Causeway to Mobile River plus Apalachee
Sunday, September 26, 2004 brint.adams@us.army.mil
With two weeks to go before the Phat Water race, this weekend was my last tough set of workouts, as I will now go into the taper stage until race day on October 9th. My plan was for a two-hour paddle on Saturday and a four-hour paddle today. To get the extra distance and time, I decided to combine two of my regular workout courses.
I started out at the Causeway service station lot before dawn and put-in at 6:20 AM. The temperature was ideal at 65 degrees, but there was a pretty good breeze already coming out of the northwest and in the middle stages of a rising tide. I decided to do my five mile speed course first, as I probably would not have wanted to pass the take-out and head out to do it after first paddling the Mobile River loop.
The northwest wind brought in a pretty good set of waves to my side and beat me up pretty good as I crossed along the bottom of Chacaloochee Bay. Once I made it past the old Riverdoc's lot and into the protection of Pass Picada, the wave action stopped and I was able to get into a good paddle rhythm. I made it to Apalachee River in 27:50, turned and made it back with my next split of 54:17.
I stopped for a minute to get a drink and continued west between the Interstate bridges and turned northwest up into Delvan Bay. With the rising tide giving me a following current and heading straight into the wind wave action, I was able to make pretty good progress up to my next stop by the still missing Pontoon Saloon. My split was 1:59:35, which by comparison was 1:05:18 for the Mobile River portion only.
After a drink stop, I made it up to the turn at the Mobile River in 2:18:19 (1:24:02). Once there, even with a rising tide, the northwest wind gave me a big push downriver and I made it to my next split stop at the highrise bridge in 2:43:27 (1:49:10). I tried to limit my stops to just a few seconds for a drink and part of a Power Bar, to simulate race conditions, so I got back into the current, passing a couple of tug boats heading upriver. I made it past the downtown area to my next split by the Alabama Shipyards in 3:13:34 (2:19:16).
This turned out to be my last stop as I cruised down to the turn east into Mobile Bay. This is where I hit the brick wall. The wind had increased significantly, but fortunately my course was straight into the waves (about one foot breakers), so I didn't have to fight cutting diagonally or perpendicular to them. It was just gut check time as I hunkered down and fought my way through and up to the Causeway bridge. As I passed under the bridge, my split was 3:45:45 (2:51:28), but the water was crazy, so I just kept going on up to the Interstate bridges and sprinted the last leg beneath the bridge and back to the parking lot. My total finish time was 3:56:25 for the 23.5 miles and 3:02:08 for just the 18.5 Mobile River loop. I felt very strong at the end and feel I am ready to go for the race in two weeks. When I got out, the temperature was 82 degrees, as I headed back home quite satisfied.
With two weeks to go before the Phat Water race, this weekend was my last tough set of workouts, as I will now go into the taper stage until race day on October 9th. My plan was for a two-hour paddle on Saturday and a four-hour paddle today. To get the extra distance and time, I decided to combine two of my regular workout courses.
I started out at the Causeway service station lot before dawn and put-in at 6:20 AM. The temperature was ideal at 65 degrees, but there was a pretty good breeze already coming out of the northwest and in the middle stages of a rising tide. I decided to do my five mile speed course first, as I probably would not have wanted to pass the take-out and head out to do it after first paddling the Mobile River loop.
The northwest wind brought in a pretty good set of waves to my side and beat me up pretty good as I crossed along the bottom of Chacaloochee Bay. Once I made it past the old Riverdoc's lot and into the protection of Pass Picada, the wave action stopped and I was able to get into a good paddle rhythm. I made it to Apalachee River in 27:50, turned and made it back with my next split of 54:17.
I stopped for a minute to get a drink and continued west between the Interstate bridges and turned northwest up into Delvan Bay. With the rising tide giving me a following current and heading straight into the wind wave action, I was able to make pretty good progress up to my next stop by the still missing Pontoon Saloon. My split was 1:59:35, which by comparison was 1:05:18 for the Mobile River portion only.
After a drink stop, I made it up to the turn at the Mobile River in 2:18:19 (1:24:02). Once there, even with a rising tide, the northwest wind gave me a big push downriver and I made it to my next split stop at the highrise bridge in 2:43:27 (1:49:10). I tried to limit my stops to just a few seconds for a drink and part of a Power Bar, to simulate race conditions, so I got back into the current, passing a couple of tug boats heading upriver. I made it past the downtown area to my next split by the Alabama Shipyards in 3:13:34 (2:19:16).
This turned out to be my last stop as I cruised down to the turn east into Mobile Bay. This is where I hit the brick wall. The wind had increased significantly, but fortunately my course was straight into the waves (about one foot breakers), so I didn't have to fight cutting diagonally or perpendicular to them. It was just gut check time as I hunkered down and fought my way through and up to the Causeway bridge. As I passed under the bridge, my split was 3:45:45 (2:51:28), but the water was crazy, so I just kept going on up to the Interstate bridges and sprinted the last leg beneath the bridge and back to the parking lot. My total finish time was 3:56:25 for the 23.5 miles and 3:02:08 for just the 18.5 Mobile River loop. I felt very strong at the end and feel I am ready to go for the race in two weeks. When I got out, the temperature was 82 degrees, as I headed back home quite satisfied.
posted by brint @ 2:50 PM
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