Lido for Time: 14:39
by
Brad Alan Lewis
Copyright 2012 Brad Alan Lewis
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Last Wednesday evening a local sculler (and Olympic hopeful) called me up and asked, “What was your best time around Lido Island?”
“14:39.”
No hesitation. No delay. No pondering. No ‘let me think about it for a minute.’ I simply said 14:39.
I said it as though I’d been perusing my ’84 training journal and just happened to be focused on the day when that ‘Lido for time’ workout took place. Had I, in fact, been pursuing my ’84 training journal? No. I had not looked at it in 25 years. Without hesitation I could also recall the situation wherein I set my best time: I was being chased around Lido Island by a pretty good double scull of Dan Louis and Greg Springer. They’d given me a 30 second head start, and I fought like hell to stay ahead of them
“Wow, 14:39,” the guy on the phone said. “That’s pretty good.”
“What’s your best time?” I asked.
“I’m not quite there yet,” he said. A moment later he added: “But it was different back then, right?”
“How so?” I asked.
“Lido Island. It must have been shorter.”
Lido Island has no doubt changed a bit over the last few decades – tired old mansions torn down; glossy new mansions planted in their place. Perhaps a few of the classic Grand Banks yachts have been switched out for newer-faster-sleeker Italian yachts. But the distance around Lido, that’s pretty hard to mess with: two-and-a-half miles, 4000 meters.
So for fun I dug through my Olympic memorabilia box and pulled out my ’84 training journal. Yep, 14:39. That ‘Lido for time’ workout took place on Saturday, April 14, 1984. Looking over the whole collection of entries inspired me to climb into my comfy writing chair, write up the entries, elaborate upon a few, add some commentary, scan in some photos, and here we go. For rowers, the training year begins in the fall, so let’s start on October 1, 1983.
OCTOBER 1983
1 Saturday
AM Human Race Triathlon – 1 mile swim / 18 mile bike / 5 mile run – Excellent
Triathlon: Nothing celebrates the start of your big Olympic push like competing in a triathlon.
2 Sunday
AM Row 1X from the yacht Challenge – around Lido
24:30 (3/4 power)
3 Monday
AM Run
CdM Loop w/ Curt Fleming
47:00
PM Weights – easy
4 Tuesday
AM Row 1X
Two times Double Lido (8,000 meters)
1) 35:50
2) 34:30
PM Bike 1 hour
Right knee hurt
Right knee hurt: My right knee has been my Achilles’ heel since April 3, 1978, when I nearly severed the patella tendon in a nasty, slightly stoopid accident. My right knee has never been the same since, and I still favor it whenever possible. I can’t complain too much, I suppose, seeing how my right knee has seen me through countless strokes rowed, countless miles run, countless squats in the gym, countless miles backpacking. Countless.
5 Wednesday
AM Row 1X
20 x 1 minute on / 1 minute off @ 30 spm
Against Curt, Greg Springer
PM Weights – easy
6 Thursday
AM Row 2X
w/ Springer
1 hour – medium
PM Dinner at UCI
Boring
7 Friday
AM Run CdM Loop
49:00
Reproducibility?
Sore – stiff – tired
Row 1 hour – technique
PM Swim
bodysurf @ Big Corona
Swim: research has shown that immersing yourself in very cold water is a great way to hasten the repair of damage you’ve done to your body through tough training. I should have swum more.
8 Saturday
AM Row 1X
Time Trial – Double Lido
32:00
Then weights
Heavy and hard with Mitch
Then weights: on Saturday mornings Dan Louis and I would drive straight from the boathouse to Gilham’s Gym in West Covina, at least an hour’s drive each way – longer if the traffic was bad. No doubt we passed a hundred decent gyms along the way, but none of these gyms had a trainer like my cousin Mitch Lewis. His coaching / expertise /guidance was worth the drive. At Gilham’s we’d lift for two-and-a-half hours or so, then back to the boathouse where I’d pick up my car, then home at last, ravenous; I’d cook up a half a dozen waffles [this was my primitive ‘Bisquick phase,’ before I learned how to make waffles from scratch], nap until mid-afternoon, eat, stumble around for an hour or two like a drugged mental patient, eat again, fall asleep around 8:45, sleep until 6:00 AM, get up, eat.
9 Sunday
Off
10 Monday
AM Run CdM Loop
42:02
Against Curt and Hans Svensson
Then row 1X – 45 minutes
technique
PM Swim at Big Corona – easy
30 minutes
Notes from back pages of training journal:
Run CdM Loop against Curt and Hans [CdM = Corona del Mar]
Cruise from UCI boathouse to Cardiac Hill (San Joaquin Blvd)
Up Cardiac to Jamboree Blvd
Across Jamboree and hard again
dropped Curt at Wells Fargo Bank or so
Then on to MacArthur Blvd
Across and hard to Crown Drive
hard more to Marguerite Blvd
Hans up-ed the pace for last 100 meters and I fell behind
Maxed out
We waited 30 seconds for Curt at Marguerite Blvd
Then down the hill at medium cruise to Pacific Coast Highway and across
Brought up pace again on Ocean Blvd
And hard up Fernleaf Ave hill
And down to Bayside Drive
Hans 10 meters ahead
Took me 5 minutes to catch up
When I finally pulled alongside he said, ‘I feel sick. Go ahead.’