I have cancelled the session at Leander on Tuesday morning due to the potential for freezing rain and icy roads.  Don’t need any of you in ditches or affixed to lamp posts!  We will reconvene Wednesday.  Please do 3 sets of “The 300”.  If you have an erg at home, for seniors/experienced, do a 45′ castle (3’each @18-20-22-20-22-24-22-24-26-24-22-24-22-20-22). For novices with an erg at home, please do a 30′ castle (2′ each at 18-20-22-20-22-24-22-24-26-24-22-24-22-20-22)

WEDNESDAY TRAINING GROUP:

Zoe, Graham W, Elizabeth,  Madeleine, Zaiga, Susan, Kat, Pamela, Grace, Lucas (novice),  Sabrina, Kate McGall, Jason, Lauren, Becca, Allie, Lucas A, Drew, Miriam, Harrison, Evan, Astara, Eric, Claire G, Meaghan, Sarah B. Novices ergs.  Seniors/experienced weights.

8:00-8:30:  Zoe, Zaiga

8:30-9:00:  Susan, Kat

9:00-9:30:  India, Morgyn

9:30-10:  Lucas (novice), Astara

Hope everybody is enjoying their break!  Below are the groups for Monday, December 28.  December 29 and 30th should come out later in the weekend.  Note that  Graham W and Evan do not need to be there until 8:20 and Kate McGall & Jason do not need to be there until 8:30.  Kate McG, and Jason will do their weights first and then do the tank.  Note:  Once you are finished either the 45 minute erg or weights, you are free to go.  ((Some of you have seemed a bit surprised when I tell you that you are finished after the erg or weights are done.  Those workouts, if done with proper intensity, should leave you plenty fatigued!))

MONDAY, DECEMBER 28:  Graham W, Elizabeth, Madeleine, Susan, Kat, Pamela, Grace, Taylor, Sabrina, Kate McGall, Jason, Lauren, Becca, Allie, Lucas A, Drew, Miriam, Harrison, Evan, Astara, Eric, Claire G, Meaghan  Seniors/Experienced will do 45′ erg.  Novices will do weights.

8-8:30:  Taylor, Meaghan in tank. All other novices except for those above to do weights.  Drew, Astara to erg.

8:30-9:  Evan, Graham W in tank.  Taylor to weights.  Meaghan to erg.

9-9:30:  Drew, Astara in tank.  Evan erg, Graham W to do weights.

9:30-10:  Kate McG, Jason in tank.

I’ve had to do a fair amount of revisions to the training groups over the past couple of days, so PLEASE check them again, especially Wednesday.  If you gave me all six days as being available, chances are I removed one of your sessions this week in favour of giving somebody a session who won’t be here the following week.  The sign-up has been really popular, which is AWESOME!  If you can’t make your session, please try to switch your spot with somebody so that we don’t waste the spot.

NOTE FROM MIKE:  PLEASE BRING CHEQUE/MONEY FOR UNISUITS/REGATTA FEES.  CHEQUES PAYABLE TO WESTDALE SECONDARY SCHOOL (ROWING).  SEE HIS BLOG POST FROM DECEMBER 5TH FOR MORE DETAILS

Here is Wednesday’s Training Group at Leander.  Alex N, Graham M, Jesse, Zac, Kieran R-D, Elizabeth, Andrea, Madeleine, Zaiga, Susan, Kat, Grace, Jason, Sabrina, Becca, Victoria, Allie, Drew, Miriam, Sophia, Harrison, Evan, Astara, Claire G, Meaghan, Meegan, Katie Y, Kai.  Note to Miriam, and all novices except Kat, Susan, Alex N & Zaiga…you may show up at 8:30 instead of 8am.

8-8:30:  Kat, Susan in tank.  Seniors/Experienced weights.  Alex N & Zaiga 30 minute erg.

8:30-9:  Alex N, Zaiga in tank.  Kai erg,  Miriam weights.  All other novices to do 30 minute erg.

9-9:30:  Grace, Becca in tank.  All novices to watch tank session.

9:30-10:  Kai, Miriam in tank.  All others may leave.

Here is a  training plan for the holidays if you can’t make it.  If you own an erg, please do a 45 minute session instead on December 21, 23, 30, January 2.  If you are a novice and own an erg, adjust all sessions to 30 minutes each, please.

NOTE:  None of these sessions, be they at the club, or the workouts below, are mandatory.  However, for the sake of our own program-wide success and for the sake of you making the crews you want to make, know that your competition will have the same options for training and many will take those opportunities to maintain the gains and even improve.  Often as coaches, we’re asked to push athletes harder, but at times like this during holiday breaks, initiative and the will to succeed has to come from within.  Miles Make Champions, and the more miles you do, the better your chances.

NOTE #2:  Those doing training at Leander can also use this.  If you aren’t scheduled at Leander on a particular day, then feel free to do the workout that is slotted in on the day.  Just don’t do two in one day!

MONDAY, DECEMBER 21:  45 minute brisk run.  Mark your starting point and your ending point and try to go further next time you do it.   ERG ALTERNATE:  45′ pyramid:  3’@18-20-22-24-22-20-18-20-22-24-22-20-18-20-22.  Focus on POWER PER STROKE

TUESDAY DECEMBER 22:  45 minute stair run at Cherokee if you are local.  OR three sets of “The 300”, which you will find under Athlete Resources elsewhere in this blog.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23:  45 minutes of cross training (swimming, biking if the weather holds, X-country skiing if you are in a place where you can do that, running).  ERG ALTERNATE:  45′ castle:  3’@18-20-22-20-22-24-22-24-26-24-22-20-22-20-18.  Focus on POWER PER STROKE

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24:  OFF

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 25:  OFF

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26:  Land Fun (which you will find in the November 20th blog entry).

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27: OFF

MONDAY, DECEMBER 28:  45 minute run.  Try to go further than you did on December 21!!

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29:  3 x “The 300” Circuit, located under Athlete Resources.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30:  45 minutes of cross training (swimming, biking if the weather holds, X-country skiing if you are in a place where you can do that, running).  ERG ALTERNATE:  Hour of Power!!!  1’@18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 19, 20, etc until you’ve done an hour.  Focus on POWER PER STROKE

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31:  OFF

FRIDAY, JANUARY 1:  OFF.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 2:  Land Fun Circuit + 20 x 75 metre wind sprints with 15 seconds off in between.  ERG ALTERNATE:  6 x :30 on, :45 off followed by 6 x :45 on, 1:00 off.  Rest 5:00 and repeat.  NOTES:  This is an excellent prep for the Indoor competition on January 16th.  Also, the “ON” should be all out as hard as you can.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 3:  OFF

MONDAY, JANUARY 4:  6:30am at Westdale to resume school!

Here are the training groups for Monday and Tuesday December 21 & 22 at Leander Boat Club from 8-10am.  Note:  These two days are full.  If you haven’t signed up yet and want to join in, the remaining available dates are Wednesday December 23 and Monday, Tuesday Wednesday December 28, 29 & 30.

Please e-mail me at tbeshoff@cogeco.ca or text me at 289-527-5800 to book your spot!

These will be scheduled in the next couple of days.  Everybody will get a minimum of two days at Leander, but it could be more than that.  If your name isn’t below for the tank, don’t worry–you will get a turn on one of the six days we have.

DIRECTIONS TO LEANDER BOAT CLUB:  Take James St. N all the way to the end at Leander Dr.  Turn left and go to the end and just before the roundabout, you will see Leander on the right.

MONDAY DECEMBER 21:  Ahmed, Alex N., Graham M, Zac, Kieran R-D, Chloe, Andrea, Pamela, Grace, Alex T, Lucas (novice), Ben C-M, Kate McGall, Alex D, Jason, Lauren, Becca, Allie, Victoria, Drew, Miriam, Sophia, Harrison, Erik, Katie Y, Meegan, Kai, Graham W

8-830:  Ahmed, Kieran R-D in tank.  Graham, Jesse, Lucas, Ben C-M to watch tank session.  All other novices to do 30′ erg

8:30-9:  Graham M, Jesse tank.  Ahmed, Kieran, Lucas, Ben C-M to erg.  All other novices to watch tank session.

9:00-9:30:  Lucas (novice), Ben C-M tank.  Zac, Jason and all other novices to watch tank session.  Jesse and Graham to erg

9:30-10:  Zac, Jason tank.  Jesse and Graham to watch tanks.  All other novices free to go.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22:  Zac, Kieran R-D,Chloe, Elizabeth, Andrea, Madeleine, Pamela, Grace, Alex T, Kate McG, Alex D, Lauren, Becca, Allie, Victoria, Drew, Miriam, Sophia, Harrison, Evan, Astara, Erik, Claire G, Meaghan, Katie Y, Meegan, Kai, Graham W.  Seniors/Experienced will do 45′ erg.  Novices will do weights.

8-8:30:  Elizabeth, Madeleine in tank. Pamela, Kate McG, Alex T, Alex D to watch.  Chloe, Andrea, Zac, Kieran R-D, Grace to weights.

8:30-9:  Pamela, Kate McG in tank.  Chloe, Andrea to watch tank session.  Elizabeth, Madeleine, Alex T and Alex D to weights.

9-9:30:  Alex T, Alex D in tank.  All other novices to watch tanks session.

9:30-10:  Chloe, Andrea in tank.  Alex T, Alex D to watch tank session.  All others can go.

For those of you who are available and wish to train during the holidays, we have been given the go-ahead to train at Leander Boat Club.  We are only able to accommodate about 26 athletes per session.  The dates available to us are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday December 21, 22, 23 from 8am-10am and December 28, 29, 30 from 8am-10am.  I will spend some time Thursday and Friday mornings seeing who is available over the break and sending out a schedule as quickly as I can.  Everybody will get a minimum of 2 of those sessions.  There could possibly be more, depending on the numbers we get.

We don’t make any of these sessions mandatory.  However, we’ve done some really good work to this point and the last thing we want to do is regress over the holidays, so I would HIGHLY recommend doing this, especially the novices.  Leander has a rowing tank (which is a pool with a rowing unit attached…so we will actually be able to teach you how to row).  This will be invaluable when the spring time comes.  There will also be erg and weights components to these sessions.  All in all, an excellent way to keep up your training and forge ahead.

A note on ergs and erg tests.  We will be finishing off our Fall testing Thursday morning for those who have not pulled the test.  A BIG majority of the novices made significant improvements on their last test.  WELL DONE!!!  Those who didn’t, in all likelihood, went out WAY too fast and couldn’t sustain that crazy pace and wound up paying for it later.  I can’t stress this enough for the next test:  KNOW what time you want to get, KNOW what the split is to achieve that time, and STICK TO THE SPLIT!  If you’re doing it properly, you should find the first 750 metres relatively easy.  The next 750 will be harder and the last 500 will feel like you’re hanging on.  If you’re hanging on and have 1600 metres left, then you’ve gone out way too fast!

As for ergs, they are the bitter medicine of our sport.  Nobody likes doing them, but if we want to have success in rowing and be competitive in our outdoor racing, we need to do as many of them as we can.  In rowing, MILES MAKE CHAMPIONS and the more miles we put on the erg, the better our chances for success.  You are not the only rowers who hate the ergs.  When I coached in New Zealand, all the rowers hated the ergs.  When I coached at Havergal, all the rowers hated the ergs.  But they embraced the concept and did them.  And because of that, many of them carted home gold medals from national championship regattas.  We’re not asking you to love them.  We’re asking you to do them.  In the new year, we will again be allotted some afternoon erg times.  We will be diligent in getting as many of you as possible on these sessions with the goal of getting faster and giving you as much of a chance as possible of making a good crew and going for gold once the spring hits.  Don’t be afraid of going fast!!

The theme for Thursday morning’s outdoor run is “UGLY HOLIDAY SWEATER DAY”.  Note: some are pulling 2k tests and then running after. Some are doing 30 minute ergs and then running, some are running first and then doing 30 minute ergs, and some will be running the whole time. Come prepared!

Also, one of our rowers has asked if any of you come from the west end near Main W Fortino’s/St. Mary’s area and can give a ride for the first week of the New Year. If so, please let me know via email or text.