The Mental Funk

[obirobsan]

I started today with some high hopes of crushin' some of my PRs.

Did a nice easy 1k warm up, felt great.

First up - dialed in the 30 minute, pace boat at 1:55, got on it -- finished the first 6 minute at 1:54.7, right on track, then just couldn't go on. Gave up.

Thought ok - let's see if I can't slightly improve my CTC time. Dialed in the 199s, put the pace boat at 1:35, started cranking. Did 4 reps, basically on the pace boat (1:36.7), couldn't go on. Gave up.

Figured --- alright, alright, alright -- let's go for something easy - my 2k split time (I NEVER do that horrible distance) is slower than both my 4 minute split and my 5,000m split -- seems like an easy place to improve. I dial in a 1:52 pace boat (looking for 7:30), get to work, make it 1000 m in 3:42, just can't go on. Gave up after spending the first 2 minutes thinking "this is actually quite pleasantly easy" (well, that's how 1:52 feels after trying to do 1:35).

Went to work... it's just one of those days.

[JonT]

We’ve all been there. Just one of those days. Personally, I never give up in a row. It’s a personal philosophy thing, I just cruise to the end at whatever pace I can manage. Not suggesting this is a good approach, just my way of doing things.

I’m sure better days will come!

P.S. a 1k warm up is pretty short ahead of a PB attempt at any distance. You will definitely not be physiologically ready after that short a time.

P.P.S. All of your times are way, way faster than anything I could get close to

[Draggon]

Also beware of overtraining. I'm not saying that's what you're doing, but it's something to keep an eye on.

[Mat]

Some days you're the hammer... some days you're the nail

We've all had those days when even an "easy" pace feels far harder than it should. On those days, do what you can and come back another day - your performance on those days does not define you

[Tako]

In the old days I would have done similar, try one PB, if it failed, try a shorter, etc.
Crazy enough it would even work. Once took three in one day. Had seasons where all ranking distances were PBs, but then got injured and overtrained.

Now I have learned, after attempting and aborting a PB attempt it does not make sense to start another one (especially a faster one) right after. If you succeed than it is a soft PB.
The first one is not a good warmup for the second and you have burned a lot of important energy already.

By the third you should already consider resting a day before even thinking of the next.

Just my experience and as I learned from one of the best coaches, the most important training day is your rest day, do not underestimate your body’s need for restitution especially after time trials.

[webberg]

Some days you can and some days you can't.

If we know which was which, we could all do better.

I'll sometimes build to a piece (nowhere near your time by the way) and all day be thinking on it before hitting the old steel stallion in the early evening (my favoured start time) - and then find that I'm blowing hard a few minutes in and have to abandon.

I tend to reset my head to "today is just a metre day" and start again with a slow pace which will - sometimes - build into a decent enough total.

Some days though, I just have to accept that my body is not cooperating with me at all.

[obirobsan]

Hey Jon - what do you recommend for a good amount of warm up time? I figure at some point I stop warming up and start draining the tank, though 1k is probably super short (but my normal time on the rower is only 20-30 minutes, so 1k in about 5 minutes seemed like a reasonable "warm up"). I guess I've always been bad at warm ups, when I was running regularly, I'd count the first 1/4 mile as a warm up... haha. Maybe just no patience for warming up.

[JonT]

Hey Jon - what do you recommend for a good amount of warm up time? I figure at some point I stop warming up and start draining the tank, though 1k is probably super short (but my normal time on the rower is only 20-30 minutes, so 1k in about 5 minutes seemed like a reasonable "warm up"). I guess I've always been bad at warm ups, when I was running regularly, I'd count the first 1/4 mile as a warm up... haha. Maybe just no patience for warming up.

That really depends on what you are trying to achieve. If I am doing a steady state row (e.g. 3x10min at 20spm with a focus on keeping the HR in UT2) then like you I will just do a 1k warm up incorporating standard legs-only, arms/back-only, single-leg exercises. This is really just to get away from being completely cold, to remind me about different aspects of form and to allow me to do a quick series of stretches (mainly hamstring) before I do the main session and to have a last drink.

If I am trying for a hard session like a PB or tough CTC then I will do at least 15 mins warm up moving from very gentle rowing and al of the above drills through to intense bursts, trial starts, and periods of rowing at the target pace and rating. You really should be hot and sweaty and fully primed for anything like a 2K. This really won't be draining the batteries in any way, if anything you are just making sure the juice from those batteries are ready and flowing. Following this I will rest for a good 5-10 minutes to be ready for the actual event, making sure I am also fully hydrated etc. If you don't do this, there is a good chance your body will react badly to the strain of the session, you will get all kinds of "complaints" from it and the natural response will be to stop.

I know this isn't helpful if you are doing 20-30 minute sessions. But the reality is that you will find a full-on PB/SB attempt in that kind of session increasingly hard as your performance improves and the goals become tougher.

I'd be really interested to know what others do and what thoughts there are on all of this.

Jon