On Friday morning I did a gym session and then headed down to the river. It was a cool 55 degrees Fahrenheit, but warming up toward an afternoon high in the high 60s. It was cloudy with some intermittent drizzle. After a 15-minute warmup, I did two sets of eight 10-second sprints, starting at the top of each minute. Maks told me to use "small resistance" on the boat, so I made it one golf whiffle ball. In between sets I gave myself seven minutes of easy paddling to move some fresh blood into my muscles and smooth my stroke back out. I felt more fluid and efficient in the second set than in the first.
A decent amount of rain fell overnight and yesterday morning it was cloudy and damp and about 60 degrees. I got in the boat and did a calm 40-minute paddle--Maks called it a "wake up" session, and that was what I needed because I was feeling pretty lethargic.
The cool, gloomy, rainy-ish weather continued all day yesterday. I'm not sure I had much more giddy-up in the afternoon than I'd had in the morning, but I had a bigger workout to do regardless. It was four sets of (3 minutes at 76 strokes per minute/1 minute rest/2 minutes at 80 spm/1 minute rest/1 minute at 84 spm), starting every 12th minute. For some reason I hadn't thought the session looked like a big deal on paper, but once I was doing it I realized it was a bear. Maks instructed me to work the 3-minute piece hard and then "try surviving" the higher stroke rates; it hurt a bit, but I did survive. Maks also reminded me to "maintain the posture and technic." Posture in the boat is something I've been paying more attention to lately at the behest of the physical therapist who's helping me with my neck ailment. She said that by rolling my pelvis back a little and sitting more erect, I would encourage more abdominal involvement while paddling and take some stress off my arms and shoulders. This has of course been known for decades in the sport, but it's an easy thing to slack off on if you're not giving it your specific attention. My therapist also urged me to keep my neck in a more neutral position, with the ears aligned with the hips, if that makes any sense. It's another measure to keep stress off my sore trap muscle.
This morning it was warmer and not a cloud in the sky, and I felt more pep in my step. As usual, Maks gave me a longer, steadier session to do on a Sunday. It was five sets of (5 minutes at 56 spm/3 minutes at 60 spm/2 minutes at 64 spm). "Same as always," Maks said, "technic is the first focus during this session!" So I went out and worked some more on sitting erect and keeping my neck in that neutral position, as well as on the stroke components I need to improve, planting the blade precisely for the catch while my top hand is near my head. As the session went on I tried to do all those things not so mechanically but more fluidly, so I wasn't bobbing the boat or jerking it around or anything like that. Whew. The rest intervals were 1 minute between pieces and 2 minutes between sets, and I think those were mental breaks more than anything else. Focusing hard on every move the body makes can wear a guy out.
I'm not feeling quite as beat to the socks as I felt this time last week. Maybe that's because I didn't do some extracurricular surfing like I did last weekend. Whatever the case, it was a pretty substantial training week and I'll enjoy a rest day tomorrow before getting back at it on Tuesday.
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