Practice this morning: Warm up, with some steady state down to the Locks.

Piece 1: 15 minutes: 5 min@ 26; 3 min @ 30; 5 min @ 26; lengthen out for final 2 minutes (but NOT letting up on pressure)
Piece 2: 12 minutes: 5 min @ 22; 5 min @ 26; 2 min @ 28 (I think)
Final pieces: 2 – 4 minute intervals at varying rates, but for the most part trying to show my coach that I am pulling as hard as possible. Which I did, though it was hard. I felt pretty ill by the end. I’m not sure if it’s what I’m eating beforehand, if I’m not hydrated enough, or just plain exhaustion.

Today’s takeaways: Maintain pressure throughout the piece. You don’t have a choice but to keep on the legs and endure. For me, accelerating into the finish, and then pushing hands away appears to be helping my other issues (mainly overreaching). At the very least, it gives me something else to think about, which helps all around.

Tomorrow we practice in the 3x, just in time for Head of the Troll (intramural racing). Marcie informed me today that she and the ex-Presidents (that’s what they call themselves) are our competition. I was looking forward to just racing our on our own. But now we’ve got a real race! The young vs the old. Yay. This time, no 4/10 of a second will separate us. Bring it on!

Speaking of the Troll. We’ll have costumes. I won’t ruin the surprise, but will hopefully post pics when on Saturday.