If you hear it enough, you’ll start to believe it.

Every day I make an effort to constantly surround myself with positive people because I believe that the positive energy I get and give helps create a better environment for working in, training in, and living in.

Because of this positive “bubble” I live in, I believe that anything is possible.  Encouraging my friends to do something and seeing them excel is such a great feeling.  And they do the same for me.  I am fortunate to have family and friends who are supportive, and it is because of them I feel that I am improving each week and continue to believe in my bigger dream…2016.  For now my short term goal is just to continue to train hard and focus on giving my best in everything that I do…with rowing I don’t hold back on any stroke, unless I am specifically told to go steady state (and trust me, I have to be told, ha!).

So why do I emphasize the importance of creating this “positive” environment?  Imagine that you are told each day that you are not smart…after hearing it enough times, you’ll start to have lower self esteem and feel like people perceive you as stupid, and so maybe you’ll start to consider yourself in that way.  Wouldn’t it be better to have encouraging words said to you?

Of course hearing encouraging words from people around you is nice, but it may also be helpful to say them to yourself.  I’ve talked about visualization before, but I have come across a new approach that I think is really easy to do and helpful.

Sit down with a paper and pen, or computer, and write down your goals for the week or upcoming race plan.  Write down what you hope to accomplish, and how you hope to accomplish them.  Have motivating words in there, cue words that help you reflect on the cold days you’ve gone out to train in, or the puddles of sweat you’ve created from working to your max…after you’ve written this out, record yourself.  You can use your phone to record yourself if you have no recording device.  Then make a point to listen to yourself, your own voice telling you these goals and race plans…how you plan to execute them, how strong you are, how capable you are…and soon enough you’ll start to envision yourself doing this, feeling this, and then executing this in reality.

I’d like to say I’m crazy, which I amJ…but in truth, I have felt this work for me in the past few weeks.  I wrote something down, recorded it, and listened to it each day.  I pulled 10 watts higher than before on the same workout I had done the week prior.  And now this week, today, I pulled 5 seconds faster for each of 4 pieces that I did last week in the same workout.

Words alone are powerful, and together the mind and body can be even more powerful.

So I challenge you to do this and see if it works for you.

I thought last week was my hard week of training as the training schedule read “HARD WEEK”…little did I know that the letter “V” would be an option, and so I’ve learned that there is a “VHARD WEEK” too (this means VERY hard week!”.  So today I began my VHARD WEEK and am excited to attack my workouts again.  Food will be my best friend as I'll need to make sure I have enough energy to make it through each day (oh, how hard life can be!).  Next week I leave for training camp, so this week really is important to get in as much solid work on the erg as possible…next week I’ll be on the waterJ SO EXCITED!!!!!!

Happy Training

Heavy week of training - new phase

Stroke rate 26???!!

After Nationals, my training consisted of a lot of stroke rate 12, 14 and 16 on the erg.  For anyone who doesn’t row, this is really low!  The focus was purely power per stroke…there’s enough recovery time in between the strokes for you to really push hard when you need to drive the legs down.  I must say that the focus on power and technique has really helped a lotJ.  Fortunately as a lightweight my target watts are pretty easy to commit to mentally since they are similar to my stroke rates:  at 12 I need to hold 120W, 14 I hold 140W, 16 I hold 160W, etc.  As we’ve continued to follow the training program, I’ve found that I am now getting very comfortable in the 20 and 22 stroke rates.  I can hold 200W and 220W respectively during pieces.

Now that the training has come into a new phase, I am starting to see the 240W and 260W come into play with the pieces we do.  I don’t expect that the same mathematical approach will stick as I increase stroke rate…otherwise I’ll be breaking the world record in no time (holding 320W at stroke rate 32!).  Not there yet but bring it on!!:)

This past week has been a tough one…it was a short week at work so a lot to catch up on, I’ve had a personal matter come up, and also had a heavy training week!

Monday I did stairs again with my teammates, Kathleen and Claire (and also a random man who saw the fun we were having and wanted to join), and since Tuesday I have been having fun on the erg with Kathleen…and I am happy to say that I have absolutely no back pain, so I feel that this injury is GONE for good! 

If I feel discomfort then I’ll continue to row, but if I feel pain then I’ll stop.

The fun isn’t over as we still have two more days of hard pieces on the erg, but the one I want to highlight is the pyramid workout.  It’s 29 minutes of absolute physical and mental exhaustion. 

Imagine that you are capped at a fixed stroke rate and pushing at your max on every stroke, only to find that you have to pick it up one more gear and keep pushing hard as the stroke rate increases (not letting your watts suffer).  It’s kind of like this:

You look outside and it’s a beautiful day to run in the country side.  You decide that you are going to go out for a 29 minute run to enjoy the fresh air.  You put on your sneakers, head outside and start your timer…in the first five minutes you get into a good rhythm, hold a steady pace and feel strong.  Suddenly you sense that someone is following you, so simply out of fear, you pick up the pace a bit.  Not only that, but now imagine that you also have 2 lb weights on your ankles.  You run like this for the next four minutes only then to find out that there is someone following you and they want to steal your ipod.  But you don’t want to give it to them, it was a present from Aunt Florence for your birthday…and she’s your favourite Aunt!  You start to run faster as they start to call on you, heckling you.  Again you are running hard but now have 5lbs on each ankle.  Your legs are starting to feel tired, your heart rate has escalated and you are focused on getting away from them.  You run like this for three minutes, counting down every second, only to learn that the next two will only be harder.  In desperation you throw your ipod to them assuming they will leave, but they don’t.  They were really after you!  They want to kidnap YOU.  You are running harder the next two minutes, now knowing their intentions, and you additionally have 7 lbs on each ankle.  Your legs want to take a break but they can’t…you have to hold on for dear life!  Running, grunting, sweating.  Now they are right behind you in their car, they are reaching at you, calling at you…you turn a corner and for the last minute you run as fast as you can thinking that you are in the clear.  With 10 lbs on each ankle you hold nothing back, go at your max!....run…run…run.  After the minute is over, you have to do the whole things in descending order…2 minutes…3..4..5.  You come home at the end of the 5 minutes in disbelief, but smile because you just had an amazing workoutJ.

Every stroke counts.

Happy Training

Running to the top...ouch!

STAIRS!  Holy cow!  Fun times were had todayJ.

If you are injured and can’t use your upper body, I strongly recommend stairs.  Originally I was only going to do lower body weights and core strengthening, but no, my teammate Kathleen wanted to do that AND MORE: stairs!  As I am not ready to erg yet, I couldn't resist this opportunity to put my legs through serious discomfort so that I could still get some physical benefits after for rowing - bring on the challenge!

Just a couple of weeks ago Kathleen sent me a video of Apolo Ohno doing a stairs workout...today Kathleen and I did a part of the workout, not all of it, and we were still struggling – but it was a good feeling and we have room to improve;)  Without fail this will now become a part of my training.  It's a great way to get your heart rate up (I hit 182 bpm), push through lactic acid, work through exhaustion and loss of perception (the stairs can make you dizzy!), and more.

We did 27 x 88 stairs (4 flights)

3 sets of:

·         3 x Running up stepping on each stair

·         3 x Running up every other stair

·         3 x Hopping up each step with both feet…once you reach the fourth flight you feel like you want to vomit:S

After stairs, we did lower body weights…it is usually hard to do weights in general, but to do them when you have shaky legs from stairs is even more challenging.  That’s why it’s good that we did them together - we could spot eachother.

Enough said!  Today hurt, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  So if you are injured or have limited access to training equipment, look around you in your environment and see if there are new things you can try that will still give you the physicial benefits you need for your sport.  Of course, I also suggest visualization:)

Happy Training

Crossing a Foggy Bridge

As you may recall, I was in Boston for work this past week attending a Women’s Leadership Conference, and boy did I learn a lot. I am really lucky to work for an employer that encourages development through programs like this, a huge thanks to them!

During the meeting there was talk that as women in leadership roles we often experience the feeling that we are under a glass ceiling and that it is a struggle to break through this glass ceiling to reach the next level in our careers.  We were shown the image of a foggy bridge.  Why imagine something negative like a glass ceiling (limitation), when you can imagine something like a foggy bridge (opportunity…let me explainJ).  For one, a positive approach is usually best when you want to stay motivated.

You may be scared when you are at the start of crossing the foggy bridge, but look at yourself, your skill set as a person (not as a man or a woman), and trust that you deserve to be there.

I know I am not alone when I say that I am on this journey of crossing a foggy bridge: there are so many unknowns, so many challenges, yet so many opportunities.  Welcome the challenge, take a risk, and start to cross with confidence!

The times where there are unknowns and challenges are simply areas with fog, but it’ll clear up and then you can keep walking. 

I know far too many people who have been challenged in life with personal strife (loss, cancer), and these are the people I look up to because they demonstrate strength, commitment, drive, passion for life, and teach me to always put things in perspective and carry on with even greater determination.  On Friday I was doing a tough intervals workout (150W at SR14, and 240W at SR24) and on my fourth interval I started to feel burning on my back…found out later that night that it was in fact a torn ligament, Oops:S  As I thought about this over the week-end, I realized that this is just a small foggy area as I cross my bridge, and when this fog clears up, I’ll be stronger and ready for the next step.  I will practice what I’ve learned from my role modelsJ.

Now, since I couldn’t erg, I made sure to do some visualization, core and leg strengthening, and running to keep my endurance.  Here is a fun run to do if you want to get your heart rate up and can’t erg (please DO NOT do this if you are not training as a competitive athlete, I don’t want anyone getting injured!!):

Equipment: Treadmill and Weighted Vest (I used a 20lb vest)

Workout: This is a 29 minute pyramid.  Do 5 minutes with 1.0 incline and 6.0 mph, then 4 minutes with 1.5 incline and 7.0mph, 3 minutes with 2.0 incline and 7.5mph, 2 minutes with 2.5 incline and 8.0mph, then 1 minute with 3.0 incline and 8.5mph, then continue to go back down the pyramid…2 minutes with 2.5 incline and 8.0mph, etc.

When you take the weighted vest off at the end, you feel like you can run as fast as a cheetahJ.  Ha!  Far from it for me.

Although this was a fun workout, I must say, I already miss the erg (never thought I’d say that!).  So, I’m going to keep my eye on the prize, stay positive, and watch lots of inspirational videos from rowing and other sports.

Stay Healthy!

Pics from CIRCs

Here are some fun pics from yesterday's race:)

Julie, Laurie and Jenna with their amazing signs - so creative and awesome!

Claire and me:)



Now I'm at the airport ready to head off to Boston for work (for the week!).  Will be there for a Women's Leadership Conference, and so I have no doubt I will come back with exciting lessons to share:).

And of course before I left for the airport, I had to fit in my erg workout - which by the way has STILL left me red in the face!  The kind of workout I did today will make any 2km seem like a peace of cake!!  This is why I am happy to have my compression tights on so that these legs of mine can recover while I'm on the plane!;-)

Have a great week!

I'm out...

Race Day - it's not always about a personal best

Competition...how does this word make you feel?  Excited, nervous, intimidated…

Last night the word made me excited, but this morning when I woke up, this word made me nervous.  But nervous isn’t always bad.  Nervous means that the competition matters to me and I care about what’s to come.  Though nervous, I tried to stay calm and positive - just go into today as I do with training.  Why should it be different?  I’ll be on the machine I train on during the winter, and I am not competing against anyone except for myself.

That was easier said than done.

My [AMAZING] teammate Claire and I both arrived at the Hershey Center early as I had to weigh in, and from there we headed out to get away from the high energy arena.  It isn’t hard to get your heart rate excited as soon as you walk into the Hershey Center.  As I see races in progress, my eyes are subconsciously telling my body and mind that they are about to face a challenge (a very uncomfortable one!).   I heard people talking about their targets, athletes throwing up in garbage bins, cheers from family and friends, and more…

Without fail, The Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships is always an exciting event to compete in and watch!  It’s thanks to the amazing organizers, volunteers, athletes, coaches, and fans.  I was so lucky to have my amazing family and friends there too (I'll post pics tomorrow…I was surprised by my friends who came with signs - THANK YOU LAURIE, RORY, JULIE and JENNAJ).

Nerves started to build up as race time approached.  I followed every detail of what I had to do for my race prep – physically and mentally.  I truly had no excuses today, and I don’t think I ever should.  My race warm up was good and I was hitting high watts comfortably.  But sooner than later, my warm up was over and I had to take one last trip to the bathroom before I headed over to the competition area.

The competition area has several ergs (maybe about 30 of them) set up in one section of the arena.  They are set up so that the athletes on the ergs face outwards (towards the spectators) – this makes it additionally fun for the spectators to watch because they can see how an athlete’s expression changes during the race…from nervous, to fierce and invincible, then to discomfort, and then maybe torture:S

I raced in the Senior Lightweight Women’s race.  This year the National Team wasn’t competing, so there was room to get onto the podium.  I hope that with continued focused training, next year I could make the podium with the National Team girls there tooJ.

I raced with “Watts”, not “Splits”.  Athletes often use splits (I always have until I changed over to watts just recently in December).  Watts show you your power, versus splits which shows you your time per 500m piece.  So for 2000m, your split would show you what your pace is for 500m.  In practice I was holding 244W at fixed stroke rates, so I was confident I could break my personal best and hold 265W average for the 2000m race at race pace.  I’ll tell you right now that that didn’t happen.

Today I raced more with heart than I did with my head.  Last night I watched a Steve Prefontaine movie with my teammate Claire, and something really stuck with me:

“A lot of people run a race to see who is the fastest.  I run to see who has the most guts, who can push himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more” – Steve Prefontaine

I know that if I raced with my head and paced myself from the beginning, I would have had a very different race.  But instead I went out and applied my power for every stroke from start to finish.  I have been working a lot on building my power and from this training I have come to know what I could do at low stroke rates (14, 16, 18, 20), but it was time to find out what I could do at stroke rate 30.  So, I raced at a stroke rate 30 today to see what my body could do…with power per stroke…and boy did it hurt!

The start is always the same, you have an announcer call everyone to sit up, and then a horn sounds off to officially start the race.  Just before the start, I breathe methodically to control my nerves, focus my eyes on the erg monitor in front of me, and blur out the spectators.  I know that they are there but I need to focus on the one thing I can control: myself.

The horn goes off and my legs drive down fast!  Every second counts as soon as that horn goes off because you want to reach that finish line in the shortest time possible.  My focus for the first 1000m was to stay in control of myself: breathe, stretch out to get the most of my stroke, drive the legs down fast, and stay calm.  For most athletes, the first 500m feels so easy, if only the whole race could feel that way.  I could have gone right into my pace, but my legs weren’t listening and they were going hard each stroke .  Today I was listening to my body and just looking at my watts as a secondary tool to see how I was doing, so today my legs were winning this internal game  – I looked at my watts and they showed 289 (much higher than the 265!  Laura, what are you doing!).  I knew that being up here would mean I would pay for it later, but I was on a mission to punish myself, so if you’re going to do it, then just do it and learn from it later.  Don’t worry, I learnedJ.

On the erg monitor I could see what spot I’m in for the race…and I have to say that although I didn’t achieve what I was hoping to today (a personal best), I definitely got a competition out of racing!  On water and on land I am fortunate to race some of the fiercest lightweight athletes, and today was no exception.  I wasn’t alone when I went out hard.  A true competitor, Lil, was next to me and did the same.  We were going for it and it was going to end in punishment, for both of us.

I crossed the 1000m mark in first and hung on to win the competition.  My watts suffered greatly in that second half, but now that I look back, I wouldn’t change it.  I learn from every race, and today was no exception.

Will I do this again in my next race or test?  Probably not.  In March we have more erg testing and so I will do those with more consistency - and even then I think my legs will still hate meJ.

Today was bitter sweet…no personal best, but I am proud to have competed because I have learned more about myself!

Congrats to everyone, special congrats to Claire Hutchinson (Senior Women, Bronze), Dan Lebl (Senior Lightweight Men, Silver), Kaelen Chambers (Bronze), Lilianne Page (Senior Lightweight Women, Silver), and all those who were able to learn something from their race.

Sometimes finishing is the goal!

As a lightweight rower, I’ve always been aware of my food intake.  Sometimes I wouldn’t care so much about the taste as much as I would about the amount of carbs/protein/fat the food contained.  I could eat horse food if it contained the good nutrients to help keep me strongJ.  I remember a few years back getting made fun of for eating beans and tuna, or peanut butter and eggs.  You know you want to try those combinations now, haha..YUM!!

However, I tried something new in the most recent weeks.  As you can remember, I mentioned that I was juicing quite a lot, and I was adding ginger to every juice I made.  In addition, I was buying raw ginger, slicing it, and putting it in hot water to drink throughout the day.  On top of THAT, I was taking natural pills with ginger for helping keep the immune system strong.  Well, needless to say, I had a bit too much ginger.  I thought I was helping keep my body strong and doing one of those typical “laura’s ingesting crazy things again”, but the amount of ginger I was having was so much that my body slowly started to show strong negative effects.  People can react differently, and for me, I started to get incredibly exhausted.  It felt like I had mono again (I had it back in high school).  I went home at lunch a couple of times just to nap, I also missed practices because I needed to sleep and couldn’t stay awake, and this past week-end it escalated during a workout I was trying to do (8x250m), where I started shaking and burning up with a fever during the workout.  Being a doorknob, I continued and finished the workout, but then right after my last stroke, I crawled straight to bed and slept for the rest of the afternoon.  Usually after an intense workout, you feel like you can fly and take over the world…I was dreaming about that insteadJ.  Now, I am not 110% it’s the ginger, but I’ve gone to get my blood checked and everything was normal (I only show high WBC which means I am fighting something, and the docs couldn’t explain what).

So my non-medical advice is to take things in moderation, and also track how you react to new things you try.

With all that said, I want to turn to mental toughness.  As you may know, this week-end is the Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships in Mississauga – woo hoo!  I am usually not excited for it, but this year I am.  Why?  Well, I’m excited because I think it’ll be a really good event overall (fun for athletes and spectators), and it’ll be a place where I could evaluate how my training is going.  This competition means nothing for National trials or Provincial funding, but it means something to each individual participating.  Today I decided to take the day off work to try and get my energy back…it has definitely started to help, and I measure this by how my training goes (as well as heart rate).   I did 2km pieces back to back at fixed stroke rates, and for 2 of them, they were both in the 7:30’s.  I know I can’t race at a low stroke rate, but at least I can trust my body now.

So how did I get to this point of trust?  I think it’s through training and building mental toughness.

I’m reading a sports psychology book that defines mental toughness as the following: consistently remaining determined, focused, confident, and cool under pressure.  This idea could be taken into your everyday life and training.  In training, strengthening your mental toughness can be done by simply finishing a workout.  As I’ve learned, some days you just can’t be 100%, and so to simply hit the stroke rates alone can be a success.  There are times when an athlete goes out to fast and they can’t sustain that pace for the remainder of the workout or race, but if they are mentally tough, then they will hang in there and finish (even if it’s in last place).  Every time I finish a workout or push beyond my own limits, I know that I am further strengthening my mental toughness.

So this Sunday, if my body fails me, I will remain calm, cool under pressure, confident, and at least trust that I’ll finish (even if it’s in last place).   However if you ask me trusthfully I would have to say that I am going on a mission to break that erg and get put into a stretcher after my raceJ.  I'll have just a few hours then to recover before I take off to Boston for work the following week.

Below is a great video - if it weren't for mental toughness I'm sure these athletes would have just given up before reaching the finish line.

Bring on the taper week!