6:30AM – Lake Lemon
Single Sculling Practice
80 minutes
Notes: Again, an okay day today. Things are still getting better, but I’m realizing more and more the little things that I really need to tweak. I spent a good portion of today’s practice really concentrating on keeping my blades off the water during the recovery. This was good for two big reasons. First it really speeds up the boat because there is much less drag. Second, it forces me to slow down and balance more, which is nice because it keeps me from rushing in to the catch.
I was suppose to do an erg workout this afternoon. I have to admit, I just couldn’t do it. I’ve had a lot on my mind recently and today was just the culmination of a lot of mental and emotional stress. I had to listen to my body and just take it easy today. I really think I’ll be glad that I did this. I’ll pick up the slack on Saturday. Today I just need to rest in the afternoon.
6:30AM – Lake Lemon
Single Sculling Practice
80 minutes
Notes: Well, here’s the deal. I’ve got some more video to check my form, but the stupid videos won’t import to iMovie. It’s boggled my mind. I’ve done it before, but for some reason it isn’t working tonight. I’ll try again tomorrow night.
5:00PM – The Von Eaglehausen
Erg workout
8x500M – 3:00 recovery
Notes: During my 5 attempts at my 3 stroke max I was only able to crank out a best of 921 watts. This kind of upset me and I decided to go all out for the very first 500M. The result was a PR at 1:22.7 by nearly two full seconds! After this I was trying hard to keep each interval under 1:30 but couldn’t manage. Legs just started to burn up around the 200M mark. Must…get…stronger.
11:30PM – Force Fitness
“Snatchurday”
My trainer Wil has apparently coined the aforementioned term as a day of the week (Saturday) when the workout is reserved for just practicing the snatch. We spent about 10-15 minutes doing dynamic stretches and warming up. Then moved to the Oly platforms and went through some bare barbell warmups. For the next 20-25 minutes we just worked on triples with lighter working weight. After that we dropped down to singles and adding weight. The result?
A new snatch PR at 90kg! I was very happy indeed, especially since it went up super smooth. My attempt at 95kg was decent, enough power and height, but I was unable to catch it. After this, I decided to call it a day and work on snatch balances for the next 15 minutes or so. I’m definitely looking forward to incorporating more “Snatchurday” into my weekly regimen in the future.
Earlier that day Andrea and I went to an IURS equipment sale. It was the perfect opportunity to pick up some used stuff for EXTREMELY cheap. Here are the purchases:
Four 45# iron plates. As you can see, I spent a good portion of the afternoon using a steel wire brush to clean the rust off. They look a ton better now.
4 blue foam mats: perfect doing sit-ups or under your hands during burpees. Four judo mats: these are heavy duty, dense rubber. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with them but I'm thinking of using them when I build my own Oly platform.
The piece de resistance! Top brand and commercial grade. We were thrilled to be able to get this. As you may know, Andrea LOVES running and this will be perfect for her marathon training, especially during those long, dark, cold winter months. I won't say how much it was, but I can tell you it was NINETY FOUR% off its retail price. We could not pass it up.
A couple months ago, Sevan from CrossFit HQ did a few pieces with the Canadian National Rowing team, covering how they train and facilitate some CF methodologies. Being a rower training to achieve such a level, I found myself watching these videos over and over again. I couldn’t get enough. Every second I was comparing myself to the athletes being featured and wondering how my abilities would match up to theirs.
One video that I found really interesting introduced me to a 3 stroke max test. Cam Birtwell, the Strength and Conditioning coach at the Canadian Sports Centre describes 1100 as the gold standard, stating “if you can generate 1100 watts in a 3 stroke max, that means you pretty much have the power requirements necessary to do a fast race in a rowing shell.” In the video, Doug Cisma (23, 6’3″ 225#), a men’s heavyweight for the Canadian team generates 1120 watts in three strokes. If you get a chance, you should really check out the video (you might need a CF Journal membership, but here is a link directly to the video anyway)
I haven’t watch these videos in a while, but ever since I saw this I thought it would be a cool way to see how well I can generate power and of course compare myself to Canada’s finest. For this past week, I have been limiting myself to 5 attempts after my warm-up and before my erg workouts. Today (8/20/10), I hit a PR of 943. A far cry from 1120, but the good news is that typically each day I attempt this I am able to set a new PR(!). Plus, after watching Doug again in this video I’ve noticed some things that I need to change and improve with my technique. Also, I don’t have anyone/thing bracing my C2, so I’m not really sure how much that would help my score. Hopefully I can post a 1100 pic at sometime in the near future.
So if you’ve got a Concept 2, throw that damper all the way up to 10, set your units to watts and see how much you can generate in 3 strokes.
6:30AM – Lake Lemon
Single Sculling Practice
80 minutes
Notes: Good day today. Getting faster and keeping a steady pace for a longer distance. Each day keeps getting better and better.
7:00PM – The Von Eaglehausen
Erg workout
2×20:00 (2 back to back 10:00 pieces) 3:00 recovery
2:00 – 22 – 1:46/500M
3:00 – 24 – 1:42/500M
2:00 – 22 – 1:46/500M
3:00 – 26 – 1:38/500M
Notes: Freakin’ ROUGH. Results are in the pic below. My goal paces were so hard to hit today. I got to the point where all I could do was shoot for the target stroke rate and put forth my best effort in each stroke. Definitely not my best day, but still one heck of a workout today for sure.
4:30PM – Force Fitness
Olympic lifting and strength training
Clean 3×4
100kg x 3
100kg x 3
100kg x 3
105kg x 3
Notes: Nothing too much here. Stayed well within a working weight to nail down some form. I really just need to get stronger coming up out of the hole after the catch.
Romanian Deadlift 8×4
60kg x 8
70kg x 8
80kg x 8
90kg x 8
Notes: A little nervous. I hurt my back doing these a few years ago and have been a little timid to do them again. Then again, back then I was doing a stupid amount of weight with poor form. Today was different. Started very light and, again just like cleans, nailed down the form.
Press 8×3
60kg x 8
60kg x 8
60kg x 8
Med ball Lay-Z-Boys* 10×3
*I came up with these a while ago when I used to do a weekly medicine ball routine. Here is how you do them. Stand approximately 10 feet away, facing a strong wall (brick, concrete, squash or racquetball courts work really well). With an overhead throw, similar to an inbounds pass in soccer, throw the med ball at the wall in front of you. As it bounces against the wall, get into a squat position. Just after its first bounce, catch the ball and roll onto your back. While on the ground, fully extend your body so your legs are straight and the med ball is overhead (fully laid out on the ground, hence the name “Lay-Z-Boys”). Then swing the med ball forward, into the top of a sit-up position. At the same time bring your knees up so heels are under your butt. Stand up, and do it all over again
6:30AM – Lake Lemon
Single Sculling Practice
5×5′
SR – 22/24/26/24/22
Notes: First practice on the water with some actual structure! This felt like I really accomplished some stuff today. I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that I was able to hang with two doubles throughout the entire practice. The bad news is that my boat is so small for me that I’m basically sinking it! Like I’ve mentioned before, I’m 6’7″ 240# and training in a women’s middleweight (heck, it could even be a lightweight!) single scull. The bow of my boat barely stays above water on each stroke. There are many times throughout practice when water will actually pass over the top of the boat on the bow and sometimes on the stern.
Another case of good news/bad news. The good news is that once I’m able to find and train in a heavyweight single, I’ll be able to go MUCH faster. The bad news is that brand new these bad boys ain’t cheap and used ones are very hard to come by here in the midwest. If you have any connections let me know!
5:00PM – The Von Eaglehausen
Erg workout
30:00 steady state
SR – 24
Rate – 1:47.0
Notes: I really expected to just take it easy today. This afternoon I was pretty tired and even find myself dozing off for 20:00 after I got home from work. For a minute I was actually thinking about taking this afternoon off, but I sucked it up and put myself through it. I started off with a fairly conservative pace and really had the intent of just rowing at an easy steady state for the entire 30:00. Once I passed the 15:00 mark, I decided that I might as well put in some work. I really believe the last time I did a 30:00 test like this I held an average pace of 1:46.5 or so. So considering that I didn’t really turn it on until the halfway point on this one, I feel pretty good.
4:00PM – Force Fitness
Olympic lifting and strength training
Snatch 4, 4, 2, 2
70kg x 4
75kg x 4
80kg x 2
80kg x 2
85kg x 1
Notes: Felt suuuper good on this today. Got some great advice and cues from Wil. 88kg is my PR and 85kg went up really clean today. I think a 90kg snatch is in the near future.
Back Squat 5×5
125kg x 5
125kg x 5
125kg x 5
125kg x 5
127kg x 5
Notes: Perhaps should have gone a little heavier. I was a little nervous that I wouldn’t get it, which is dumb. I needed to be more aggressive on this lift.
Kneeling box jumps 3×6 (Kneeling jump to a 2″ mat, then straight to a 30″ box jump)
HSPUs 3×5
