NSR I Wrap-Up

Racing in the Time Trial, Men's Single.
A fairly accurate picture of how I row

NSR I is over, and I'm back in Seattle, having flown in last night from San Diego.  Today has been a day of rest, of walking around, and of good quality time away from rowing (with the exception of this post) with the pug, the parents, and the shopping mall (excellent walking opportunities).

On the plane back, I made a long list of changes/things I can do moving forward that have always, always worked for me and my rowing, and not for some  random group of endurance athletes.  I felt myself pulled in a bit too many directions lately, drawing energy away from strategies proven to work for me in preparation and on race day.  Between now and three weeks from now, looking forward to tuning up, resting and stretching more and eating food that is my Rocket Fuel.. Not just a bunch of veggies. 

In the 5th-level final of the Men's Single, my last 500-750m were tremendously fast compared to middle of race, too fast.  I am now confident I can go out harder than I did, and hold it.  RPE or Rate of Perceived Exertion means how hard you feel you are pushing.  When RPE is low and heart rate is high- that's obviously bad.  But I'm currently on other end of that.  I'm fitter than I thought- and I could have let my belief about my speed hinder me in racing.  My RPE is very high and my heart rate is very, very low. This shows very good fitness, and if I stay on track it will lead to extremely fast pace if I just stay on it with training and resting and tuning up.  I'd forgotten this is really first week of pieces we have done... The other lightweights have done very well for this race.  I'm good on weight with (so my data is telling me) a potentially higher ceiling of fitness than I've had in a while.. Maybe ever.  I finished 5th, coming back on most of the guys in the race after halfway, 2nd place about 2 seconds ahead of me.

NSR I E Final, Men's Single.  pace in orange, stroke rate in blue.  Note the speed dropoff in third 500,
and the increase from 1250m down to the finish line.  To me, this says I'm not going hard enough
early in the race, and need to be more aggressive early on, almost to the point of ignoring how
I feel, and trusting the fitness I apparently have to wind it up at the end.