row 2000 meters 9:01.5
row 1200 meters 4:15.8 (1:46.5)
row 8 x 100 meters/1 min 2:35.4 (1:37.1)
row 2000 meters 7:44.7
50 leg raises

Gym Jones

The middle is where most people train. They do not go hard enough on the hard days, or easy enough on the easy days. The zone that appears to be a good compromise is actually a dead end. The thinking goes like this, "I don't have enough time to do all that Foundation work, it's too easy for me anyway because I'm such a stud. So I'll bump up the intensity. On the other hand I am not strong enough to go really heavy or fast so I won't do any truly intense work, which isn't safe anyway. But I can increase the volume at the less intense level I've chosen and that should make it work just as well as ..." This decision-making process starts with a lack of time paired to an unrealistic expectation made by someone who wants it both ways.

How well is it likely to work?

row 5000 meters 20:04.4
50 leg raises

If you're training for 2k then the simple thing to do is to relate everything to 2k rate and pace.

If your target is a 2k at 1:45 pace and 32spm then in training if you are rowing slower than 1:45 you should be rating (proportionally) lower, if you're rowing faster you can rate higher.

So if you are doing 8 x 500 @ 1:45 pace you should not rate higher than 32spm. If you are doing them at 1:43 then you will want to row a little higher rate, perhaps 34spm.

As Medcalf says, “Use this time to master your skills. Take one stroke at a time.”

In a power workout the damper is set on #10, the work period is ten seconds and the rest period is 60 seconds. Power is measured in watts. The goal is to pull at
least 90% of peak power during the ten-second work period. This is repeated twenty times.

Concept 2 forum technique check thread
....
It looks as though you're engaging at the catch by drawing your shoulders back (and up) slightly. For a second, shrug one of your shoulders up to your ear. .. now try to flex your lat as you do this. It is not possible to do this. I think off the catch you should focus on keeping the power lower in your lats, which will help effectively engage your back. Also, try to imagine your arms as ropes for the first part of the drive -- you want to be firm, but not tense. Keep your lats and shoulders braced, while relaxing your arms a little bit more.

Sequence looks good, you appear relatively well connected. Like the above poster mentioned, you are slightly overcompressing at the catch as well.
...
Cheers, I think you're doing very well indeed.

IMO the overcompression others have noted is because you're rushing the slide on the recovery a bit. Look at yourself coming up to the catch in the video. You're dropping your hands as you do so and then raising them to start the drive back. This is okay (and necessary OTW in that you have to square up your blade(s) to get ready for the drop)except that your timing isn't quite together. Ideally you should arrive at full compression precisely as you're achieving a strong position with your arms and trunk positioned to initiate the drive. You're getting to vertical shins with your hands still angled down. Then as you raise them you're reaching forward. It's this extra reach, I think, that's the cause of the overcompression. Why is it sub-optimal? Because you have to unfold yourself from the over-rock in order to bring the handle back effectively. Or to put it another way, during the initial stage of the drive you're getting your own body out of its own way rather than accelerating the handle like you could/should.

Getting the slide right on the recovery is one of the hardest things in rowing. Still, there are some things you could try to help tweak your timing. Above all, I think you should concentrate on keeping your hands higher as you come into the catch. Since you're not in a boat you don't need to roll up and square nonexistent oar blades. Getting rid of the loop (or at least most of it) will help you arrive at the catch fully compressed ready to bang out the drive. It's probably also worth your while to figure out where your handle is vis-a-vis the rail when you're at full compression and in a strong catch position. Put a piece of electrical tape on the rail at that point. Then don't go past it with your hands at the catch. That will help correct your slight overreach. While stroke length is good, other things equal, it doesn't help you much if your body's not in position to make effective use of it.
...
You look pretty good. Two things, you don't have much body swing. Can you come forward a bit more while keeping the leg compression the same. (you need to bend the hips not the back!--think about moving the top of the pelvis forward). If this is problematic don't worry about it. I'd rather see you not get the body swing the stress your lower back.

The big issue is that you have a slight hitch with your shoulders and arms on the drive. Watch your elbows and you will see them rise and fall. You need to make that smoother or you may develop problems down the road. Setting up mirrors as you row may help avoid this.
...

My observations...

All of the above comments were quite helpful, and one that was posted yesterday really clicked with me. He said that I needed to lean forward more and to think of tilting my pelvis forward and touching my chest to my thighs. Looking at some still pictures of on the water rowers, that is exactly the position they are in at the start of stroke. It clicked with me that when I was overcompressing a bit I was tilting my pelvis backwards as my butt was sort of sliding under my knees (not totally, but that is the image that I think of). So tilting my pelvis forward puts me in a much more powerful position to start the stroke.

So anyway, here are the things I learned/need to work on.

- keep the handle level throughout the stroke
- tilt pelvis forward as I come up the slide and don't let shins go past vertical
- keep the hips behind the shoulders for the first part of the stroke (i.e. use your legs first and don't lean back too early)
- don't pull with the arms at the start of the drive (I am still struggling with this habit)
- keep arms lower so lats can engage/don't shrug shoulders during the stroke (another tough one for me).

You are getting good body angle. As hjs said, let the heals come off the foot boards. Your shins should be vertical but don't go past that.
You also initiate the recovery with the legs, back and arms all at the same time. Keep the knees down at least until the arms are out and the body is vertical. Better yet, get the arms out and body angle set before you start to lift the knees, then keep the upper body still as your knees bend and you come up the slide. (A very common drill is to actually pause for a second or so with your arms out, body angle set and legs flat--try this). You will have to keep the rating fairly low to do this. Many coaches recommend getting your arms out very fast, which encourages setting your body angle. You can try this. (I feel getting the body forward quickly is much more important.)

As you know you are bending your arms way too early. This is going to be trickier to fix. Try rowing with arms and legs only. Keep the arms straight out the whole time. This will feel very weird and you probably will not be able to do it very long, but it will be worth it. At one point I did work up to doing 5K like this. It is also worth rowing legs only--no arms and not body swing (body angled forward)--but this is even harder.

I would recommend rowing arms and legs only and legs only for a few weeks. That should cure your habit. However you will not get nearly as good work out while you learn to do this but it will be worth it in the long run. (I don't expect you to be willing to follow this advice unless you have some other exercise to do in addition, but nevertheless it is a very good idea.)

Another thing you can do is get someone to hold the handle, while you are at the start of the drive. As you apply force keep your arms straight and you should come up off the seat. This feeling of hanging on the handle is what you want to get at the start of the drive. It helps if your helper is bigger and stronger then you.

row 10000 meters 41:11.3
30 leg raises

Both quotes from the book - Racing Yesterday by Andy Baxter
This is my synopsis of a 2k erg test. You invite the grim reaper into your home for whiskey and cards. You drink too much and become belligerent, saying atrocious things about Mr. Reaper’s dear mother. You then spout off about how you are the greatest and mightiest swinger of sickles ever, and that all others are weak and cowardly by comparison. At about this time Grim notices the extra card up your sleeve. You have insulted Death, challenged Death and tried unsuccessfully to cheat Death. You are now feeling a bit nauseous and faint, due in part to the whiskey and in no small part to the fact that you are staring at an ass kicking of biblical proportions that you invited over in the first place. The ensuing retribution is a 2k erg test.

...

When Steve is backed into a corner, when a seriously big race is on the line, he basically snaps. He goes somewhere else, finds another gear that he normally doesn’t use. I call it the demon gear. It’s the place where Olympians go. I don’t know the genetic password to get me in to that clubhouse. What truly sucks about this gear is that it’s next to impossible to train for it. Everything just goes out the window and I fight for my life. Steve explains it this way, “I’m fuckin’ nuts and I’m really, really strong.” True. Harsh, but true.

row 8 x 500 meter intervals w/3:30 rest
total 14:06.2 avg SPM 26
1:45.9, 1:45.6, 1:45.8, 1:45.8, 1:45.9, 1:45.8, 1:45.8, 1:45.6
30 leg raises

I Erg Therefore I Am

It’s the depths of ergometer season — when northern rowers are off the water and on their rowing machines racking up meters and laying down a base of fitness for the spring racing circuit. Having racked up somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 million meters since I started erging in earnest in 1995, I have mixed emotions about a device that I spend an average of 45 minutes a day on, third in terms of device time after my bed and desk chair. It’s the extreme simplicity of the machine, the fact that I like to take my exercise sitting down, and the unblinking feedback its little computer gives me from one stroke to the next that makes my rowing machine much more than a way to stay fit.

In some ways my ergometer is a daily test, a check-in between me and my willpower, a place to set goals, to even compete against others, but ultimately a place to zone out in a sweaty, 170 heartbeats and 26 strokes per minute cadence of exertion that leaves me miraculously charged for another 24 hours. Erging is all about goals. Micro goals of getting more than 8,000 meters in 30 minutes, or setting a personal best in the standard 2,000 meter race distance. Macro goals like rowing 2,000,000 meters in one year, or 200,000 between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Erging is about competing, against the published times of other rowers, sometimes impossible times set by Olympians, but nevertheless times that somewhere deep inside one’s ego reasons is possible to beat if you work hard enough.

Ergs are all about hope and possibilities, the optimism that one can be better tomorrow than they were yesterday. Unfortunately, as my friend Charlie Clapp (silver medal in 1984 Olympics) is fond of saying: “The older we get, the faster we were.”

Alone in the garage, door open onto the village center, watching the runners and strollers and traffic slide by, plugged into some electronica-trance music, stoner rock, or industrial metal, sawing back and forth, back and forth, the thoughts that creep into my mind as I fight to keep my splits low and my form composed are amazing and nagging like a bad feverish dream. Thoughts of guilt over not trying hard enough, of not working hard enough, of eating that crap the night before, or skipping a day due to some aching ailment or another. But finishing a workout and beating a goal leaves me with a charge of victory that follows me off the erg and stays with me for the rest of the day.

There are moments of transcendence in rowing when everything suddenly goes very zen and effortless, when a flood of power and adrenaline surges and makes you fly. Rowers call this “swing” and it’s a rare but sublime state that only rowers can understand when eight people in one boat suddenly click and the sum of the whole rises as close to perfection as an imperfect world has to offer. The right song, the right point in my training, and the erg can deliver the same brief moments of swing, when suddenly everything is right in the world and my legs, my arms, my back are twice as strong as they were an instant before.

The monotony of the erg is meditation. Swinging back and forth as if riding the end of a metronome clicking away on top of a piano. 26 strokes a minute. Ten meters per stroke. 500 meters in two minutes means 1000 meters in four. The mind does the arithmetic over and over and over, a Rainman insanity of counting through the stroke (one-two-three-four), the piece, the session, all while the machine blinks out its numbers, making stark judgments and humbling the best intentions and plans laid out at the start.

In two weeks the racing begins. First the Cape Cod championships — The Cranberry Crunch — when a couple dozen local rowers come together at the YMCA to endure the hell of a 2,000 meter race. Then, in late February, the World Indoor Rowing Championships, or CRASH-B Sprints, a wild affair with thousands of rowers from around the world — Olympians to senior citizens — competing in their age groups and weight classes for the coveted Hammer trophy. Words cannot describe the agonizing anticipation one feels before the start signal is given — the foreknowledge that in just a couple minutes one’s body will begin to suffer an agony unlike anything experienced. Think of surgery without anesthesia combined with suffocation and a beating with a blunt object. The vision goes after a while shrinking into a little tunnel focused on the monitor; the lungs burn, thighs turn into wooden blocks, and the head begins to loll around and strange noises come out of it — grunts and moans as first 500 meters, then 1000 (halfway!), and then the dreaded wall of hell until the final 500 when anything is doable and questions of survival give way to the anticipated joy of stopping.

Finish and look to the left — people are still in agony, sawing away. Look to the right, the same, one after another letting go of the handle in a personal victory of having survived the worst 7 minutes of their life. The scores are posted, the judgment is final.

Erg scores are a modern rower’s badge of honor — exposed for all to see. While ergs don’t float and great ergers don’t always make great rowers on the water, the scores are crucial, grounds for invitation to training camps and college recruiting. There were no real ergs when I rowed in college. Coaches made judgments and selection based on seat-racing and on the water performance. But as soon as Concept2 introduced the first machines in the early 1980s the sport was transformed.

Now erging is a sport unto itself — Indoor rowing. No one is keener on it than the British, who have turned out some amazing ergers over the last twenty years. From English prisons to the Royal Navy, erging is a big deal in England, and nearly every country on the Continent has its own national championships. There have even been suggestions that the sport become an Olympic event.

I suspect I’ll erg right up to the end. Rolling through the meters, thanking the Wheel of Pain for keeping the pounds off and giving me the chance to eat another slice of birthday cake and not huff and puff when I bound up a flight of stairs. Today, with on-the-water rowing seeming so far away, I want nothing more than to sit in an actual boat on a sunny day and glide over smooth waters under my own propulsion; but once there I know I’ll miss the stability of the machine, the way it lets me pound away without fear of capsizing or running backwards into a dock.

row 5000 meters 19:56.6
30 leg raises

"My apprenticeship as an oarsman continues to teach me patience and the understanding that there is no perfection, no end. There is the process, and the striving for consistency."

“Anything worthwhile in life, you pay for in advance—anything that is not worthwhile you can get in the twinkling of an eye,” Wailes wrote. “I have often been asked whether winning a gold medal was worth it. I have replied, ‘I learned more about myself and my fellow men in six minutes of rowing than I did in four years at college.”

"All I have to do is sacrifice my body, do exactly what Chip tells me to do and be
willing to die in that effort. That is a liberating reality for me: simple, deliberate and final."

Andy Baxter, Racing Yesterday

row 4 x 2000 meters/5 min rest
7:17.4, 8:13.0, 7:52.4, 8:01.8
25 leg raises

Even the pros hurt -

Solinsky remarked about the nature of competing at the world class level in the 5,000 meters, where his PR—also delivered in 2010—is 12:55.53. “When I was racing in the 13:30 zone in college I remember there were bits of time when I could relax while holding the pace.” Last summer he recalls experiencing no such respites. “It’s uncomfortable from the beginning. Every race the pace is so hard I wonder if I’m going to be able to finish. There’s not a single instant where I remember the pace feeling comfortable.”

row 10000 meters 41:52.4
50 leg raises

100 YEAR OLD John Hodgson completing this year's British Indoor Rowing Championship 2000 meters in 13:32.6. http://twitpic.com/39s3c5

Carl Lewis once said: “Relax and let the speed come out.” Just like famous sprint coach Bud Winter’s mantra, “Relax and win,"

run 10 miles ~1:23 (Arlington)

C's goal - 100 leg raises (90 degree with slight lift at the top)

"Man imposes his own limitations, don't set any."
Anthony Bailey

Love this:

Gym Jones - No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

row 2000 meters 8:49.5
row 5000 meters 19:25.3

I think (and feel) that ~13-18 mile tempo runs are one of the most ideal marathon workouts and the marathon is not just about putting in the miles or even specific intensity focus, but the muscles need to be worked in a manner very specific to the race. If not then your hamstrings will weaken, or your calf muscles will weaken. Mile repeats just won't ever solve this issue and you will hardly ever see great marathoners doing shorter reps. Within the last 8 weeks they are useless and completely non-specific. Unless you plan on stopping every mile, this is common sense. I wouldn't have broken down at all if I had run that last half as 7 X 1 mile resting after each. But done as a progression I felt my muscles start to be reminded of what the marathon is about at it's very basic core... holding a strong effort for a long time. It's simple, until it gets hard. http://joghard.blogspot.com/2011/01/sunday-13-miles-quick-and-easy.html

row 10000 meters 41:38.0

http://www.row2k.com/stories/index.cfm?action=read&ID=416

If you are one who participates in the "legendary" sport called crew, you certainly know the one aspect that is dreaded by all, the 2k. Some call it a test, while others call it torture. If one were to type the word erg into urban dictionary they would find that it says "An awful torture machine that should be illegal under the eighth amendment, but gets out under a loophole that it is "fun". Commonly used in the regime of an evil dictator by the name of 'Coach' and his/her faithful servant, 'coxswain'. Originally derived from the Greek word meaning "to work", which is what one does; very, very hard, for a long, long time, causing the buildup of extreme amounts of lactic acid in the body, and thus great pain".

Rowers live in fear every day of the possible "surprise test", or the risk that they might walk into practice with ergs lined up waiting for them. When the word 2k is heard among the murmurs of the athletes, your legs immediately start to get weak. All begin to panic looking for spandex and the shoes that they forgot at home, while trying to chug water in order to hydrate themselves before the forever 2000 meters. They begin to regret and question why they had those fries or the candy bar at lunch that day. Or if you were really ambitious the night before the extra workout you did after practice.

Once on the ergs and ready for the piece to begin you look around seeing the rows of ergs and meet eyes with another rower with a face that scares you and then set up the 2000 meters. After moving up the slide and sitting ready at the catch, you hear the coach sharply say "We have alignment...Attention...Row!". You start to pull, 1/2 ... 3/4 ...full...full...full, and then it has begun. You look at the screen as the split slowly lowers and as the meters seem to fly by. But then you reach 1775 meters left and the burn starts to kick in. It's right here where you start to become aware of how much you actually have left. Now the meters drop off the screen slower and slower. You try to swallow but the saliva has long gone left your mouth.

1260 meters left. By now the lactic acid is in full throttle and you struggle to hold that goal split. You end up just praying to get past that 1000 meter mark hoping that once you reach it, it will be smooth sailing from there. Wrong. It's here where you hit one of the worst parts. At about 840 meters left you think to yourself that there's no way you'll live through it and that going up a few splits won't matter too much. The coaches make there rounds screaming behind you to "drop 1 split - drive the legs! ...50 strokes left, unload the tank!".

You hit 480 meters left and you begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel but you soon realize that its fading away. You think that you're practically done but after another 6 strokes your mental status is back to what it was before. Once you reach the 250 mark you try to follow orders by starting the sprint and unleashing the fury. However, four strokes later you realize that fury was short lasting and that you can't even push your legs down fully or pull yourself all the way up to the catch. Getting closer to double digits, your form is out the window and your body is so hot that you can't focus any longer. 30 meters left...20...10 and then you hit 0 and instantly let the handle slam back into the catch. You're so tired that you can't even keep your eyes open. You try to keep your slide moving as you've been told after every erg piece but your legs are so engorged with blood it hurts. You stumble your way over to the water fountain to try and hydrate your mouth but you can't get enough water between the gasps of air. It's these experiences that crew kids live for.

row 10000 meters 43:28.7

"But don't go compounding the problem by leading on the drive with your shoulders -- keep your hips in front of your shoulders throughout the drive."

DB press 30 x 20db
8 miles ~1:06 (Arlington) way too slow given effort level.

The Mental Models of High Performance

There are 4 aspects of the mental approach of these high performance athletes that I have observed:

Acceptance - the past is gone, it serves no purpose dwelling on problems, only on dedicating resources to solve the problem and move on.

Presence in the moment - Miquel, Josef and Kilian prepare, plan and think about strategy... but once they start in a race they only focus on the moment, or next 5 minutes - they never let their mind think beyond the next moment, the next breath, the next stride, the next drink of liquids.

Humility - each has achieved great things, but do not allow any arrogance to enter, they have no feeling of superiority, of being special.

Responsibility - nobody else is going to solve their problems. They know how to ask for help, to use the resources around them, but they never expect that anyone else will take the decisions for them.

Kilian's words
Kilian spoke about overcoming problems: "If the seal skin comes off on my ski... it is a waste to be frustrated or angry... the only thing that moves me forward is to stop and solve the problem. Anything else is a waste of vital energy."

DB press 30 x 20db
run 8 miles

"you can constantly improve; it has far more to do with your mental hygiene than your training."

DB press 25, 20 x 20db

"At every endurance event, there comes a time when you'll say, 'what the fuck am I doing here?', and you'll say, 'this is what I do.'"

50 pushups

the ultrarunning golden rule - just eat, drink, and take a 5-minute break to see what happens.

Potential future workout - row 250 meters, 25 pushups. Do as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes.

Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables.

"Fitness? It’s not just hard effort. It’s more consistency. Don’t miss workouts." Joe Friel

"Do you find a way to train regardless of snow, wind, rain and darkness? If so you are doing what excellent athletes do." Joe Friel

"The trick to marathon training is how quickly you can recover from one day to the next." Stephanie Rothstein

"Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired. When you were younger the mind could make you dance all night, and the body was never tired...You've always got to make the mind take over and keep going." George S. Patton, U.S. Army General and 1912 Olympian

50 pushups

A sentiment echoed in Freidrich Nietzsche’s challenge: “Did you ever say yes to a pleasure? Oh my friends, then you also said yes to all pain. All things are linked, entwined, in love with one another.”

Ultimately, it is the absurdity of this pursuit- here on Sand Road, with the arbitrariness of my biomechanics, genetics, maximal oxygen uptake, and Timex watch, the equally arbitrary constant of the earth’s gravitational field and the consequent physical limitations- that constitutes the beauty of the task. What I mean is this: running lays bare not only our mechanisms for making meaning but also our fundamental freedom as to how we fashion and mold that meaning. In the end, the universe doesn’t know the difference between a 2:36 and a 2:04: it all boils down to the difference it makes to you.

A little surgery yesterday. Start of a week off.

"Never alter your own behavior to accommodate the insecurities of others." Robert McDonald

run 10 miles

"It takes ~10 years (520 weeks, 3650 days) of consistent work to master anything, including your sport. Don’t waste them." Joe Freil

run 4 miles, Manzanita - vest

Generally, I’d have a longer run (ending with strides during the last few miles or picking up the pace), and 2 harder days with relaxed running days in between. I’d run twice a day every day except for the long run day and sometimes the day after the long run. As for the harder days, it was usually more aerobic stuff. Tempo runs, more relaxed intervals. Generally everything I did I was finishing faster than I started. I think that is a good rule of thumb to keep in mind. If you can’t finish faster than you start, you’re probably running too hard. Remember you’re trying to teach your body to relax while running fast.

treadmill 4 miles 34:00 (HR 135)

Here are three examples of effective VO2max workout formats:

30/30 and 60/60 Intervals

A good way to introduce VO2max training into your program is with 30/30 and 60/60 intervals. Created by French exercise physiologist Veronique Billat, these workouts are effective fitness builders that are well tolerated by runners at a modest fitness level.

Start with 30/30 intervals. After warming up with at least 10 minutes of easy jogging, run 30 seconds hard, at the fastest pace you could hold for about six minutes in a race. Then slow to an easy jog for 30 seconds. Continue alternating fast and slow 30-second segments until you have completed at least 12 and as many as 20 of each.

Increase the number of 30/30 intervals you complete each time you do this workout, and then switch to 60/60 intervals. Start with at least six of these and build up to as many as 10.

Hill Intervals

Shorter hill intervals of 20 to 90 seconds are great for developing power, strength and speed. Slightly longer intervals of two to three minutes are great for VO2max development. To do a hill intervals workout, warm up with at least 10 minutes of easy jogging. Then run hard uphill for two to three minutes (choose your duration before you start), jog back down to your starting point and repeat.

If your fitness level is modest, start with a set of 4 x 2:00 or 3 x 3:00. Very fit runners can do as much as 10 x 2:00 or 7 x 3:00. Pace yourself so that you neither slow down through the workout due to early fatigue nor finish the workout feeling you could do more.

Lactate Intervals

Lactate intervals are the toughest kind of VO2max training. Make sure you build up a fairly high level of fitness with 30/30, 60/60 and hill intervals before you move on to lactate intervals.
It is best to do this type of workout on the track. Warm up with at least 10 minutes of easy jogging and then run hard for 800 (two laps on a full-size running track) to 1200 meters (three laps on a full-size running track) around the track. Now reduce your pace to an easy jog for 400 meters.

Run shorter intervals (800m) in your first lactate intervals workout of a given training cycle and then move upward. Do a total of about 5000m of fast running in these workouts (6-7 x 800m, 5 x 1000m, 4 x 1200m). Again, try to run the fastest pace that you can sustain through the last interval without slowing down.

It cannot be denied: VO2max training is hard. That's why most runners do very little of it. But you're not like most runners, are you? Take advantage of your superior mental toughness and make a commitment to VO2max training. You will find the rewards to be well worth a little heavy breathing.

50 pushups
treadmill 4 miles (mile 2 and 4 @ 6:18 pace)

The short version is this from the blog linked below.  The more miles run = faster race times. Everything else is just trying to shortcut the basic formula. 

Reading lots of folks’ blogs and their year end wrap up and their goals for 2011.   I recognize that for everyAnton, Nick, Geoff, Dave D, I can point to a guy like Andy A, James J, or heck even a Lucho who did 60 miles a week for Leadville (although his background is a bit different), but generally …

… it is the miles of trials, and trials of miles

3 HSPU
50 pushups
treadmill 5 miles
5-6 striders

My vVO2 max is about 90 seconds/400 meters