The Road to Boston 2007

Yankeerunner · Post by **Yankeerunner** » February 6th, 2007, 10:16 am

1 X 90' UT2

1929m w/u in 9'

21886m 2:03.4 22spm

(15'splits,
15' 3615m 2:04.5 22spm 119hr
30' 3624m 2:04.2 22spm 125hr
45' 3632m 2:03.9 22spm 124hr
60' 3646m 2:03.4 22spm 128hr
75' 3672m 2:02.5 22spm 130hr
90' 3695m 2:01.8 22spm 134hr)

814m c/d in 4'

113df, 45degrees, 49rhr. If it wasn't for the concern about the pain in my back I'd be rather happy with progress. The three times that I've done this workout have gone as such:

Dec. 26th 21,535m 20-21spm 2:05.3 141hr max
Jan. 16th 21,629m 20-21spm 2:04.8 138hr max
Feb. 6th 21,886m 22spm 2:03.4 134hr max

Part of it can be because of the slightly higher stroke rate to ease the stress on the back, but the lower heartrates at faster paces should be seen as a good sign, I think. I actually changed plans enroute today because the heart rate was staying so low, and increased the pace more than I'd originally intended.

Anne · Post by **Anne** » February 6th, 2007, 4:50 pm

Reading about what ya'll* are doing on the IP is much more enjoyable than doing it. Instead, I am breaking-in my new erg; trying new things each day and breaking in a few muscle groups as well. I'm not sure if it is the slides, Xeno's one legged training drill or the gym, but my hamstrings are complaining.
Yesterday- on line 4K row- 17:40 which was a bit faster than an AT workout. Also, I survived the basic-training at the gym with a rough trainer. 6 women (I was the oldest) attempted series of push-ups, suicides, and weights.
Today- an early morning row following the Xeno tape- 8,500 meters at a slower pace since much of it was one legged and drills.
Tomorrow will be shoveling snow

*that is southern for you-plural

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » February 6th, 2007, 10:26 pm

3 x 13 UT1. I decided to use the 7:16 pace chart (max targ 2:02/22)

3212 2:01.4/22
3234 2:00.5/22
3220 2:01.1/22
3231 2:00.7/22

On the last one my calves seemed to want to charlie horse but I held it at bay. Otherwise it was pretty relaxing. I had some kind of mellow South American Indian sort of music on with wooden flutes and odd drums and it was easy to pretend I was paddling down some quiet river. The music even had birds tweeting in it. I should have done this on Row Pro so I could have seen the trees.

Now why did I go and gnaw on that blister on my middle finger? What a dumb bother. You would think by the time someone is 46 they would stop doing things like that.

Anne, the basic training thing sounds dreadful! Did the teacher bark like a drill sergeant?

TomR · Post by **TomR** » February 6th, 2007, 10:42 pm

Because of business travel, I might miss a workout this week, so I skipped the UT1 and did 3x12/AT

Happily I was able to go faster than Carla's UT1 or Rick's UT2, but not by much.

1.59.8/147hr/23-24spm
1.59.7/152hr/23-24spm
1.58.7/158hr/24-25spm

I may fit in a UT1 before Friday, but then at Eddie Fletcher's suggestion, I am substituting a 4x750k/3 min recovery. He says this is a good "predictor." I'm planning on setting out at 1.49 and hoping to make it to the far shore.

No one-legged rowing or drills for me, Anne, although I am sure my technique, like most things about me, could use some improvement. Perhaps when spring arrives.

Anne · Post by **Anne** » February 6th, 2007, 10:50 pm

Hey Tom...not only did you go faster than Carla's UT1 and Rick's UT2....you beat my race pace...

-----vrooooom!

TomR · Post by **TomR** » February 6th, 2007, 11:08 pm

vrooooom

Isn't that the noise a baseball card held in place by a clothespin makes when it vibrates in the spokes of the old Schwinn?

whaskell · Post by **whaskell** » February 7th, 2007, 6:17 am

I'm in a slump. Last two workouts were crap - UT1 4x13min yesterday and TR 4x4min today. Put the handle down on both (wimp!). Legs felt like lead, no motivation, blah...I've got a couple weeks to pull out of this before the Crash Bs. Week 24 of the IP plan - I think I'm tired of it.

Don't let me get you down though - It looks live everyone else is dong great right now.

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » February 7th, 2007, 8:24 am

whaskell wrote:I'm in a slump. Last two workouts were crap - UT1 4x13min yesterday and TR 4x4min today. Put the handle down on both (wimp!). Legs felt like lead, no motivation, blah...I've got a couple weeks to pull out of this before the Crash Bs. Week 24 of the IP plan - I think I'm tired of it.

Don't let me get you down though - It looks live everyone else is dong great right now.

You'll make it! I think this means you are guaranteed to be not in a slump at Crash B time.
I don't think a few crap workouts in a row really constitute a slump, anyway.
Try this: at your next scheduled workout time, REFUSE TO ROW. Do something else that you haven't had time to do and have really wanted to, like go to a music store and get something you want, read, watch a DVD, or something. Allow yourself to rebel against the program in some way but knowing that on a certain day you are starting again on a certain workout.

Or maybe you should rebel against it by doing a race session instead of one of the scheduled workouts. I think doing RowPro sessions or CTC events kind of gives you a break from the routine.

Yankeerunner · Post by **Yankeerunner** » February 7th, 2007, 10:04 am

2 X (6 X 1') AN (2'ar between pieces, 5'r between sets)

2922m w/u in 13'

1' 287m 1:44.1 36spm 137hr
1' 291m 1:43.1 37spm 140hr
1' 294m 1:42.0 38spm 143hr
1' 297m 1:41.0 39spm 145hr
1' 298m 1:40.6 39spm 147hr
1' 300m 1:39.8 40spm 149hr

1' 291m 1:43.0 37spm 140hr
1' 294m 1:42.0 38spm 146hr
1' 297m 1:41.0 38spm 146hr
1' 300m 1:40.0 39spm 147hr
1' 301m 1:39.4 40spm 149hr
1' 304m 1:38.6 41spm 151hr

1634m c/d in 8'

104df, 47degrees, 49rhr. Lowered the drag a bit to try to protect the back some. Also increased the dose of pre-workout ibuprofen to 600mg from the 400mg that I'd been doing since Sunday. I think both may have helped. The bad spot in the back was still achy for the whole workout, but feels considerably better post-workout than it has in over a week. Averaged 1:41.1 which is within a few tenths of what I usually manage for this thing. Interestingly enough, my lower back feels fine. Whether it's because I've shifted the load up to where my new pain spot is, or because of the ibuprofen, I don't know. But I'm glad that the AN workout hasn't damaged that typically sensitive area.

Carla, you felt so good that you did an extra 13' UT1? And faster, at the same stroke rate, than I was doing yesterday. Well done. Looking good for Boston.

Anne, what are suicides?

Will, this is always a tough week in the IP. But mentally is gets much better after this. During the next two weeks you'll find yourself chomping at the bit to do more or go faster, it will feel so much easier.

Tom, I know of what you speak, with the card in the spokes. Adults must have hated hearing us do that. We also used to stomp our heels on tin cans lying on their sides on the ground. That way the ends of the cans would wrap up around the shoe and stay there. Then we'd walk noisily around the neighborhood.

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » February 7th, 2007, 8:24 pm

Carla, you felt so good that you did an extra 13' UT1? And faster, at the same stroke rate, than I was doing yesterday. Well done. Looking good for Boston.

Typo, it was supposed to be 4, and was.
4 x 4' TR tomorrow. The real test.

Take care of that back!

Anne · Post by **Anne** » February 7th, 2007, 10:11 pm

This is a laundry list of a post--
vroom, vroom...is the noise of speed...cards in a spoke, the Indinapolis 500, little boys pushing around a toy car..

Suicides are running sprints...25 yards, touch the ground, return, 50 yards, touch the ground return ....(and beat all your comrades in this torture). Appropriate name.

I did an hour on line row today and it made an hour on the erg seem like a bit less (56 minutes?)

. Nothing exciting to report, except that it gave me a few nonthalon points.

Will, I felt horrible a few weeks before the Cincinnati race...you can look back on the posts...but, the week before the race...with the tapering provided such a contrast that I was really ready for the race...trust the training, as our friend George said!

The Road to Boston ends here for me, sadly.

--OK, already...is that enough of those emoticons??? My 95 year old father in law is in a hospital in Naples, Florida and needs me to come down there. (Naples isn't hardship duty in February...but leaving the routine of the training is.....at least I did the Cincinnati race) So, maybe I will find an erg and an internet connection at the library, but I doubt this can be much of a focus for the immediate future. I leave tomorrow.

But I expect the vroom, vroom sound will make it all the way to Florida!
Ya'll were great travelling companions!

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » February 7th, 2007, 10:38 pm

Oh, Anne...well, I guess it will be nice to be in Naples, but I hope your father in law gets better soon. Take care of yourself! See if you can pop in now and again and say hi...I hope you can maybe get some biking in down there!

Bob S. · Post by **Bob S.** » February 8th, 2007, 12:21 am

It has been awhile since I last reported in, but I am still in there preparing for Boston — more or less. I had dropped the IP and tried some other stuff for the Beach Sprints, but I started back on the IP this week. I decided on going for 4x a week and checked out the programs for both levels 3 and 4 for 26 weeks with the idea of just using the last 3 weeks of one of them. Level 4 started out with an 8x45s AN and 3 started with a 2x18’ UT1. I chickened out on the level 4 AN routine, but ended up stuck with it on the second session of the level 3 program.

Monday: 8’increasing rate warmup
1st 18’UT1: 3902m(2:19.3). 20spm. Band 2:18.3-2:23.2
2nd18’UT1: 3967m(2:16.1). 20spm. Didn’t feel like holding it back on this one. Started out below the band and just kept negative splitting - 2:13.1 in the last 3’split.
8’decreasing rate cool down.

Tuesday: took time out to see if the chiropractor could do something to ease a back pain that has been bothering me for the last week and a half. It is similar in location to the one that Yankeerunner described, but it doesn’t bother my erging; it hurts mainly when I have been lying on my back and try to roll onto my side. Still there and I still don’t know what causes it.

Wednesday (today): 8x45sAN, 1:15r. Pace goal <2:00.3 (After 21’ pyramid warm up and a few minutes setup.)
191m (1:57.8) 35spm. 143bpm.
190m (1:58.4) 32spm. 144bpm.
193m (1:56.5) 31spm. 146bpm.
193m (1:56.5) 29spm. 99bpm — obviously the heart meter was not responding and it just recorded the last value measured during the previous rest period.
195m (1:55.3) 29spm. 101bpm — same deal as the previous interval.
196m (1:54.7) 31spm. 148bpm
201m (1:51.9) 33spm. 151bpm
213m (1:45.6) 36spm. 157bpm
15’ cool down started with no break

In retrospect, I don’t know why I was hesitant about this AN session. I had no trouble keeping the pace well under the limit. Perhaps the 1:15r was too long, but it generally took the first minute to get the HR down below 108 (2xRHR). Since the last 5 intervals were all negative splitting and I was able to kick it in the last interval, there was obviously no problem. The rest of the week includes a 3x12’AT and a 4x2’TR. The TR will probably be a challenge.

Since the equestrienne in the family is away on a trip for a couple of weeks, I am getting a little extra exercise cleaning the manure out of the stall every day.

Bob S.

Yankeerunner · Post by **Yankeerunner** » February 8th, 2007, 8:23 am

Bob S. wrote: Tuesday: took time out to see if the chiropractor could do something to ease a back pain that has been bothering me for the last week and a half. It is similar in location to the one that Yankeerunner described, but it doesn’t bother my erging; it hurts mainly when I have been lying on my back and try to roll onto my side. Still there and I still don’t know what causes it.

Bob S.

Bob, the most aggravating thing about it is that I don't know what caused it, so I don't know how to prevent it in the future.

It must have something to do with my twisted technique, so maybe if I improve that I'll be OK. Fortunately it hasn't slowed me down (yet), just made it more uncomfortable.

I'm using today as my weekly scheduled day off. Maybe an extra 24 hours will improve it.

Rick

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » February 8th, 2007, 10:08 pm

I HATE TR WORKOUTS!! HATE THEM!! HATE THEM FOREVER!!!

I was aiming for the fastest 7:16 TR pace but missed it by a mile and felt miserable almost the whole time. The average was more like for the 7:28. I couldn't rate high enough either.

1076 1:51.5/33
1072 1:51.9/30
1068 1:52.3/30
1071 1:52.0/29

The only redeeming thing was that I didn't quit and I wanted to incredibly badly. Blargh.