4×20 – Now at reduced power

March 31, 20152 Comments

I held on to hope for the first 20 minute piece. Since I did 20 minutes at 190W with a lactate of 1.3mmol/l on Saturday on my erg at home. I thought I would exactly replicate that and see what happened today. Answer…Lactate of 2.6!

I’m still trying to figure it all out, but independent of the reasons why, it is is clear that I need to train at a lower power. So, my new training power is 185W. And that’s what I did for the next 3 20 minute pieces.

But it is interesting to try to try to fit a theory around this. So, what I saw last week was steadily decreasing lactate readings, and increasing HRs after my hard session on Wednesday. Lactate readings were very low on Saturday. Then I did a very hard 6K and took Sunday off. Come back on Monday and HRs are more normal, but lactates are up.

Prior to Sunday, I had rowed at least 10K 24 days in a row to try to complete the Mud Season Madness. Granted one session a week was pretty easy, but the rest of them were at least 60 minutes of steady state or hard intervals / threshold type workouts. Over roughly the same period, I managed to lose about 10 pounds. I think I managed to achieve a cumulative depletion of glycogen over the period so that I was forced to metabolize fats, which does not produce lactate. When I finally took a day off, and, I must admit do some re-feeding (and beer-dration), my gylcogen stores were fully restored. So, going into the workouts monday and today, the power level was high enough to demand gycolysis and the glycogen stores were there to satisfy the demand. the product of that metabolism was higher lactate levels.

The higher power and lower lactate last week was not the result of an improved ability to metabolize lactate, but a lack of glycogen to make lactate in the first place. That is not what I was trying to induce with training.

So, as I said, the conclusion is the same. Get the training power down to a better number and increase it very slowly. Maybe 3W per week as Tom has suggested.

First 20 minutes. Power: 191.4W, Avg HR over the last 5 minutes: 144.6, lactate: 2.6

utput
Workout Summary – Mar 31, 2015
–_|_Total_|_-Total-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg-_|_Avg-_|_-Avg-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg_|_-Avg
–_|_Dist-_|_-Time–_|_-Pace–_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_-HR–_|_-%HRR–_|_-DPS_|_-SPI
–_|_04907_|_20:00.0_|_02:02.3_|_191.4_|_19.0_|_136.4_|_ 65.5% _|_12.9_|_10.1
Workout Details
#-_|_SDist_|_-Split-_|_-SPace-_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_AvgHR_|_Avg%HRR_|_DPS-_|_-SPI

01_|_01229_|_05:00.0_|_02:02.0_|_192.6_|_19.0_|_120.5_|_ 54.3% _|_12.9_|_10.1
02_|_01228_|_05:00.0_|_02:02.1_|_192.1_|_19.2_|_138.7_|_ 67.2% _|_12.8_|_10.0
03_|_01225_|_05:00.0_|_02:02.4_|_190.7_|_18.8_|_142.0_|_ 69.5% _|_13.0_|_10.1
04_|_01224_|_05:00.0_|_02:02.5_|_190.2_|_18.8_|_144.6_|_ 71.4% _|_13.0_|_10.1

Then drop power to 185 for the next 3 pieces. Decided to drop stroke rate to 18 based on a suggestion from “mightyquinn” over on the Rowing Illustrated boards.

This was a happier power level, and may still be a bit too high. I got bored with about 2 minutes to go. I was staring at a projected distance of 14950m and that pissed me off. So, I cranked up the stroke rate to 27 and power to 300W and finished with a little flair.

Output
Workout Summary – Mar 31, 2015
–_|_Total_|_-Total-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg-_|_Avg-_|_-Avg-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg_|_-Avg
–_|_Dist-_|_-Time–_|_-Pace–_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_-HR–_|_-%HRR–_|_-DPS_|_-SPI
–_|_15017_|_63:00.0_|_02:05.9_|_175.5_|_17.7_|_146.8_|_ 72.9% _|_13.5_|_09.9
Workout Details
#-_|_SDist_|_-Split-_|_-SPace-_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_AvgHR_|_Avg%HRR_|_DPS-_|_-SPI

01_|_04839_|_20:00.0_|_02:04.0_|_183.6_|_17.8_|_139.1_|_ 67.4% _|_13.6_|_10.3
02_|_00086_|_01:00.0_|_05:48.1_|_008.3_|_08.0_|_133.0_|_ 63.1% _|_10.8_|_01.0
03_|_04855_|_20:00.0_|_02:03.6_|_185.5_|_17.9_|_146.9_|_ 73.0% _|_13.6_|_10.4
04_|_00049_|_01:00.0_|_10:15.2_|_001.5_|_04.0_|_146.5_|_ 72.7% _|_12.2_|_00.4
05_|_04634_|_19:00.0_|_02:03.0_|_188.1_|_18.0_|_152.5_|_ 76.9% _|_13.6_|_10.4
06_|_00553_|_02:00.0_|_01:48.5_|_274.2_|_24.5_|_164.9_|_ 85.8% _|_11.3_|_11.2

Tomorrow: 3K / 2.5K / 2K on 5′ rest. Target pace: 1:48 (6K pace). On slides.

4×20 – Now I’ve seen everything

March 30, 20154 Comments

On Thursday and Friday of last week, I was seeing elevated heart rates, and I felt terrible during my steady state sessions. On Saturday, I busted out a season best 6K. On Sunday I had a nice rest day.

Then today, it was back to more steady state. I sit down, and 190W watts feels easy, and I cruise through the first 20 minutes with very low perceived exertion and a nice low HR. I struggled with getting a good sample for a lactate test. My first prick didn’t yield, so I did a second, and with the xtra time and fumbling around, who knows if it was a good test or not. But the reading was 2.5mmol/l. Whaaat?

So, I did another 20 minutes at 190W and tested again. Good sample this time and I read 2.4mmol/l. Arghhh. I still felt mighty fresh and my HR was still nice and low, so I did the next 2 pieces at 190W. I have to say that I am mightily confused about why my lactates were so high today.

I will drop back to 185W tomorrow to see what happens.

My Toys for Rowing on Water

March 29, 201511 Comments

I use a number of hardware and software tools for rowing. I thought I would share what I use, how I use it and how well it works.

My Boat

2013 Fluidesign EL Intermediate. (Blue Clear coat)

It is a beautiful boat. I upgraded from a 2004 Wintech Competitor and the difference is clear. This boat sets well and I’m very happy with it.

my oars

Concept2 – Fat2 ultralight vortex edge.

Length: 278cm
Span:160cm
Inboard: 89cm

electronics

Speedcoach XL2, which appears to now be discontinued on the NK web site. I picked this unit because I wanted to track HR, along with rate and impeller based speed. It turns out that it has a good deep memory and a tool to enable you to transfer data to excel for analysis. I’m not sure how the new Speedcoach GPS units do for that.

I usually save readings for every 20m. The saved data is transferred to my PC by using the USB connection kit and the speedcoach utility. This utility can export the data as an excel CSV file.

I have an excel workout which produced plots of pace/rate/hr versus distance or time. It also calculates time in each HR training zone, and can be used to pick out intervals from the data.

In addition to the Speedcoach, I always have my iphone in the boat. The stretch of river that I row on can be kind of lonely at times and having a phone is a good idea in case I get in trouble. But since it’s there, it gives me the opportunity to capture more data. For that I have used 2 apps.

CrewNerd. CrewNerd is an iphone app that displays pace, rate, HR, and a bunch of other stuff, You can also program workouts into it and it will save all your workout data. The app is very well done and the display is very clear. The only issue I have had with it is the lag in pace readings caused by the slow (1Hz) GPS update rate of the iphone. You can buy a widget that increases that up to 10Hz, but I think going and buying a Speedcoach GPS would be another way to fix that problem. Anyway, the good thing about using GPS is that you get more accurate readings on still water. On the impeller driven Speedcoach, there is always an accumulating error over long workouts.

Rowing In Motion. I have used Rowing in Motion for at least a dozen outings. It is a very different app from CrewNerd and probably a better app for in the boat. It seems to do a better job tracking changes in speed than CrewNerd, but I’m not sure why. It also provides real time acceleration curves on the display for each stroke. So if you are working on technique, you can use it to see if you are actually improving the way you go through recovery into the catch. It also has a feature called “sonification” which uses the speaker on the phone to emit a tone. The pitch of the tone is related to the instantaneous acceleration of the boat, so you can work on technique without even looking at the display. I never go the hang of using that feature, but it was fun to try.

The data from RIM is typically analyzed in the RIM on line tool, but can also be exported to Excel, although I haven’t done that.

GoPro Hero2. Video feedback is very useful to try to figure out what you are doing wrong, and I use a GoPro waterproof camera to do that. I use it in one of two locations. First, I have a mount on my stern deck. This view provides a view toward the bow and shows me and my oars out to the ends. You can see issues with balance and oar height, but you can really see body mechanics all that well. This is also a good mount for races where you want something relatively unobtrusive.

This creates video like this:

For side view video, I was sent a gift by a friend in Canada. An old backstay. He had previously improvised a mount to put this on the end of his rigger to get the camera about 4 or 5 feet out to the side of the boat.

I modified the way to attach the gopro to the rigger. The end of the rigger is a 1 1/2″ OD aluminum pipe 3 1/2″ long welded to the rigger tube vertically. This tube is drilled on the stern side to mount the oarlock. Looking at it, I decided the easiest way to mount the backstay to the gopro was to put a bolt through the pipe and hold each end with a 1 1/2″ OD fender washer. It worked like a champ!

With this mount, I get videos like this:

Notice the pace, rate and HR? I’ll do another post later about how to do that.

6K Threshold – Season Best Time

March 29, 20156 Comments

I think I did the right thing by backing off the power in yesterday’s session. I think I will do that in future sessions if my readings are weird.

I started today with the normal 20′ constant power piece as a warmup. Power was 191W, HR was delightfully low and final lactate reading was fantastic 1.3mmol/l. I think there is still a difference in effort between slides and static.

2015-03-28_15-49-16

01_|_01225_|_05:00.0_|_02:02.4_|_190.7_|_19.2_|_123.2_|_ 56.2% _|_12.8_|_09.9
02_|_01228_|_05:00.0_|_02:02.2_|_191.9_|_19.0_|_134.6_|_ 64.2% _|_12.9_|_10.1
03_|_01226_|_05:00.0_|_02:02.4_|_191.0_|_19.0_|_137.7_|_ 66.5% _|_12.9_|_10.1
04_|_01226_|_05:00.0_|_02:02.3_|_191.1_|_18.8_|_138.2_|_ 66.8% _|_13.0_|_10.2

I rested for a few minutes and a had a drink of water. Then I set up for 6K and took off. My objectives were:

1. Pace: faster than 1:50

2. Rate 27 or higher

I didn’t think I was gonna make it about two thirds of the way through because my HR was just so high, but I focused on trying to keep the stroke rate at or above 27 and kept counting strokes. I was kinda in the zone, deep in the hurt locker, but able to keep it up. I was so scared that I was gonna blow up that I waited until I had less than 200m left before I rated up for the finish, even that was pretty anemic.

Output

Workout Summary – Mar 28, 2015
–_|_Total_|_-Total-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg-_|_Avg-_|_-Avg-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg_|_-Avg
–_|_Dist-_|_-Time–_|_-Pace–_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_-HR–_|_-%HRR–_|_-DPS_|_-SPI
–_|_06000_|_21:36.3_|_01:48.0_|_277.6_|_26.7_|_170.6_|_ 89.8% _|_10.4_|_10.4
Workout Details
#-_|_SDist_|_-Split-_|_-SPace-_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_AvgHR_|_Avg%HRR_|_DPS-_|_-SPI
01_|_00500_|_01:48.5_|_01:48.5_|_273.9_|_25.4_|_137.8_|_ 66.5% _|_10.9_|_10.8
02_|_00500_|_01:48.6_|_01:48.6_|_273.3_|_26.5_|_156.8_|_ 80.0% _|_10.4_|_10.3
03_|_00500_|_01:47.5_|_01:47.5_|_281.8_|_26.8_|_164.5_|_ 85.5% _|_10.4_|_10.5
04_|_00500_|_01:48.2_|_01:48.2_|_275.9_|_26.6_|_168.1_|_ 88.0% _|_10.4_|_10.4
05_|_00500_|_01:47.9_|_01:47.9_|_279.0_|_26.7_|_171.0_|_ 90.0% _|_10.4_|_10.4
06_|_00500_|_01:47.2_|_01:47.2_|_283.8_|_26.9_|_172.8_|_ 91.4% _|_10.4_|_10.6
07_|_00500_|_01:47.7_|_01:47.7_|_279.9_|_26.7_|_175.0_|_ 92.9% _|_10.4_|_10.5
08_|_00500_|_01:48.0_|_01:48.0_|_277.6_|_26.7_|_176.6_|_ 94.0% _|_10.4_|_10.4
09_|_00500_|_01:48.3_|_01:48.3_|_275.9_|_26.6_|_178.4_|_ 95.3% _|_10.4_|_10.4
10_|_00500_|_01:49.2_|_01:49.2_|_268.9_|_26.4_|_179.5_|_ 96.1% _|_10.4_|_10.2
11_|_00500_|_01:48.6_|_01:48.6_|_273.3_|_27.6_|_181.3_|_ 97.4% _|_10.0_|_09.9
12_|_00500_|_01:46.6_|_01:46.6_|_288.8_|_27.6_|_183.5_|_ 98.9% _|_10.2_|_10.5

After that, I did a quick 2K cool down and called it a day.

Output
Workout Summary – Mar 28, 2015
–_|_Total_|_-Total-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg-_|_Avg-_|_-Avg-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg_|_-Avg
–_|_Dist-_|_-Time–_|_-Pace–_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_-HR–_|_-%HRR–_|_-DPS_|_-SPI
–_|_02000_|_08:28.1_|_02:07.0_|_170.7_|_17.2_|_155.5_|_ 79.1% _|_13.7_|_09.9
Workout Details
#-_|_SDist_|_-Split-_|_-SPace-_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_AvgHR_|_Avg%HRR_|_DPS-_|_-SPI
01_|_00500_|_01:59.7_|_01:59.7_|_204.1_|_19.5_|_148.5_|_ 74.1% _|_12.8_|_10.4
02_|_00500_|_02:04.7_|_02:04.7_|_180.6_|_17.8_|_160.9_|_ 82.9% _|_13.5_|_10.1
03_|_00500_|_02:09.7_|_02:09.7_|_160.4_|_16.2_|_159.0_|_ 81.6% _|_14.3_|_09.9
04_|_00500_|_02:14.1_|_02:14.1_|_145.3_|_15.7_|_153.9_|_ 78.0% _|_14.3_|_09.3

Seeing as how I finished the mud season madness challenge today, I think I might take a rest day tomorrow!

4×20’/2′ rest – decreasing power to get lactates in line.

March 28, 2015Leave a comment

Despite yesterday’s bad workout, I decided to stay the course and pretend it never happened. I did drop the power a simdge, down to 190W from 193W. After 20 minutes, my HR was really high (151), but the lactate reading was an entirely reasonable 1.7.

So, I went into the second piece at the same power and then blew out the lactates at 3.4. This was way too high, so, I decided to drop the power by 10 watts to 180W for the third 20′ piece, which yielded a drop down to 2.7. Still, too high. So, another drop in power to 170W for the fourth piece, and this one seemed to do the trick. HR was a bit better and lactates were down to 1.9 by the end. For the lazy, here it is in table form.

2015-03-27_13-48-44

Here’s the HR graph.

2015-03-27_13-49-17

So, what do I conclude?

1. I just opened pandora’s box by looking at lactates in the second through fourth pieces. I think that this will end up causing higher spending on strips and more holes in my finger. I’m not sure how much I like that.
2. I should probably aim at keeping it below 1.7 for the reading at 20 minutes.

Tomorrow: Hard 6K threshold piece.

3×20′ – Awful workout.

March 26, 2015Leave a comment

Elevated HR, Lactate reading too high. Felt really tired. Quit after 3 20′ intervals instead doing the full four. Even dropping my training power by 10 watts in the third piece was not enough to bring my HR down into the UT1 zone.

The past 7 session before today, I was able to hold >190W and measured <2.0 in every session. Yesterday, at 193W, my HR was way high, like 10BPM higher than normal, but the lactates were OK (1.9). Today, holding 192W, HR was just as far off and my lactates were 2.3. I dropped down to 190W and measured 2.8 :shock: after another 20 minutes, and my HR was at least 5BPM above the top of my aerobic band.

So, here’s my recent history:

I’m struggling to come up with theories for what is going on.
– A little bit of acute over-training. I did a pretty hard 6×750 session yesterday morning
– Early warning of coming down with something (I am otherwise symptom free
– Reading error (I doubt it, I felt like I was working a lot harder today)

I’m also trying to figure out if I should make any adjustments. I am scheduled for another 4×20 tomorrow morning. Things I am thinking about are:
– Pretend today never happened and do a normal session at 190W
– drop back 5W and build back up again
– start to use the BTLS (Boris Theory of Lactate Supression) and do the first 20′ slowing ramping up to 190W

Any opinions?

6×750 / 3′ rest

March 25, 2015Leave a comment

Current routine is 4 steady state sessions per week, 1 hard distance row, and 1 interval session. (plus 10K on my rest day to keep up with Mud Season Madness).

Today was interval day. It went very well. I started with a pace target of 1:43 and found I could hold on at a faster pace.

Tomorrow: more steady state 4×20′

Tuesday: 4×20’/1′

March 24, 20152 Comments

Pushed it a bit harder today. HR was higher, but lactate was lower. I think I will stick with 192W for now.

Monday: 4×20’/1′

March 24, 2015Leave a comment

On slides. Still at 190.

Non-rest rest day 2x5K

March 22, 2015Leave a comment

Just keeping up with 10K a day for mud season madness.

5K at 190W and then a lactate test –> 1.8mmol/l (still going in the right direction). HR was high today. No idea why. I felt very relaxed.

Output
Workout Summary – Mar 22, 2015
–_|_Total_|_-Total-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg-_|_Avg-_|_-Avg-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg_|_-Avg
–_|_Dist-_|_-Time–_|_-Pace–_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_-HR–_|_-%HRR–_|_-DPS_|_-SPI
–_|_05000_|_20:24.5_|_02:02.4_|_190.6_|_19.3_|_135.4_|_ 64.9% _|_12.7_|_09.9
Workout Details
#-_|_SDist_|_-Split-_|_-SPace-_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_AvgHR_|_Avg%HRR_|_DPS-_|_-SPI

01_|_01250_|_05:05.7_|_02:02.3_|_191.5_|_19.2_|_119.7_|_ 53.7% _|_12.8_|_10.0
02_|_01250_|_05:05.2_|_02:02.1_|_192.3_|_19.3_|_136.2_|_ 65.4% _|_12.8_|_10.0
03_|_01250_|_05:06.7_|_02:02.7_|_189.5_|_19.4_|_141.5_|_ 69.2% _|_12.6_|_09.8
04_|_01250_|_05:06.9_|_02:02.7_|_189.3_|_19.2_|_144.4_|_ 71.2% _|_12.8_|_09.9

Then another 5K. To make it a bit fun, I started off at 220W and shaved off 10W after each 1000m. 220W is about a 1:56 pace, so nothing too spicy, but enough to make me glad to drop down to 210W when it was time.

Output
Workout Summary – Mar 22, 2015
–_|_Total_|_-Total-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg-_|_Avg-_|_-Avg-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg_|_-Avg
–_|_Dist-_|_-Time–_|_-Pace–_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_-HR–_|_-%HRR–_|_-DPS_|_-SPI
–_|_05000_|_20:05.4_|_02:00.5_|_199.8_|_20.8_|_149.4_|_ 74.7% _|_12.0_|_09.6
Workout Details
#-_|_SDist_|_-Split-_|_-SPace-_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_AvgHR_|_Avg%HRR_|_DPS-_|_-SPI

01_|_01000_|_03:53.1_|_01:56.5_|_221.2_|_21.9_|_139.4_|_ 67.7% _|_11.8_|_10.1
02_|_01000_|_03:57.1_|_01:58.5_|_210.1_|_21.5_|_152.4_|_ 76.9% _|_11.8_|_09.8
03_|_01000_|_04:00.8_|_02:00.4_|_200.6_|_21.2_|_153.8_|_ 77.8% _|_11.8_|_09.5
04_|_01000_|_04:05.0_|_02:02.5_|_190.4_|_20.3_|_152.3_|_ 76.8% _|_12.0_|_09.4
05_|_01000_|_04:09.5_|_02:04.8_|_180.2_|_19.2_|_148.9_|_ 74.4% _|_12.5_|_09.4

Tomorrow: 4×20′ on slides

Quantified Rowing

Measure – Adjust – Improve

Month: March 2015