Irish Indoor Rowing Championship 2017 - triple gold

Well I kinda spoiled the ending to the story....

As I said a few days ago "I would rather go and lose than stay at home and wonder" and as Q said to me "Sometimes racing is about getting to the finishing line... sometimes the victory is getting to the start line. I think turning up and rowing a 2k of any description is a victory - you have been to hell and back. This is not about winning in the eyes of others, it is about winning your battle. That occurs when you take the first stroke. Nothing after that matters..."

I had a not very good session on Thursday I attempted two by 1k on 4min rest first 1k was aimed at 1:33 r30 which I hit (this was target for 2k) the second 1k was to be 1:32 r32 but 400m in I just felt it on the legs and stopped... But I've learned and this didn't completely disrail me but gave me a new target for the day. From looking at the competition I thought the 1k could be around 2:55 so I planned to start at r32 1:28 pace and I would do what I needed to do to win. If I have to bury myself so be it. As it turned out the guy I expected to be the main competition didn't arrive so I changed the plan to 1:30 r30 and see what was happening at halfway. On starting the race I noted that guys from the lower age group where showing on the screen but knew that one of the guys in front of me was in this lower age group and pretty sure that the guy leading was also in the other group. At about 600m gone I saw that I was in second and as I was pretty sure the leading guy on the screen was in the lower group thought I would just sit behind him .... that didn't last long and the pace came up to 1:26's and with about 100m to go I went passed him finishing in 2:57.8 - the second guy came in at 2:59.2 - it turned out he was in the same category as me - phew!

 

So the 2k plan was aimed at a 6:15 orinally as again I had it planned around another rower being there - for some reason he didn't make it - it was to be r32 and start at 1:35 pace and this was to remain until half way at which point I will decide if I needed to destroy myself to go for the win or if I can save some for the 500m. I ended up rating a little lower than planned at 30 maybe the 1k took more than expected or maybe the recent cold/flu - lack of training etc etc still I had the control and come the final 500m I simply kept the pressure on and controlled it home - a win but I'll be honest slower than I really wanted.

There was quite some crowd there ....

ahh the reason for the crowd :o) O'Donovan brothers 

So then the 500m that itself will be a fly hard from the start and hold on to the wings of the angels. As I was lining up to get to the erg I heard the all so familiar "Attention - This is a emergency - Please evacuate the building" ... err no that's not right its Ready Attention Row! Nope there is was again and at that the arena was cleared and we waited outside for the fire brigade to come on scene and declare it safe - as there was apparently a fire detected in a plant room this took about a half hour or more. Still once back in I was even more pumped for the 500m - on the erg - music on and ... balls forgt to put the phone on airplane mode and the wife was calling - quickly chucked the headphones off and tried to focus - got a good not great start but think I missed first stroke - patiently waited for the pace to come down as I was hitting 1:16's but the average was showing over 1:20... eventually it came down and I was looking at a sub 1:20 finish up to the last few strokes - ended on 1:20.1 and my third Gold. 

Overall I was happy with my day - it was about getting to the start as much as it was about finishing the races and to get three wins made it all the better - talked to some old friends and met some new ones and for that I am grateful. Also got three new t-shirts :-)

AM Weights - PM 500m TT

This morning I went through a weights session before work which was


5 min warm up on bike and some stretches

Squat - Barx5, 40kgx4, 50kgx3, 55kgx2, 60kgx1
           70kgx5x3

Flat Bench Press - Barx5, 35kgx4, 40kgx3, 45kgx2, 50kgx1
           60kgx5x3 (this wasn't to chest and thinking of using dumbells in order to get deeper?)

Power Clean  - Barx5, 30kgx4, 40kgx3, 45kgx2, 50kgx1 (learning as I go on this)
           50kgx5x3 (did have 60kg on but couldn't shift it for even one rep lol)

Seated Cable Row 3x8x91kg (maxed out the stack on the machine)

Lunchtime - had to be a quick session as stuck in traffic on way to gym so went with 500m TT - still full of cold but as said earlier in the week as long as it's not "on the chest" I'll just crack on with it.

Full race warm up and set up the monitor - weighed down the front end (see Tuesdays blog) and off I went - same tactic - settle at 1:18 ish and keep it going - think the cold had more of an effect than hoped and just had trouble with really dry mouth by half way - plus I probably rated a little high for my liking - need to get a better control on it. Still - 1:20.6 and managed to bury myself in the process which was nice - NOT!! lol - oh I love the erg!!!

Irish 500m Silver

Well you can only plan and execute your own race - can't influence what others are doing.

Plan was 1:19 - first 100m 1:18 and then hold the decline. Had a great start but noticed I dropped to third pretty quick - no worries the other two will decline at the end more than me - one did one didn't - I did my part lol - through the line on a 1:21

Spoke to Damian after to let him know he broke the Irish 500m record and asked which age group he was (he looked over 30) he's 35 - bugger no chance of getting that back :-) big guy - little taller than me and more muscle I'd say - his first race so hopefully we'll see more from him

Irish Indoor Rowing Championships - 2015 - 2k & 500m Gold 40+

Well just sitting down reflecting on the day, It didn't go to plan ... again. So time to relax and train without the pressure of a race for a while. There are many small reasons why today didn't go to plan which go back as far as October but lets not dwell on the past.

So today I ended up at the venue a lot later than planned - on fact too late to even complete my 20 minute warm up - running around trying to find water (in a University sports hall!) wasn't ideal either - also had trouble finding the toilets. All adds to it ... So on to the race machine and set the drag at least the headphones seemed to be working. So off we went on row and after 10 reasonable power strokes I backed off to my planned 1:32 - the plan was to hold that to about 1250 and then either push on or take stock - after about 500m or so I felt very comfortable and ended up drifting away - I stopped looking at the monitor completely and just looked around the hall at the spectators - other rowers - people in the background - anything - don't get me wrong I was still hitting my numbers - but just a million miles away. When I did focus back on the job I had a look at second place and looked at the meters between us  and for whatever reason - tiredness - lack of hard training - getting to the venue late I just let it go and did what I needed to do to finish - came in slower than my second 2k from the Euros.

After collecting the medal and T-Shirt :o) the wive and I with the baby went into town so she could get some time doing what she likes - "row - life balance" while there I decided to have two large burgers - err double - so two large double burgers - hmm that didn't sit well for the 500m warm up about two  hours later. So back to the venue and about 2500m with some controlled sprints - the burgers kept coming back to remind me of their taste lol but out onto the race machine and ready to rock. Seemed to be a long delay between looking at the get ready to row and the count down but once it came I found myself pushing 1:18's on the screen without too much pressure. Think I lead from about four or five strokes in and manage to finish strong enough to take a second Gold. Again off form as would of liked to be hitting 1:18 finish.

So time to reflect and relax ....