Pushing Boundaries...

Hello all,

Just a quick update on where I am currently up to. 

Every athlete will know that every day is an attempt to do as much training as possible to produce the biggest physiological and technical gains, all while not overdoing it to the point you become sick or injured and end up missing training time. 

For me, having multiple operations this year and missing significant periods of training time, I am in a race against the clock to find my boat speed before march/april next year. Over the last few weeks I have been putting in some solid sessions in the boat, on the bike, in the gym and in the pool. I have been challenging myself to ensure I return to full rowing fitness asap. Unfortunately it turns out I may have pushed slightly too far. Over the last 10 days I knew I was starting to fatigue and felt flat even after periods of rest. Over the weekend just been I took things very quietly and I did little training. I felt this would be enough to bounce back and feel fresh, however yesterday I woke up feeling very average and sick. This leaves me with no choice but to rest for a few days and take it easy until my body lets me know it is ready to start training again.

In regards to the workload I have been doing, it is not anything more than I have done in the past, it is just that I am coming from such a depleted state that clearly I have not been able to maintain my health like I expected I may have been able too. It is very frustrating when you are sick and unable to exercise, but as i learnt during periods of post op when I was unable to exercise, coming out of this and exercising again makes it all the more pleasurable. This does serve as a reminder to me, but maybe also to some of you as readers that our body's are not machines and it is important to monitor and manage ourselves to ensure that every now and again we give ourselves the down time we need from both work and exercise.  

**not to the extent that dan has though....

Cheers, John 

Recent Training

Hi everyone, 

Just a really brief post to share with you my last three weeks of training. I am really enjoying being back in the boat. My last two sessions I have completed 12km in the single scull and have felt reasonably comfortable. My next step of progression is to begin rowing each day of the week, compared to alternate days which I am currently doing. Following that will include adding some intensity during the on water sessions. The photo below is from my row yesterday, as you can see the sun has finally returned to Melbourne which makes training much more pleasant. 

Below is a screen shot of my garmin connect calendar, i find it very useful to track my sessions using this and it gives me a weekly training time which is useful to monitor my progression and periodisation. This also will give you an understanding of what training and how much training I have been doing. 

Lastly, on Sunday I returned to the Dandenongs for the first time in 5 months and gave an all out effort up the 1:20 climb. May not mean much to all of you, but this is a popular strava segment and I was able to achieve a PB by holding 470 watts for over 14 minutes. I also had some help from other elite rowers and Karsten Fosterling did some mean turns on the front during this climb to help achieve the PB.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to post a comment below and I will do my best to answer it. I am also looking forward to sharing my next episode with you on friday so stay tuned for that.
Cheers for now, John

139 Days post op and a PB on a cycling step test.

Hi all,
Just a brief update: by now I hope you have all seen the first episode of the Unsinkable: The Race to Recovery web series. Lachy is doing a great job producing the episodes and I look forward to sharing with you what is and always has been an honest insight into my rehabilitation and how I have felt in the last five months. You can subscribe to the Facebook group 'Unsinkable: The Race To Recovery' and the YouTube channel of the same name to stay in the loop with updates. Episode two of the web series will be released on Friday 22nd November.

On Monday this week I completed a lab test at the Victorian Institute of Sport. I am not physically ready to complete this on a rowing ergometer, but as you know I have been challenging myself on the bike for some weeks now. For those of you who are not into power outputs and data, all you need to know is that I produced an all-time personal best. I have completed this lab test on the bike multiple times in 2009, 2010, 2012 and now 2013 and what I achieved on Monday significantly topped them all. **Disclaimer: the following paragraph is the protocol and data so skip this if it's not for you**

The lab test protocol consists of 5 minute workloads, the first 5 minutes is at 150 watts, each 5 minutes the wattage increases by 50 Watts and the test is continuous. The test is a maximal test so you push yourself until you think you are going to die, then you hang on for another few minutes until you actually do explode in a ball of lactate. In this particular test, I was able to complete the entire 5 minutes at 500 watts. The best I had ever done before this was 2 minutes at this workload before failure.
Vo2 max for the test was 6.3L with a max heart rate of 199.
The photo below shows me on the bike with VIS Sports Scientist Nick Owen monitoring my progress:

Four and a half months ago I couldn't stand up to walk to the bathroom let alone turn the pedals on a bike. To be able to produce this effort in a rather short period post operation does suggest that the blood flow in my legs is now more optimal than it has ever been. This is an exciting prospect for me!

Lastly, I completed my Bachelor of Exercise Science degree this week at the Australian Catholic University. Safe to say it has been a good week!!
Until next time..

Cheers, John

Unsinkable Episode One

Hi all. 

Here is "Unsinkable- The race to recovery" episode one. As a small insight into how I felt the day of surgery on June the 25th this year.  I have always found the days prior to a major procedure (now up to 9 in total) very calming as you are preparing to have your body repaired as such. I think my confidence and excitement for this particular surgery is shown well, particularly compared to my feelings only a few weeks prior to this where I was waking up each day facing the prospect of potentially never finding a solution to my ongoing symptoms. Particularly thinking back to April this year where the surgeon for my previous two procedures had told me I had to retire from sport and that I would never be able to exercise again at a high level. 

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this insight, your feedback is greatly appreciated and readers new to my journey please take a look back at some of my previous posts and also be sure to read about unsinkable supporters gaining access to 10% storewide discount at one of melbourne's leading bike stores "BikeNow". Also be sure to like the Unsinkable facebook page to see future updates on my progress.

Cheers. John 

Ground Zero