Training Effect

aka The Long Haul

The process of learning in Rowing can often feel like the equivalent of slapping yourself with your own hand until your brain forces you to stop. Bad sessions on the water can be absolute torture of all concerned. You know what you should be doing, but the limbs don’t seem to want to respond to what the brain is telling them to do. Sometimes it felt like the learning process almost happened by accident, a small change would cause the boat to sit up and glide through the water, rather than being humped through treacle. The Rower will desperately try to re-create what ever it was they were doing at the time to produce this change. Eventually it will be programmed into the muscle memory and the standard of rowing within to crew increases. These Eureka moments/sessions can be few and far between, but when they occur even the most sullen bowman can weep with joy.

These moments can be when the blade gently plops into the water without disturbing the run, the moment when you realise the recovery isn’t an 8 or 4 man race down the slide, or the bow pair’s puddles disappearing away from the stern before next stroke is taken.

I think our coach can sum up eureka moments quite well…

I’ve found that running training, especially endurance running, is an altogether different beast. The concept of “Training Effect” comes into play. Instead of focusing on specific eureka moments, the runner must train with the knowledge that it is rarely one particular session that will produce the sought after improvements. Rather, it is a combination of the various session types – long runs, hill sessions, intervals and temp runs that will see their performance increase. Of course, with the aid of a Garmin Watch, the numbers speak for themselves as the times drop and paces increase. However, instead of step changes, it is often a slow progression which is often accompanied by a steady increase in confidence.

I find my self in this position before my 5K time trial tomorrow. One of my goals is to go sub-20 for this distance. It has been tantalisingly close in the last few weeks. After my last taper run on Thursday, I realised that, as long as I stay calm and focused, this goal is certainly within my reach. My legs have felt so much stronger I can’t quite believe it. Paces that used to be what I would describe as ‘balls out’ now come naturally and with control. The secret of these past few weeks has been the gaining of CONTROL of what I do.

The Novices of GRC will remember Colin’s CONTROOOOOOOOL down the slide, well it works in running too. Hopefully, it will for me tomorrow. So if you find yourself running the Halewood 5K and there is a red-faced loon muttering to himself “relax and controooooool”. That will be me. On my way to a sub-20 minute 5K.