12/9 Squats, Peak Power, and Perspective

Squats:

45 x 2 x 5
135 x 5 felt like 275
205 x 5 felt like 300
240 x 5 felt like 350
270 x 5 felt like 290; I was probably about warmed up by now.

GHR Blitz Day 3:
1 x 7, 1 x 6, 1 x 5 All of these felt like my body weight was 300.

I've been reading about sustained power output by elite cyclists, which apparently is right around 6 - 6.3 watts/kg body weight. Naturally I wondered if this holds true for rowing, and how it correlates to peak power output. VP sent me a link to a video of Canadian Olympic rowers trying a 3 rep max on the erg - the damper goes on 10, the rower takes three strokes from a dead stop, and the goal is to turn maximal wattage on the third stroke. I absolutely had to try this, of course, and my best effort was 655 watts. After squatting and the third day in a row of GHR, I thought I was not at my best and could probably hit 800(ish) on a good day.

Apparently the Canadians consider 1100 good. Sure, they're Olympians. Sure, the test subject is six inches taller than me, weighs 30 or so pounds more than me, and is probably 15-20 years younger than me. So what? I want to hit 1100 too.

So 445 watts separate me from Olympic stature. Fuck.

What I do in these situations is fervently believe I can hit 800, and after I do that, I'll start working on 900. All this bums me out more than I'm sure it should. I also make it a point to remember that many guys my age are dead or on dozens of prescription medications largely because they decided to watch guys hit 1100 on television while avoiding hitting 400, or 800, or 900, or whatever they could have done. You really can't be a loser until you give up, and neither can I. I haven't given up. I think I've only rowed 80 some thousand meters since I got serious about rowing, which it seems takes the Canadians two days to accumulate.

I've been to Canada. I like Canada.

I'm going to catch those fuckers.