Today was another “see if I’m ready for the Round The Mountain Race” paddle. I went out into the Bay, in spite of the fact that my spray skirt doesn’t fit very well and keeps popping open. The wind was steady almost exactly in my face on the way out, but the waves were fairly small and not breaking into the cockpit like they were last time I tried. In spite of the fact that I was managing to keep up a fairly steady 5mph pace into the wind, I didn’t feel very comfortable in the waves, and so I turned around at the 2 mile mark. I felt even less comfortable with the waves behind me, in spite of the fact that they immediately raised my speed to around 5.5mph. After three miles my right shoulder (the opposite from the one that was bothering me all winter) started to hurt, and my pace slacked off down to 5.2 mph for the fourth mile. When I got back, I had thought of going up to the weir and back to add another 2 miles, but I didn’t have the energy and my shoulder was still hurting, so I did a short warm-down loop at 4.1 mph.
On the other hand, comparing my times with last September, which I timed with a watch instead of a GPS, this time I was about 45 seconds faster for the first mile, and about 1:45 faster to “Two Mile Point”, so I should take some solace in that.
But based on my discomfort in even minor waves, my sore shoulder, and my increasingly sore elbows in spite of the vast quantities of Aleve I’m consuming, I’ve come to two sad conclusions.
- I am not going to be ready to paddle a 10.5 mile race, including the first three on a windy lake, in three weeks time.
- I should probably stop training so hard, and try for 2-3 workouts a week instead of the 3-4 that has been my goal up until now.
Too bad, because I’ve always loved pushing myself to train for athletic events, whether it was the Canadian Ski Marathon, the North American Orienteering Championships, or just a long backpacking trip.
My goal for this year was to finish a 10 mile race. I didn’t say which one. I have decided to make the Tucker Lake 9 Miler my first race of the year, since it’s on a river and won’t have wind and wave problems, and it gives me another 3 weeks to prepare. After that, I might consider the Armond Bassett races in July. Don’t see much else on the calendar that appeals until Long Lake. I’d hoped to get a team together for the Auburn Great Race (since it requires one biker and one runner as well as a kayaker), but nobody is expressing any interest.