GMH/ H-on-H
A lot going on up here over the last couple weeks and I feel like I haven't had a whole lot of time to sit down and collect my thoughts, much less write them down. I guess a good place to start would be more than a week ago at the Green Mountain Head. This race is a personal favorite of mine and throughout the year, at various important races, I usually drop some sort of stupid joke about how our training is actually periodized for peaking at the Green Mountain Head. That may not be true, but it is true that you get a 1/2 gallon of maple syrup for 1st place. For us Vermonters, this is an important opportunity for us to bring in a good supply of syrup for the winter months. Regardless of the prizes, I have really enjoyed rowing this race over the past few years. It is a 3 mile race, 1.5 upstream, 1.5 downstream. For that reason, the times are fairly consistent year to year and you get a good indicator of how you are moving year to year. The first year I went in 2012, I went 19:29 and I remember people thought that was pretty fast. Sub 20 minutes is generally regarded as an elite time. In 2013, I was coming off a great summer of racing and remember feeling like I was on fire at this race. I went 19:06, a 23 second improvement. Interestingly enough, later that Fall I would PR on my 6k erg by 23 seconds. This time around, I felt like I was coming in to the race feeling a little bit off. I had a great week of training leading into the weekend, including a rate capped Head of the Hosmer piece that was very encouraging. At controlled rate, I broke the previous course record and beat the other guys by a solid margin. I felt like I had an abundance of energy, power, and oxygen in my lungs. Unfortunately, as often happens after efforts like that, you pay for it. I felt very sluggish on Friday and especially Saturday, but obviously was not going to worry too much about it since this is the time of year when we have free reign to train as much as we can without having to worry about peaking. As much as I wanted to have a great piece at the GMH, its a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things. Still, I really wanted to break 19 min because, as far as I knew, no one had done that before. So, when I went 18:56 last Sunday I was pleasantly surprised, but I also knew I could go a little faster with some more gas in the tank. I was told that was a course record, but who knows. An hour after the singles race, Ben and I hopped in the 2x and went again. This race was definitely the nail in the coffin. Instantly, I was hurting, but we couldn't let the Lightweight guys beat us, so we kept the rate high, the stroke light, and cruised in at 18:02. The double with Ben has actually felt great since we have been back in it this fall. He seems to be rowing a little longer and a little smoother which is helping him to use all of the power he has( which is a lot). All in all, another great day at the GMH, with 2 jugs of Maple Syrup won.
Unfortunately, those two races only pushed me further into a hole and really did not start feeling better until Wednesday morning. I appreciated Dan having us row easy most of the week, allowing our aerobic systems to recover to full capacity. I tried to keep my fatigue in check by only rowing once a day and generally doing some light lifting and body balancing exercises in the afternoon. However, it was really encouraging watching my paddling speeds increase as the week progressed and I got fresher. By the end of the week, I had recorded my fastest 20 k row below my target heart rate. It was an improvement by 2 seconds per 500m. Granted, I haven't really had the opportunity to train this consistently in the single since I was racing the single in 2013, but its still great to see that type of improvement. I'm excited by improvement by any margin.The previous best 20k was from June 2013 right before I left for World Cup 2 in Eton.
After a week of solid low aerobic training, we were racing again, but this time at home at the prestigious Henley-on-Hosmer! The draw was set up to spread out the four of us from the 4x, ideally having three of us meet in the final. The original draw would have had Steve and Ben meeting in the second round, but a few hours before the race, Steve withdrew because of a sore shoulder. It was definitely a good call on his part not to race, but it certainly messed up the draw. The first round is a 2.5 k, then the second round is 1k, then 750 m in the final. I knew that I would already have a tough time beating Steve or Ben over 750 meters, but I was hoping they would wear each other out in the semi final. With Steve's withdrawal, Ben would be fresh as a daisy in the final. Ben is pound for pound probably one of the most explosive rowers in the world, which makes him deadly for a 2-3 min race. It's not to say I am not quick for a short race, but for a singular short max piece, I would definitely put my money on Ben or Steve. This is why I am lucky to row with them in the 4x! So, I cruised pretty easily through the first two rounds, but still had to work decently hard. It was good to see Peter have a good race beating Hugh in the semi to join Ben and I in the final. After 10 strokes or so in the final, Ben was a length up on me. I spent the entire piece coming back and rowing at 40 spm, but Ben kept his bow in front. I was definitely bummed to finish the weekend with someone else's bow in front of mine. I felt like I had been moving the single sweeter than ever leading into this race, but this particular 750 m piece reminded me that you can't just row steady state and expect to fast at 40 spm. It takes a decent amount of specific work at that type of intensity. I crossed the finish line feeling pretty good, like I could do another piece, but like I couldn't have gone any faster than I just did. That is generally a symptom of doing a lot of base work and long rowing. On one hand, I am psyched to feel that way, because it means I am where I want to be at this point in the year; building base, getting more efficient, but not feeling 2k race ready. But on the other hand, I still want to be able to keep my bow in front no matter what. No matter what time of year it is, no matter what segment of training I am in, the simple goal of all of it remains the same: get ahead and stay ahead. It is interesting to note that this is the third straight year that I have won the Green Mountain Head and lost Henley-on-Hosmer.
Unfortunately, those two races only pushed me further into a hole and really did not start feeling better until Wednesday morning. I appreciated Dan having us row easy most of the week, allowing our aerobic systems to recover to full capacity. I tried to keep my fatigue in check by only rowing once a day and generally doing some light lifting and body balancing exercises in the afternoon. However, it was really encouraging watching my paddling speeds increase as the week progressed and I got fresher. By the end of the week, I had recorded my fastest 20 k row below my target heart rate. It was an improvement by 2 seconds per 500m. Granted, I haven't really had the opportunity to train this consistently in the single since I was racing the single in 2013, but its still great to see that type of improvement. I'm excited by improvement by any margin.The previous best 20k was from June 2013 right before I left for World Cup 2 in Eton.
After a week of solid low aerobic training, we were racing again, but this time at home at the prestigious Henley-on-Hosmer! The draw was set up to spread out the four of us from the 4x, ideally having three of us meet in the final. The original draw would have had Steve and Ben meeting in the second round, but a few hours before the race, Steve withdrew because of a sore shoulder. It was definitely a good call on his part not to race, but it certainly messed up the draw. The first round is a 2.5 k, then the second round is 1k, then 750 m in the final. I knew that I would already have a tough time beating Steve or Ben over 750 meters, but I was hoping they would wear each other out in the semi final. With Steve's withdrawal, Ben would be fresh as a daisy in the final. Ben is pound for pound probably one of the most explosive rowers in the world, which makes him deadly for a 2-3 min race. It's not to say I am not quick for a short race, but for a singular short max piece, I would definitely put my money on Ben or Steve. This is why I am lucky to row with them in the 4x! So, I cruised pretty easily through the first two rounds, but still had to work decently hard. It was good to see Peter have a good race beating Hugh in the semi to join Ben and I in the final. After 10 strokes or so in the final, Ben was a length up on me. I spent the entire piece coming back and rowing at 40 spm, but Ben kept his bow in front. I was definitely bummed to finish the weekend with someone else's bow in front of mine. I felt like I had been moving the single sweeter than ever leading into this race, but this particular 750 m piece reminded me that you can't just row steady state and expect to fast at 40 spm. It takes a decent amount of specific work at that type of intensity. I crossed the finish line feeling pretty good, like I could do another piece, but like I couldn't have gone any faster than I just did. That is generally a symptom of doing a lot of base work and long rowing. On one hand, I am psyched to feel that way, because it means I am where I want to be at this point in the year; building base, getting more efficient, but not feeling 2k race ready. But on the other hand, I still want to be able to keep my bow in front no matter what. No matter what time of year it is, no matter what segment of training I am in, the simple goal of all of it remains the same: get ahead and stay ahead. It is interesting to note that this is the third straight year that I have won the Green Mountain Head and lost Henley-on-Hosmer.
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