Schedule called for 8by500's today on 1:30 rest - life
called for sitting in front of the fire :lol: baby up again with her teething
till 2:30am - once up it was a day of household chores and then I popped down
to the local coastal rowing club as they were having a indoor rowing tutorial
and asked if I'd go down and help out along with James McMurtry who is a new
member of Whitegate Rowing Club and also entered the Irish last weekend and
broke the Irish M40-59 500 m record by 0.1 seconds in a time of 1:25.5 and won
the 2k 40-49H in 6:23.1 - he's only just taken up the indoor stuff ... although
his daughter dabbles OTW it seems
http://www.britishrowing.org/news/2013/august/24/mcmurtry-called-bench-world-rowing-championships
So todays session - sorry got side-tracked - well the recent
PB was 1:29.9 (just) and I wanted to see if I could sneak in a 1:29.8 so had
the target in mind - but after returning from the Coastal Club I would much
rather of sat in the front of the fire for the night - but BIRC coming up so no
time for rest - well maybe next week.
Out to the shed it was 8c and 93% humidity so started off
with my jumper on and the heater along with long sleeved compression top, two
pairs of socks and long legged compression pants. Managed to get the jumper off
after the first 1k and then settled into the cold - starting off the first 500m
bit a little too much but stuck with the target and just went through them one
at a time - standing start for all - and 40 second paddle once over the line -
managed to drop the bomb on the last rep and went through the line at 1:26 -
nice
First the race data from the Irish (thanks Q for putting it together - can see it on the site url=http://q-power.co/Irish_Champs_2013.html – plan was to hit 1:32’s from 0 to 1200m then increase – seemed to work
On to today – feel exhausted – been a busy few days and basically I was looking for a gentle row to hide away in – asked Q what he thought and he pointed me at the “schedule” now I had a way out as todays row was 40r18 70% HRR – but I did that yesterday and missed the 4by1k 5r – oh well bugger it – might as well completely destroy myself :lol:
Hobbled down to get changed – slogged my way through the 5k warm up – set the 4by1k and decided that I would sit on 1:32’s as much as I could and just get comfortable with uncomfortable – seems to be working and the body just ticked through them – it hurt – it was tough – I was blowing and the legs where burning – but the job got done for the first three and I worked out if I pulled 3:03 on the last one I could PB the session (1:31.9) so aimed at sitting on 1:32 ave and then pull it down in the last 150m – alas the mind was willing – the legs were not and I slumped through at 1:33ish pace after 500m to leave too much to do at the end – but still I tried – bless my little legs really are stuffed now :lol:
So I (OK the mrs) found a flight from Cork to Nottingham return for €49 (Fri to Sun) and what with Saturday's result I can hardly not go to BIRC - so that's booked - need to work out how to get from Nottingham to Cardiff now :lol:
As for training - well - after Saturday I had a two hour drive home - usual dog walks, baby feeds etc and then up Sun morning to spend 9 hours laying a laminate floor for the sister in law - to say my legs where fried after that is an understatement. Well at least I had Monday and Tuesday off work - unfortunately that was for a trip to Dublin and back as the baby needs to see a Dr up there - all going well but need to go back in ten months to finalise. So another 6 hours in the car. To say I'm tired today is an understatement :lol:
But - signed up to BIRC - so needed to get some blood pumping round to get the legs to start recovering - so a low rate workout called and with only 11,094m to go to 14million lifetime meters I stuck that in the PM - split it in 8 and rowed the first split as a warm up and the last as a cool down - the piece in the middle was to be 18/20SPM with HRR 70% - lovely jubbly and feel so much better now :-D
Gonna grab the timeslot as still waiting for Video and Photos to upload - they will be on by tomorrow if not in the next hour.
So where do we start - well how about with the baby deciding that last night was a good time to teeth ... till 2:30 in the morning - bless her - at the end of the day you can't get that upset with your own flesh and blood when they cry from pain - still as I was up at 6:30 another day would have been better :lol: 2 hour drive (thanks Pamela) to Limerick and then checked in - bumped into the gang (Jonathon, Joe, Jason & Helen, Gerry, Anita and Andy, Maurice and Jackie to name but a few) and then it was warm up time - plenty of machines and all in decent order so through the 5k warm up not feeling too bad. Onto the race machine - front and centre - about 2 feet from the crowd :lol: and then it came READY - ATTENTION - ROW and we where off!!
Plan was to settle fast and sit on 1:32 from 100m to 1200m in and that's what I found I was able to do - crossed the 1k at about 3:05 bang on schedule and then at 800m to go I started to squeeze on - that also went well - no dead feelings in the thighs like Bristol - and I started to pull the average down - at this point Alex Dunne from C2 had taking up cox position and started feeding words of encouragement -
"40 strokes to go - put on the pressure - 20 strokes - 6:05 is on here"
For some reason (maybe the lack of oxygen) I couldn't work out what the split would mean in the time and I got a little confused :lol: but just kept hauling down on the chain and at about 100m to go the lack of oxygen really started to bite - but I managed to keep going .... well apart from the last stroke and the handle came to heavy and dropped - looking up I saw the meters tick down from about 7m left - damn it ...
Pain Face :lol:
Struggled round to do a cool down and then popped off for lunch with the Mrs and baby plus the gang - and then back for the 500m - I don't train at this - I had no idea what time I could do - 1:20 seemed like a good target - I knew one guy in the race would start hard and after the false start on the first attempt at starting we where off - sure enough I found myself in second or third - I didn't mind - I knew I could sit on 1:20 and so I did - the other guys faded at about 300-350 and through came the wulf for the finish.
All too brief an interlude and we (PaddyPower) went back for the team relay - no practise - no tactics - no idea :lol: but we managed a third place behind two very stong uni teams so a good day and great to meet so many people and as always too short a time to talk.
Just had the race warm up in the diary to do today – but wanted to add some race start practise as I was slow of the line in Bristol - :oops: so after the 5k I tried to set them up on the PM4 – discovered that having ergdata connected fouled the race settings so unplugged that and just had the monitor – plan was full strong strokes and get the fan spinning then settle on 1:32 pace – felt good … tooo good. Set the first for 2 minutes with the plan to “race” the first 40sec and then a 2k with the same plan (but didn’t set up the splits – d’oh)
This time tomorrow the 2k will have been done :gulp: time to embrace the pain – doesn’t matter what the clock shows at the end if you’ve raced a 2k TT to your full ability we are all going to be sharing the same pain
Today was originally planned as a one minute at as a race start and steady (ie set up a 2k and use the first minute as I would on Sat) but with signs of tiredness in the legs it was decided to give them a wash through - so 30r18 at a pace of 1:55 was decided - all nice and comfy apart from when the mind drifted to Saturdays race - especially pushing the last few hundred meters - HR shot up by at least 4 or 5 beats every time :lol: bloody dogs had me up in the night again - gonna make them come hot chocolate tonight ;-)
I’m planning on taking some “stealth power naps” tonight when the mrs isn’t watching
Q wanted me to "get frustrated" today - trying to bring the wulf out I reckon - so he gave me 3 by500's aimed at 1:32 pace (3r)
"No fast start, no sprint, Time to get frustrated"
so that's what I did after my 5k warm up - got another bum blister but that should be healed by Sat (well enough not to bother me) it's at the stinging (ie no outer skin) stage at the moment also managed to get a whopping 5 hours sleep last night - which is good for me - actually it was probably nearer 4 but I like to pretend.
These where never going to tax me - meant to get me used to the pace/rhythm - struggles on the first one to do that and bounced about a bit - looked too much at the ave split for the piece rather than the split for the stroke. Rectified that in the second and a lot more comfortable with it in the third. Legs tired but used to that a few days before a race
In Saturday’s race there are two High Performance athletes who I think are using this as their trial? Someone know if these are basically the Irish Rowing team?
Today Q asked me to row 30r18 @1:50 pace and no faster – even though the split average was showing 1:50.0 on every split but one it flipped to 1:49.9 on the split end FFS :lol: HR a little higher than I would like but with little sleep again last night (woken on the hour it seemed by the dogs and the baby joined in )I’m not surprised the body was sluggish
So Q’s race plan – now I will quote this almost verbatim as it’s a little scientific and I want to get the wording correct – if there are any questions about it I will try and answer them – although I may need to contact NASA for a fuller understanding – so here we go “Stop f()cking about and do what you are capable of.” bet your scratching your heads now… :lol:
Blinking life getting in the way of training again – really knocks me when I get out of a routine – so although I had a good week last week culminating with a PB on the 6by1 on Thursday – Friday we had a wedding to attend – funnily enough the reception was at the same hotel I started my erging in three years ago – so I took my gear hoping I might get a chance in the afternoon to sneak in a 30min or at the very least in the Sat morning before check out – sadly neither opportunities availed as Sat morning I woke at 10am and needed to get back for the dogs – I’d only had two pints the night before but obviously needed the sleep. Sat then flew past with getting jobs done and decided I was better to rest and do the 4by1k’s on Sunday – mid-afternoon I went out but as the dogs had woken me at 2:30am 4am and 7:30am I was pretty pooped and after the first 1k was done about a minute into the second my concentration levels just left me and I found myself handing down. That led me to questioning everything about my erging and whether or not it was worth training at this level with all life was throwing at me – should I even bother going to the Irish on Saturday!
So today the plan was to go down and get a pure 30r18 70% done as again the dogs had woken me at 5am after not getting to bed till 1am – but on the way down the mind decided it wanted to do the 4by1k – even if I only did one – I needed to get comfortable with uncomfortable by rowing some distance at 1:32 pace – and so I found myself going through the race warm up – and then I started on the first 1k – it went OK although breathing hard at the end – it’s not so much the legs that get me on this row it’s the breathing – and that’s more scary than the lactic legs – the feeling of drowning is a horrid one – especially if you’ve experienced it in the water – still got to get comfortable for the Irish and so I floundered through it – first minute of the 2nd 3rd and 4th rep are OK – the last 2 minutes make you wonder about how you are going to get enough oxygen in to move – still I did it – I survived – I got comfortable with uncomfortable and a shiney new PB – previous one was 1:33.6 – it’s now 1:31.9 – can’t wait for a time when I can start training properly.
Before I went down to do this I intended on aiming at the Q-Power team best score of 1:25.1 – knowing that meant that this was going to take me into a world of pain and got me thinking about the old six shot revolver – looking up “Six Shooter” before I went down I saw this (be warned – graphic violence)
scroll to21:25and I had a feeling that this was going to be my legs come the 5th and 6th “shot” … I was right
So why go chasing a target almost a second quicker than my PB for the session (1:26.0) – well two reasons – this week is about inflicting pain on myself and forcing the body to deal with it – secondly after I set that PB (1:26.0) I rested for 8 minutes and went again – surely that meant I had more in me – thirdly I like pain (yes I know I said two reasons! lol )
Warm up done I set about the first rep – it’s funny how in a warm up 300m at 1:30 feels like it’s the fastest you can do – then you find yourself sitting on 1:24 with ease – so I did – and again on the second rep - I wanted to make sure I had to deal with pain come the final splits – my plan worked – by the third set the legs where grumbling – fourth set a little whimper – fifth set all out revolt and by the end of the sixth they got up and walked out on me – leaving me fall through the line at 1:33 split – but row through the line I did and this meant I piped Jordan by 1m with 2114m’s and then a collapse on the floor and a struggle to the changing room.
Tomorrow is a enforced day off as I have a wedding to attend – funnily enough the venue is where I started up rowing three years ago – so may try and sneak a session on the Sat morning before we check out :lol:
