Another Page of Out of My Log

View of Lake Merritt from the boathouse

Monday, 5/16/2011
AM:  ROW
This morning, we had 1 quad, 1 double, 1 women's single (me), and 2 men's single out on the water.  Practice today alternated between solid pressure pieces and drills.  We had a short warm-up to the finger.  The workout was:

1. 12 minute piece at 24spm, taking a 20 strokes every 3 minutes at a 28-30spm
2. Drill - square blades, every other stroke
3. Practice starts
4. 12 minute piece at 24spm, same as above
5. Drill - arms, arms and body, half slide, full slide, repeat!  (Must be really quick transitioning from full slide to arms only!)

There was a strong headwind coming out of the finger, but the rest of the lake was relatively calm--at least much calmer than Lake Natoma was!

PM:  ERG
2x30 minutes steady state, 20spm

Tuesday, 5/17/2011
AM:  SWIM
This week, we have a swimmer visiting from Japan.  Marcia used to coach this swimmer in the 80s (maybe before I was born?!)!  This guy is fast with and without fins.  In fact, in our warm-up of 6x75yd kick with fins, he and I were basically racing every piece and neither of us not letting up.  So much for a warm-up.
Main set:

1. 45 sec wall kick, 25yd easy, 25yd over-kick (slow arms, big legs, kick!)
2. 45 sec vertical kick (no cheating with arms; I am really bad at this, and Marcia yelled at me TWICE), 25yd easy, 25yd family kick board (everyone in the lane shares one kick board)
3. 1 minute wall kick, 25yd easy, 2x25yd over-kick
4. 1 minute vertical kick, 25yd easy, 2x25yd family kick board
5. 1 minute 15 sec wall kick, 25yd easy, 3x25yd over-kick
6. 1 minute 15 sec vertical kick, 25yd easy, 3x25yd free SPRINT
7. 30 sec wall kick, 25yd easy, 25yd free SPRINT

PM:  ROW
Windy weather.  We waited around for awhile before going out in 2 women's fours and 1 mixed quad (me in bow).  We had a longer warm-up from the finger to the dam.
Workout:

1. 1,000m with start, solid pressure, not race piece
2. 2x500m race pieces with starts
3. 1,000m race piece with start

Despite the rough water, practice turned out alright.  Ready for 1,000 meters this weekend at Gold Rush?

Wednesday, 5/18/2011
AM:  SWIM
Again, racing back and forth on the 6x75yd kick with fins.  This guy is fast, but I am not giving an inch.
Main set today was the 4x100yd swim test!  Dammit, another test!  Rowers, think 4x500m on the erg.  I actually had my best 4x100yd times though today:

1. 100yd - 1:11 minute
2. 100yd - 1:09 minute
3. 100yd - 1:09 minute
4. 100yd - 1:08 minute

My previous best was 1:12.  Today, my breathing was more regulated, and I focused on keeping my head down and looking at the black line at the bottom of the pool.  Nothing like chasing that black line.

St. Patrick's Day Morning

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  My swim suit does not have a hint of green on it—it is black.  My swim cap is yellow with “Cal Triathlon” printed in blue.  Thankfully, no one was up for pinching at 6 in the morning. 

I was excited this morning to wake up because tomorrow is Friday, and this Friday, we are rowing at JLAC with the JLAC women’s team.  Rowing on a different body of water with other boats on the water is always fun to look forward to.  I am probably getting ahead of myself since I still have to get through today!

The first thing I felt in the pool today were my chest muscles from getting out repeatedly yesterday for those sprints with dives.  This morning, we warmed up again with butterfly and Marcia yelling at us to get our butts in the air.  The dolphin kick should not come from the legs, but rather from this undulating wave that your whole body makes.  After the warm-up, we did 4x50yds of free with a pull-buoy, descending.  As we were finishing up the 4x50yds, we saw Marcia with a clipboard.  Why does Marcia have a clipboard?!  Clipboard means SWIM TEST because on that clipboard, Marcia has a list of all your old swim test results and she is ready to record your latest and greatest result.  Today was the 15 minute swim test.  The 15 minute swim test requires focus, good pacing, and strong counting abilities because you have to keep track of the number of laps you do.  After while, it is easy to doubt yourself—was that lap 20 or 22?!  This swim test is probably my “favorite” of Marcia’s three swim tests—15 minute swim, 4x100s, and 400yd kick—because it involves a cumulative tiredness instead of massive lactic acid build-up.  It is like a 6k erg test compared to a 2k erg test.

I swam one lap short of my last record, but I felt pretty strong overall.  We did have some order switching in the middle of the piece because our lane’s #2, 3, and 4 (I was #3) swam in a clump, all at the same pace.  Our #1 was about one lap ahead of us.  In our situation when all three swimmers are at the same speed, the leader, #2, is doing a lot of the work because she is out in front.  #3 and #4 are able to draft off of her.  At some point, I was so close to #2 that I was able to tap her toes.  She moved aside to let me lead the clump, but as a lead, I was basically going the same speed as what she had been doing.  After a few laps of her swimming on my toes, we switched back to the original order.  This reminds me of cycling when you ride in a pack and the pack alternates lead rider while everyone else drafts.  Personally, I am usually too slow to keep up with the pack, and I am paranoid about crashing into someone else.  There are definitely etiquette guidelines for group cycling.

After the swim test, we did 12x25yds of breast with fly/dolphin kick with fins, fast.  Now, here is a stroke I am good at.  For whatever reason, I can go pretty fast with this combination of strokes and fins.  Too bad this is not an Olympic-sanctioned event!

4x100s

No rain, very little wind. The lake looked great for rowing, but alas, I was swimming this morning.

4x100yds, all-out-balls-to-the-wall freestyle sprint. That was our swim test this morning. There are three swim tests that Marcia uses to gauge our performance--4x100yds free, 15 minute free swim, and 400yds flutter kick. The 4x100yds is by far, my least favorite. Think about it as 4x500m on the erg at sub-2k time splits, very painful.

Each lane had three swimmers; everyone got about 4-5minutes of rest and recovery in between 100s while the other two swimmers did their 100s. I was a #2 in my lane. The first 100 was alright; the first one will always feel pretty good because you are still fresh. The second 100 was okay; I focused on arms, thinking about powerful push every stroke. The whole time, Marcia kept reminding us not to breath so frequently--you do not need all that air! The third 100 was amazing. I focused on arms for the first 50yd and then, on legs for the second 50yds. I pictured it as the third 500m of a 2k race, working through the pain. My (women's) double partner is big on the third 500m. Everyone feels pain and fatigue in the middle of race, and it is natural for many rowers to fade a little in the third 500m, hoping to be able to come back in the last 500m. My double partner believes that it is at this point in the race to be different from everyone else, to find another gear, and to make a move. I dropped 1 second on my third 100. The last 100 was about digging in and swimming through the pain. Afterward, I did not know how much lactic acid I had until I tried bringing my knees to my chest and felt massive tingling through my legs.

Perhaps, it was appropriate that I was not the only one in pain this morning. Many of the women on the LMRC Women's Team met this morning to do their 2k erg test, the one I did on Sunday.