TRAINING LOG: S. BAKER

Am fasted

1k wu

Plan for another 500m @32spm DF max targeting 1:22.5



Once again sitting on 1:22.4 on last stroke and just finished 7 m too early- effort again was fairly modest so I basically shot myself in the foot- just need to pull a touch harder on 1 or 2 strokes so I can move on to 36 spm- guess I'll have another go at 32 (next time I won't mess around!)

Finished with 124lb KB x 40 straight swings (pretty tough over last 10 swings)

Maybe have another go later today?

Out to local gym here in Southern California

Got to gym and realized I forgot my Olympic lifting shoes and thus modified my workout

Deadlifts 405lbs 5 sets of 5- all pretty easy


80lb 1 arm KB swings (5 each arm alternating), 10 by 20lb med ball push press releases (getting it to around 15-17 ft each time), 10 by 20lb med ball overhead to ground slams-- repeating this series x 10 rounds- good work - the push presses were definitely the hardest part (getting triple extension and a little jump nearly every rep)

Hotel room in Las Vegas

124lb KB x 30 sets of 10 reps= 300reps in 39 minutes

Am fasted

1k wu

Targeting again a 1:20.0 500m at 36 spm



Got it fairly comfortably, started just a little quicker and with a bit more determination to make sure I nailed it- saw that I was going to make it pretty easily with 100m to go and so just eased off a bit- my PB is 1:18.7 and felt I could have gotten that fairly comfortably today if I had wanted

I'm enjoying the controlled rating as it keeps me focused and fairly comfortable- hopefully I can continue as rate goes up- will likely try something close to 40spm tomorrow if I can hold the stroke rate!

1k cd

Then just a very easy 5k

Spent day driving back up to altitude- got home and just did a nice and easy one

1k row wu

42" box jump triples/plyo push-up triples (8" boxes)--- x 10 rounds

124lb KB swings x 42 consecutive reps

Body feels good- nice and easy one

Back to the grind tomorrow

Evening- 1k wu row

10x 100m on 1 minute rest- DF max, full slide (avoiding a "sprint stroke", which I could go faster with, but it's not what I'll use for 500m)



Previous avg was 1:15.0 at 40 spm, this was better (1:14.8 and at lower stroke rate 38, also at altitude vs sea level before- so overall pretty pleased) effort seemed just about right- tough but not horrible

Finished with some beltless high box squats at 500lbs 5 sets of 5 reps- these felt fairly easy

Ordered a bigger Kettlebell to play with- should arrive next week (176lbs/80kg)

Fasted workout

1k wu

500m low rate effort- target the same 1:29.0 at 20 spm



Was sitting on 1:28.5 with one rep to go but just ended to early, timing more than anything!

Next some rate 20 250m intervals (3x250m on 2 min rest) x 5 reps with 5 min rest I between in series of 3- 15 total reps at 1:32.6 rate 21



Was some hard grinding, good work and was glad to be done with that one

Printed out the biscuit recipe, sounds great, thank you

1k row wu

On to next 500m target (1:26.5@ 24 spm) DF max



Just didn't have the mental focus to really get after it today

1k cd row

Then did 124lb KB x 50 straight swings (I wanted to be able to do this before moving up in weight, definitely was challenging but nonetheless got it done)

1k cd row

Will need to dial up intensity next workout on the row!!

Pm

Row 1k wu

Hi box squats to 525lbs x 5 sets of 5- tough work

Quickly followed by 100m rowing sprint 14.0 (falling off seat)

Jump rope x 100

Box jumps 5 singles at 36", 42", 44" , 46" (total of 20 jumps)

100m row at 14.1 sec

20 sec airdyne bike sprint

So yesterday all day driving, still a little bit "tired" though

Am fasted

1k wu

500m row at 28spm targeting 1:24.0 DF on max




So got it fairly nicely with good pacing and not too hard of an effort (sea level likely helps here)

Strategy of making a 500m distance very routine and comfortable by doing them almost daily is fairly helpful from an anxiety reduction standpoint, as there is very little guesswork on where my current fitness level is, also I know exactly how many strokes I'm going to take and try and parce them out evenly every 100m- example above was basically 8 strokes every 100m- easy from a mental standpoint and can focus on just getting through each 8 strokes. The effort is not so taxing that I can't recover to do it again the next day.

Did 1k easy row

Then 124lb KB x 10 sets of 20 swings on about 2.5 minutes rest between- this was definitely much easier than the last time I did this one a few weeks ago.

Finished with another easy 1k row

1k wu

Tired and not very "in the mood", but was planning on a rest day tomorrow so wanted to get it done today

Targeting 500m at 36spm and 1:19.0





Only came in at 1:19.2 but rate was just 33, so plenty of power per stroke- just wasn't mentally in it and was feeling fairly tired- so despite that pretty pleased - going to take a rest day and then likely redo this one and hopefully them can move forward and start to go for another PR

1 k cooldown row

Albuquerque? I'm hanging at the beach in Southern California at the moment

Am fasted rowing

1k wu

500m looking to go around 1:117 at 35 spm



Not quite but it is a new PB for me by .01 sec and just of the 40+ American record by the same margin

This was not a particularly good day as last nights sleep was awful getting only about 2hrs- effort here was decent for where I was but not quite maximal- will take a bit of time to get used to "new" stroke and more reps at this pace is going to push my fitness a bit more for it

To the gym for some deadlifting and stuf in a bit!

Ok am fasted rowing- not great but better sleep last night

1k easy wu row- then on to target the 40+ American 500m record (1:17.7)- felt I could do it at 35 spm (was hoping to go around 1:17.2 today)


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r8p0VG4i-TA



So managed to take record with a fairly decent effort row with not too bad pacing, using max drag and a fairly long stroke (which seems to suit me well)- pleased to get this record (from 2002 held by John Stenard at age 40) I'm 49.5)- also I'll point out I don't nor never have used any drugs or hormone replacement as this is becoming more of an issue unfortunately- Also I'll point out I did this on a low carb high fat diet and this was done after about 18 hours of fasting and so the dogma that carbs are essential for high intensity glycolitic performance is in my mind questionable- also fro a training standpoint I did basically zero steady state work over last several months and so the common advice to do ample steady state work I also question (especially for the 500m row)- I'm going to keep going the rest of the summer in this vein and see where it leads.

Finished up with a few easy "low rate" 100m sprints- again using long powerful stroke- pleased to hit a 1:10 and effort felt quite easy



Tonight going to play 2hr of touch rugby with a bunch of old guys out here in California- haven't touched a rugby ball in over 20 years (when I used to play Semi-professionally in New Zealand) - should be fun and hopefully no stupid injuries