Good pull

Last night hit the boat house after work to do 3 x (20' on: 3' off). It went very well. I aimed to pace at 1:58/ 500m. Did the first two at 1:57.9. I got back to the erg just seconds after my third piece started. And the new ergs show no mercy: If the clock starts, and you're not pulling, your boat just sits there while the pace boat rows away. So I inadvertently gave the pace boat about an 8 second head start. I took off and held around 24 strokes per minute to chase it down. I didn't want to miss my goal due to a late start. I finished the last piece at 1:56.5/ 500m pace, so I kicked ass. Total Calories burned in ~ 1 hour: 1083.

This morning's practice was real 1000m race pieces. I don't have the power in my left leg to hammer away at 40 strokes/ minute in the 8+, so I took out the single.

All in all, I know I'm improving, though my left thigh just doesn't burn at the high intensity pieces. My times get better, and it looks like the muscle is coming back, but it's maybe 25% of the strength of my right. And this frustrates me.

Good news is I'm now about 3.5 seconds on my split pacing away from "fast". A fast 3 x 20 min is 1:53.5- 1:54. My average was 1:57.5. Fast for 10K for me is 1:51. I did 1:55.8 a little over a week ago. Maybe I'll try one tomorrow morning and aim for 1:55.