Sunday, May 24, 2009

23 May 2009 - The Awesome ('all-sng') Pyramid /^\

It was a special Saturday.

Coach Patrick was on special assignment in Malaysia,
Ah Ben made a surprise appearance after an early morning landing from Houston,
And Papillon, being short on numbers and coach/coxswain, spontaneously hijacked a boat as Jon, Dawn, Xiuhuan, Joe, Lin and Ben gleefully hopped in with our friendly guys from the mens + vets teams.
(Must thank the guys for gallantly welcoming us to join the boat!)

But most of all, what made it special(ly xiong/terok), was the combined training led by Wee Kiang and Adrian. After a good warm up row towards Sheares Bridge, we were introduced to... The Pyramid. This endurance training consists of ascending sets of 2-min, 4-min, 6-min rows, before descending symmetrically in 6-min, 4-min, 2-min rows. During the sets, hard10s were freely called, and Papillon limbs threatened to give way. *Oof poof* - This must be the most punishing session so far this year.

And so my memory became a bit hazy. But I vaguely recall that we did two pace sets with the guys, both times employing the hard-30 start - and that worked well to bring the boat up. Although we were tired out by the time of the second set, I must say that our 'cut & paste' combined boat didn't do too shabbily at all! The surge was definitely there, but maintenance could be improved, if we want to keep up a powerful glide.

Overall it was an exhausting session, but it felt really good to work our core muscles hard. Post-rowing, the motley bunch of Paps + Mens + Vets gathered for a mass warm down by Cowan Lee-Gym-Trainer-Wannabe, followed by debrief. Our boat's coxswain Derrick rightly highlighted that we lacked stamina, and this showed in the pace sets when we couldn't sustain the power.

To overcome that, let's maintain a good balance of cardio and weights training in our gym routine! Interval training on the rowing machine and/or running will help alot in building our heart and lungs power, so that we can pull harder for longer without feeling faint during water training.

Build it up, build it up...
And keep the attendance coming!

PS: Please stretch your backs properly and rest well!

= Chief Editor D.L. signing off =

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