Working to build some power

On Tuesday morning I got in the boat, warmed up for ten minutes, and did two sets of five (3 minutes on/2 minutes off) at 68-70 strokes per minute, with some extra weight in the boat.  I put as much power into each stroke as I could, trying to explode through each one while maintaining good form.  I wasn't halfway through the first piece when I realized that this workout was tougher than it had looked to me on paper.  I wasn't particularly winded but I was really feeling it in my arms, and of course that's how it's supposed to be in these power-building sessions.

It was mostly sunny and hot Tuesday, but yesterday it was overcast and cooler, and a steady drizzle fell the whole time I was in the boat.  I warmed up and did three sets of five (90 seconds on/90 seconds off) at 80 spm.  I had "big" resistance on the boat for the first set, moderate resistance for the second set, and no resistance for the third set.  For the second straight day, my muscles took a beating.  Maks told me to "make sure you catch just as well when the resistance is smaller," and I think I did that--the last set with no resistance seemed just as hard as the first set with big resistance.

Hotter weather was back today.  It was perhaps the closest thing to an "easy day" I'll have this week: a sprint session.  I did four sets of (10 seconds on/110 seconds off/20 seconds on/160 seconds off/30 seconds on).  Maks didn't specify a recovery interval after the 30-second sprint (i.e., between the sets), so I made it 210 seconds, just to keep the arithmetic sequence going.  Maks also didn't say whether to do flying starts or standing starts, so I decided to do flying starts for the 10-second sprints, so I could get as many strokes as possible in those ten seconds, while starting the 20- and 30-second sprints from rest, because I feel like i can never get enough start practice.

The sprints went smoothly enough.  The hardest thing about them was that my muscles were tired from the previous two days.

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