Beginning of super comp...NSR 2 style.

We did 6 x 500 this morning as the beginning of our super comp prep for racing next week in Princeton. It should be pretty similar to the lead up we had to NSR 1. 500s, 1ks, 1500, 500s, rest to the race.

Only difference now is that I am following Ben Dann.

We have had some pretty good rows so far this week but its been mostly low intensity paddling and volume. So you never really know how you are moving until you start laying down some race pace rhythm. We have pretty fast paddling speeds, as far as I can tell. That being said, I suspect our top end speed and ability to change speeds to be our real strengths. 

There was a nice tailwind creating following conditions on the cold Hosmer water this morning; enough to speed it up, but not enough to create much chop. A perfect blank canvas for a 500 m piece. It's important not to get carried away with 500m times because after all what you can do for a minute and a half is much different than six and a half. Although, I have at least found with my self that I can hold definitely hold a certain percentage of my max speed. So, continuing to drop the max speed makes that race pace speed continue to drop as well. Splits getting lower, I mean. 

The first 4 were from a standing start, last two rolling start at base. We blasted off the start, stayed pretty high for 250, then shifted to base and rowed pretty aggressively through the line with Dan following closely. Felt pretty good, lots of power, kinda sloppy, but the meat and potatoes seemed to be there. " Whoa.." Dan said. " What does that mean?" I asked...

" 1:25.6." 

Errrr, excuse me? 

Alright, well, decent. Ben kinda smiled at me and we turned around and paddled to the start again. I think maybe the course Dan set out was a little bit off but who knows. My GPS showed around there. Maybe 1.25 is not that good in the world of top doubles, but its decent for the first real week of race pace rowing together. 

The headwind was pretty brutal and we were definitely not breaking any records into it. We went 1.36-7 into the head. 

We ended up going 1:25.4 on the third piece off the start. On the final piece, we did 20 seconds at base, then imitated Olympic champions Joe Sullivan and Nathan Cohen as best we could for the final minute. We shifted to 38, then to 40, then to 42, then to 44. Each shift was actually spot on. Jumping off the front and launching the boat past the locked blades. Dan didn't get an exact time but I know that the second 250 was under 43 seconds, so definitely in the 1.25's. It was a very very fun last minute and a fun workout overall. 

Like I said, you kinda have to take the times with a grain of salt because you just never know, but they were no more than a second or two off. 

Either way, lots of hard strokes to take over the next few days in order to be ready for next week. But we are just excited to go there, crack some jokes, do some U turns, and see how fast we can make this thing go..