Tonight was my first time back on the erg (rowing machine) in a month. And what better way to get back in the groove than to do...gulp...speed intervals. My plan involved sprinting for a set distance and taking a breather - 8 times. Here are my lessons learned from today:
1. Do NOT eat a giant egg salad sandwich 2 hours before strenuous exercise and expect it to make up for the poor food choices earlier in the day. Food is fuel now and proper fuel digested in the tank is better than partially digested fuel that wants to come back up.
2. Do NOT try to drink most of your daily intake of water during a strenuous exercise session. It tends to slosh around with the above egg salad sandwich in an attempt for the food to surf its way back out the way it went in.
3. Remember to carry extra AA batteries in case the machine at the gym is a dead unit. Batteries run the monitor in the erg, and show interesting information like how far you rowed and stroke rate per minute. This is helpful for days like today.
4. Soap can be quite useful if you decide to shower after a hard workout. Otherwise, you end up standing in the shower, realizing you forgot soap, and then trying to wash using the power of...well...water...
All in all, I still really enjoyed the session. Instead of being tied to numbers, I sprinted for 2 minutes at a time and used perceived exertion as my guide. I only briefly dropped the f-bomb when I saw the machine computer was dead, but came to the conclusion that there is still time to get as nit-picky as I want with the numbers. I also gave thanks for the fact that I am physically able to do this, that I have access to a gym, and that I am doing this for an amazing reason.
This is for the future of our friends in Mozambique.
Update at 6:00am - lesson 5. Don't take energy drinks after 5pm, or you won't be able to sleep...
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