BS...Squared, and The Liquid Gym

Here, in the local area, is a kayak club called The Badgerland State Boating Society or BSBS or BS Squared. Consisting of mostly white water devotees, many of us sea kayakers belong, and we do so for one common reason: the pool sessions.

Around here, winter sea kayaking is mostly done in freezing waters with all sorts of sub-comfy air temps. How, then, can one resist the opportunity to practice rolling, braces and rescues in warm waters that are crystal clear?...especially in the one place to paddle where you finish up smelling better than when you went in. Pure joy. Yet, there is, for me, another big plus to using this indoor gym.

Ever since loosing most of my left quadricept muscle on the left and having to give up long distance running, I have struggled to find an aerobic arena in which to excercise. I am, just now, delving into aerobic paddling with the help of Gary Simon, our local racing/excercise/ paddling guru. Still, steady paddling does not seem to achieve the heart rates desired for fitness training. Besides, what about strenght exercises? Well, everybody into the pool.

After two hours of constantly rolling, sculling and rescuing, I was feeling aches in places where I had forgotten muscles resided. They were those "pleasant" aches that tell me I had had a good workout and should take Vitamin I (i.e. Ibufuran/Advil) first chance I had. I did, then slept a solid 8.5 hours and actually felt only mildly (and pleasantly) stiff this morning. More pure joy.

I am seeing more and more of my old friends' names in the paper lately, mostly on the obituary page. I am, therefore, grateful for the mild aches that, if nothing else, let me know (and feel) alive.

And, I didn't (until now) digress once.

Whether on the lake or in a pool...
Paddle safe...
DS