New Group, New Work, New Focus

The new training group at VTC is a section of under 23 teams (U23), Heavyweight Henley Royal Regatta, and the lwt World Championships boats.  There are about 20 athletes training together during the week at Elk Lake and PISE. I'm very excited about the group of rowers that have been included in our training session and very motivated to make the next level.

Training all together in the PISE Erg Centre 

Preparation for a morning row

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I still need to work to supplement my rowing addiction adventure and I spend my time working at the LifeMark Sports Medicine clinic, which is conveniently across the tarmac from the Erg Centre seen above.  I'm a chiropractor focusing on sports injuries with special attention to the soft-tissue (muscles, tendons, and connective tissue) . I feel treating these areas it is the most effective and complimentary technique to best help my patients.
I now work on T/Th afternoons in the LifeMark Westside village next to the Save On More near downtown Victoria.

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Ergloo

For the past month I have spent four sessions a week training in the new Erg Centre at the Pacific Institute for Sports Excellence. Travis dubbed it the Ergloo due directly to the fact that the average morning temperature has hovered around 0.7*C. After the frost melts off the inside surface of the tent, the moisture starts to drip down on us erging away on the cement pad below. Warm-up for the workout usually is a team of toque and mitten fully-clothed athletes. I actually really like training there. First, because it is a dedicated centre for national team performance. Second, I feel it is good to have the ambient temperature cooler because then it is less stress for my body to keep internal temperature low and more effort can be attending to performance. And, the third reason I enjoy training in the erg centre, the clinic I work at, LifeMark Sport Medicine, is literally 50 meters across the tarmac. See panorama below.

 

Testing the Limits (December)

 

The winter is here to stay. At least I hope it is with the current balmy Victoria weather. The nights have been clear with crispy frozen windows to scrape in the early morning but after 9am the sun is out warming up everything. Today I actually saw people walking to the PISE gym in (short) shorts. Did the hemispheres switch and we are now south of the tropic of Capricorn?

The training program has been materializing excellently into a consistent day-by-day base training workout program. Nearing the end of this week I have reached a new level of exhaustion. Deep down, however, I really enjoy the draining feeling with soreness in [all] my muscles. I know I must be improving or at least, in theory, should be.

We have spent many workouts just maintaining a consistent aerobic level hitting the range of 140-160 bpm heart rate. Each piece I try to hold [read: hold-on] the same level of intensity and getting into a rhythm. My limiting factor recently has been my own mind - the mental aspect of pulling as hard as I can without blowing-up halfway through the workout. Testing the limits I would say. Below is a shot of Kenny Wu, the lwt RCA coach, with Travis and John on a recovery between pieces.

Below is a shot of the "New" erg centre @ PISE that we are now training in 3x/week.