At the end of the day, after almost seven hours on the water including about five hours of racing, I was tired. I was dog tired. I was aching. It seemed like every muscle in my body ached. It had been a brutally hot day with temperatures in the 90's, and humid too. I was dripping with sweat as I derigged and packed up the boat.
One of the youngest guys in the fleet said he was tired. "Ha. Enjoy it while you can. It doesn't get any easier as you get older," the grumpy old codger (me) replied.
The oldest guy in the fleet said he was tired. "So you should be at your age," I rudely told him. Seriously, if a guy ten years older than me had told me that he wasn't exhausted after a day like that I think I would have given up Laser sailing.
I dragged myself home. I sat in a cool dark room and groaned a lot. My back ached. My legs ached. My shoulders ached. What to do?
Is it a margarita day? No. I don't have the energy to find the blender.
How about a nice cool beer? No. Would have to go down to the basement to get it. Way too much effort.
How about a glass of wine over dinner with the beautiful Tillerwoman? No, that would make me sleepy and I need to stay awake at least a couple more hours.
Geeze I'm hurting. Why do I do this crazy sport?
The only solution was not beer, not wine, not even a margarita...
I swallowed 1300 mg of acetaminophen, drank gallons of water, soaked in the hot tub, and went early to bed. Tomorrow is another day (of Laser sailing).
9 comments:
I spent Saturday racing sunfish in my local lake club and Sunday teaching my 12 year old how to right my laser and though I won no races this weekend (I was in a borrowed sunfish, I am more used to lasers, The "other Guys" had racing sails and I had swiss cheese, It was hot, and 200 other excuses)I did have fun, I also did at least 8 capsize drills with my son and know exactly how you felt. My drug of choice was Aleve which I find helps my tired old (though not quite as old as yours) bones feel better for longer.
Sorry to see you slipping into substance abuse just to stay in the peloton.
Wonder what percentage of your readership recognized the reference in the post title (sans Googling).
Forget Substance Abuse - Get SKINS...and drink water, of course. Sure, maybe you'd rather the idea of slipping some Tylenol into your mouth than pulling on some tight lycra, but I can tell you from experience that these compression garments do the trick for young and old. They're an Australian product and regularly supplied to sports teams for recovery purposes including all our elite athletes, but I'm sure if you can't get them where you live, there will be similar products in your country. Try them - you'll be glad you did. Cheers, KK.
dmarkowitz - thanks for the drug tip. I'll try it.
odocker - i wonder what percentage of my readership recognizes many of the references to obscure aspects of popular culture which which I litter this blog. That's part of the fun of writing it. The less that my readers understand the smarter I am. After all, glory is fleeting, but obscurity is for ever.
anonymous - thanks for the tip. Maybe wearing SKINS is the one thing that will revolutionize my Laser sailing? As the other sailors strip off their lycra rashguards and tight neoprene hiking pants I will be putting on my skin tight compression garments. I'm so desperate I'll try anything.
I know exactly how you felt. After a day of Laser racing I can hardly put my boat away. I haven't found any pain drug that doesn't give me heartburn. The heartburn is usually worse than the muscle pain, so i just go to bed early and try not to move. I just count the boats crossing in front of me and fall asleep.
If taking pills takes a toll on your digestive system, topical remedies are the way to go. I find that the stinky ointments that contain menthol and/or wintergreen are effective, and if you have especially fierce pain, capsaicin is fantastic -- but it's also dangerous if not used carefully. You're playing with fire.
I love that feeling! I know I've had fun when I get that aching limbs feeling. Why would you want to lose it?
I'm what you moldy oldies might call a young buck, but if I don't have a multitude of bruises and am not so sore that it hurts to breath, I don't feel like I gave my racing my all.
Absolutely tan. I used to believe that if there wasn't blood on the deck at the end of the day I hadn't been sailing hard enough.
Post a Comment