4by750 3r - if there is a more brutal row to do after a week off....

please don't tell me what it is cos I don't want to know lol

so started painting a welsh dresser last week we got, it was pine, it's now grey/green (looks better than it sounds) and that turned into redecorating the entire kitchen ... so ceiling prepped and painted, walls prepped and painted, woodwork... tiled floor I actually got down and scrubbed by hand (well with a scrubbing brush) and that meant being up till 2 am one night, then the kitchen table got repainted to match the dresser - this combined with sorting the two family cars out with services and tests and new tires and day to day stuff sucked up my life, the reason is I'm starting a new job next week and we've a baby due in December which means it's all hands to the pump to get things sorted.

OK today we got the last of the stuff done so I got the opportunity to row - I decided to have a crack at the 4by750 which I had scheduled last week and I felt would give me the best training benefit. Not sure where to pin it - needed to keep the rate down as I didn't want to burn the lungs so originally thought r28 1:32 pace - but then after the warm up figured r30 would be wiser.

First rep was not too bad so on the second rep I went a little harder, the third rep was OK until the last 300m then I had to back of a little. Rep 4 and the fun began in earnest when I finally got to the last 200m I was dropping back to 1:35 pace so - switched the brain off and just rode the pain, it was brutal, managed to get over the line and then had a little lie down lol

It's a process not a race - 4by750 3r - Irish entrants list

Well the entrants came out for the Irish last night - I entered the 2k Open and 500m Open - sure why not 5 months ago I was having surgery on my back to remove part of one of my discs so might as well go for broke until I am broke :-) as Colin Williamson said to me many moons ago - "do you want to live on your knees or die on your feet" - I'm choosing to die this time round - also I hoped at the time of entering that there would be a few guys in and around the 6:10 mark I can try to get into the mix with - I tend to get a better result that way - as it turns out there are at least 8 guys who have pulled 6:11 or faster and the winner (6:01.7) from last year is in again with another two guys on the 6:05 mark. So that should be fun.

Today I pinged Q a email and said "So – should I smash the legs up again – 8by500 on 1:31.0 pace?"

the reply "Would prefer 750s, but otherwise 500s. Make is a hard work day, and rest at the weekend, a couple of 1:31.5 or so, then a squeeze, then put yourself on the floor in the last."

That's pretty much as it went - had to tell myself when the time came that this was a process and not a race. Felt it but not uncontrollably - no big adrenaline rush today - just a grind - I missed the last stroke on the third rep and the last I was cruising at 1:33 after the first 30 seconds if memory serves – I went to 1:32 from 300m out and took the last 10 to 15 strokes at 1:29

Job done.

Well if you're going play with fire - 4by750 3r

You're gonna get burnt! and by god did my legs feel on fire during that !!

I had already picked the 4by750m for lunchtime today after yesterday's lunch session so even though I only had about 4 hours broken sleep last night I decided to stick with the "spend time in the zone of pain" plan - I am not sure of my sanity anymore - down early as very very tired sat at my desk and went through the warm up - the start of which was a haze to be honest but then set the session and got myself set - figured I'd target my age group PB of 1:30.5 total 9:03.3 set 16th September (2014 - again I question my sanity on this) and rate 30 it (see "sanity") to be fair the first rep was pretty OK (1:30.4) but knew that it tended to be the second rep which bit - and it did - still managed to get r30 and 1:30.2 split so all going well - third rep and before I started I knew that the legs were in trouble as i had a little walk in the gym (which is good in a way as it's normally the breathing - which means the training adaptions would hit the legs today) so planned on increasing the rate to 32 and basically held on for survival lol - reminding myself towards the end that the pain my legs where in was nothing in comparison to what I felt pre back operation. OK last rep - this is where the majority of the benefit comes - get it done no matter what! So what happens - the bloody monitor froze on 3 seconds remaining in the rest - I sat and starred - it didn't move - I starred for another second - still on 3 - feck it I better haul anchor as no doubt it will just flip to 0 - no it didn't - so as I was returning on my stroke it counted to zero which put my average down from the start - brilliant! Sod it stick to 1:32 and grind it out - this is training and not a race/TT so it's the benefit I need not the time - managed to hold on - legs in bits at the end - all good training lol

4by750 3r

4by750 - toying with the idea of 4by1k - but picked a safer "mental" option - target 1:32.0 (although I was aware of what Q has said before about the pain of 1:30 vs 1:32 being negligible over that distance (I again went for the safe mental option)

after the first rep I could taste the iron from the blood taste in my mouth - joy - found the first minute sub 1:32 pace - drifted for next minute and concentrated on holding that drift - last 10 strokes was about putting on the pressure but legs failing by then - overall happy with the session and breathing hard even after the shower.

4by750's 3r - three days in a row - video

Well tomorrow will either be the end of or start to part of my recent stress issues (well one of the reasons) to that end I won't (probably) be able to train tomorrow so might as well try and kill myself of today - so even though my mind is elsewhere I decided that I would not let this stop me - not today anyway. Warm up done and had a minute to set myself and then straight into it - the legs held up remarkably well and the heart - just need the lungs to catch up and I think they might be. On the last rep the ave had dipped over 1:31 with 250m left to go so I dug in and drove it home. Job done, If only tomorrow goes as well....

(couldn't not film today after doing the first two)

4by750 - again - with video

4by750's again today - got stuff on my mind again (Q is aware and helping with it) and it's making me pretty darn depressed and feeling ill - in some peoples books it might not be a big thing but to me it is - but I'm determined not to let it derail me - hopefully this Thursday will see an end to it and I will elaborate more - but in the meantime 4by750 on 3min rest - 1:30.5 ave (there will be another video to follow lol)

Pre work 30r20 70% HRR - lunch 4by750's 3r (with video)

So in work to get a low intensity 30r20 sub 70% HRR row - 8,000m spot on - no rowing over the weekend again I'm afraid.

Lunchtime punishment was therefore 4by750's with 3r aim was sub 1:31 pace and I decided to grab a full face video (probably too full face lol) just to show the discomfort I go through in order to get this done - good to share the pain - isn't it  ;-) Tough session but not insurmountable - legs where tired but the breathing - well - lets say it's a good job the phone didn't ring anyone as breathing down the phone like that could get me arrested :lol: (was going to get the video from the side but as I wanted that phone for my music I decided the iphone and PM docking station should work) job done on to the next session

Please note this is the full video - so 2min16 or rowing then all 3min of the rest :lol: havne't edited as yet - the interesting bit is the last minute when I try to breath without oxygen - well that's what it kinda felt like

4by750 3r - she won't let you get away with it

the Erg - aka the Mistress - you can't leave her (speed work wise) and come back expecting to pick up where you left off - although of course I did didn't I :lol: I mentioned in the blog earlier that the weekend was a right off training wise - it was - the only session I attempted was the 4by750 on Sunday - I was tired and not in the right frame of mind mentally to attack it - let alone set of on a PB pace - which I did - for about 200m (target 1:29.5 for first rep - ave PB pace is 1:29.3) but I drifted mentally and when I went back to the monitor I was seeing 1:33 pace - WTF - tried to drag it back and I was hitting 1:27's - stupid stupid - should have just come back to 1:30 and held - so then the handle came down - waited a few minutes and tried to go again - but by that time the demons were well and truly in my head and lasted a mere 300m - packed up and went in.

So today with the race Sunday looming - still feeling tired (about 4-5 hours sleep last night) a blinking rash on my head (think it's from being in the loft/attic at the weekend trying to find stuff - seem to be allergic to the insulation) and feeling "eurgh" I decided to have another crack at the 4by750 - but be sensible and just target 1:30 on the screen for the pace - ignore the ave - just hit as many 1:30's as I could for as many reps as I could - ie take them one at a time - as usual this approach of only looking at the next 30seconds worked and I made it through - I mean seriously sometimes I feel like the world is closing in on me at the start of these reps and to make it to the end is like watching the dawn - as you heave the carbon from the body - Q had posted something in relation to another team member on our forum to do with the mechanism of the breathing on these sessions after a lay off - I grasped onto that as much as I did to every molecule of oxygen I sucked in

Garmin Details

**** 4by750 PB **** - still not motivated

I saw a post on Facebook this morning (seen it a few times before - but popped up again today) simply stating "The mind will give up 10 times before the body will” – just looking it up now the quote might be 1000 times :lol: anyway it kind of stuck with me. Q sent out our schedule up to and including Boston today – we have two options – light and heavy – the heavy starts with 750s – I was close to choosing the light option today having not erg’d since Friday and nothing hard for two weeks – still a lack of motivation for Boston – but the flights are paid for and I have a lot of people I’m looking forward to meeting up – so as I will be going I just need to tick the boxes over the next four weeks – hopefully at some point I will pick up a bit of fire for the belly.

 

So there I was this morning – dealing with my erg split personality – one part saying do an easy row and do the hard one tomorrow – the other side going through what needs to be done to prepare for a hard row (eat and fluids at the right time) got to midday and off I set down to change – the mind already trying to quit on me two or more times – as I got changed I headed to my room – wanted the loo but they were being cleaned so did the warm up then popped out – this caused the HR connection to drop from the PM – thought it had picked up again on return after setting the 4by750s – I was wrong. The targets I set myself where the same as last time (when my foot came out) this time though I didn’t really have a “fire” to drive me through so it would be a case of get what I could and just get the session ticked targets where 1:29.5 – 1:29.5 – 1:29.2 – 1:28.6 – and after the first 750 I really wasn’t looking forward to any more but just seemed to go through the motions enough to get them done – by the end of the last one the legs where locking up bad from lactic and the throat was on fire – lack of this type of erging shows up quickly. Unable to drag the split down as far as I wanted to at the end – 1:27 through the line I think. Still session done and PB’d by 0.3 per 500m

**** 4by750's 3r PB **** Strapless - well shoeless

Found out in the last day or so that I really need to be looking at a sub6 (or close to it) if I want that hammer in Boston - no more fecking about then - basically I know of an entrée that will more than likely break sub6 - so should be fun then.

After my 750's earlier in the week HD - Q gave me a pace guide for them - 1:29.5 - 1:29.5 - 1:29.2 - 1:28.6 which would hint to a 6min 2k (or very bloody close) so that was my focus - I actually did this about lunchtime today - but only just getting round to blogging.

In the shed we had 100% humidity and 3.9C - lovely - well should be good training for Boston :lol: warm up done and legs tired - but I have to push them now - so tough - set up the session on rowpro and off I set - blowing quite hard - legs complaining - first set on target - but hurt more than a usual first set - oh well - tough - second set I started well again and settled worked for it from about 500m to go - but again in on target - OK third rep - make or break - I'm not usually a neg split guy - but this is how they are set up so started hard and focused on the split till 250m to go and saw I could back off a little - sorted - OK last set - need to mark my territory - decided again to focus on the split and then pump what I needed from 200m out - plan went well - although I noticed that my foot was slipping - so then I started to thump it (had in my mind Andy Jones who had done the 750's early this week and finished on 1:25 split - I was heading the same way ... then out it came - right foot completely out of the shoe - looked down - looked up at the monitor - would I stop - no way - placed my foot back on top of the shoe and took the final 7 strokes strapless and shoeless - :lol: - still managed to PB the session - previous PB was 1:30.7 - so 1.2 seconds by 500m of my PB - I'll take that - would I off hit my target if I hadn't of come un-shoed ....