Tag Archives: erging

erGOALS…

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I have always encouraged others to make sure they take a moment to enjoy the small successes achieved along the way in working toward the larger goal. The road to reaching any accomplishment-whether it’s publishing your thesis or dissertation, finishing a long-range project at work, to training to be an elite rower-is long, difficult and inevitably filled with setbacks. So the importance of taking time to recognize the smaller successes is vital to keeping your confidence up and the momentum going. We all know what it feels like to be “stuck” or in a rut. It comes in the form of writer’s block or maybe you just can’t seem to shave off that extra second on your 2K to set a new PR (personal record) no matter how diligent you are about your training and how hard you work. There are far too many days we are all hard on ourselves and too few that we give our own back a congratulatory pat.

Last week was a big week for my training record book. I pulled a new PR in both the 2K and 6K erg tests. Still on the steep side of the training curve, I am seeing significant results with almost every test so pulling new PRs isn’t anything new. The difference in these PRs was I succeeded in reaching two goals I had set for myself which felt pretty damn good.

A little over two months ago, I set out a list of my goals I knew I needed to reach this year. Buying my own boat = check. I’m madly in love with my Hudson single. Breaking the 7 minute mark in the 2K (pulled a 6:56 for my new PR) and breaking the 22 minute mark in the 6k (pulled a 21:59 for my new PR) = check and check.

You can kind of see the “21:59.9″ in the picture above. In my state of gasping for oxygen and forcing myself to take light strokes to properly cool-down, I managed to snap a picture…like a proud parent when their child does something for the first time, I was a little excited…just barely broke 22 minutes but hell, I still broke it. That was true pain and what a lesson in how important every single stroke can be.

Time to set some new goals.

Ergs Don’t Float…

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For many, that can be a brutal reality. What you do on the erg does matter in terms of volume and building your base. You have to work to develop your fitness; that’s a no-brainer. But as anyone knows, it means close to nothing if you can pull an unbelievable 2K or 6K time with handle and chain, if you can’t move a boat with oar and water. Maybe you’ll win the hammer at CRASH-Bs but I’d much rather win a Gold at Worlds or the Olympics. Just my two cents.

So, I finally bought my own boat last week. Cross that off the list of goals set for the year! It is February 8th and I couldn’t be more excited to take MY single out on the water. Hurry up warm weather. The idea of having my OWN boat is exciting, scary, and a bit of a reality check. I’ve been putting in the time on the erg and in the gym; now I’m putting in the money, personal investment and commitment to truly go after a dream. There is something unbelievably powerful and yet frightening in acknowledging the reality of climbing that high dive ladder and jumping straight into the deep end. It looks real nice to talk about it with your feet dry and on the ground, but taking the plunge is an entirely different experience.

Hudson 1x

Hence, why I have probably experienced a little bit of the “holy shit” feeling of a little fear but mostly positive anxiety over the past week. There is nothing easy about putting in the hours of hard training-waking up at 5:30am (or earlier), then putting in a full 8-10 hour work day…only to finish your day with a second 1-2 hour workout. Truly it is easy to “play National Team” and train in the safety of name-your-boathouse, facility, or gym. Putting in the time can be physically tough and perhaps mentally strenuous if you’re balancing a family, friends, a job, or simply your life; but I keep reminding myself that this is the easy part. The hard part comes when I’m getting destroyed in the first few (or dozen) races come April and May. Taking a physical beating is easy to recover from: you rest. Taking an emotional beating takes guts, perseverance, and the ability to put your pride (because, let’s face it all athletes have egos) on the shelf for a while.

Bring on the high dive. Ready to jump in headfirst and get a little wet.

You Are a Rower: Fact.

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As a former volleyball, basketball, soccer, and softball athlete (notice, all multi-player, ball team sports) I recently experienced a little bit of a “denial” phase that I can now consider myself a rower. In college, the rowers were always nice people-perhaps a little odd to me. I mean being involved in the sport has to attract a certain kind of person…and mental capacity. The rowers I knew in college woke up at crazy times in the morning to go workout in the freezing cold ON WATER of all places, only to come back in the afternoon and do it all over again (I have found quickly that this is still the case in my post-college experience with rowers). I have learned to love 5:30am. My training partner said the other day: Rowing builds character, but it can build two kinds of character. It can build the good kind of character in that it truly forces you to dig deep and find the best that is inside you. To be successful at the sport you have to be committed, you have to have discipline, and you have to have passion and truly want to row. There is very little fame and money in being a successful rower (if there is, please enlighten me!). You do it because you love it. Which actually segues to the other kind of character rowing builds. The crazy kind. It seems there exists a fine line between the two, but rowing can lend to building “the crazy” character as well. Some of my close friends may disagree but I plan to stay on the sane side of things. Borderline, but sane.

You’re defined by one of two sides. “Oh hi, what are you?” I’m a port. I’m a starboard. And the little ones running around-I’m a coxswain…”a cox-what? Why are you so tiny? Are you the midnight snack for all these other beasts?” Take one look above and tell me that thought doesn’t cross your mind.

Ohh and the spandex. Don’t get me wrong, I played volleyball for much of my young and college athletic career so I know what it is to live in spandex. We lived and died by our spandex-it’s the only reason we had fans in the stands half the time. But the unis or “onesies” as I affectionately call them are just special. But what is it with the crazy designs and colors? It’s the 80s meets the water….I don’t hate it. Can’t help but love it. Where else can you get away with wearing something like this and still be a badass?

A telltale sign that “I had arrived” and must accept that I am truly a rower is the large Concept2 model D ergometer that I have living in my dining room. Makes for a great conversational piece when guests come over. For those long 75-100 minute pieces, I swing it around to face my flat screen TV and row down a river of Grey’s Anatomy, The Office, and Parenthood episodes thanks to my DVR…I am a Rower: FACT.

Last but certainly not least. Rowing takes its toll on the body. Looking at the benefits first, it turns your body into a rock-hard, toned machine. I feel like I could run for miles upon miles on the aerobic base I’m building if only my knees and joints would come along for the ride. I truly feel as though I’m close to being in the best shape of my life…at 26 years old. Okay, that’s not old, but I’m not 18 anymore. As I said. Rowing takes its toll on the body. My hands look like feet. And they look like bad feet. I worked up this lovely blister just this morning. It’s one of my better ones. And rowers truly wear them as badges. You earn your blisters like you earn your stripes. My rowing partner turned my hands over the other day and took a look, “not hard enough, yet.” I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that my hands were not yet calloused like a fine hard leather. My mother would be so proud (note, sarcasm). Gone are the days of soft, lotioned hands….or at least for the next 6 years or so.

I am a Rower: FACT.

Resolutions to Rio

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So I might be a few days late but I think resolutions are to be made on a continual basis. Who’s really watching deadlines? Don’t get me wrong, it is wonderful to mark the turn of a new calendar year with (hopefully) life-improving statements and more importantly plan(s) for follow-through and results. But resolutions shouldn’t be limited to the 3-2-1 count and dropping ball.

My 2 cents on goals and resolutions: for every long-term, far away goal, you should always identify 1-2 that are short-term and quantifiable. Can you measure your success in a clear-cut way? A year or really, life is a long time(because again, we make resolutions throughout the course of our entire lives rather than just when 365 turns back to 1). Without those shorter, attainable goals to boost our confidence and provide direction along the way, when the going gets tough, it can seem to get even tougher. The long-term goals are made to force us to reach and push ourselves. Obviously some should be realistic and attainable, but throughout our lives we should also be setting goals that at first glance may seem off the reach of easily possible. Those are our DREAMS. They’re the ones that keep us up at night; distract us during our day jobs (unless you’re one of the lucky ones and your day job is your dream); and make us start writing a blog about the journey to reach that goal. They make us continue to stretch further, work harder, and do everything we can to get close enough to touch, if not grab hold of whatever it is you set out for yourself to achieve. If you grab it-hold on tight and enjoy the ride. Dreams should never be taken for granted.

All clichés aside…without further ado and in no specific order, here are my rowing resolutions, goals, and dreams for the next year and possibly beyond.

1. Break the sub-7 minute line for my 2K. My current Personal Best is 7:04.8 that I pulled this past October. This was prior to any real training so many variables come into play for me to consider. The past 2 months I have been busting my ass to increase my anaerobic base and put my body into the best shape possible. In that time, I’ve also managed to learn how to erg correctly-not perfectly (yet)-but correctly and that alone will improve any score. I have a 2K Test coming up this Sunday (1/9). First shot at hitting one of my goals.

2. Break the sub-22 minute line for my 6K. I’ve mentioned this before and it really is similar in nature to the 2K goal above. My Personal Best stands at a 22:32 which I pulled in December (12/18/10), smoking my previous 22:49 out of the water. I know with the right amount of training and simply just time spent erging, I’ll be able to break 22 minutes in no time.

3. Buy my own boat. It’s kind of like growing into my big kid pants. Every real sculler needs their own shell. Once the ice breaks and the weather warms up, it’ll be time to get a real boat and really start racing. The singles (single sculling, 1-person boat) that I’ve been in before were by no means racing shells. They were bricks with huge logs for oars. Rowing in the fast, sleek racing shells will take some getting used to and breaking in, not to mention disciplined budgeting and saving. Boats aren’t cheap. Bring out the penny bank.

4. Medal. Kicking butt on the erg doesn’t bring home the hardware. You have to be able to translate your hard work, speed, and strength onto the water. That is the true test. My goal is to race and race well. Granted, it will take some time to get my sea legs, and I’ll have many losses before I see a true win; but I have no doubt that by the end of the year, I’ll be making some noise at the finish line.

5. National Team “looks.” That noise will hopefully translate into the type of message I want to send. I want to compete at the highest possible level and that in the simplest of words, means the US National Team. This first year is primarily about a couple of key things: 1) Training as hard as I possibly can to push my body into the kind of shape it needs to be in to truly compete. I have the physique, now I just need the fitness. 2) Truly learn to row well and start winning races, proving that I’m a competitor. If I can make sure to take care of those couple of things, a lot (not all, but a lot) will take care of itself. Results speak the loudest and there is no substitute for results.

I’ll keep it at 5 for now. All these things lead up to that big dream goal: Rio. I have 5 years to get there. There will be many resolutions to Rio made along the way, but this is definitely a solid start.

Back at the Boathouse

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I have mentioned before how valuable having a training partner is. Yesterday was my first workout back with my partner Brian, breaking a long 11-day solitary confinement driven by my own ambition to get the workouts in-and of course, my workout binder (yes, I have a binder that catalogues my workouts, mileage, test results, etc-I might be a bit Type A) mandating I check off each day. More on the binder later.

Sunday’s Sub-max 6K was good-especially in the company of Brian and his wife Pam. While it’s not necessarily “difficult” because you aren’t going balls to the wall, maximum effort-it helps knowing you’re in it with a team. You’re working hard because you know that’s what you have to do but you’re also working hard with others and in some way this creates an atmosphere of obligation and maybe even competition; making sure you give your best because everyone else around you is doing just that (and you expect that from them), and it would be insulting, even disrespectful to them to not put in your 100%.

This morning was a 75-minute easy piece on the erg (easy, HR zone = R)…but LONG. A month ago, 75 minutes without stopping used to seem like an eternity. Today, it felt fantastic-I was cruising and enjoying it. But I also think a huge part of the ease of this morning was having someone working just as hard on the erg next to me. For all the reasons mentioned above and before, there is comfort and strength in that. I was talking with a friend last night who was flabbergasted at the idea of spending that long on the erg. She exercises so it wasn’t the thought of working out but more so the idea of spending so much time doing the same motion-methodical, boring. I remember thinking that same thing before actually trying this rowing thing. I can run for hours but never imagined I could have the focus to sit on an erg for hours…but alas, I have arrived. I guess it’s one of the side effects of the addiction. Focus, fixation. My mind goes to another place for those 75 minutes, 100 or 120 minutes (as tomorrow’s workout calls for). I think about everything and nothing. Time when my mind is completely at ease and for lack of a better term, “blank” is rare but graciously welcomed even when it is sweating on an erg, feeling my muscles working and burning. I love it. I look forward to it. Not just for the time that it is (because truly, I do love the exercise), but knowing that every minute I’m training, I’m working toward a goal; toward being better as an athlete and person. There truly is purpose (and benefit) in every pull I put in on the erg. And for that alone, I absolutely love it. It’s why I wake up at 5:30am every morning; it’s what I look forward to in my day.

It is 3 days into a new year. Many successes and victories and many losses and failures will be seen over the next 362 days. But at the end of the year, the final result will only be success and I can’t wait to taste a little bit every day.

Planes, Trains, and ERGometers…

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I spent a good solid hour tracking down an ERG to get my afternoon workout in on Sunday. It became comical. I put some serious miles in touring my old hometown in search of that one place that held the key to my workout for the day. Lesson learned: Rowing machines are not easy to come by in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I even had one fitness center attendant look at me like I had spoken to her in a foreign language when asking “do you all have an erg?…it’s a rowing machine?” She brought me upstairs to the lat row station and replied “you can do rows on this?” I thanked her for her time and proceeded to gym #5 where I finally found an old (but most importantly, functioning) erg. The best part-I think the gym attendant was so surprised that someone was seeking out a rowing machine that he allowed me to use the gym for free, no guest fee required. Thank you, Byron from Spectrum Fitness in Baton Rouge.

The search for this simple (yet apparently rare) exercise machine just to get a sub-max 6K done shed light on a couple of things for me: (1) Rowing has become an obsession; I’m calling it a healthy one, but an obsession nonetheless. Having a goal and something that I have developed such an intense passion for has been refreshing as well as tormenting. I had been told rowing is addicting (thus leading to obsession), but I also know that I’m a passionate person, and perhaps that could explain the instant love and connection with the sport. This love affair has spread into other areas of my life. It has become an annoying distraction at work and invades my everyday thoughts. If only I could make a living off of a boat and a couple of oars, right? (2) Determination, discipline, and relentless desire will take you places. Not just to 5 different fitness centers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Yeah so what if I hadn’t found a rowing machine? I would’ve done something to get my heart rate up and get a decent workout in. But I know that every day counts. Every workout counts. And it is completely in my hands as to how hard I work and the quality of work I put in. So that meant doing it right and doing all I could to find an erg. The feeling of accomplishment and pure satisfaction upon finishing my workout was worth the trouble.

P.S. If you’re ever in an unfamiliar place and you need to find a gym with a rowing machine, the Indoor Rower Finder on the http://www.concept2.com website is awe-some. Awesome. If only I had remembered to use it prior to my Planes, Trains, and Automobiles real-life movie experience.

Feel-Good Junkie

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5am. I woke up pretty tired this morning. Not unbearably tired, but enough to make me bury my head in the pillow and hit the snooze button for an extra 15 minutes or so. Living in an old Connecticut-house-turned-apartment (with crappy insulation that fails to keep out the frigid New England air), averaging maybe 5-6 hours of sleep a night, and reaching the middle of week 2 of “serious training” hit me with a crashing wave of urges to just stay hidden under the warmth of my comforter. If only I had the luxury of pushing back my workout an hour or even just another 30 minutes. This is the torturous but great thing about having a training partner. We’re in it for each other as much as in it for ourselves. I’m not only obligated to myself to get up and get this workout in (before heading to a demanding full-time job I might add…balancing that and rowing is beginning to take its toll…more on that later), but I have an obligation to him to show up on time, ready to work. It is very much a mutual responsibility; the relationship truly illustrates the strength in having a partner or “team” to rely on as well as the value in having someone rely on you. We keep each other in check and although we’re not competing against one another, we can most certainly push each other by simply being present; a witness to one’s journey and hard work. Being accountable to someone other than yourself, you will place higher standards on the performance or work put into whatever it is you’re doing.

There is this indescribable feeling of triumph and sense of pure achievement after pushing past the shadows of doubt that can creep up on you in any form; defeating those demons that tell you to “stay in bed” or that try to convince you that you’ve “already worked hard enough and deserve the day off” or that maybe you “just don’t have the time right now.” You know what I’m talking about-we play these games in our heads in almost all types of situations. They are the manifestations of fatigue, weakness and fear. You can never get rid of them completely, but each battle won makes you that much stronger.

I felt like a million dollars after finishing my 80 minute workout (10-20-40-10). I legit skipped out to my car-still freezing as the cold New England wind whipped around the corner of the building. As my training has gotten progressively tougher and I’m pushing myself harder compared to anything else I’ve done in the past, my favorite moment has become the time I have to myself in the car after a solid workout, fighting traffic back home to shower and change quickly so that I can rush into work. This short but valuable time is when my mind decompresses and I pat myself on the back. Another day in the books. I relive the battle and how I will do it better tomorrow. This is also when the “big dreams” float around in my head of winning the next big race, going sub 22:00 in my next 6K Test….to eventually making the U.S. Women’s National Team. Each day counts and had I not pulled myself out of bed and pushed hard to make sure I had a successful workout, I would’ve felt pretty crappy and been hard on myself throughout the rest of the day. Instead, I walked out of the boathouse excited to take on the next challenge and high off the endorphins pumping through my veins. Many, many days and weeks will come where I’ll probably feel that the last thing I want to do is go crush an 80-100 minute piece on the erg, but that promise of accomplishment, adrenaline, and sense of completion is enough to keep you coming back for more.

Rowing is not for the faint of heart or faint of mind and body, but it is definitely for the adrenaline and “feel-good” junkie.