID-19 protocol), and registration is now full.  I went ahead and put my name on the waiting list, but unless I hear something about that in the next day or so, I'll probably just plan on staying home next weekend because of all the arrangements I need to make to be away.  The next event I'm currently aware of in this part of the country is on Bayou Teche in Louisiana on May 15.

On Friday I did a gym session and then went out and paddled on another chilly, breezy morning.  But the sun was shining bright and the forecast said warmer weather was on the way, and that did a lot to elevate my mood.

After a long warmup paddle to the north end of the harbor, I commenced the workout: two sets of ten 15-second all-out sprints with 45 seconds recovery--"Close to a lactic workout!" said Maks.  I did the first set, rested 5 minutes, and then did the second; indeed I did get "close" to going lactic without quite getting all the way there.  My stroke rate in the first set was in the 110-120 strokes-per-minute range--that's about as high as I can go and still have some control.  For the second set, I made a conscious decision to lower the rate into 100-110 territory and pull as hard on each stroke as I could.  I don't think I sacrificed much speed (it's hard to measure that accurately over such a short sprint), and I was less winded at the end of each sprint.

Yesterday morning it was sunny again, and the wind had shifted to the south, a sign that the day would be warmer.  I did a calm 40-minute paddle that I used to work on my stroke.  The main problem is that I'm still punching too far forward with my top hand, and I need to keep it closer to my head so that I can catch the water at a smaller angle, making the whole working angle of the stroke bigger.  That's how Maks describes it, and I mostly understand what he's telling me, but I could use some kind of diagram to get it fully.  The drill Maks has suggested involves touching my ear with my top hand before each stroke, and yesterday morning it felt slightly less awkward that it had before, but it still didn't seem totally natural.  Improvement to one's stroke is never accomplished in one day.

A bear of a workout was on tap for yesterday afternoon: four timed 1000-meter pieces.  There was a south wind blowing maybe 6 or 7 knots, so as a warmup I paddled to the mouth of the harbor in order to do the 1000s with the wind at my back.  The pieces were to be done in the A2 zone, with a goal "to repeat four similar efforts," so I aimed for a rate in the low 80s; I ended up doing them mostly around 82-86 spm.

I started a new 1000 every 10th minute.  The session turned out to be nowhere near as painful as the two 2000-meter pieces I did back on March 4.  The pieces were hard, sure, but I just knocked them out, and that was that.  My times, along with the 500-meter splits, were as follows: 2:33/5:02, 2:30/4:52, 2:24/4:49, 2:25/4:47.

The weather was lovely yesterday afternoon, and there was more of the same this morning.  I wrapped up the latest training cycle with a "distance trial" of sorts: a "strong" 60-minute paddle in the A1 zone.  Maks made the purpose clear: "How much can you do in 60 minutes?  ...last workout of the harder cycle, you can give it your all!"  So I went out and did just that.  I tried to keep the stroke rate in the 60s, and put as much power as I could into each stroke.  About 15 minutes in I had to stop and back paddle because it felt like something was caught on my rudder; and later on I had to stop briefly several times to wipe sweat out of my eyes.  Besides those little setbacks I kept the boat moving reasonably well.  The last 10 minutes was the toughest, as my power seemed just about depleted.  When an hour had elapsed, my G.P.S. device reported this information:

The time is in the upper left corner (1.00 hour) and the distance is at lower left (10.88 kilometers, or about 6.76 miles).  I don't know why it says I'm moving at 0.1 mile per hour, since I was sitting on the dock when I took this photo.

In any case, I'm probably more tired from this workout than I was after those four 1000s yesterday.  Today's session was a grind.  I'm grateful to have a day off coming tomorrow.

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Fighting through some doldrums

Last week I got Joe to shoot some video of me in the harbor so that Maks could have a look at how my stroke is doing these days.  Unfortunately, I seem to be suffering from the same flaws that I was when Maks and I started working together in January.  Maks suggested a drill that promotes the mechanical improvements I need to make, and so it continues... my forward stroke is forever a work in progress.  I really shouldn't let it gnaw at me, but sometimes I do.  If my stroke never gets any better than it is now, at least it'll still be decent.  But I hate this feeling that I've taken a big fat step backward.

By Tuesday the blister at the base of my right thumb had healed some, but remained tender.  Once I was in the boat paddling it was uncomfortable if not as painful as it had been on Sunday.  As I warmed up I tried the stroke drill that Maks had suggested, and it felt flat-out awkward, as though I would have to learn to paddle all over again.

Those issues made Tuesday's workout seem much harder than it should have.  It was four sets of (5 minutes in the A1 stroke rate zone/2 minutes in the A2 zone/4 minutes in the A1 zone/2 minutes in the A2 zone/2 minutes rest).  One of the objectives was to make the lower-intensity efforts seem like recovery intervals even though they weren't.

(Just a reminder to those unfamiliar with Maks's stroke rate zones: A1 is around 60-75 strokes per minute; A2 is around 75 to 90; A3 is over 90.)

It was sunny and lovely when I got to the river Tuesday morning, but it clouded over as I paddled, and by that afternoon there were showers moving through with some heavy rain falling in the evening.  Behind all that, winter was flexing its muscles one last time.  When I got to the river yesterday morning it was overcast and 52 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind was howling out of the north.

For my warmup I paddled to the north end of the harbor so that I could do my workout with the wind at my back.  The assignment was five 500-meter pieces.  The first one was to be done entirely in the A2 zone; the second one, A3 for the first 100 meters and A2 for the rest; the third, A2 for 400 meters and A3 for the last 100; the fourth, A3 for the first and last 100s and A2 for the middle 300; and the fifth, A2 all the way through.

Maks didn't specify a recovery interval, so I started a new 500 every 6th minute.  That gave me a little over three and a half minutes to recover.  I shot for 80-82 spm in the A2 zone and 92-94 spm in the A3 zone.  My times for the pieces, all wind-aided because I was paddling toward the south, were as follows: 2:28, 2:23, 2:24, 2:24, 2:23.  Oddly, the higher-intensity pieces didn't seem to produce any significant improvement in time, but in those blustery conditions there were all kinds of things that could have been speeding me up or slowing me down.

That blister was still bothering me a lot as I paddled yesterday.  With the frustration over my stroke and the unsettled weather piled on top of that irritant, I have spent this week in a lousy mood and feeling like a complete klutz in my boat.

The temperature dropped into the 30s overnight, and this morning it was 48 degrees when I got to the river, made chillier by another stiff north wind.  But the sky was clear and sunny, and while the blister was still causing me some pain, it seemed more bearable today.  I did another of those variable-rate workouts that seem to be the bread and butter of Maks's training program: it was four sets of (4 minutes at 60 spm/2 minutes at 68 spm/3 minutes at 64 spm/1 minute at 72 spm).  There was 1 minute of rest between pieces, and 2 minutes between sets.  I felt about as good in the boat as I have since I raced last Saturday.  Maybe my mojo is back on the upswing.

Maks promises an easier week next week, but first I've got some tough sessions looming this weekend.

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