Day: February 10, 2015

An Excel Worksheet for analyzing RowPro stroke files

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RowPro Template 2014-08-03

Important Note:  Before opening this file on your computer, you need t o change the extension from .xlsx to .xlsm.  This file contains macros to do the data processing that will not work if the file name extension is not changed.  I was unable to upload the file with the .xlsm extension.

Based on a spreadsheet created by the user “danburpee” on the UK based indoor sports website.  You can get the original here.

Instructions for use:

Plug your resting and max HR into the HR Ranges tab
On rowpro, make sure you have elected to “save stroke data”
Export a row from rowpro in CSV format
On either the Tim or the distance tab, click the “Import RP Stroke Data”
In the table below, plug in either the distances or the times for different intervals in  your workout.  When you program an interval workout in rowpro, it is saved as one big file.  This table lets you get splits for each chunk.  It’s takes a little experimentation to get it right.
Then the other tabs are graphs and tables for export.  The Larry Output tab is useful for pasting results into blog posts or forum posts.  I use a screen capture for the graphs and then upload them to photobucket.

70′ in the fitness center

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I’m currently in Munich on business.  In the hotel, the machines in the fitness center are from a company called LifeFitness. There is a stationary bike, a couple of treadmills and a couple of elliptical machines. They all have a cool virtual reality feature. They have the ability to select courses.

I did this yesterday and had a lovely run through Aukland, New Zealand, and then ellipticalled through Yosemite. Today, I rode my bike through Paris and Reims, and then ellipticalled through the Sierra Nevada. On the treadmill, the intensity was good because you could pick your pace and average incline. On the elliptical and the stationary bike it seems that the level settings are a bit too easy. I kept increasing the level, but then the machine would reset it back down at every “scene” transition. It’s a real pity because I was really enjoying the scenery, I would have liked to have gotten a better workout while doing it.

At any rate, it was 70′ of base work, more useful than sitting around and surfing the web.

Tomorrow: I think I will do some interval work on the treadmill. Not sure how well that will go, but I’ll give it a try. Maybe a 8×500 if I can figure out how to program the machine to do that.

Training Plan for January to April 2015

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I am currently following a modified “Pete Plan“.  This plan is based on the Wolverine Plan.

This plan has 3 core sessions per week

  • Short Intervals (8×500,4×1000,250/500/750/1000/750/500/250) with rests roughly at least as long as the work time
  • Long Intervals (5×1500,4×2000, 3000/2500/2000) with 5 minute rests
  • Hard distance (5K,6K, 30min, 10K)

And 3 “steady” sessions a week.  In the Pete Plan, these are 8K sessions done at a pace a couple seconds slower than one’s pace for the hard distance session.  I am deviating from the plan for these sessions.  Based on material posted on the Rowing Illustrated forum, I believe that longer sessions at lower intensity will provide greater long term improvement in aerobic capacity.  The material posted on this thread is particularly persuasive.

To manage the intensity of these sessions I use lactate testing.  My typical steady state session is 4 – 20 minute intervals with 1 minute rests for hydration. I will typically row between 14.5K and 15K in these sessions.  I measure lactate after the first 20′ segment and try to keep my lactate reading at or below 2.0mmol/l.

I followed this plan last winter and set personal records for nearly all distances, but frustratingly not for my 2K.  This winter, I will not have an opportunity to race, but I am aiming to perform a formal time trial in late March before  the OTW season starts.