Pittsburgh Indoor Sprints

[[old] jjpisano]

Dear Forumites:<br /><br />This is my fourth year of rowing at the Pittsburgh Indoor Sprints.<br /><br />Two out of the 4 years the monitors didn't work. Last year, the monitors worked but only the top seeds were close enough to the one monitor to see anything. That one monitor was a 17 inch TV stationed in front of seeds 1 and 2.<br /><br />This year I wasn't counting on the race organizers to keep me informed of my opponents positions. So I brought along a coxswain. <br /><br />I raced in two races. The first one was Senior masters (40 to 49 y.o) lightweight men and about an hour later the second one was open lightweight men. I wanted to win a gold medal in the senior masters race and I wanted to save my energy for the open event. It would have been nice to know exactly where my one opponent (Jack Hartnell from Three Rivers Rowing Association)was. He had a seed time of 7:25. The previous year he had rowed a 7:21. I figured 7:20 was a good time for me to target to win and conserve energy.<br /><br />I assigned my coxswain the task of keeping an eye on his monitor to give me his pace. My coxswain, by the way, was my brother-in-law, Chris Blasko, who is 6'3" about 275 lbs. Probably one of the biggest coxswains in history.<br /><br />He informed me my opponent was going at a 1:48 pace. I was set for a 1:50 pace. So I upped the pace a little and trailed him through the 1000. My coxswain kept an eye on his and my meters to go. Slowly but surely I kept an even pace throughout and walked away. My opponent came in at around 7:19. I came in at around a 7:09. I guess I didn't conserve my energy completely. But thanks to Chris I didn't overexert myself. So an hour later I had to be ready for the young guys - the local college men.<br /><br />There were two heats for the Open lightweight men. I was in the first heat with the faster seeds. I was seeded number 10 of 24 with a previous best of 6:58.6.<br /><br />I did a truncated warmup and was back on the erg to race again. My goal time was a 6:57 to 6:58. This race was going to be a tune up for Boston. I must say that I think in terms of watts so my minimum watt goal was 306w and I figured 308 watts was where I would end up - coresponding to 6:58 to 6:57, respectively. In Boston I'll be shooting for 318w to 320w, corresponding to a 6:53 to 6:52, respectively. Also it would be nice to beat the guy (Brian Chorney from Case Western) who beat me by 2 seconds last year for the bronze. He was sitting 4 ergs away. I told Chris to keep an eye on him for me.<br /><br />I tried not to think about the fact that I had done a 90% effort just an hour before as I began the second race. I held 307 watts for the first 750 meters, then doubt started to cross my mind - "I'm starting to hurt..., if only I hadn't done that first race...., I can't keep this up....I think I might break...." I crossed the 1000 @ 306 watts and started to dwindle through the next 500m. I came through 1500m @ 304w which is a 7:00 pace.<br /><br />I told Chris that if I had anything left in me with 500m to go I'll try to build from there. I told him to give me a crescendo. Slowly but surely build up the voliume of his encouragement. Also along the way, he kept me informed of where my opponent from Case Western was. I made out that I was trailing him by a few seconds with 500 m to go.<br /><br />Then I started to build and build and build. 400m, I built slowly. 300m, still building....(Is it too early to sprint?) 200m - now or never. Chris did a really good crescendo. One of my better sprints. I ended at 368 watts and 37 s/m. I ended at 310 w i.e a 6:56.<br /><br />In the end, I didn't really care whether I had beaten Brian Chorney. As I type this 2 days later, I don't even know if I did or not.<br /><br />Going into raceday, my goals for the two races were 263w (7:20) and 306/8w (6:57/8). I came away with 7:09 and 6:56. Decidedly better than I was aiming for. <br /><br />The season is not over with Boston less than 3 weeks to go. It's been a good year of training. I did exactly 2 million meters of preparation for this past weekend, now just 19 days left until Boston. I missed a workout this AM because the Steelers changed my sleep schedule a bit. But training resumes soon.<br /><br />I would like to thank Concept2 and Three Rivers Rowing Association for providing a venue which motivates and challenges me.<br /><br />Jim Pisano<br /><br /><br />

[[old] John Rupp]

Nice writeup. <br /><br />Congrats on your new PB.<br /><br />Thanks.

[[old] jjpisano]

John: <br /><br />Thanks.<br /><br />My personal best for this season stands at 6:56.2. Two years ago I hit 6:53.1.<br /><br />So my target for Boston is to beat my personal best from two years ago. We'll see. Hopefully, I won't miss anymore training sessions.<br /><br />Jim Pisano<br />40 y.o., 163 lbs (formerly 218 pounds 5 years ago - before I rediscovered the Concept2 erg lurking in my basement)

[[old] Mike McGuirk]

Inspiring story, Jim. Thanks for sharing that with us. Congratulations and good luck in BOS. Go Stillers!<br />MM