What Was Your Work Out Today?

Treadmill, 9% incline walk - 1 hr

Forgot to charge my phone overnight, so no streaming movie during cardio today. Had to settle for cable programming, bleh. (There's a reason I cancelled my house cable years ago...)

It got actually kind of cold this morning, just above freezing at rowing time, maybe 36F/2C. (There was frost overnight.) Thankfully, sunny and almost no wind.

We rowed. I was in 2 seat of the quad. I enjoy rowing with our new members who are still learning, but today's row was a full boat of experienced rowers. It was nice, as a change. We could settle into a good rhythm together and Just Row.

Bow threw in some 10-stroke power intervals now and then, though because of the cold we wanted to keep the single who was out with us in sight for safety reasons, so we couldn't do intervals the full way. (The racing singles are around 12 inches/31cm wide. They flip sometimes, even with a good rower. Flipping into cold water is dangerous, especially with cold air, too.)

The water was still around 59F/15C, so somewhat risky but not crazy. End of on-water season will be coming soon, though. (Sigh.)

Short walk to/from the farmers market remote parking lot later in the day.

Today, I focused on strength training with a mix of weightlifting and core exercises. It felt great to build muscle and stay active!

Upper Body - Hypertrophy

Incline Bench Press 4x10
DB Bench Press 3x10
BB Row 4x10
Pulldown 3x10 (1 set each hands over, under, neutral-grip)
Machine Reverse Fly 3x10
Machine Lat Raise 3x10
DB Shrugs 3x10
Preacher Curl 3x10 (3-second negatives)
Cable Pushdown 3x10 (5-second negatives)
Perloff Press 3x10, 20, 30sec

I tried a scuba diving yesterday.
It turned out to be over-ambitious. Getting onto a bouncing boat, in a dry suit, over an unstable pebbled beach, with heavy kit on proved too much for my ankle.

It was pretty sore after that for the rest of the day. Today, I didn't try to dive but have walked a lot; I am currently on 12 miles including uphills, downhills and dodgy terrain underfoot. So it feels like a progression towards recovery again.

If the weather is nice tomorrow, I may have a second crack at diving

Nice work, @claireychn074 - congratulations on the PBs!

You know I rowed, but this time it was twice: Around 8k starting at 8AM, then another not quite 9k starting around 10.

First thing this morning, bow of the double with my old friend J. in stroke seat again, mostly steady state though we threw in a couple of power pieces. We were trying to keep the other double that was out with us in sight, since it was chilly. We got a few hundred meters more than usual because we looped back at one point when they were getting tiny in the distance.

Later, our club was having an "Autumn Color" group row, going a bit farther upriver than we usually row most days. There were two quads (one with coxswain, the other a straight quad), a double and a single. (There were a very large number of boats on the water from the university's crew club, too, so traffic was heavy in spots.) I rowed stroke seat in the coxed quad, in order to sit facing the coxswain (stern coxed boat), who'd never coxed before. First outing, and she had to get the boat through the bridge twice, among other challenges. She did great!

Second outing was also moderate steady state rowing, though kind of ragged technically - couple of newer rowers in the boat, they (or others?) got a little frantic sometimes instead of relaxing into the boat's rhythm. Fun, regardless.

Canoe. Upstream. River gauge said about 10.9 feet and about 6000 cfs.

Well, I didn't make it all nine miles. That's OK. I still met my primary objective and mostly met my secondary one. The primary objective was to get farther than before, and the secondary one was to get to the big log house about three or four miles below the ramp I hoped I might be able to get to. I made it to the last steep section immediately below that big log house. It was about 5.7 miles upstream from my launch point.

It started cool and foggy. Fog lifted after about 45 minutes, and it became gorgeous.

A buddy came up from an hour south to do the paddle with me. There's a steep section you have to climb pretty much right out of the gate. He had an old-school whitewater boat and a straight shaft paddle. His boat was about 14' long. It doesn't have much rocker, but my 17.5 foot Voyager has zero rocker. Paddling on one side with a correction on each stroke, his momentum was lost with each and every stroke. It's for sure possible to do this climb like that, but it's a different technique than sit-and-switch in a go-fast boat. He had to turn around after about a quarter mile and didn't even make it to the top of that first climb.

I got out my cell phone and called him. I suggested he drive to the place we were trying to get to and come downstream. I figured he'd find me and still get a day on the water. I mean he drove all that way. A quarter mile (well, half mile since he also went back) wasn't worth the drive. He said he had things to do. I encouraged him more. I told him it's the last really nice day for a while, he had a built-in shuttle, and it's a section of river he's never paddled. He finally agreed, and he's glad he did. He sent a text when he launched.

I realized that we might "meet" right around Ambrose Island. I worried that if we took opposite sides of the island, we'd miss each other. I sent a text to tell him where the island was. When I saw the bottom of the island, I called. He was right at the top. I attempted to come up the river left side knowing it's often too shallow. It was. I hopped out and lined the boat past the shallow spot and paddled up to where he was relaxing in the sun and having lunch. That was the only time I had to get out of my boat; I was able to paddle the rest of it. I might or might not have been able to paddle the river right side of Ambrose Island. I paddled another 0.75 miles above the top of Ambrose Island, scouted that next climb, and turned back around.

As I approached the island again, he got in his boat and joined me. I had a floating lunch. We explored the bottom of the Middle Channel on our way back. We were able to get up past the bridge, so it's possible that it's passable. I may try soon, or maybe I'll wait for a little more water.

I don't know if I had enough juice to make that next climb past Ambrose anyway. Maybe if I stopped for a lunch break and fueled up. Maybe not. There didn't seem to be an easy place to line the boat up. Several logs are stuck in there, and most of them are on the side with less current. A mistake up there could be a very bad thing. I think I saw a weak spot in the current near the middle of the river. Maybe I'll go back and try it again when there's not someone waiting for me.

I took just under three hours to paddle 5.7 miles with an average speed of 2.0 mph. I did stop once and hop out to take off some layers. On the way back, it took 92 minutes to drift 6.3 miles with an average speed of 4.1 mph. It was longer because we explored the Middle Channel. It was slower than paddling because... what's the rush?

On the way up, I saw a couple in a tandem loaded with camping gear. I asked where they camped. They camped at "Beaver Island." I mentioned it's Ambrose and someone I know renamed it for a new map. The fellow said, "You're doing it the hard way." I told them where I was headed. Well, I guess I didn't make it, but that's OK. That's the only other folks we saw on the water.

It was a beautiful fall day. They said it would be the last one for the foreseeable future. I couldn't go to the gym!

I bought an annual State Parks pass in December. I won't get my money's worth, but that's OK. Our Parks need the financial support. Still - since I had a paid pass, and since it was gorgeous, I decided to drive about an hour to a park that has ten tall waterfalls. I've been there a few times this year. I think it's the only place I have used my pass.

I forgot it's a holiday. Oops. It was very crowded. It was still a nice day. I would pass group after group after group after group, and every now and then I'd be far enough between groups that I had a little alone time.

Leaves were falling. Flow in the creeks is much less than in winter and spring. The waterfall named Winter Falls wasn't flowing at all. I'm still glad I went. When we get some nasty rain, I'll go back. I ran into a park employee when I got back to my car which I had parked at a more remote parking area to avoid the extremely full main lot. I told him I had forgotten it was a holiday. He said he did too! I asked if any other gorgeous fall day was this crowded. He said no way, but that it had been pretty busy all weekend.

Funny bit: As I got maybe halfway done with the loop, there was a group all wearing the same color and brand of shirt. They were at a trail junction and were looking at the map. I pointed the direction I was going and said, "The rest of the falls are that way; that other trail goes back up to the lodge." They were going to see the rest of the falls, and one of 'em said, "Well, at least it's downhill." I told them that they had been following one creek downstream, and now they were going to follow a different creek upstream. One of the folks said, "I guess we're screwed either way." Off I went. I took two side trails to see other falls that aren't on the main trail. Then, when I got to another junction, they were there looking at a map. I walked by, pointed the way I was going and said, "It's that way." One of them said, "Let's follow that guy." Finally I got to North Falls. I sat down under the overhang and took a short break and drank a half liter of my water. They walked by. Then when I caught back up with them and was about to pass, one of 'em said, "Where did you come from?" I told them they passed me under the falls and that I was drinking water and talking to the raven. He said, "I think you're a ninja." I told him I was a canoeist. Fun stuff.

Pictures below.

Weight day at the gym.

• 15 min ergometer
• Deadlift x3
• Squat x3
• Lunge x3
• Chest press x3
• Row x3
• Pec fly x3
• Lat pull-down x3
• Dumbbell curl x3
• Triceps pulldown x3
• Lat raise x3
• 15 min treadmill
• 18 min sauna

Upper Body - Hypertrophy

Incline Bench Press 4x10
DB Bench Press 3x10
BB Row 4x10
Pulldown 3x10 (1 set each hands over, under, neutral-grip)
Machine Reverse Fly 3x10
Machine Lat Raise 3x10
DB Shrugs 3x10
Preacher Curl 3x10 (3-second negatives)
Cable Pushdown 3x10 (5-second negatives)
Perloff Press 3x10, 20, 30sec

Finally got some actual athletic activity: It's been a weird week.

This morning I rowed bow in the quad. We went about 7.5k, a little further than usual.

When we were getting close to the downstream double bridge, 2 seat asked me if we were going through the bridge (as we'd done in a quad on Wednesday, when I was coxswain, with no other meaningful job besides steering with rudder lines, and doing that then while looking in the direction of travel!). Today, I was rowing, and traveling opposite the direction I was facing, but still steering (with the oars).

It was kind of the last moment, but decided I had a tolerable line through both spans, and we did make it without hitting either set of bridge abutments (which are at moderate angles to each other. Whew!

I cancelled Monday's row (temps only a bit above freezing, possible rain, ugh). Wednesday we had 5 people and it was cold again, so I coxed. Tomorrow I can't row either: The club president and I are doing a rowing machine instructional thingie at a local Y. I might get in a few machine meters demo-ing.

Not exactly a workout today: The rowing club president and I went to the local Y, where they were having a sampler day (various mini-classes). Our role was to give people who wanted it an introduction to how to use the rowing machine (not intuitive), or offer those who knew the basics some technical tune-up tips.

In between the mini-sessions, I did a series of roughly 5-minute pieces at at moderate-plus steady state pace. I didn't track them all (on my Garmin), not even 100% sure how many I did . . . 5 or 6, plus some shorter demos?

@mtaratoot, fortunately (?) we don't own any $35k boats, only old ones worth a few thousand on the used market. (I still don't want to crash one, because we're on a shoestring, can't afford new ones, let alone the "injury risk" thing. The water was down to around 47F/8C. We don't want to swim.) It's true that every season, something bad happens to a rowing shell or rowers somewhere in the US. Care is required. People drown via capsize (usually when it's cold), sometimes have been (yikes) impaled by another rowing shell, run down by an inattentive (or drunk) power boaters, etc.

Even more fortunately, our stretch of river has remarkably little current. On a calm day (wind speed wise), it's only a few seconds (10-15?) different pace per 500m upstream vs. downstream. Current is fairly stable because there's a dam just downstream where they regulate the water levels. We get a little faster current sometimes, but mostly not challenging to row against. After really major storms, we sometimes take a break from rowing, but more because of debris in the river than current per se.

I wouldn't have attempted rowing under the bridges if not 100% sure I had a manageable line. Usually, if I'd planned to row through the bridges, I would've intentionally lined it up earlier on the course; but being accidentally reasonably aligned will work in a pinch.

In the incident report you mention, I'm surprised by the shell size: Usually an 8+ (9 occupants) would be close to 60 feet long. These days, a new carbon shell of that size from the better brands would be around $70k. The quad we were rowing was maybe 40ish feet long, with no cox seat ("straight quad"). I dunno, maybe $5k-10k to replace with a similar older used model?

I took the kayak pool classes about self- and partner rescue, too. Good stuff. Our learn-to-row class includes instruction (and practice) in getting back into a flipped single shell.

Lower Body

Squat 4x10
Rack Pull 4x10
Leg Press <<superset> Leg Press Calf Raise 4x10
Seated Leg Curl 4x10
Cable Crunch 4x10, 15, 20, 25

I'm finally close to bring fixed. My ankle was really painful a week ago on Tuesday, when I went into the office. I was moving very slowly and limping a lot.

I vaguely considered going to the doctor's. Instead, I concentrated on trying to walk without a limp, and moving as fast as possible. This seems to have been vaguely successful; I did 10 miles' walk on Saturday. I'll try swimming tomorrow and climbing on Wednesday.

I've decide to do a couch-to-5K six week running program. Today I jogged on the treadmill at 5 mph for 12 minutes total (4 sets of 3 min. each), with 3 min. of walking at 3.5 mph in between.