Rest Day 9/9:On the water in the fall most crews race from 4 to 6k. There are longer distance regattas around the country as well. Share the events you’re training for and your goals for those events.
Below is a great post from Alex Black of Wicked Good Nutrition on cheat days!
Why Sometimes Cheating Is A Good Thing
And by “cheating” I mean on your diet, not your workout or anything else. Anyway…
Bacon Wrapped Bananas!
I’ve written about “cheat days” before on the CrossFit Boston blog. But as Labor Day weekend and its end of summer festivities involved are approaching, I thought it was a good time to revisit the topic. I first started thinking about the idea of “cheat days” back in July when a coworker asked me if I’d heard of the “Four Hour Body” by Tim Ferris (he also wrote the “Four Hours Work Week). Apparently, he encourages dieters to take one day and cheat to the extreme, eating as much “restricted food” as possible, almost to the point of sickness. His reasoning is that this will make that bad food unappealing all week and the bump in calories will keep your metabolism from slowing down due to calorie restriction. While I don’t (and probably never will) encourage anyone to go to that extreme, cheating – when done right – can be good for you both physically and mentally. Here’s why…
Yesterday morning there was a large thunderstorm at Community Rowing in Boston. Most of the morning practices had already finished up, but there were a few programs that got kicked off the water due to lightning. This a frequent occurrence that rowers have to deal with.
If you’re not a rower yet, but just an athlete using the erg, I’m sure you have your own thunderstorms to deal with in terms of training. Maybe a knee or shoulder has decided to flare up or your quads are burned up from a few intense WODs. That doesn’t mean everything has to be thrown out the window and you call it a day.
At the boathouse I had some fun with the Renegade Athletes and introduced bear crawls into the workout. While most rowers that got kicked off the water had to resort to the drudgery of a steady state erg, we had some fun crawling around them. In the past I’ve used those days as opportunities to play dodgeball and do squats or push ups if you get hit. If your regular mode of training isn’t available then have some fun, do something different, and challenge yourself.
On the other side of things, if you’re an athlete who needs work on the erg and your body is banged up, take some time to do a few drills and dial in that technique with slow motion rowing. Try rowing with no pressure and then slowly building up the speed keeping the proper sequence and form. Or just take the day to work on a couple of goats while you wait for your issues/thunderstorms to pass by.
Share your favorite thunderstorm activities!
6 x 2min w/ 1:30 RestWhat stroke rating are you most efficient at? Use today’s Rowing WOD as an opportunity to gain confidence and figure out what your most efficient race pace is for the next time you have to do a 2k or 1k… perhaps in an upcoming summer competition.
Post your best average split and the stroke rating you maintained.
Check out this post on Muscle Cramps and Hydration from Alex Black, Renegade Dietitian and creator of Wicked Good Nutrition. Also look for a great recipe for spicy grilled sweet potatoes!
Since most of the United States will be experiencing a heat wave over the next few days (and here in Boston the mercury will be up around 97 degrees) I think it’s a good time to talk about hydration and muscle cramping. Muscle Cramping is a result of a muscle that contracts involuntarily and then stays that way. This is primarily caused by altered neuromuscular function – during exercise muscles in use can be abnormally stimulated, especially when they are already in the shortened position or are fatigued. Among most athletes, the quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves are the most frequently affected muscles. Generally, loss of sodium, dehydration, and imbalances of certain electrolytes have taken the blame for muscle cramping, but some research has shown this may not be the case. In this post I’ll go over some things you can do to help avoid muscle cramps. …Read More…
Renegade Rowing 