Monday 16.6: Row intervals (5k), ring skills

Monday. Row intervals, 5rds of: 600m moderate, 60sec rest, 100m max effort, 100m easy, 100m max effort, 100m easy. Ring skills in the end.

I've had a lot of barbells or kettlebells in my hands in the past training days so it was good to leave them alone for a day and concentrate in rowing. That is one king movement. This is something a man should have as an element on a weekly basis, rowing intervals. I also took some ring skills after getting my lungs burst out.

Row intervals. Total 5.000m

• 5 rounds of:
• 600m moderate pace (1.45-1.50)
• 60sec rest
• 100m max effort (1.29-1.38)
• 100m easy (2.10-2.15)
• 100m max effort (1.29-1.38)
• 100m easy (2.10-2.15)

This is taken directly from NCLab. That is Norcal Crossfit's site that offers a training plan for crossfit athletes looking to make it to the Games. With that said, you understand their daily workouts are sick. Chris Hinshaw is a remarkable endurance coach for these athletes too. Jason Khalipa, Miranda Oldroyd, Garrett Fisher, Pat Barber and the rest of the crew to mention a couple of names. These guys are something I look up to as athletes. If they publish a run / row / swim / skierg workout you better believe it's gonna kick you in the ass.

I've done couple of these in the past and this was a great one too! I had no doubts at any stage though. There was a 5k total of rowing in 5 cycles of 1.000m distances. What should the pace be like on each of these 3 phases? Hinshaw described it in the workout, I posted a picture of it below. My pace on the 600m row was somewhere between 1.45 and 1.50. The first 1-2 sets were faster, from then on I had to grit my teeth get the digits to stay sub 1.50. But I stayed, a mental decision.

Max effort pace was around one thirty and something. Mostly at around 1.35. In the beginning the pace was about 1.30 and the last round was even sub 1.30. On the easy part I took it very slow, just basically kept moving the boat but there was no ambition to go faster.

The thing in this workout was definitely the 600m row. I was glad every time it was over. It was the only distance after which I got to stand up for a while and reset my mental game. Max efforts were quick so even though it was max effort it wasn't that bad. After these 100m max efforts / easy parts were over there was no rest / recovery but I had to start rowing for that 600m distance again. That really sucked. I decided I'll try to keep the pace at the same level each round and that made me think about a happy place at times.

Ring skills.

• Skin the cat
• Front level progressions

I played around with the rings for a while just for the fun of it. Skin the cats and front level progressions. Those front levels are sick stuff. Can't do them right now because there's lack of proper body control so I took some progressions with one knee tucked in. It was a cool short session with the rings, liked it! Here's a short video of what skin the cat means.