Cometh the hour, cometh the [wo]man

Temptation

Last week, our circuit training instructor said she wouldn't be around for our session this week, so we should run it ourselves. That announcement seemed to have turned us all into naughty school children. We all nodded dutifully and assured her that we would be fine without her for one session, when in fact we were all thinking "Yay! Day off!"

My husband calls me a Tasmanian Devil because I'm always darting around doing something and keeping busy. I'm always buzzing with energy, and if I didn't exercise, I simply wouldn't sleep. So I got my kit on and went down to the rowing club last night to check the lie of the land. If no one else turned up, I was going to do a session on the rowing machine or do some weights.

Don't Short-circuit!

I got to the club, and I spied Catherine - in the far corner of the gym - one of the faithful. She's usually one of the first to send out an email to check who will be down for each session, and she only ever misses training if she's unwell. You can count on her to be there. I went over and chatted to her for a bit as we waited to see who else would turn up.

After a few minutes, Donata arrived and informed us that one of the other ladies had also been around but she didn't see us, so she left. Oh well. Three's better than none. So we set up our circuit, and got started.

There were about 12 exercises. We did a minute of each exercise, and allowed between 5 - 15 seconds to move on to the next exercise. It was great because we worked together to do the timing, and it felt like team work. We took a couple of minutes break after each circuit, and we did 3 laps of the circuit in total. It felt really good.

Opportunity Knocks

After the session, I went over to chat to one of the coaches, John, who was coaching the para squad at the time. He has coached people to Olympic gold level, so I am always keen to get as much knowledge and input from him as possible and, luckily, he is always very happy to give it. I thought we were just having a casual chat when, before I knew it, he had me on a rowing machine and I was doing a whole bunch of new exercises. It was brilliant! After just one session, I have so much practical and useful feedback that will help take me to the next level. The rowing machine feels like a whole different beast now. So many things have fallen into place since our first session a few weeks ago, and I am aching in new places today, which means that I'm finally starting to engage the right muscles on the rowing machine.

I really need to lose my novice status this year. It will be my second year of regattas and I am determined to win something!

Persevere & Doors Will Open!

It has been a long day! Went to work, did some work; came home, did some more work; went to a little leaving do for a colleague; and then to the rowing club to do an erg...!

When I got to the rowing club, there were a couple of people in their who I knew, so I chatted to them for a bit, before finally sitting down to tackle the beast.

Some of the ladies went out for a night time outing, whilst the others presumably had other commitments, so I was ready to erg solo. One of the guys said he'd keep an eye on me, so I didn't feel quite so alone. It was a great help. I couldn't just wimp out and go home.

The first 5 minutes were tough, and I felt like giving up, but I didn't leave my colleague's leaving do and go all that way for nothing! So I carried on. Mark came over when he'd finished his weights session and sat with me for a bit so he could give me some pointers. It felt like a good solid session.

Once I'd finished the set piece, I grabbed my stuff from the changing room and headed downstairs to go outside to my car and I reached the door at exactly the same time as Sir Steve Redgrave!!! Sir Steve Redgrave!!!!!!!!!! He opened the door and very kindly held it open for me so I could come out first. He is a giant of a man! I walked under his arm and barely got within sniffing distance of his armpit!

The moral of the story. By sticking with my set piece on the erg and not cutting any corners, my path collided with a shooting star of Olympic greatness! Go hard or don't even bother leaving home.

New Highs! The 'C' Word & Personal Bests

The 'C' word...

Circuit Training was amazing this evening! I was like the Duracell bunny! Everything was at full intensity, top speed, and max fun! I really enjoyed it! And that's something I thought I'd NEVER say about the 'C' word... i.e. 'Circuit' training!

The instructor couldn't believe it either! If there was a prize for enthusiasm, I would've won it tonight! The moral of the story, perseverance makes light work of anything. If I put the same amount of hard work and determination into my other goals, it won't be long until they move from the 'To Do' list and join the 'Done' list!

Personal Bests

Yesterday evening's erg session was fantastic! I'm still floating on the high from slashing a whole 6 seconds off my personal best split time!

We started off with a 34 minute set piece, alternating between rating at 18 and 20 strokes per minute, and then we did some intense sprints! 10 x 30seconds burst of flat-out power! I have never been so fast! It was like I was an out of body experience - as though someone else was erging, but using my body to do it.

It's amazing how much more one can achieve if they just ignore their limiting internal dialogue.

Don't Let Fog Stop You From Seeing Clearly

It was very foggy this morning, so one of the coaches made the call to cancel our outing. I got the text message at 6:30am, just as I was stepping out of the door... Total anticlimax!

Rather than let the weather dictate my next move, I was determined to at least do a session on the erg. I decided to wait for the fog to lift a bit, so it was safer on the road. Whilst I was waiting, an email pinged over from Catherine. She, like me, was all dressed up and jeed up ready to go! So I sent an email out to say that I'd be at the club by 08:30am for an erg session if anyone else fancied joining us.

Myself, Catherine and Donata did some pyramid interval training, which was great. I even managed to squeeze in some shorter 2 and 3 minute sprint intervals at the end of our session! I'm building up to doing double sessions on the ergs by the summer, so I'll be ready for the regattas!

There's ALWAYS something left!

Yesterday night, Circuits was tough! Our trainer changed it up, and the session was more focus on getting a cardio / aerobic workout. I didn't want to, but I almost gave up.

Whilst I was doing one of the skipping sets, I decided to imagine that someone was aiming a gun at my head, and they would shoot if I stopped. That worked for a little bit, but then I decided that a clean death would be a sweet release from the nausea in my stomach. So! I imagined that they were aiming the gun at my right knee, and the thought of real pain spurred me on!

There were a couple of other crews training in the gym at the same time, and when I finished, one of the guys said that it looked like I'd breezed through Circuits. If only he knew that it was a life or death situation!

After all that hard work, I was still able to keep my balance and walk down the stairs without falling on my head. Essentially, I was fine. And that's the thing. No matter how hard you think you're training, you still have something left. It's not advisable to train until you pass out, but it has been known to happen at ergathons!

One of the coaches at the club summed it up nicely. You need to be able to give your best performance in every race. At some regattas, you may have to race 2, 3 or 4 times in a day! Every race has to be your best. So you need to train smart. Get your body to the point where it gives everything that it's got and finds the same to give again.

Sculling & Circuits - A quick catch up

Single Sculling Ecstasy!

I had my first outing in a single scull at my new club on Sunday!!!

The ladies squad had competed at Wehorr on Saturday, so after their epic efforts, they understandably decided not to train on Sunday. So, I had the river and our coach all to myself at 7am on Sunday morning! The river was on a green light, so I went out in the single scull. It was amazing!

Normally when I've been training in a crew boat for a while, I get a bit nervous about getting back into a single, but because it had been almost two months since I was last out in a single, I was too excited to remember to be nervous! I swooshed across the river and rowed it like I stole it!

Andy, the coach, filmed me so I could have a look later. I thought my blades would be splashing around all over the show, but it wasn't too bad at all. There are always a few things that I need to work on, but that's the fun of it.

Double Trouble

After my session in the single, I went out in a double called 'Double Trouble'. It was a full-on morning, and I've never felt so tired in my life, but it was worth it.

Circuit Training Insanity!

Last Wednesday it was hard! Rather than just do the usual skipping between each set, our trainer, Jacqui, mixed things up a bit. We did burpees, squat-thrusts, mountain running (or something like that), and skipping. It was intense!!!

After the success of the previous week's competition, there was another competition to see who could do the best skipping. It was the only thing that kept me going! I think Jacqui took petty on me, because I won the skipping contest! My prize was a sherbet dib-dab! #RetroCool!

Erg buddies

Whenever I don't feel like training, I always end up having the best session ever!

Last night was one of those nights. A couple of people from the squad have come down with the dreaded lurgy, so they emailed to say that they couldn't make it for training. A few other people were conspicuous by their lack of comment, which I took to mean that they either had other commitments or just needed a day off. I felt like falling into that latter group of silent abstainers, but no matter how hard I try, I can always find a reason to train, because I know how crappy I feel if I don't train. So I decided to be a silent participant. I was just going to show up at the rowing club and train with anyone else who showed up, or just do my own thing.

But then there was a ray of light! One of the squad, the lovely Naomi, sent me an email and asked if I was going along. She is awesome, and I quickly responded that I would absolutely be there. An erg session conveys a sense of self-righteousness like no other, but the only thing better than an erg session is having a great training partner.

Naomi gave me a couple of really great pointers that just clicked and made sense. I'm quite flexible and I have built up some decent core strength because of yoga, so I tend to over-extend at both ends of the slide when it comes to erging. I reach too far forward, because I can, and I lean too far back, because ditto. Naomi got me to come to front-stops on the erg, so that my shins were perfectly at a 90 degree angle with the slide, and she put a lumpy bit of sellotape there, so if I came too far forward, I would feel it with a bump. It worked a charm!

We did 3 x 10 mins pyramid at UT1, and the first 10 mins was tough. Naomi looked over now and again to make sure I was rocking over properly and not leaning too far back. I tend to daydream a bit when it comes to technique on the ergs, because there are no immediate consequences. You won't fall off an erg (but of course I'm sure some people do manage it!), but if you don't pay attention in a single scull on the water, there will be soggy consequences! But training with Naomi kept me really focussed. Ruth is another great person to train with, but she was at home nursing a cup of lemsip.

It was a really positive session, which was just what I needed to kick me out of the negative mindset that was forming. I'll need buckets of positivity to get me through Circuit Training tonight... :)