Tag Archives: fitness

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.

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.