Still on vacation and not actively working out at the moment, but I am happy to say that we are staying pretty active – at least the last couple of days. Yes, there’s some rest and relaxation too – but I’m happy to say that the “functional fitness” part of crossfit is continuing to reveal itself.
The same day we went on a 5+ mile hike in the woods, we had an opportunity to do a sunset tour of Lake Dillon with Kyle from Adventure Paddle Tours. Though none of us have ever been in a kayak before, we were up for the challenge. We were supposed to go the night before but were stopped by uncertain weather conditions, so we rescheduled.
Kyle got us all outfitted with PFDs and splash skirts, then gave us the rundown on paddling a kayak. Within about 20 minutes, we were on the water trying to figure out steering and propulsion. I was with my youngest daughter AJ and Ev was with our eldest, Mickey. Pretty quickly we managed to get underway on our paddle across the lake.
I haven’t had great shoulders for a very long time. I screwed up one of them helping my wife and her mom move many many moons ago (before we were married). And I never did much to get it back on track until crossfit came around, so I was curious to see how I’d do.
And, lo and behold, my shoulders were fine. I had more issues with my upset left knee than I did with anything else and I think it was more my lack of coordination than the knee itself. My feet kept slipping off the pedals for steering and the splash skirt came undone a few times. But AJ and I trundled right along. She complained about my steering for the 90+ minutes we were on the water, but other than steering like a drunken sailor we did just fine. 🙂
Neither shoulder was sore and the only thing that hurt was my knee when we were done (it hurt when we started), so I was impressed.
If you’re ever in the area and you want to give kayaking a try, I say call Kyle. We had an amazing trip – paddled across the lake to see the eagle’s nest, saw an eagle IN the nest, plus osprey, Canada geese, a few jumping fish, bats & even a beaver. The lake was like glass for part of the trip but never too rough not to enjoy our time on the water.
And the very next day we had a half-day rafting trip planned with the crew from Monumental Expeditions down in the Buena Vista, CO area. The Arkansas River was bombing along nicely through Browns Canyon and I knew it was going to be a wee bit more exciting/stressful than our gentle kayak trip on the lake. 🙂
We had done another rafting trip in the same area a few years before, but it was late in the season (August maybe) and much calmer water. This was a completely different environment as we watched the river bomb along.
But again, I was able to paddle just fine. We were on the water for a couple of hours and paddled through 6 or 7 rapids with our guide Dane. Everybody got wet, paddled, listened to our great guide, and had a wonderful time. The rapids we did were usually class 3 but the sheer volume of water bumped them closer to class 4s.
The water was cold but we rented wet suits and splash jackets from the crew and got wet but never too bad. Everybody stayed in the boat, thankfully. The water was a bit above 40 degrees at the surface and dropped to the 30s underneath with all the snow runoff from the mountains north and west of us. It would have been a very chilly swim!
But my body held up, we had a blast, and I really can’t say I’m any worse for the wear. I can’t say I remember the same being true the last time we rafted. I seem to recall being quite sore.
So a 5 mile hike, a 90 minute kayak trip, and a 2+ hour rafting expedition over the course of 36 hours and I was tired, but hardly sore at all (beyond the knee that’s giving me grief).
That wouldn’t have been possible without crossfit. Functional fitness is not a rumor, folks. It’s a real thing!
Don’t tell anybody, but I think I’ve enjoyed myself this vacation. 🙂
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