Another loaded weekend

I started off Friday with a gym session before heading down to the river.  I did a speed session in the boat: two sets of five 20-second sprints.  Within each set I started at 2-minute intervals, and I took a 5-minute break between sets.  Per Maks's instructions, I did a flying start for three of the sprints in each set, and started from rest in the other two.

When paddling "all-out" it's hard to focus on all the various stroke mechanics, but in general I feel like I'm sprinting well if my body is moving fluidly.  My first couple of sprints felt a bit sloppy, but eventually I smoothed things out.

Yesterday morning's session consisted of six times (2 minutes on/1 minute off) at 50 strokes per minute and four times (3 minutes on/1 minute off) at 64 spm.  I used these lower-stroke-rate pieces to concentrate on the mechanics that I'd had to breeze over on Friday.

Yesterday afternoon's workout was one I'd been eying with some trepidation all week.  It was two sets of four (30 seconds on/30 seconds off) followed by two sets of six (15 seconds on/15 seconds off), all done at an A3 stroke rate (more than 90 spm).  The objective, as described by Maks, was "developing lactic capacity via short bursts of heavy intensity efforts combined with equally short breaks.  To put it short--your goal is to 'kill' yourself doing it!"  At least he put "kill" in quotation marks.

In the first set of 30/30s I used a stroke rate a little under 100 spm, and while it was plenty tiring, I didn't feel like it "killed" me.  So when I started the second set about five minutes later, I bumped it up to around 106-108.  Now I was starting to get killed.  Once I was doing the 15/15s I nudged the rate up even a bit more, and my heart rate went with it.

And then... the workout was over.  That's the good thing about these intense lactic sessions--they go by quickly.  There's not much time to think about how miserable you are.  I did a nice long cool-down, and once I was back on the dock I felt better than I'd felt before paddling.  When I paddled with Dawid Mocke in South Africa last year, he called it the "post-workout chill."  It's endorphins, basically.  By the time I was back home the endorphins had worn off and I was tired, but it felt good to have another good workout in the bank.

I wearily got myself back to the river this morning for the last session of the training block: a 90-minute paddle.  It was calm out on the Mississippi with just a mild south wind and no barge traffic in sight.  I tried to relax, take good strokes, and enjoy the river.  There's an easier week coming up--a chance for my body to rebuild itself.

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