November

Its been a wonderfully lazy Sunday morning and I'm thankful to have the chance to sit down and write a little bit. The past three weeks have been successful in terms of volume and quality of training but as it stands now I am in a deep hole. My focus going into November and December was to bring intensity into the weight room and let the rest of the week form around that. Looking back, the work I have done in the weight room has been solid and I am happy with the progress. When I arrived here after the Head of the Charles, there was no question that I was lacking in absolute strength. The tell tale signs were mainly in my grip strength, range of motion in my lower back, and then just the embarrassingly low weights I was lifting. I knew that with consistent lifting and time, it would come back, but it was important to begin lifting heavy things asap. I got in touch with  Dave Gleeson and he got me on a lifting plan periodized for this year and beyond. The first week was a massive shock to my system. I was lifting both at a higher percentage of max and a higher volume of reps than I had been since I trained with him in 2012. It was refreshing to be doing the type of work that was clearly stimulating change in my body. However, that alone has not led me to the state of fatigue I am in currently in. Credit goes to the biweekly bouts with Gregg Hartstuff's Michigan Men's Team. Despite perhaps jeopardizing the physiological effects of the lifting, I felt like I needed to keep my racing edge alive, so I asked to be included in the teams pieces. Little did I know, I was biting off more than I could chew. The Michigan men share a space with the Boxing team in the upstairs of a building called the Coliseum. Maybe I am just projecting this but there has certainly been a gladiatorial and pugilistic feel to each round of pieces I have done with the team. This room gets to be at least 90 degrees and I typically lose around 6 lbs in sweat over the course of the workout. I have been going out at splits that I feel like I should be able to hold and then dying a miserable death. 2 x 6k is just... the worst. My max heart rate is around 188 and I have been hitting 185 about 2k into the first piece. For the remaining 10k, I sit close to max and watch my power output dwindle to embarrassingly slow numbers. I reason with myself that at least I am getting a good training effect because my HR is so high, but its hard not to feel worried and depressed leaving these workouts. I am impressed with the Michigan guys for never complaining about how hot it is, they just get it done. They could certainly be pulling faster numbers in a cooler room, but they just trust Gregg, do the work, and compete. Yes, its been miserable at times, but its been a lot of fun being around the energy of their team. I'm getting the toughness training I signed up for.

When I have erged in different locations on campus where the room temperature is 30-40 degrees cooler, I have been reassured that I am not quite as much of a mess of some of these pieces have suggested. The women's team has the privilege of doing their winter training in THE BIG HOUSE. The visitor's locker room to be precise. This space is nicely air conditioned and has large high powered fans evenly distributed throughout the space. In the world of sub max endurance, thermoregulation is king, and cooler rooms equal faster splits. It is equally dangerous to get excited about fast splits in a cold room as it is to get down on yourself for going slow in a hot room. I am remembering that no matter the circumstances to just do my best and not schmett the small stuff. 

ARM DAY!

Entrance to the BIG HOUSE.

Erging in the Future. (Above)2 x 50' @ 22 < 160 HR. (Below) 2 x 40' @ 22 <160 HR.

Last week we received an RP3 from Carlos Dinares. It has been fun playing around with the numbers and comparing it to how the single feels. So far, I have been really impressed with its likeness to on water rowing. The ability to focus on work per stroke instead of just speed is very useful. Sure you can do that yourself on any rowing machine, but the direct and precise feedback loop is so valuable. I would imagine using this for matching curves, stroke length, and especially the relative peak force would be a great tool for team boats. The change that has the greatest impact on my curve so far I has been keeping my left shoulder down and engaged. It's still not where I'd like it to be but I think its moving in the right direction. When I do a better job of pre-engaging my lats, my curve becomes smoother and any hitch is eliminated. Especially at race pace, I have a fairly significant hitch in the transition between the legs and the body that I'd like to fill out. Below is a clip of me rowing on the RP on Thursday.

Just as I am getting into thick of winter training here in Michigan, I am going to do the sensible thing and put my boat and oars on my car and drive south in search of warm weather and rowing! One of the perks of working remotely is being able to do things like this. I'll be doing some training with Ben Davison while he is home from Washington and I'm really looking forward to reuniting with him. I'm mostly excited to train with someone who is as excited to go to Chipotle for every meal as I am. Beginning Dec 26, I'll be rowing with the Michigan women's team during their winter camp in Orlando, then hopefully meeting up with the Women's 2x of Meg O' Leary and Ellen Tomek in Sarasota for a few days the following week. Before I leave for FL this week, I will be doing a 6k erg test. So its not all sunshine and sculling. I'll try to post from Florida with some rowing video.