The Road to Boston 2007

ChrisH · Post by **ChrisH** » November 12th, 2006, 9:00 am

The plan for this week was:
Tuesday 2x7'AT
Thursday 2x7'AT
Saturday 2x16'UT1
Today 50'UT2
The AT workouts went well. On Saturday I had a dump truck load of stone delivered to the house. After moving half of it, by hand, I took a short break then started my session. Shame on me. I only made it through one of the 16' intervals before I was done in.

I'm very sore from all the shoveling. Today I will try to erg first and then deal with the stone second.
Chris

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » November 12th, 2006, 8:29 pm

Similar story for me, Chris. I was supposed to do my 2K test today. But Wednesday and Thursday nights I was up until 3:30 am working on a deadline project for work. Friday I had an exhausting, tension filled day in which I had to present the project to someone I had been told was dead set against it. It was so nerve wracking that I couldn't eat until afterwards and the presentation was at 3 in the afternoon. Then I had a rehearsal till 10:00, dinner after that, and stayed up till 1:00 am getting other stuff done. This was followed by Saturday--had to be up at our church at 8:00 to rake leaves for 3 hours. Got home, ate lunch, and raked our own darned leaves for about 5 hours (30 40-gallon barrels raked and dumped at the town yard.)

This morning I just plain couldn't get up. I was so sore and exhausted.My back had a terrible crink in it. I stayed in bed till about 10:00. My hands are all torn blisters and I ache all over! I figured it made no sense to do a 2K in this shape--even if I finished it would be too easy to not try as hard as I should with a list of excuses as long as that. It will screw up my IP plan schedule but I'll take tomorrow off too and have a proper go at the test on Tuesday.

Anne · Post by **Anne** » November 12th, 2006, 11:42 pm

Sounds like a smart plan Carla; particularly since it is just a benchmark. You have seen my posts of workouts when my body felt absolutely shot; whether it was from late nights, travel, or physical work outside....and I don't think it is good to be a slave to the plan--particularly for a 2K.

Today, I did do the 4x4 TR workout at about 8am; and that was after a neighborhood party last night. But, it was the only chance to get to the gym, and I was relieved that I could go slower than 2:03..(Thank you all for clarification) The workout was good, but hard-I covered the HR part of the monitor during the row as I didn't want to have evidence for how badly I felt!

3883 (2:03.6) 30sr 187HR
971m (2:03.5) 30sr 180HR
972m (2:03.4) 30sr 188HR
965m (2:04.3) 30sr 190HR
972m (2:03.4) 30sr 192HR

Off to bed now and am not sure how I will fit three workouts into the week. I have a major work project and a trip to Washington DC.

TomR · Post by **TomR** » November 13th, 2006, 7:17 pm

That looks like a sweet batch of intervals Anne.

You HR is amazing.

Tom

Anne · Post by **Anne** » November 13th, 2006, 11:02 pm

Squeezed today's session into lunch time and spent the time thinking about whether effective training is more physical or more mental? Of course the physical effort is important, but it is the mental aspect (staring at the monitor) which causes me to test myself and work hard.

Today was a long session 3x17' UT1 - goal was 2:17ish....and to be done and showered in less that 70 minutes. That meant 3 minute rests- Tomorrow I have a long day at work, so rowing is impossible then.

3743m 2:16.2 24spm
3757m 2:15.7 25spm
3750m 2:16.0 24spm
minimal w/up c/d ---but otherwise accomplished all that I intended to do. I spend more time on stretching the hamstrings at the finish of a piece than I spend cooling down on the erg.
Anne

whaskell · Post by **whaskell** » November 14th, 2006, 7:13 am

Anne, good job on the 3x17. I just did that same workout this morning. I will have to post results later, but I thought it was a hard workout. I really had to work at it to stay focused towards the end of each 17 minute piece.

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » November 14th, 2006, 12:12 pm

I lived through my test!

You know how some days you just know it's going to be a top row, you can hardly wait (well, I feel that way for other distances)? Well, today was NOT like that, but I had committed myself to doing it. It seemed I should be able to do around 1:53, that's my TR max, and that's supposed to be min 30 spm. So that was the goal. But in my 5K warmup, which I needed because it was a midmorning row not evening, I couldn't even get a 1:55 to register. I was logey and icky and just not with it.

However, I didn't want to report another

non performance, so I decided to try to pretend this was a normal IP workout and set the metrenome for 30 spm. I figured I'd try to do 1:55, 1:54, 1:53, 1:52.

It ended up:
7:35.1 (standard erg) 1:53.7/30
1:53.6/30/239 w
1:54.1/30/236 w
1:54.6/30/233 w
1:52.8/31/244 w

It felt pretty controlled and OK and only awful awful for the last 200 meters. I did have a panic attack at the finish when I couldn't unstrap my feet fast enough, for some reason I can't stand feeling trapped like that!

But I'm happy to have cut off almost 9 seconds from my PB of last year on slides.

Tomorrow is 3 x 15 UT1. I am champing at the bit now and will up that to 17.

Bob S. · Post by **Bob S.** » November 14th, 2006, 1:10 pm

seat5 wrote:
It ended up:
7:35.1 (standard erg) 1:53.7/30
1:53.6/30/239 w
1:54.1/30/236 w
1:54.6/30/233 w
1:52.8/31/244 w

It felt pretty controlled and OK and only awful awful for the last 200 meters. I did have a panic attack at the finish when I couldn't unstrap my feet fast enough, for some reason I can't stand feeling trapped like that! :shock: But I'm happy to have cut off almost 9 seconds from my PB of last year on slides.

Tomorrow is 3 x 15 UT1. I am champing at the bit now and will up that to 17.

Carla,

Congratulations!! A PB by almost 9 seconds! That's great! This should help to relieve some of that CRASH-B anxiety. You now know that you can do it and that you don't need those slides.

I know what you mean about that trapped feeling in the straps. I just took up strapless rowing a few months ago, and, to me, the biggest benefit was the feeling of freedom in getting on and off the erg without any restriction. However, I do strap in for time trials and pieces in which I expect to rate much over 30spm.

Bob S.

whaskell · Post by **whaskell** » November 14th, 2006, 1:16 pm

Carla, That is a great row. Congrats! Looks like that would have put you in sixth place at in your age group at last year's Crash B's.

Yankeerunner · Post by **Yankeerunner** » November 14th, 2006, 3:23 pm

Carla, great going. Excellent pacing. There is undoubtedly more to come.

I know that you are nerved up about racing, but I'm also sure that you will like it when you face the beast. Remember, you're amongst friends dong the same thing.

Rick

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » November 15th, 2006, 12:00 am

Thanks all! I really feel like a big barrier has been taken away and feel pretty hopeful about racing. Of course that is because I don't have to do this again for 8 weeks, and the race is just way far away.

Here's a question about racing: I seem to do well if I can make myself just stay steady, and the easiest way for me to do that is with a metrenome. Is it allowed to have one at a race? And are you allowed to have your own cox or how does that work?

Rick, you told me the date of your race but I wrote it somewhere and lost it. Is it 1/21 or 1/14?

Anne · Post by **Anne** » November 15th, 2006, 12:23 am

Carla. That is fabulous!! Hooray for you. This is so fun to see each other's victories as we train. As for the cox question, at the Qualifier races in Cincinnati, people used any coxes. (SOme didn't have coses) I was fortunate to have friends who had rowed in college help me out. I also had a cheering section of kids (since the high schoolers were there for their races) and I think it was my pride that fueled me. My high school daughter would have been mighty embarrassed it I had put the handle down.

TomR · Post by **TomR** » November 15th, 2006, 12:57 am

Well done, Carla.

I never rake leaves. I let the wind blow them away. But after your performance, I may have to add raking to my training.

Tom

whaskell · Post by **whaskell** » November 15th, 2006, 7:17 am

Monday - off

Tuesday Morning
10min WU - 2197m
UT1 3x17min / max pace 1:54.5 / 22-24spm
Target:- 3x17min / avg pace 1:57.0 / 23spm / 3:25min rest
Actual:- 17min / avg pace 1:57.0 / 23spm / 4360m
Actual:- 17min / avg pace 1:56.9 / 23spm / 4363m
Actual:- 17min / avg pace 1:56.9 / 23spm / 4362m
Total session: 15346m

Felt very good. It was hard to stay focused near the end of each 17min piece, but generally felt very smooth and steady

Wednesday Morning
15min WU - 3311m
TR 3x6min / max pace 1:44 / 30 - 34spm
Target:- 3x6min / avg pace 1:48.0 / 32spm / 6:00 min rest
Actual:- 6min / avg pace 1:48.0 / 31spm / 1666m
Actual:- 6min / avg pace 1:47.8 / 31spm / 1669m
Actual:- 6min / avg pace 1:47.9 / 31spm / 1668m
Total session: 8871m

Happy with this one. The last 6 min interval was tough - I hesitated and almost lost it a couple times in that interval, but I managed to pull it off and stick to my 1:48.0 pace. It still seems like I should be able to do these faster if I am going to get below 6:50 for the 2k...

TomR · Post by **TomR** » November 15th, 2006, 10:47 am

Will,

That looks like a good TR session.

Remember the race is still 3 months away.

Tom