Monday morning was another rest day although I did take the dog for an hour long walk.
Tuesday morning I came into work to make it easier to go out OTW rowing this evening.
I did a 2,000m (10:05.9) warm up and then saw that the C2 WoD was 5 x 1,000m, 1:00r and thought this would be some good interval training for my various upcoming 2K races.
Round 1 – 3:31.2 @ 34spm, may have been a bit too hot as a first round, but it felt good.
Round 2 – 3:36.7 @ 33spm, feeling the effects of the first one already, 7:07.9 rolling 2K
Round 3 – 3:42.0 @ 32spm, legs are slowing on the slide, rest just evaporates, 7:18.7 rolling 2K
Round 4 – 3:45.1 @ 31spm, legs are tiring, hold it in there, 7:27.1 rolling 2K
Round 5 – 3:46.6 @ 31spm, tiring fast, last one, push for the finish, 7:31.7 rolling 2K
Half of each rest interval was spent tightening the foot straps as they are quite worn and I have to wrap the ends around in a knot next to the ‘gripper’ to prevent them coming loose after 3 strokes.
Spent the next 5 -10 minutes catching my breath and cooling down before sitting back on the erg for a 10,009m (52:08.0) conditioning cool down and then finished off with some stretching before showering, breakfast in the canteen and up to my desk for a 09:00 conference call.
I had a walk into Staines after lunch in the canteen and then after work headed over to the boat house for my evening masters session.
Tuesday evening masters rowing, 10,010m (44:45.8) warm up dropping 5 seconds from the pace every 1,000m, made it to 1:50/500m for about 200m before deciding to stop and use the last 1,800m as a cool down.
Fine 4-, stroke seat, mostly slow technical rowing at 16spm whilst being coached from a launch. The whole crew spent 90% of the session trying to rush me to go faster so this was not exactly fun, I was also trying to improve my rowing form and stay more rocked over which also added to the mental anguish, not a particularly fun session (9,343m).
Wednesday morning I decided I was running out of time for the May edition of the SkiErg Performance Series, so did a 1,000m (5:49.1) warm up and then hit the 5,000m time trial.
34 seconds short of a PB, but then I haven’t used the SkiErg in over a month and had a heavy day training yesterday, so happy with the result.
Thursday morning I was in at the office agin, 2,000m (10,15.7) warm up, then I concentrated on better rowing form as I had been shown to be over compressing at the catch and rowing with a rounded back and then decided to give the banded drill a go.
Finding somewhere to attach a band on an old model E was fun, those things are built like tanks and have a triangular plate on the left side of the arm stem, so no place to attach a band.
I ultimately wrapped it round the back leg, then multiple times around the handle to get enough resistance, I also bumped the drag factor so the fan slowed down fast – boy did everything feel light when I removed the band and reset the drag factor.
I then spent an hour working on pick drills, holding the catch, etc, whilst keeping my heels down. Front end drills, back end drills, pause drills checking my form in the mirror on the other side of the gym, then building the stroke back up again and doing some more continuous pieces all whilst checking my hip hinge, rock over, etc in the mirror.
You are right it did feel like the stroke was shorter, the drive length showed this a little but overall was still in the same ball park (I tried swapping between old and new styles a few times just to check).
I hurt one of my ribs again recently probably a stress fracture due to bad form and over compressing, it only really hurts when I applying power when sculling, it is fine when sweep rowing. Doesn’t help that we have been sculling a quad that we are too heavy for that sits too low in the water. That combined with bad form has most likely been the cause, that and power pieces in a leisure quad – resistance training anyone?
Much better form this morning with a decent hip hinge, keeping my heels down and I was barely applying any pressure to my bad rib, even at pace, which must mean I was doing something right (10,011m).
Took a walk into Staines at lunchtime after lunch in the canteen, then after work headed to The Swan as one of my colleagues was leaving the company soon and was having some leaving drinks.
I left them at about 18:00 and walked to the boat house to change for my leisure rowing session, this was another training piece for our Desborough Challenge in just over a week’s time.
We practiced all of our required pieces, turning the boat fast, swapping two of the crew members and also doing at least 6,000m at our intended race rate and pace, we finished off with a bridge to bridge piece at a slightly higher rate (8,417m).
Friday morning my ribs were hurting a bit from yesterday’s leisure rowing so I decided against any strenuous exercise and instead took the dog for a 1 hour walk.
Saturday morning senior men’s rowing (Reading Crew), 3,243m (16:15.2) warm up on the erg and then out in the water, 4- #2 seat, the session consisted of a warm up, a steady state piece and then practicing race starts for a total of 11,252m.
I walked into Staines for my usual Thai spicy chicken and rice, came back to the boat club to eat it and the went out in my 1x ‘Dark Horse’ not a strenuous piece, it was a beautiful day ad I just wanted to enjoy the water (4,654m).
I came back in for the leisure session, I was assigned a leisure 2x with Jo, we did a couple of bridge to bridge pieces just for fun (4,838m).
Sunday morning senior men (Met crew), 3,045m (14:34.7) warm up then out on the water, 4- #2 seat , warm up, steady state and then starts against the masters men’s 4- crew 4 minutes, with 4 lengths head start, 3 minutes with 3 lengths, 2 minutes and 2 lengths, 1 minute and 1 length.
Caught them on all except the second one where we narrowly missed hitting the bank!
We were supposed to do a 2K piece picking the master’s crew up at the 1Km mark but one of the wheels on my slide was grinding a flat spot so we decided to come in and fix it instead (11,719m).
Walk into Staines for breakfast at Weatherspoon’s and then back to the club for the leisure session. Leisure 2x with Josh, relaxed session, neither of us were interested in pushing it too hard, very enjoyable row (4,270m).