What Was Your Work Out Today?

AnnPT77

Whatcha think? Yup, I rowed today.

Usual distance - well, a little under more like 6.5k, because our bow rower likes to spin waaay before the bridges for some reason. I was 2 seat (engine room) of the quad, so I could focus on technique in my own rowing, which is a boon and luxury. The boat was all pretty-experienced rowers, which was nice, felt good. Though the boat was just doing steady pace (strokes per minute-wise), I did "10 power, 10 easier" intervals for the main body of the row. Bow called some slide-management drills right after the warm up phase.

I didn't row Saturday. There was a home head race (staggered start, timed racing, a bit under 4k which in the headwind conditions yielded times 20 minutes +/- a couple). Half a dozen of my rowing buddies raced. I was there, but just milling around, interfering in some of the dock-mastering and trying to get spectators off the boats' path from the recovery dock.

Something like 3 spectators got smacked by boats, because people are . . . oblivious? In some cases, there were literal skinny (but athletic) high school kids, eight of them, carrying 60-foot boats weighing 200 pounds or more, navigating a narrow dock ramp. Their coxswain was doing the best s/he could, yelling "heads up", but people kept chatting with their backs to the boats . . . so, *bam*, sometimes.

Two or three boats flipped (windy, choppy) out of 250+ total boats, an eight hit a pair (one of them took an incorrect arch through a bridge), an oar-carrier improbably took a mis-step on the recovery dock and fell in the water, various power boats got onto the race-course and refused to yield, but no major injuries, which is a win.

nossmf

Treadmill, 9% incline walk - 1 hr

Forgot to charge my phone overnight, so no streaming movie during cardio today. Had to settle for cable programming, bleh. (There's a reason I cancelled my house cable years ago...)

nossmf

Treadmill, 10% incline walk - 1 hr

AnnPT77

It got actually kind of cold this morning, just above freezing at rowing time, maybe 36F/2C. (There was frost overnight.) Thankfully, sunny and almost no wind.

We rowed. I was in 2 seat of the quad. I enjoy rowing with our new members who are still learning, but today's row was a full boat of experienced rowers. It was nice, as a change. We could settle into a good rhythm together and Just Row.

Bow threw in some 10-stroke power intervals now and then, though because of the cold we wanted to keep the single who was out with us in sight for safety reasons, so we couldn't do intervals the full way. (The racing singles are around 12 inches/31cm wide. They flip sometimes, even with a good rower. Flipping into cold water is dangerous, especially with cold air, too.)

The water was still around 59F/15C, so somewhat risky but not crazy. End of on-water season will be coming soon, though. (Sigh.)

Short walk to/from the farmers market remote parking lot later in the day.

mtaratoot

Monday I led a shortish kayak trip to a lake on the coast that I've never paddled. It's a pretty large lake, but also very shallow. It has a lot of arms, so it would be easy to get lost. My boss usually is very thorough giving us a good idea of where to go. He's on vacation. I asked around and found a decent plan, and we had a great day. Warm and sunny, although about a five knot headwind on the way back. This lake has about 29 miles of shoreline because of all the arms. We saw cougar tracks on the beach where we had lunch. Cool!

Today was my first day back in the gym after taking a few months off for my active outdoor season. They will put members on "inactive" status and charge a much smaller fee. I call it "active" status; that's why I don't go in!

When I checked in, I told the staff person at the front desk that I was back from my summer off. He recognized me and said yeah, he hasn't seen me in a while. I thought it was nice he even recognized me. That says I actually do show up in season.

I did an abbreviated workout dialing back the weight of all my movements, and I did just two sets of each instead of three.

• 15 minute warm-up on the ergometer
• Deadlifts on freemotion machine
• Goblet squats
• Alternating lunges
• Machine chest press
• Rows on a freemotion machine
• Lat pull on freemotion machine
• Dumbbell curls
• Triceps pull-down
• Machine lat raise
• 15 minute cool down on the treadmill

The sauna is down, so I went out to the steam. There was only one person swimming in the pool. I almost went back and put on swim gear, but I didn't want to be there that long. Maybe I'll go back and get a swim tomorrow.

Tonight is a candidate's forum, and tomorrow is a debate. Yeah. I'm running for office. Silly me.

synergyphysiotherapybangalore

Today, I focused on strength training with a mix of weightlifting and core exercises. It felt great to build muscle and stay active!

AnnPT77

Back in bow of the double with my friend J. in stroke seat, just a nice moderate steady state row, the usual 7k-ish distance. A little chilly, but not as much so as some of the recent days, so good rowing conditions.

nossmf

Upper Body - Hypertrophy

Incline Bench Press 4x10
DB Bench Press 3x10
BB Row 4x10
Pulldown 3x10 (1 set each hands over, under, neutral-grip)
Machine Reverse Fly 3x10
Machine Lat Raise 3x10
DB Shrugs 3x10
Preacher Curl 3x10 (3-second negatives)
Cable Pushdown 3x10 (5-second negatives)
Perloff Press 3x10, 20, 30sec

mtaratoot

An afternoon paddle.

I waited until mid-afternoon when it warmed up a bit. I went to the ramp and headed upstream. I got almost exactly three miles - 3.03 miles according to my GPS. That included three or four ferries which added to the distance, because it was only 2.95 miles back. There were three "climbs." Almost four. One right out of the gate. Then another less than a mile upstream. Then another around the island by the water treatment plant. There was another that I only went about halfway up.

Upstream took 91 minutes with an average speed of 2.0 mph (30:12 per mile). Downstream took 35 minutes with an average speed of 5.0 mph (11:54 per mile). The downstream would have been faster, but I stopped to talk with a couple fellas next to a boat I saw on the way up while I heard shotgun blasts. They have a tag for the Willamette Unit, and they got a nice deer.

I left the canoe on the truck. We have two more really nice days before the rain sets in for the indefinite future.

drmwc

I tried a scuba diving yesterday.
It turned out to be over-ambitious. Getting onto a bouncing boat, in a dry suit, over an unstable pebbled beach, with heavy kit on proved too much for my ankle.

It was pretty sore after that for the rest of the day. Today, I didn't try to dive but have walked a lot; I am currently on 12 miles including uphills, downhills and dodgy terrain underfoot. So it feels like a progression towards recovery again.

If the weather is nice tomorrow, I may have a second crack at diving

claireychn074

I competed - got a matched PB (comp PB) for snatch and a new PB for the clean and jerk. Knees have been a bit uncooperative recently so I had to power everything - which made the PBs even sweeter! 😀😀

AnnPT77

Nice work, @claireychn074 - congratulations on the PBs!

You know I rowed, but this time it was twice: Around 8k starting at 8AM, then another not quite 9k starting around 10.

First thing this morning, bow of the double with my old friend J. in stroke seat again, mostly steady state though we threw in a couple of power pieces. We were trying to keep the other double that was out with us in sight, since it was chilly. We got a few hundred meters more than usual because we looped back at one point when they were getting tiny in the distance.

Later, our club was having an "Autumn Color" group row, going a bit farther upriver than we usually row most days. There were two quads (one with coxswain, the other a straight quad), a double and a single. (There were a very large number of boats on the water from the university's crew club, too, so traffic was heavy in spots.) I rowed stroke seat in the coxed quad, in order to sit facing the coxswain (stern coxed boat), who'd never coxed before. First outing, and she had to get the boat through the bridge twice, among other challenges. She did great!

Second outing was also moderate steady state rowing, though kind of ragged technically - couple of newer rowers in the boat, they (or others?) got a little frantic sometimes instead of relaxing into the boat's rhythm. Fun, regardless.

nossmf

Lower Body

Squat 4x10
Rack Pull 4x10
Leg Press <<superset> Leg Press Calf Raise 4x10
Seated Leg Curl 4x10
Cable Crunch 4x10, 15, 20, 25

mtaratoot

Canoe. Upstream. River gauge said about 10.9 feet and about 6000 cfs.

Well, I didn't make it all nine miles. That's OK. I still met my primary objective and mostly met my secondary one. The primary objective was to get farther than before, and the secondary one was to get to the big log house about three or four miles below the ramp I hoped I might be able to get to. I made it to the last steep section immediately below that big log house. It was about 5.7 miles upstream from my launch point.

It started cool and foggy. Fog lifted after about 45 minutes, and it became gorgeous.

A buddy came up from an hour south to do the paddle with me. There's a steep section you have to climb pretty much right out of the gate. He had an old-school whitewater boat and a straight shaft paddle. His boat was about 14' long. It doesn't have much rocker, but my 17.5 foot Voyager has zero rocker. Paddling on one side with a correction on each stroke, his momentum was lost with each and every stroke. It's for sure possible to do this climb like that, but it's a different technique than sit-and-switch in a go-fast boat. He had to turn around after about a quarter mile and didn't even make it to the top of that first climb.

I got out my cell phone and called him. I suggested he drive to the place we were trying to get to and come downstream. I figured he'd find me and still get a day on the water. I mean he drove all that way. A quarter mile (well, half mile since he also went back) wasn't worth the drive. He said he had things to do. I encouraged him more. I told him it's the last really nice day for a while, he had a built-in shuttle, and it's a section of river he's never paddled. He finally agreed, and he's glad he did. He sent a text when he launched.

I realized that we might "meet" right around Ambrose Island. I worried that if we took opposite sides of the island, we'd miss each other. I sent a text to tell him where the island was. When I saw the bottom of the island, I called. He was right at the top. I attempted to come up the river left side knowing it's often too shallow. It was. I hopped out and lined the boat past the shallow spot and paddled up to where he was relaxing in the sun and having lunch. That was the only time I had to get out of my boat; I was able to paddle the rest of it. I might or might not have been able to paddle the river right side of Ambrose Island. I paddled another 0.75 miles above the top of Ambrose Island, scouted that next climb, and turned back around.

As I approached the island again, he got in his boat and joined me. I had a floating lunch. We explored the bottom of the Middle Channel on our way back. We were able to get up past the bridge, so it's possible that it's passable. I may try soon, or maybe I'll wait for a little more water.

I don't know if I had enough juice to make that next climb past Ambrose anyway. Maybe if I stopped for a lunch break and fueled up. Maybe not. There didn't seem to be an easy place to line the boat up. Several logs are stuck in there, and most of them are on the side with less current. A mistake up there could be a very bad thing. I think I saw a weak spot in the current near the middle of the river. Maybe I'll go back and try it again when there's not someone waiting for me.

I took just under three hours to paddle 5.7 miles with an average speed of 2.0 mph. I did stop once and hop out to take off some layers. On the way back, it took 92 minutes to drift 6.3 miles with an average speed of 4.1 mph. It was longer because we explored the Middle Channel. It was slower than paddling because... what's the rush?

On the way up, I saw a couple in a tandem loaded with camping gear. I asked where they camped. They camped at "Beaver Island." I mentioned it's Ambrose and someone I know renamed it for a new map. The fellow said, "You're doing it the hard way." I told them where I was headed. Well, I guess I didn't make it, but that's OK. That's the only other folks we saw on the water.

nossmf

Upper Body - Power

Bench Press 5x8
Cable Row 5x5
Mac Decline Press 5x5
Machine High Row 5x5
Seated Smith OHP 3x10
Preacher Curl 3x10, 8, 6
Cable Pushdown 3x10
Cable Woodchoppers 3x10

mtaratoot

It was a beautiful fall day. They said it would be the last one for the foreseeable future. I couldn't go to the gym!

I bought an annual State Parks pass in December. I won't get my money's worth, but that's OK. Our Parks need the financial support. Still - since I had a paid pass, and since it was gorgeous, I decided to drive about an hour to a park that has ten tall waterfalls. I've been there a few times this year. I think it's the only place I have used my pass.

I forgot it's a holiday. Oops. It was very crowded. It was still a nice day. I would pass group after group after group after group, and every now and then I'd be far enough between groups that I had a little alone time.

Leaves were falling. Flow in the creeks is much less than in winter and spring. The waterfall named Winter Falls wasn't flowing at all. I'm still glad I went. When we get some nasty rain, I'll go back. I ran into a park employee when I got back to my car which I had parked at a more remote parking area to avoid the extremely full main lot. I told him I had forgotten it was a holiday. He said he did too! I asked if any other gorgeous fall day was this crowded. He said no way, but that it had been pretty busy all weekend.

Funny bit: As I got maybe halfway done with the loop, there was a group all wearing the same color and brand of shirt. They were at a trail junction and were looking at the map. I pointed the direction I was going and said, "The rest of the falls are that way; that other trail goes back up to the lodge." They were going to see the rest of the falls, and one of 'em said, "Well, at least it's downhill." I told them that they had been following one creek downstream, and now they were going to follow a different creek upstream. One of the folks said, "I guess we're screwed either way." Off I went. I took two side trails to see other falls that aren't on the main trail. Then, when I got to another junction, they were there looking at a map. I walked by, pointed the way I was going and said, "It's that way." One of them said, "Let's follow that guy." Finally I got to North Falls. I sat down under the overhang and took a short break and drank a half liter of my water. They walked by. Then when I caught back up with them and was about to pass, one of 'em said, "Where did you come from?" I told them they passed me under the falls and that I was drinking water and talking to the raven. He said, "I think you're a ninja." I told him I was a canoeist. Fun stuff.

Pictures below.

nossmf

Treadmill 1-hr 10% incline walk

After an hour walking uphill, the walk across the gym to the locker room (flat terrain) felt like I was walking DOWNhill in comparison, lol.

mtaratoot

Weight day at the gym.

• 15 min ergometer
• Deadlift x3
• Squat x3
• Lunge x3
• Chest press x3
• Row x3
• Pec fly x3
• Lat pull-down x3
• Dumbbell curl x3
• Triceps pulldown x3
• Lat raise x3
• 15 min treadmill
• 18 min sauna

nossmf

Treadmill 1-hr 11% incline walk

nossmf

Upper Body - Hypertrophy

Incline Bench Press 4x10
DB Bench Press 3x10
BB Row 4x10
Pulldown 3x10 (1 set each hands over, under, neutral-grip)
Machine Reverse Fly 3x10
Machine Lat Raise 3x10
DB Shrugs 3x10
Preacher Curl 3x10 (3-second negatives)
Cable Pushdown 3x10 (5-second negatives)
Perloff Press 3x10, 20, 30sec

nossmf

Treadmill 1-hr 12% incline walk

AnnPT77

Finally got some actual athletic activity: It's been a weird week.

This morning I rowed bow in the quad. We went about 7.5k, a little further than usual.

When we were getting close to the downstream double bridge, 2 seat asked me if we were going through the bridge (as we'd done in a quad on Wednesday, when I was coxswain, with no other meaningful job besides steering with rudder lines, and doing that then while looking in the direction of travel!). Today, I was rowing, and traveling opposite the direction I was facing, but still steering (with the oars).

It was kind of the last moment, but decided I had a tolerable line through both spans, and we did make it without hitting either set of bridge abutments (which are at moderate angles to each other. Whew!

I cancelled Monday's row (temps only a bit above freezing, possible rain, ugh). Wednesday we had 5 people and it was cold again, so I coxed. Tomorrow I can't row either: The club president and I are doing a rowing machine instructional thingie at a local Y. I might get in a few machine meters demo-ing.

mtaratoot

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Finally got some actual athletic activity: It's been a weird week.

This morning I rowed bow in the quad. We went about 7.5k, a little further than usual.

When we were getting close to the downstream double bridge, 2 seat asked me if we were going through the bridge (as we'd done in a quad on Wednesday, when I was coxswain, with no other meaningful job besides steering with rudder lines, and doing that then while looking in the direction of travel!). Today, I was rowing, and traveling opposite the direction I was facing, but still steering (with the oars).

It was kind of the last moment, but decided I had a tolerable line through both spans, and we did make it without hitting either set of bridge abutments (which are at moderate angles to each other. Whew!

I cancelled Monday's row (temps only a bit above freezing, possible rain, ugh). Wednesday we had 5 people and it was cold again, so I coxed. Tomorrow I can't row either: The club president and I are doing a rowing machine instructional thingie at a local Y. I might get in a few machine meters demo-ing.

Ten years ago (March 2014), one of the shells that the University rows hit an abutment. The boat broke. It was a day with fast, high water from recent heavy rains. The nine rowers (well, I presume eight rowers and a cox) were in peril. Six held on to the boat, and the chase boat was finally able to get them, although I think that was also pretty challenging. The other three had fallen in as the boat broke up; they were given PFDs and rescued first. Everyone came out OK. Not so much the boat.

It was a 34-foot long carbon shell, and at the time was valued at $35,000.

I'm really glad you missed the bridge!

My first ever swim out of a whitewater kayak was practicing getting in and out of an eddy behind a bridge abutment. I think it was my first day in one on the river. I had been in one in a pool first to make sure I could exit safely.

AnnPT77

Not exactly a workout today: The rowing club president and I went to the local Y, where they were having a sampler day (various mini-classes). Our role was to give people who wanted it an introduction to how to use the rowing machine (not intuitive), or offer those who knew the basics some technical tune-up tips.

In between the mini-sessions, I did a series of roughly 5-minute pieces at at moderate-plus steady state pace. I didn't track them all (on my Garmin), not even 100% sure how many I did . . . 5 or 6, plus some shorter demos?

@mtaratoot, fortunately (?) we don't own any $35k boats, only old ones worth a few thousand on the used market. (I still don't want to crash one, because we're on a shoestring, can't afford new ones, let alone the "injury risk" thing. The water was down to around 47F/8C. We don't want to swim.) It's true that every season, something bad happens to a rowing shell or rowers somewhere in the US. Care is required. People drown via capsize (usually when it's cold), sometimes have been (yikes) impaled by another rowing shell, run down by an inattentive (or drunk) power boaters, etc.

Even more fortunately, our stretch of river has remarkably little current. On a calm day (wind speed wise), it's only a few seconds (10-15?) different pace per 500m upstream vs. downstream. Current is fairly stable because there's a dam just downstream where they regulate the water levels. We get a little faster current sometimes, but mostly not challenging to row against. After really major storms, we sometimes take a break from rowing, but more because of debris in the river than current per se.

I wouldn't have attempted rowing under the bridges if not 100% sure I had a manageable line. Usually, if I'd planned to row through the bridges, I would've intentionally lined it up earlier on the course; but being accidentally reasonably aligned will work in a pinch.

In the incident report you mention, I'm surprised by the shell size: Usually an 8+ (9 occupants) would be close to 60 feet long. These days, a new carbon shell of that size from the better brands would be around $70k. The quad we were rowing was maybe 40ish feet long, with no cox seat ("straight quad"). I dunno, maybe $5k-10k to replace with a similar older used model?

I took the kayak pool classes about self- and partner rescue, too. Good stuff. Our learn-to-row class includes instruction (and practice) in getting back into a flipped single shell.

mtaratoot

The University changed how they run their teams during higher flow events after that incident. I don't think they go through the bridges; the just go downstream and back up. Right now I doubt the go up past the bridge anyway; they demolished one of the bridges and are in the long process of building a replacement. Currently there is a temporary bridge for traffic, a temporary construction bridge, and the new one going up. The other bridge was replace in the '70s I think. That's when the tiny bridge turned into two lanes in one direction. I miss the old bridge.

Since it's a competitive collegiate team, they must have fancy boats. I think the Masters team uses the same boats under an agreement. Now that I know what their value is, it's no wonder they have so many requirements for folks who want to row masters. I think I'd enjoy it, but their program is too structured and rigid.

I would love someone who rows to help me work on my form on the ergometer. It's not intuitive, and I think I've got a decent idea of how it's supposed to work. I try, and I don't know if I'm doing it or not. Push legs. Use core to move torso. Pull arms. All back to starting point in one motion. Rinse and repeat. Well, let's skip that rinse part....

nossmf

Lower Body

Squat 4x10
Rack Pull 4x10
Leg Press <<superset> Leg Press Calf Raise 4x10
Seated Leg Curl 4x10
Cable Crunch 4x10, 15, 20, 25

nossmf

Upper Body - Power

Bench Press 5x8
Cable Row 5x5
Mac Decline Press 5x5
Machine High Row 5x5
Seated Smith OHP 3x10
Preacher Curl 3x8
Cable Pushdown 3x10
Cable Woodchoppers 3x10

drmwc

I'm finally close to bring fixed. My ankle was really painful a week ago on Tuesday, when I went into the office. I was moving very slowly and limping a lot.

I vaguely considered going to the doctor's. Instead, I concentrated on trying to walk without a limp, and moving as fast as possible. This seems to have been vaguely successful; I did 10 miles' walk on Saturday. I'll try swimming tomorrow and climbing on Wednesday.

DiscusTank5

mtaratoot wrote: »

I would love someone who rows to help me work on my form on the ergometer. It's not intuitive, and I think I've got a decent idea of how it's supposed to work. I try, and I don't know if I'm doing it or not. Push legs. Use core to move torso. Pull arms. All back to starting point in one motion. Rinse and repeat. Well, let's skip that rinse part....

That was a crazy story about the boat breaking apart! I've wished Anne could come to my gym and double check my form on the rower. Most people I see use it are doing it wrong (according to youtube videos by pro rowers). I *think* I'm doing it right, but could use some little tweaks, probably.

DiscusTank5

I've decide to do a couch-to-5K six week running program. Today I jogged on the treadmill at 5 mph for 12 minutes total (4 sets of 3 min. each), with 3 min. of walking at 3.5 mph in between.