The Road To Boston 2008

TomR · Post by **TomR** » January 3rd, 2008, 7:59 pm

5k @ 1.59.3/HR 163 (90%)

call it AT.

also did a CTC 250m thrash for grins. 47.4 seconds (1.34.8) might be a tick faster if I set out fresh.

Rocket Roy · Post by **Rocket Roy** » January 4th, 2008, 6:40 am

Nice CTC for an oldie Tom!

TomR · Post by **TomR** » January 4th, 2008, 7:35 am

thanx Roy.

I have a feeling I could go a jot faster if my technique weren't so crude. When I sprint, the damn erg dances spastically, like a stunt-man taking fire from an automatic weapon.

Rocket Roy · Post by **Rocket Roy** » January 4th, 2008, 9:12 am

nicely put

We'll sort your technique out in Boston if you like....

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » January 4th, 2008, 9:13 am

Tom, if your erg is dancing, you MUST be wasting energy! Mine used to move forward when I did AT, TR, AN (it was on a hardwood floor) so I used to jam a flag pole between the front of it and the baseboard. But now I have that thick black rubber gym flooring under it and it really doesn't move anymore.

It was a good idea to take the day off yesterday though by around 8:00 at night I was feeling very guilty! HOwever, everyone who told me I rowed too many days in a row was absolutely right. Also now I will do the squats after the rowing.

Today was 2 x 9 AT target 1:57/1:58 /26
I think my 'lower' targets (which are for 7:24 2K) on AT and TR are too quick, however UT1, UT2, and AN are fine. Of course the AT and TR are more in tune with the actual race so I don't put much stock in being able to hit the AN targets.

Anyway: 3 min rests
2287 1:58.0/26
2287 1:58.0/26

I don't recall ever doing 2 perfectly identical intervals like that before--I guess Deborah is rubbing off on me!

The CTC is a sort of AN thrash, I guess--I'll have to do it on an AN day.

TomR · Post by **TomR** » January 4th, 2008, 11:42 am

Carla,

My guess is that for someone like yourself, with excellent endurance and power, AN is good practice at upping your stroke rate. If you could average 1 or 2 more SPM over 7 minutes, you'd go a few seconds faster.

How hard can it be to do 10 more strokes over the course of 2000 meters?

Rowmaniac · Post by **Rowmaniac** » January 4th, 2008, 11:53 am

Carla, did you mean AN where you said AT and vice versa on your comments when you said

Of course the AT and TR are more in tune with the actual race so I don't put much stock in being able to hit the AN targets.

Just curious. I am always interested in your thinking...

I'm about to erg with the power going on and off here with heavy storms. I wonder how well I can read the PM3 by candlelight. A foot of rain in CA expected today. Yikes!

Rowmaniac · Post by **Rowmaniac** » January 4th, 2008, 1:54 pm

I just finished my 2nd TR workout. This one was 4 x 3' TR. I knew it was going to be hard, and I am not thrilled with my results. Target was 1:50. I wanted to try for 1:49. Oh well. Apparently, there was no way that was going to happen today.

149.6 821m 29spm
149.7 820m 32spm
150.3 816m 30spm
150.2 817m 30spm

average 149.9

w/u 2000m
c/d 5016m

Total 10, 289m

I added some new exercises to my routine yesterday and last night could barely type an email my arms were so fatigued. My quads also felt like I'd been doing wall sits all day, which of course I had not. I am demoralized at how little I did and how much it took out of me. Clearly I have developed the muscles needed for rowing, but need more strength training in other areas that might help my splits. I'm working on it, but the resulting fatigue while I ramp up might just be a bit of a weight on my energy for a while. I am hopeful that it's the right thing to do for long-term and mid-term goals and that I can suck it up through the next couple of weeks.

I was tired by the end of the third interval, especially in my arms which did not want to pull the handle in anymore. The lights were flickering on and off, and during the last interval I found myself wishing they would go out so I could excuse myself from finishing. Pathetic, pure and simple.

DavidA · Post by **DavidA** » January 4th, 2008, 3:37 pm

Rowmaniac wrote: I'm about to erg with the power going on and off here with heavy storms. I wonder how well I can read the PM3 by candlelight. A foot of rain in CA expected today. Yikes!

It is a little hard to read by candlelight, but it can be done. The problem I had is that I use a C-Breeze, and that directed the airflow not just at me, but at the candle as well

So I got wax all over the table with the candle

and a candle that was burning down real fast!

David

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » January 4th, 2008, 7:48 pm

Rowmaniac wrote:Carla, did you mean AN where you said AT and vice versa on your comments when you said

Of course the AT and TR are more in tune with the actual race so I don't put much stock in being able to hit the AN targets.
Just curious. I am always interested in your thinking...

No, I didn't. AT and TR are both usually done for long enough to simulate the fatigue of a 2K race. AN--well, you can stand it for the length of time you do it--it's not sustainable by its very definition--you couldn't do it for a 2K. If you can do your AN pace for a 2K, than it's not AN for you any more, it's TR. The AN pace (for me anyway) is for that last 3-500m at the end where you put it all on the line. That's what I meant but I'm certainly not an expert or a coach--you have access to a real live coach and team members in your club that may disagree and are probably right.

Your TR looked very good to me. You hit your target handily. Don't worry, you're supposed to feel like crap when you're done (at least I do--I think TR is like torture--shorter than a race but then you have to do it again, and again, and again) and it is very hard work. Basically I think of TR as what I hope to do my 2K at, with a sprint at the end.

Tom, yes, I see the main benefit of the AN to try to get better at the faster rates. I find rates over 30 very fatiguing (oddly enough, when I bike my average cadence is usually 100+ so I wonder that I have a hard time with the fast rate rowing.)

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » January 4th, 2008, 7:49 pm

DavidA wrote:
Rowmaniac wrote: I'm about to erg with the power going on and off here with heavy storms. I wonder how well I can read the PM3 by candlelight. A foot of rain in CA expected today. Yikes!
It is a little hard to read by candlelight, but it can be done. The problem I had is that I use a C-Breeze, and that directed the airflow not just at me, but at the candle as well So I got wax all over the table with the candle and a candle that was burning down real fast!

David

I just got a cool LED headlight for Christmas. I wonder if that would be a good solution for power outs or if it would bang around on your head and get gross and sweaty? hmm yes, gross and sweaty most likely...

Rowmaniac · Post by **Rowmaniac** » January 4th, 2008, 8:16 pm

I might need one of those headlamps before the weekend is over myself. Apparently 3 more storms are headed our way. Yikes. Right now I am in the only town in the county with power, but you never know how long it will last.

Carla, thanks for the explanation about AT and AN. Now I totally see what you were speaking about. I agree with you--it becomes about sustainability, and AN is not sustainable. I do have OTW coaches, but unfortunately I have had to figure out all of the indoor rowing training stuff pretty much myself (and with the help I have gotten from you and the other kind folks on this forum.) When I've tried to ask questions about indoor training, they are rather like, "oh, well, don't hurt yourself by erging too much!" Yep, that's quite helpful. So, I stopped asking and have been trying to do a lot of reading.

I hadn't stopped to think about the TR being pretty much a good (hopeful?) 2K race pace, but your comment helps put some of this training into perspective. I was tired. It did feel awful, and I don't like them. Next week is 5 x 3'TR and I shudder to think how I'd have done if there had been a 5th one today. Yuck.

No one said this was going to be fun in fact. In theory, maybe.

Tomorrow is 3 x 15' UT1 which sounds good at this point. We'll see if I can get the lead out and at least row even intervals. That's what bummed me out the most about today's TR row. I hate seeing the splits come up.

Bob S. · Post by **Bob S.** » January 5th, 2008, 12:29 am

Rowmaniac wrote: Right now I am in the only town in the county with power, but you never know how long it will last.

Didn't you say that you lived in San Francisco? As far as I have ever heard, there is only one town (well — city) in that county. The county is the city and vice versa.

Bob S.

Rowmaniac · Post by **Rowmaniac** » January 5th, 2008, 2:09 am

Hi, Bob. I actually live in a small town in Marin county called Tiburon. I am just over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. Population is about 5000 people. I can see San Francisco across the bay, but I don't live in SF proper. In any case, the rain is still coming down. I imagine you have a ton of new snow? The ski resorts are thrilled with the new snow, but of course not too many people are going to be able to drive there to ski in it just yet!

How goes the Pete plan?

Bob S. · Post by **Bob S.** » January 5th, 2008, 3:17 am

Rowmaniac wrote:Hi, Bob. I actually live in a small town in Marin county called Tiburon. I am just over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. Population is about 5000 people. I can see San Francisco across the bay, but I don't live in SF proper. In any case, the rain is still coming down. I imagine you have a ton of new snow? The ski resorts are thrilled with the new snow, but of course not too many people are going to be able to drive there to ski in it just yet!

How goes the Pete plan?

Ah, now I see why you row for the Marin club. The club is in an area that used to have the name Greenbrae (maybe still does, I don't know). Some of my SQGS classmates lived there in the 30's and the bus that I used to ride to SRHS went through there after it took the road through the prison grounds. We lived on the other side of the reservation (I am tempted to refer to it as a "gated community") where the bridge goes from Marin County to Richmond. In those days there was no bridge and we lived next to the wharf that ran out to the Richmond-San Rafael ferry.

Re snow: Here in the valley at 4000 ft it is still 40°F and we are getting a very heavy rain — for semi-desert country. Mammoth, at 7-8000 ft is probably getting a good load of snow, but there were warning signs up in Bishop when I went grocery shopping there this afternoon. Chains were mandatory and semis were banned on the 395 — they have to take 6 as an alternative route. It is predicted that we might be getting snow on the valley floor before the weekend is over. I was amazed to see that Schat's Bakery (a major tourist stop in Bishop) was closed for the weekend. According to the sign it was due to the predicted bad weather. This in what would usually be one of their busiest periods.

I am currently stalled on the Pete Plan. I didn't make it through the 2nd of a 4X1K interval session yesterday. My 10K on Tuesday was mediocre at best — faster than called for, but a looong waay from a PB (quote from the plan: "at least aim to get close to your current PB"). On Wednesday there was a recurrence of the hematuria that plagued me 2 or 3 months ago, so I am definitely uneasy about that item.

Bob S.

P.S. I wonder what the penalty is for hijacking a thread.