Week 19/2016 in Review

Training

Even though the weather still wasn’t great, I was quite satisfied being able to successfully complete most of the workouts on our workout plan. Thankfully, temperatures are finally rising… slowly, but surely; however, it is still incredibly windy at least a few days a week. Especially towards the end of the week, there was a lot of rain, both in Vienna and in Vilnius, where I spent the long pentecost weekend. 

After taking Monday off, Tina and I did eight 400m intervals in the double on Tuesday. Since the weather wasn’t great, it took a lot of effort to force ourselves to complete all intervals. It is quite challenging when the water’s rough constantly, but we keep telling ourselves that it makes us improve faster. It would still be nice to row on flat water again. I am not sure I even remember what that is like. After spending roughly 50 minutes in the boat, I treated myself to four rounds of crossfit exercises, each one consisting of 6 back squats, 6 deadlifts, 10 burpees and 1 minute hollow hold. Tina had already done a crossfit workout with Max earlier in the day, so I was on my own in the weight room.  

On Wednesday, I enjoyed a very nice, but exhausting 90-minute stead-state workout in the single. I got a little tired towards the end, but was quite happy with my overall performance. The weather was much nicer than on most other days and I didn’t have too many plants stuck in my fin. Success! The only thing I don’t enjoy about my single right now are my 13-year-old Concept2 oars and their uncomfortable grips. I got the latter replaced last year, but they still give me a lot more blisters than the Crocker oars we’re using in the double.  

On Thursday, I was really exhausted, probably from the workout the day before because I am not used to spending so much time in my single any more. We were supposed to complete 15 intervals of 1 minute on the erg, with a split of 2:00/500m, followed by 6 power cleans. Unfortunately, I was only able to do a little bit more than half the required intervals, which I was not happy about at all. Sometimes, you have to just accept that that there are some good and some bad days. I just wish I was able to fight a little bit harder. 

On Friday, I was really happy to have intervals in the boat on our workout plan. I enjoy them so much more than intervals on the erg or “on foot.” I guess the erg is just a necessary evil for most rowers. Haha. I was especially excited to see that we are “approaching” our racing distance of 1000m in at least one interval workout a week. That day, we were required to complete four 800m intervals, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Somehow, the distance feels shorter than last year, but I know that it’s only my perception. Haha.  

My second rest day of the week was on Saturday because I was traveling to Vilnius, Lithuania with my mother and grandmother. Since I am starting my new job soon, and won’t be as flexible with my vacation days, we decided to go on one last adventure before I have to be more grown up. Haha. 

On Sunday, I was supposed to do eight 600 meter running intervals, which, frankly, is my most dreaded workout of the week because I don’t enjoy running very much. Even though I was really exhausted from walking around all day and not sleeping too well on a pull-out couch, I’d managed to talk myself into attempting to complete at least some of the intervals. However, it was raining and the treadmill at the gym was broken — it wouldn’t go faster than 8 km/h — so my only option was opting for a steady-state workout instead. I managed to run for 60 minutes before my right knee started hurting a little bit, so it seems like my body is slowly getting used to running at least once a week. It was just a bit of a shame that I couldn’t do intervals, but at least it wasn’t my fault. Haha. 

Nutrition

Since I am planning on writing a separate post about the vegan food scene in Vilnius, I’ve decided not to include a lengthy nutrition section in this week’s “week-in-review” post. I would only like to report here that I am trying to eat at least one salad a day, which is going really well. Our small family farm in my grandmother’s garden is already in full operation, so I usually have a whole fridge full of salad greens. In the rare case that I run out, I like preparing a simple raw carrot salad with herbs, pumpkin seed oil and cloudy apple cider vinegar. Of course, I am also almost always growing sprouts, which are so fresh and delicious. 

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