The wind from yesterday was gone. The water was perfect. It was a bit cold (around 40F), but it warmed up as I was rowing. Another beautiful morning to be on the river.
Today’s mission was to mimic the workout that Sander had done yesterday. He did a 4x1K. Since mine would no doubt be slower, I decided to add a punishment rep. Actually, the way things worked out, the end of my fourth rep put me at the far end of the 1K course, so I decided that another rep would be a good idea.
The objectives:
- Pace faster than 2:15
- Stroke rate 26 to 28
- Try to row clean, blades off the water, etc
I did a superlative 6×1000 last August and finished with an average pace of 2:07.0. That was my best ever 1K interval session. This was my third session of the season, so I had pretty modest expectations.
Side note: Water temp this morning was probably around 2C. In August water tem is around 20C. From Biorow Vol 9, No 105, the impact of the water temp would be 1.5%. In other words, a 2:05 split today would be a 2:03 split in 20C water. I like this side note, it makes me feel faster!
Back to the story. I started with a long warmup. I did the OTW warmup that I got to like last season all the way to the dam, and then turned and did reasonable pressure steady state back to the start of the 1K course, another 2.5K or so.
Then into the intervals. I tried to keep myself under control. I tend to push so hard that I blow up in OTW interval sessions, so I purposely aimed a bit low. Nevertheless, I was really working hard in the last third of each interval and even had to ease up a bit in the last couple. In terms of technique, I found that a winter of erging on slides had had two effects, one positive, one negative.
The positive effect was on the recovery. I was much better maintaining my balance and fully extending my arms and swing my back before breaking my knees. This allowed me to maintain balance and control as I went back up the slide to the catch. I need to take some video, but I didn’t feel like I was bouncing into the catch like last year.
The negative effect was on layback. On the erg, putting a bit more layback and really pulling the handle all the way to your chest helps your splits a fair amount. Basically anything that gets more chain out of the machine helps increase your power per stroke. In the boat, the 2.5M meters that I did on the erg were causing me to wait to long to tap down. This meant that I had too much layback, my hands would bump my ribs, and that made my finishes sloppy. I figured this out somewhere in interval number 2, and from there I consciously worked on less layback, earlier tapdown and crisper finishes. When I got it right, it gave me 2 seconds on my split. It was hard to consistently get right. I want to get this on tape too.
So, at the end of the day, I ended up with a 2:08.1 avg, so a second slower than last august. If I grade it on the tempurature curve, I did better! I see this as a positive sign for the season. My fitness is getting better, and my technique needs work.
Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_5680_|_28:44_|_2:31.8_|_552___|_19.2_|_10.3_|_149___|_warmup
05700_|_1000_|_04:17_|_2:08.7_|_111___|_25.9_|_09.0_|_168___|_Interval #1
06700_|_0300_|_02:11_|_3:39.0_|_030___|_13.7_|_10.0_|_138___|_rest
07000_|_1000_|_04:15_|_2:07.3_|_114___|_26.9_|_08.8_|_167___|_Interval #2
08000_|_0500_|_03:14_|_3:14.5_|_055___|_17.0_|_09.1_|_136___|_rest
08500_|_1000_|_04:15_|_2:07.6_|_119___|_28.0_|_08.4_|_168___|_Interval #3
09500_|_0500_|_03:44_|_3:44.2_|_055___|_14.7_|_09.1_|_132___|_rest
10000_|_1000_|_04:17_|_2:08.7_|_118___|_27.5_|_08.5_|_168___|_Interval #4
11000_|_0500_|_03:13_|_3:13.3_|_056___|_17.4_|_08.9_|_138___|_rest
11500_|_1000_|_04:16_|_2:08.1_|_117___|_27.4_|_08.5_|_169___|_Interval #5
12500_|_1360_|_07:37_|_2:48.0_|_147___|_19.3_|_09.3_|_147___|_cool down
Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
05680_|_28:44_|_2:31.8_|_552___|_19.2_|_10.3_|_149___|_warmup
05000_|_21:21_|_2:08.1_|_579___|_27.1_|_08.6_|_168___|_Main set
01800_|_12:23_|_3:26.5_|_196___|_15.8_|_09.2_|_136___|_rest meters
01360_|_07:37_|_2:48.0_|_147___|_19.3_|_09.3_|_147___|_cool down
13840_|_10:06_|_2:31.9_|_1474___|_21.0_|_09.4_|_152___|_Total
Tomorrow: 15K steady state OTW, HR limit 155.
Quantified Rowing 
Interesting how your pace is so constant with a varying stroke rate. Would be interpreted to see the check and bounce data. Could you do a pivot table of them? Did you use my spreadsheet? Am I asking too many questions?
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I have the data, I can send it to you if you like. I didn’t use your spreadsheet, I used the one that I have that works off the csv data. Actually, the plots are from my speed coach xl, I have the crewnerd ones too. I’ll post a comparison this weekend.
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Regarding the water temperature, I have a spreadsheet somewhere to calculate the drag factor at different water temperatures. It will help estimate the power increase at the same pace.
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Final reaction: are you comparing a 5x1k with a 6x500m? I would be much faster on the 500s.
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Sorry, typo on my part it was 6x1k not 6×500
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Next winter, maybe you could consider doing feet out erging? I’ve been doing this for a few months now and it really ditches the big layback. Makes you work on fast hands as well
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I do just about all of my steady state sessions on the erg without straps. I only strap in for intervals and hard distance pieces.
One thing that I did yesterday was to do my cool down with my feet out of the shoes in the boat. That certainly helped foster crisper finishes!
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So maybe it’s just when the pressure goes on you doing what you do on the erg for the intense stuff too. I’ve been doing the high intensity pieces straps off as well (which was ‘interesting’ for the first few tries!). It’s definitely slower (2 seconds per split?), so no races like that. I ‘think’ it helps!
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That’s an interesting idea. It would be a good way to try to get used to rating up while strapless. Right now, I can’t really get above a r26 or so unless I’m strapped in to the erg.
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