Thursday's Training Paddle

As I mentioned in my post from yesterday, i was a little worn out. I have been working hard to get rid of my football season and holiday weight gain. I like to rationalize this weight gain as a bear storing weight to hibernate. Except I am an active bear so I store this weight to train hard from January-June to take advantage of the beautifully Florida Spring weather and get ready for Muddy Buddy. Enough excuses, but it's what us trainers call periodization. I took our newest group exercise class at the gym, Group Centergy, to get me loosened up so i had "the freedom to move." I once again felt like a human being after my client, Kelly, taught an amazing class. Centergy is pretty much choreographed yoga to music with a touch of pilates thrown in. Not quite as hard as yoga, but an awesome workout to work on my "most-ability" anyway.

(Muddy Buddy is a partnered mountain bike/ trail running race my buddy Jake and I dominate every year) (by dominate i mean 2nd place in the beast division 3 years in a row http://muddy-buddy.competitor.com/).

The ideal conditions from yesterday (Wednesday) had prevailed. It was by far the smoothest i had seen lake maitland. Perfect for my first attempt to do a perimeter paddle in which i followed the buoys around the outside of the lake. I had no idea how long it was but I was guessing around 5 miles.


I paddled 2 miles straight at a high tempo! My best distance and speed to this point at 31:23. That's where i was when I saw the Rollins College Crew Team down below. You can barely make them out due to the harsh back lighting. It was humorous to hear their coach yelling out cues over a megaphone as he trailed behind in small motorized boat. It was encouraging though because i tried to keep up with them.


I continued around the perimeter taking a 2 minute break every time I finished a mile. Here's a picture from my 2nd break. An example of the "I wish" houses located around the lake.


Overall I was very pleased with my performance I covered 4.74 miles is 1:15.33. With Breaks at mile 2,3, and 4. Between 15 and 16 min miles. It is my goal to be able to average 15 minute miles without stopping for the 9 mile Gulf Coast Championship May 22nd. I finished up my farthest continuous paddle to date with 50 push ups, some planks, and downward dogs. The fisherman at the dock was staring at me something fierce. As i pulled the board out of the water he said "you deserve a beer after all that." That bass master read my mind. See you next paddle.

Heading to Clearwater for some fun adventures over in the Gulf and Bay. Hopefully the manatee paddle doesn't get rained out.