Peter Skene - Pleasure or Pain?

Went out in the harbour today at about 12:30pm....Set a course From Rose Bay, heading around the bays to Watsons Bay and then on to South Head. U turn, back past the Red Buoy and Back to Rose bay.

12.18km......1hr:25.53.........8.5kmhr


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/21905233

Got home and ate a huge lunch, rest, watched a movie and then joined in a 6km Indoor rowing race on Rowpo.

6km: 22:33.9......1:52.8avg / 22spm

Then 2km Cooldown @ 1:58.9avg pace / 18spm

Feel sunburned and buggered right about now. Better have an early night for my 3:45am wake up call tomorrow for work.

Good luck everyone at Tacoma tomorrow, kick some ass!!!!

Full Body Weights session after work today:


Barbell Squat: 60kg x 25,25,25,25 (2min rest)
Barbell Bench Press: 50kg x 25,25,25,25 (2min rest)
Wide Grip Lat Pulldown: 55kg x 25,25,25,25 (2min rest)
Dumbell Clean/Press: 12.5kg db's x 20,20,20,20 (2min rest)
Barbell Deadlift: 60kg x 10 x 10 (30sec rest)
Paramount Machine Calf Press: 25kg: 10 x 10 (10sec rest)..........32kg: 10 x 10 (10sec rest)

Felt like total shite today, very hot here in Sydney!

I neeeeeeed Sleeeeeppp!!

This arvo after work I went for a bike ride with Miguel.

I put my Garmin on charge last night but today realised I forgot to turn the power on.....

So, no details except for time.

We headed up to Centennial Park, did a hill cycle and then decided to head up through Bronte and down to Bondi and up the other side and around to Rose Bay and up New South Head Rd and then through Paddington and back home.

Duration was 90mins approx....very hot out there today, but my cardio was coping well, good sign that Im getting a bit of fitness back.

This morning I went out in the harbour for a Surf Ski paddle. Same route as last time but went a bit further today.YEAH BABY, its comin back!

90mins paddle, feel like I have sunstroke now, but its all good.

Started at Rose bay, hugged the coves and then went out in the middle of the heads and gunned it straight for New Zealand but did a U turn because I got scared and knew it wasnt gonna be on for today.....maybe next week

Put a few speed bursts on in the flat water around the coves, just so I can give it Ryan and the other boys next time we go out together, breaking peoples spirits is always satisfying, I did it to Miguel yesterday riding through the hills of Bondi!!!

Full Body Weights Session

Superset Barbell squats: 60kg x 25,25,25,25
with Lying Leg curl: 40lb x 25,25,25,25

Superset Wide grip lat pulldowns: 55kg x 25,25,25,25
with Barbell bench press: 50kg x 25,25,25,25

Hit the wall during the above superset, low blood sugar hit and felt oh so sleepy all of a sudden. When does it end

Universal Machine Calf Press: 10 plates: 10 x 10 (10sec rest
Giant set: (Dumbell side laterals/Front Raises/Bent over rear lateral raises): 4kg db's x 25,25,25 - 2 Circuits (1min rest)
Dumbell Clean/Press: 12.5kg db's x 25,25

Superset Barbell Curl: 25kg x 30,30,30,30
with tricep push down: 30kg x 25,25,25,25

Rev Wrist Curl: 5kg db x 30,30,30,30
Supersetted with-
Wrist Curl: 5kg db x 50,50,50,50

Wobbled out of the gym

big pete...

love your workouts... u must be getting strong again...

mate im weighing in at a wooping 80kgs... hope it is all muscle

must do more cardio... i think the weight is packed on cuz of my short explosive workouts...

anyways.. c u 2morrow

Terrible bloody weather in Syd ruined our dragonboat seassion. I was keen for a long one but it got cut short unfortunately. What a waste.

In the end we got completed a lap around the bay, and some hit and glide work. Not enough to be productive.

I brought another mate from work, I need some nice weather, otherwise its not too much fun for them. Jeez.

Went for dinner afterward to wish David Styles good luck....hes off to Perh for a 25km Surf Ski Race this weekend. Good on him fore his dedication. We all need to take a leaf out of that book.

I have a bee in my bonnet after Ryan told me last night that he thinks a team of 20 KEEFAS would beat a team of 20 BIG PETES is a dragonboat race because of body weight to power ratio. WTF???, I'll show him. I'LL BE BACK!!!


ATTENTION ALL PADDLERS: I have the key to the DRAGONBOAT ERG Container, and anyone interested in trialling for the state team is welcome to organise with me to go down for a workout. Either today or tomorrow before training.

Contact me ASAP people, no time for pussy footing around

Just edited the the message!
After last night training I was talking to a few guys and also heard about how interested and excited they are about the nationals BUT they are not talking about training, getting fit, loosing weight and getting stronger...

There are about 6 or 7 guys that are doing jack shit, taking things from granted,
it’s not fair for the other that are working hard.
What are we going to do about this? They need to be put a side, speak to them one by one in private, give them encouragement, help, push them a bit etc... but if they do not put the effort then... I’m sorry, they can not be included in the”A” boat, hopefully the new guys can get the technique soon and bring some competition to the team spirit.

Thank you

Sorry it was a short session, i felt a bit like a lightening rod out there!! Time to put up or shut up for everyone re training. There is talent to burn in this crew, i hope everyone starts showing up and committing, their are at least 3 crews better than us at the moment, so lots of improvement required. I wish everyone good luck with the State team but i hope it doesnt impact on the job at hand.. See Training forum title

Re the argument of power to weight? read this, it was written by Australias(& one of the worlds) leading expert in boat design. At the end of the day its a power sport & its not rowing, but hey its only my opinion.
Power to Weight ratios?

All dragon boats are of the same design. That means they all have the same optimum speed potential, regardless of the power applied. Once the optimum speed has been reached, further power application will not increase boat speed, but will simply exhaust the paddlers with no increase in speed. The optimum speed of any displacement hull vessel, irrespective of the powering source, is governed by a simple physics formula:
D√L
D= a constant derived from the displacement hull shape
(usually between 1.2 to 1.8 ), and
L= hull length
Assuming the optimum speed has not been reached, a variation in speed is determined mostly by the skill of the crew and their endurance over the course – clearly the longer the course, the more likely the stronger crew (given the same level of skill) will prevail.

If you work out power to weight ratio's for your whole team you will find that it's the lighter, smaller women on the team that wind up with the best scores. But a team of light 55kg women generally won't beat a team of 85kg guys, if their technique is assumed to be equal. The small ladies may have a higher power/weight ratio, but the guys have more total power. Taking the gender out of it (and what the hell was I thinking even bringing it up!) the same could hold true of a 85kg guy vs a 60kg guy. The big guy likely has more total power, so if you put the two into individual boats he would likely beat out the little guy, again assuming equal technique.

Once the boat is moving, your weight is no longer working against you (not as much as it would on the start line). So you get all that mass moving forward, and then it's a matter of maintenance.

Power/weight only determines acceleration. Once you're up to speed you're fighting drag and the wake, not weight. Higher speed = higher drag, so total power is more important than power/weight.

If you have a boat of 20 people @ 85kg & you drop one for a 55kg person, over the entire boat you are only decreasing your total weight by 1.75%. The lighter person would need to increase their total power output by at least 10% to break even, based in time trials of 105sec/120m for 86KG and 115sec/120m for 55kg. As we know the only disadvantage in weight is at the start, 1.75% is so small it’s almost impossible to measure in time lost. The extra power gleaned from the heavier person should be of more benefit once the boat is moving and throughout the race.

Thanks very much Steve, very informative.....theres hope for us yet with all these BIG UNITS on board!!!

Also re the State team, the added coaching, knowledge, and experience did wonders for me last season.....it also got me as fit as I have ever been

I think there are only a few people interested, and these guys are the ones who have been a BIG assett to City Dragons.....they know who they are!

Im sure they are as motivated as me to get City Dragons to Macau

First Outrigging Session

The 2 women who I have been going out Surf Skiing with belong to Balmoral Outrigging CLub. They invited me to come over tonight to see what its all about.

Got over there bout 6pm and 2 boats went out, approx 90MIN SESSION.....steady state stuff but non stop for over an hour

My delts (shoulders) were sreaming for mercy. It was hard to get the change ovr smooth, as they change every 15 strokes. My wrist copped it a bit but held todather quite well. The odd jot on change over.

I enjoyed it, just need to get those shoulders more conditioned. It was fun coming back going with the runners.....putting in the big ones to jump on the waves

Went down to traiing early at 4pm for some Dragonoboat Erg action! I really wanted to see if my rist would hold up ok on it so we did several 2min intervals building in intensity each time.

2minute Intervals

1. L - 350m, R - 350m

2. L - 375m, R - 375m

3. L - 400m, R - 400m

4. L - 425m, R - 425m

5. L - 450m.......felt quite good after this one, the wrist was tight with the brace on. Hopefully I can slowly build with more use.

Then did some higher pace intervals for 30, and 40sec

6. 30seconds: L - 515m pace, R - 515m pace

7. 40seconds: L - 515m pace

Then it was into the real boat for a hard session . All in all a very tiring day

Went down to the Harbour (Rose Bay) at 8am and went out for a paddle with Keefa,Pinky, Dazza,Ningus and Bev.

We headed out from Rose Bay and followed the pins out to the Red Buoy and then on to North Head.

It was the longest paddle Ive done so far since coming back, and I felt it over the last few k's. Ive done quite alot of volume latelyto get fit for this next Water Trial in a few weeks and its starting to take its toll. Gonna need a rest day soon, maybe Monday or Tues

Todays Session:

Distance: 14:82km / 1hr: 40.31 / avg Speed 8.8km/hr / Max Speed: 15.7km/hr

See Details of Course Below.



http://connect.garmin.com/activity/22432375

Morning Dragonboat session

9:30am

This is my 5th day in a row on the water and its starting to tire me out....jeez, what happened to going all day???
Awesome weather, shirts off, basking in the sun, what more can we ask, what a life we have.
Good session, the mens crew were holding rate 75 nicely for toadys sesh.

Got home and loaded up on a massive chicken and mushroom omelete, and banana smoothy. Then it was time to do a bit of research through the old vault and pull out a hardcore muscle building program for me to start.

Its called: TITAN TRAINING - Serious Growth IV

This avo I started with day 1 :

Sussing out the weight loads initially,and will progress slowly. Its muscle up time people!!!!

Day 1: 4:30pm


Base Training Lower Body

Quads - Dumbell Squat: 35lb db's x 30, 45lb x 25, 55lb x 20, 65lb x 15, 75lb x 10 (2min rest between sets)

Hammies - Dumbell Stiff Legged Deadlift: 15lb db's x 30, 25lb x 25, 35lb x 20, 35lb x 15, 45lb x 10 (1min rest)

Calves -Standinl single leg calf raise: 20,16,12,10,8 (1min rest)


Volume Training - Upper Body

Chest/Back - 3 Supersets (Combining both exercises into 1 long set) - (1min rest between supersets)
Dumbell Incline Bench Press - 35lb dbs x 25,25,25
Dumbell Bent over Row - 35lb dbs x 25,25,25

Shoulders/Abs - 4 Supersets - (1min rest)
Giant set of Side Lateral Raises/Front Raises/bent over rear lateral raises - 15lb dbs x 30,30,30
Decline Situps (3rd Notch on bench) x 25,25,25

Biceps/Triceps - 3 Supersets - (1min rest)
Dumbell Curl - 15lb dbs x 25,25,25
Dumbell Lying Tri Ext - 15lb dbs x 25,25,25

Met Petr B, Jiri, and Miguel who was 50 mins late (as usual) up at Centennial Park at 6pm

We set the clock for 60mins.

1hr:00.28 / 31.20km / 31km/hr avg speed / 97spm

See Details from GPS below:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/22641421

Glad the guys came along, I was pushed to new limits, I actually had my ass handed to me, Petr and Jiri are animals on the bike, plenty left in the tank for them.

Im gonna have to work hard and do more cycling to close the gap

I rode 5km there and also 5km home + we did 8k steady around the park after the solid hour. Im still coughing from trying to suck the oxygen in, but it was a great session being pushed like that.

Total for the day: approx 50km

Listen bustard! I was only 3 laps behine you guys ... ok!

Dragonboat Erg

Organised with Miguel to go down to get the Erg out today at 3:30pm.....which meant I had to rush home from work and race down to the rowing site. Sure enough...NO Miguel

Nearly an hour later I get a phone call to say he cant make it on time, and he wonders why he never improves, fucking useless, and he is one of the reasons why I think to myself, whats the point to try to help people out.

Well, thats enough bitching from me.

I set the erg up and did a few intervals to get some conditioning back.

2min: L-400m R-400m.......(2:30avg pace)

1min: L -215m R-215m......(2:20avg pace)

1min: L-222m R-222m.....(2:15avg pace)

1min: L-230m R-230m......(2:10avg pace)

1min: L-240m R-240m.....(2:05avg pace)

1min: L-250m R-250m.....(2.00avg pace)

1min: L-250m.....(2:00 avg pace).......Pink Lady's had a whinge and gang raped me off the erg, I ran away with my tale between my legs

Had to pull the shitty erg out f the shed and did 2 more 2min sets on each side at a steady pace.

2min: L: 440m R: 440m.....(2:16avg pace)

Good session, felt ok one the fast ones, no idea if I can getnear my best score of 511m, I dont feel like I have that power of the top hand, so I have to up the rate which means I might burn out because of my lack of fitness. Time will tell.

Came home, fuelled up and got stuck into the Weights, I really felt like going to sleep after being out in the sun down at Bank St, but soldiered on like a good boy!

Day 2 - Titans Training

Base Training Upper Body

Back
Dumbell Bent over Rows - 5 sets - 25lb db's x 30, 35lb x 25, 45lb x 20, 55lb x 15, 65lb x 10 (1.5min rest)

Chest
Incline Dumbell Bench - 5 sets - 25lb db's x 30, 35lb x 25, 45lb x 20, 55lb x 15, 65lb x 10 (1.5min rest)

Shoulders
Dumbell Clean/Press - 5 sets - 15lb db's x 30, 15lb x 25, 25lb x 20, 25lb x 15, 35lb x 10 (1.5min rest)



Volume Training - Lower Body

Quads, Hams, Calves - (4 Giant Sets - Each of the 3 exercises done back to back) - 1min rest beteen giant sets
Dumbell Squats - 45lb dbs x 25,25,25,25
Stiff Legged Deadlift - 15lb dbs x 25,25,25,25
Standing Single Leg Dumbell Calf Raise - 50,50,50,50

Totally beached now, time for some Chicken and Vege Soup, and lots of water!

Fair enough, I do apologize to all the parties involved and affected.
But I did turn up and I did 8 one minute erg strait into it...
I would like to squeeze if I may, that Im a complete tosser who should have been drowned in a bucket at birth

Headed down to Rose Bay at 9.30am and on the water by 10am.

2hr:24:5 / 21.79km / Avg Speed 9.1km/hr - Max Speed 11.9km/hr

See GPS details below

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/22770731

Felt so drained after this, everthing was feeling so heavy.



Rested for the rest of the day and went down to Black Wattle Bay for our Wed night Dragonboat session.

Felt like crap the whole session, aching all over, and very sluggish.....but got through it so its gonna make me tougher

Indoor Rowing

3km: 1:57.9avg pace / 20spm

2km: 6:58.8.....1:44.7avg pace / 27spm

3km: 1:57.9avg pace / 20spm

For the harder 2k in the middle I negative split it starting off at 1:50avg and sped up every 500m down to 1:40avg for the last 500m.

8km total for the session.

Keeping the stroke per minute higher than normal to save my wrist.

AM: Indoor Rowing

Wake up Rowing session before work.

5km: 18:54.8........1:53.5avg pace / 20spm



The next two days in this weight training program is dedicated to a concept known as muscle rounds.

A muscle round is where you take a weight that you can handle for approx 10 reps and instead of doing a conventional set, you perform 4-6sets x 4reps with 10seconds rest between rounds. This is one complet set totalling 24 reps.

NB: I have adjusted the rep range from 4 to 10 because of my wrist. Therefrore each muscle round will consist of 60reps instead of 24 for me.

This is then done x 4 times (sets) per exercise.

Im gonna start at a moderate weight so I get through all Muscle Rounds and sets and then progressively increase each time. Im not really as weak as it seems

Day 3: Muscle Rounds - Legs/Chest
(4 sets x 10reps / 10sec rest between sets = 1 Muscle Round = 60reps......total of 4 x 60reps = 240reps per exercse.

Quads
Barbelll Squats - 40kg x 60,60,60,60 (1min rest between muscle rounds)

Hams
Lying Leg Curl - 1plate x 60,60,60,60, (1min rest)

Calves
Universal machine calf press - 5plates x 60,60,60,60 (1min rest)

Chest
Barbell Bench Press - 30kg x 60,60,60,60, (1min rest)

If I manage to keep getting the full 4 sets of 60 reps then I will go heavier on the weight. Lets see how this goes

What a biiatch of a workout that was.....I was sweating overtime during the squats.

AM: Indoor Rowing

After getting to sleep at 2:30am after getting home the gym last night at 2am I was pretty sluggish rolling out of bed this morning. Had a quick protein shake with oats and joined in an 8km session online on Rowpro before I have to head off to work again.....GROUNDHOG DAYYYY

8km:....30:35.7.......1:54.7avg pace / 20spm



PM: mIghtnight Weights sesh

Day 4: Muscle Rounds: Back/Shoulders/Arms
(6 sets x 10reps / 10sec rest between sets = 1 Muscle Round = 60reps)

Back
Widegrip Pulldowns - 40kg x 60,60,60,60 (1min rest between muscle rounds)

Shoulders
Dumbell Clean/Press - 7.5kg db's x 60,60,60,60 (1min rest between muscle rounds)

Biceps
Barbell Bicep Curl - 20kg x 60,60,60,60 (1min rest)

Triceps
Tricep Pushdown - 20kg x 60,60,60,60 (1min rest)

Then extra:

Paramount Machine Calf Press: 59kg x 10sets x 10 (10sec rest)

Xeno wrote:Here is how I pace myself for a 2K race.

I start out at a higher stroke rate for the first 18 strokes. Feeling fresh and loaded with adrenaline my average time would top out after the start to three seconds faster than my finsihing target pace. As an example: My 2K goal is 6min/2K, the target average/500m is 1:30/500m. Thus after the first 18 strokes I find my average 500 meter time to be at 1:27/500.

The second phase is crucial for the success of the race plan. At this point I have to gently let go of my lead, so that I do not burn out too early in the race. My average strokes are one second slower than my target race pace. For example 1:31/500meters. Such a timed release of intensity would carry me approximately to the 900 meters to go mark. It is at this point that I have to STICK to my target 500 meter average which I need to achieve my race goal.

Holding my target 500 meter pace from 900 meters to 400 meters to go is the REAL job in my 2k race plan. My pace at this point is half a second above my target 500 meter pace, for example 1:30.5. At 400 meters, I count 15 pace strokes and get myself mentally ready for the final sprint, roughly 350 meters or 35 strokes. Once I see 350 meters zoom by I PUT THE PEDAL TO THE METAL and engage my final count down. I don't care if I shorten up, look ugly and puke my gut out. All I care about is that the pace is UNDER my target of 1:30/500meters. If my calculations are right I my finishing time is 5:59.

I like it!.....and I gonna use it to slowly bring my 2k time down as long as all goes well with my niggling bloody injury.

So I gonna start out conservative at just under 7min pace and improve by about a second with each attempt.

I will wear my HR monitor for these ones to see how much room to move I have.

So the first one will be.

Goal of 1:44.9avg for the 2k

Start off fast getting the avg split down to 1:42
Ease into 1:46pace until 900m to go
Speed up to 1:45pace until 400m to go
Count 15 strokes @ 1:45pace
Speed up enough to bring the avg split down below goal pace.
and Bobs yr uncle.....jobs done :-D

Result: Went to plan except I found myself settling easier on 1:45's instead of 1:46's for the first 1100m.....which made the push at the end pretty much non existant...wasnt needed.

2k WU @ 1:54.9avg / 20spm

Code:

EDist    ETime    SDist    Split     SPace    SPM    AvgHR   MaxHR   SPI
00500   01:43.4   00500   01:43.4   01:43.4   26.1   136.2   147.0   12.1
01000   03:29.3   00500   01:45.9   01:45.9   25.5   153.4   157.0   11.6
01500   05:14.5   00500   01:45.2   01:45.2   25.7   160.5   164.0   11.7
02000   06:58.2   00500   01:43.7   01:43.7   26.0   162.9   164.0   12.1
                        

2km CD @ 1:54.9avg / 20spm

Worked morning shift....was running on 3hrs sleep after getting home last night from down the coast.

Straight after work:

Base Training Lower Body
Quads - Barbelll Squat: 50kg x 30, 60kg x 25, 60kg x 20, 70kg x 15, 80kg x 10 (2min rest between sets)

Hammies: Lying leg curl 20lb x 30, 20lb x 25, 30lb x 20, 40lb x 15, 50lb x 10 (1min rest)

Calves -Smith machine Standing calf raise: 30kg x 25,40kg x 16, 50kg x 12, 60kg x 10, 70kg x 8 (1min rest)

Then it was home to get ready to go down for the 2min Dragonboat erg trial. Last year I got 511m for 2mins.....this time round I decided to play it sensible and get in the top 10.

2mins: 475m.....did that comfortably, not breathing too hard, upped the rate toward the end to tap it along.

Then I came home to do another erg workout....second attempt at Xenos 2k pacing.

2K WU @ 1:54.5avg pace / 20spm

2k: 6:57.1.....1:44.3avg pace / 25spm

1. 500m... 1:43.4....End HR 158
2. 1000m..1:46.1....End HR 164
3. 1500m..1:45.0....End HR 167
4. 2000m..1:42.7.. .End HR 168

i think the heart rate bumped up quicker because of the previous training today and also feeling wasted from lack of sleep, felt comfy though.
All good :-D


2k CD @ 1:54.5avg pace / 20spm