First true speed workout on the water of the year. 4 x 4'. Two from a start, one @ base, one with a sprint.
The first time going to race rate each year is always a little uncomfortable. Well, its normally very uncomfortable. Over the winter, we build a big aerobic base and new power, but transferring that fitness to rowing racing strokes takes a few workouts--a few torturing workouts. Usually your muscles are just not used to going that speed yet, so it feels sluggish. More often than not, the pace of early season speed is demoralizingly slow.
Today however, people seemed remarkably ready to go to race pace. Without any prior work on starts or base pace, people blasted off the line and raced it up well. I think that speaks very highly of xc skiing as winter training. High turnover and dynamic movements all winter can't hurt.
We had two flights of racers today, men and women, five boats in each flight. We did the pieces on the 2k course, which was great. Practicing in the lanes is great--race rehearsal. Some people think training on a 2k buoyed course all the time is detrimental to training. I may have believed that in the past but it's nonsense. Our races require us to cover 2km in a straight line as FAST as possible. Forget turning and forget guessing how far and fast you went. Like an Olympic swimmer, we need to row laps. And just keep getting faster. Anyways, I am happy to be doing that.
On the first piece, Steve and I finished pretty even probably with a slight edge to him. We were both a few lengths ahead of anyone else. It was expected to be and was a shock to the system. But, strangely I felt energized after that piece. Almost like my body got switched on to what it was supposed to do. The first piece was good by all accounts and pretty fast, but for some reason, I felt like I was ready to blast off on the next one. It seemed like Steve did not have as good of a piece on the second one, but I felt like I was really moving. It felt like when you do too heavy of a first set of deadlifts, then take some weight off, and obliterate the next set. As it often happens, you feel physically better and consequently start rowing technically better and more confidently. I began row a very long, smooth, and dynamic stroke that began to produce a very quality brand of base rhythm. I was getting the extra inches at either end that are so difficult to find under pressure. Not only is this type of rhythm flat out faster, it conserves a lot of energy. But, in order to access it you need to be stretching your arms out of the shoulder socket, elongating the neck, arching the lower back, and engaging the core, all while being extremely patient. Quite a paradox. I won the second piece by a 1.5 lengths in a faster time than the first piece. On the third piece ( base) , I hit two large meter marker buoys( on the outside lane), both of which eradicated by lead on Steve. We finished pretty even. On the fourth, I found the base rhythm from the second piece and began to move away from Steve again. I had a solid final sprint and finished about a length ahead. All in all, a very quality first speed workout of the year. Excited to keep getting faster as we do more and more speed.
We have not been doing a lot of supplemental exercises for injury prevention, which worries me. I will need to focus more in the coming months on keeping my core and lower back strong to prevent another rib injury. It is easy to sit back and just expect my body to stay balanced, but, as I learned this fall, that doesn't work. I need to pay more attention to staying healthy at all costs or else I will be wondering what could have been this year.
The first time going to race rate each year is always a little uncomfortable. Well, its normally very uncomfortable. Over the winter, we build a big aerobic base and new power, but transferring that fitness to rowing racing strokes takes a few workouts--a few torturing workouts. Usually your muscles are just not used to going that speed yet, so it feels sluggish. More often than not, the pace of early season speed is demoralizingly slow.
Today however, people seemed remarkably ready to go to race pace. Without any prior work on starts or base pace, people blasted off the line and raced it up well. I think that speaks very highly of xc skiing as winter training. High turnover and dynamic movements all winter can't hurt.
We had two flights of racers today, men and women, five boats in each flight. We did the pieces on the 2k course, which was great. Practicing in the lanes is great--race rehearsal. Some people think training on a 2k buoyed course all the time is detrimental to training. I may have believed that in the past but it's nonsense. Our races require us to cover 2km in a straight line as FAST as possible. Forget turning and forget guessing how far and fast you went. Like an Olympic swimmer, we need to row laps. And just keep getting faster. Anyways, I am happy to be doing that.
On the first piece, Steve and I finished pretty even probably with a slight edge to him. We were both a few lengths ahead of anyone else. It was expected to be and was a shock to the system. But, strangely I felt energized after that piece. Almost like my body got switched on to what it was supposed to do. The first piece was good by all accounts and pretty fast, but for some reason, I felt like I was ready to blast off on the next one. It seemed like Steve did not have as good of a piece on the second one, but I felt like I was really moving. It felt like when you do too heavy of a first set of deadlifts, then take some weight off, and obliterate the next set. As it often happens, you feel physically better and consequently start rowing technically better and more confidently. I began row a very long, smooth, and dynamic stroke that began to produce a very quality brand of base rhythm. I was getting the extra inches at either end that are so difficult to find under pressure. Not only is this type of rhythm flat out faster, it conserves a lot of energy. But, in order to access it you need to be stretching your arms out of the shoulder socket, elongating the neck, arching the lower back, and engaging the core, all while being extremely patient. Quite a paradox. I won the second piece by a 1.5 lengths in a faster time than the first piece. On the third piece ( base) , I hit two large meter marker buoys( on the outside lane), both of which eradicated by lead on Steve. We finished pretty even. On the fourth, I found the base rhythm from the second piece and began to move away from Steve again. I had a solid final sprint and finished about a length ahead. All in all, a very quality first speed workout of the year. Excited to keep getting faster as we do more and more speed.
We have not been doing a lot of supplemental exercises for injury prevention, which worries me. I will need to focus more in the coming months on keeping my core and lower back strong to prevent another rib injury. It is easy to sit back and just expect my body to stay balanced, but, as I learned this fall, that doesn't work. I need to pay more attention to staying healthy at all costs or else I will be wondering what could have been this year.
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